Considering being a volunteer...

The NHS are often looking for volunteers in various departments.

Thanks, I’ll go take a look.

I volunteered at my children's primary school for several years after they left. I had been on the PTA and just asked if any teacher needed me. I was also an extra pair of hands for school trips etc.
There are a couple of organisations that organise volunteers for listening to readers this.

mmm , sorry but my advice would be to be careful and think about what you want from the situation.

I guess first question is:

Do you want to do something youre already skilled at (lots of people do)

Or

Do you want to try something COMPLETELY new/different for a change

Q2
Do you want to do something active/outside/out&about? Or something indoors

Q3
Do you like driving?

Q4
Do you want to make a regular commitment or do something you can dip in and out of?

Q5
People or nature/environment or history or animals?

Q6
Do you want it to be a social thing?

I work in a RVS (Royal Voluntary Service) cafe in a NHS Hospital and really enjoy it. Shifts can be flexibible as many as you like. Feels good helping customers who need a helping hand and we have some laughs too.

So many groups out there needing help GrannyorNanny look at your own skills and where you can be of most use. Don't over commit to begin with, you can always build on a few hours each month but its harder to reduce your hours. Good luck

Personally I prefer volunteering to be a new challenge or change from my work life but thats just me.

Dont get overwhelmed with who NEEDS help, pick one you will enjoy for the best fit.

Dont expect an instant social life from it.

Be clear from the start about how commited you want to be. Do not feel obliged to make a regular commitment if you dont want to, lots of volunteer work is ad hoc/flexible, but some rely on regulars, so find the right fit

Where have you been recently that you enjoyed?

E.g. national trust property, a friend/relatives nice care home, a nice park or garden, do you enjoy shopping/going for coffee, chatting, not chatting, quiet spaces...

Try do-it.org/opportunities/search

I just volunteer in a charity shop and love it

I work at the local nursery two mornings a week. Ever ready with a good story book and lots of laughs. The little ones tell me all about their grandparents!! We played with porridge last week. Not sure who had that idea. I ended up sweeping it from every nook and cranny! Do you know the story of the Magic Porridge Pot?

Apply to the Red Cross to volunteer as a Community Connector

Excellent advice Notanan2. I have been thinking about volunteering for a while and your logical approach is most helpful. Thank you.

See if your local area has an online volunteering website, I kept on looking until two things came up that I fancied trying. I joined Parents 1st - they run a great training programme and we support young mums with pregnancy/baby advice - I've supported three mums so far and I really enjoy it plus the group I trained with have all become a great group of new friends.

Alzheimer's Society need side by side volunteers...they match you up with someone who has early / mid dementia who has same interests are you...could be gardening/ music/singing in a choir/ baking/ golf/ go to church/ anything really.. something you both can enjoy doing together. Really rewarding work - beneficial for both parties plus training and support given to you as a volunteer.
Phone your nearest Alzheimer's Society office for more details.

Lots of opportunities out there - if you are in the UK then you can check with your local Library as they often hold lists of charities looking for help. Hospitals are another group who are always glad of volunteers to run the Cafe and some now ask for volunteers to cuddle new borns who are too ill to go home straight away and whose parents cannot be there 24 hours a day. There are also groups like the one I volunteer for who are working to restore and keep a heritage building in use in the community, plus the huge national charities who advertise in the papers and on tv for helpers. It all depends what you enjoy doing really! We have evolved into a very friendly group who meet every week and I ended up becoming a Trustee. Have a look around and see what you fancy doing!

I volunteered to be a volunteer visitor for the Independet Age to someone rather isolated and living alone. I visit for an hour a week. My client and I really enjoy it. She looks out for me arriving.
I also joined a choir, a rock choir. I love that too. So something for society and something for me. On two other days I look after my 8 year old grandson which is always wonderful. It’s normally after school but the whole day in the school holidays. It makes for a very full life with loads of fun.
I lost my 44year old son to a fatal heart attack 2 years ago and it has taken me a while to wind myself up again. Life will never be the same but I am trying to make the best of what I have left.

I wanted to volunteer but having spent all my working life in situations where folk were distressed, I didn’t want the options I first came across (food bank etc). I “bumped into”, via a friend, a historian who wanted a team of volunteers to input data onto a spread sheet, from material that dated from the Poor Law, 1760s. It is great, so interesting and just takes half a day a week. There are ten of us, we go to a wonderful archive centre, we are all (with the professional historian and an archivist) trying to help each other make sense of and read writing on scraps of paper.

While in Vancouver once I spotted an ad in a pet shop window asking people to go to play with and cuddle their puppies. I had a lovely hour there and if I had been a permanent resident I would have bought one of the puppies, if I could have afforded them … they were $1000 each!
By the way our public libraries are making massive cuts in staff due to lack of funding and they always want volunteers.

I volunteer doing Community Roadwatch and I do role play to help train recruits to the police. Most police area websites will have a volunteer section

Primary schools often need helpers for reading to slower learners, sound out your local school?

Somebody once said that a volunteer was somebody who hadn't understood the question.

I applied to volunteer in our local library recently when it was threatened with closure. The amount of information regarding training to be undertaken was staggering (blue badge, bus passes, computer training etc.) . I spoke to a librarian who has being made redundant and she was devastated that her years of work amounted to nothing and she had actually been offered a volunteer role along with her redundancy! I felt I couldn't possibly just step into her place as it would be an insult to all the well qualified librarians who had lost their jobs. Fortunately not everyone felt the same and the library is now being kept going (albeit with very limited opening hours) by volunteers.