We are always looking for volunteers to help us with our day-to-day work and our community projects. We are also happy to support work-placements referred to us by other organisations. We work to create a welcoming environment for everyone, where we all work together.
Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community, to meet new people, to gain useful work experience, to learn new skills and to share your own skills and knowledge with others. Whether it’s food, gardening, admin or caretaking – we have opportunities for everyone.
Volunteering at St Sid’s is a two-way process. You’ll be supporting us and the wider community by contributing to the day to day running of the Centre and, at the same time, we’ll be supporting you to fully realise your unique potential. Placements are organised with you – so the times and days suit you, and you can get involved with the things that interest you. We also provide one-to-one mentoring, access to our weekly Work Club & a range of training opportunities.
If you are interested in getting involved you can get in touch for more information or fill out an application form.
Volunteers at St Sidwell’s can get involved in any (or all!) of the following areas. If you have already got skills and experience, fantastic! If not, don’t worry, we’ll teach you.
Café and Bakehouse
- Show off your cooking skills (or learn to cook), help with food preparation, serve, operate the till, wash up, bake cakes, develop your barista skills making lattes, cappuccinos and espressos.
- Join other volunteers in our fight against local food waste, making jams, chutneys, soups, etc out of surplus produce. Some of the produce is just-out-of-date fruit and veg from local supermarkets, some is surplus produce from local gardeners, allotment holders and farms.
- Learn to bake real bread in our microbakery and help us produce yeasted bread, sourdough and seasonal treats like hot cross buns.
Garden & grounds
- Come and help us achieve our ambition of turning St Sid’s grounds into a beautiful, green oasis – for the benefit of everybody. We always need more green fingered volunteers to help with grass cutting, planting, weeding and lots more.
- Not everybody knows that, hidden away, St Sidwell’s has an award-winning vegetable and herb garden, complete with greenhouse. South-facing and peaceful – despite being in the centre of the city – it’s an ideal spot for keen gardeners.
Caretaking and building maintenance
- Last year, St Sid’s rented out rooms to over 300 groups and organisations. There are always rooms to be set up, tables and chairs to me moved around, things to get ready. It’s an ideal role for anyone who likes to be busy and meet new people
- As in any busy community centre there are always walls that need repainting, light bulbs that need changing, things that need repairing. An ideal role for anyone with good DIY skills
Reception and office
- Are you good at greeting people and helping them with their requests? If so, you might want to sign up for one of our reception shifts.
- If you already have experience in an office – or you want to acquire some experience – there are plenty of jobs to be done in our office: answering the phone and taking messages, making bookings, filing, updating our databases, book-keeping, helping St Sid’s with marketing.
Heritage
- We were delighted to have received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for our project, Reviving lost history and building community at St Sidwell’s and, under the guidance of our job-share heritage officers, Marie and Kevin, this project was a great success. If you have an interest in heritage and would like to help with research, organizing and taking part in events, putting up displays, etc. – please get in touch.