Last week the Monmouthshire team had a jam-packed week celebrating all things volunteering in the County! Here's just some of the things we got up to:
Volunteer Awards - Monmouth
What better way to welcome #Volunteersweek than by celebrating some of the incredible volunteers who support the many projects at Volunteering for Wellbeing in Monmouth?!
Volunteering Officers Bethan and Chris were kindly invited to attend this year's Volunteer Awards at Bridges Centre and had the privilege of presenting the Community Car Scheme Award. It was a delight to spend time with the volunteers, hear about the work they do and see their surprised faces when they were recognised!
We also want to give a special Thank You to Volunteering for Wellbeing's Volunteer Coordinator, Marianne Piper, who organised and compered this wonderful evening.
Volunteer Celebration Event - Chepstow
In partnership with TogetherWORKS, Volunteering for Wellbeing organised another celebration event in Chepstow's Drill Hall! All the volunteers had an incredible evening listening to Sarah Hughes' ukulele performance and watching Daphne's stand up comedy show. TogetherWORKS' Centre Manager and member of the GAVO Monmouthshire team, Isla Arendell, compered the evening and hosted a very entertaining quiz for everyone to take part in. The volunteers left with big smiles and full bellies after enjoying the delicious food prepared by Jane Vaughan.
If you would like to listen to the wonderful song Sarah composed especially to celebrate the V4WB and TW volunteers, please click the link below:
Thank You Event - Tintern
Volunteering Officers Bethan and Chris were grateful to attend a Thank You event hosted by MonLife. Located in the stunning venue of the Old Station in Tintern, they chatted to volunteers from the venue, Caldicot Castle, The Borough Theatre and many more projects that MonLife support. It was a privilege to find out about the fantastic work the volunteers do and we love to hear the positive impact volunteering has made on the volunteers.
An evening of conversation, train rides, delicious locally donated food (including the infamous sausage rolls), raffles and table tennis...what's not to love?!
Corporate Volunteering - Caldicot
We couldn't shout about the importance of volunteering without doing some ourselves! So, when Andrea from Caldicot's Girlguiding district got in touch with us to ask if we knew any organisations who could give them a helping hand, we jumped at the opportunity! The outdoor area of the Guide Hall was quite overgrown and need some TLC...
With gardening gloves and equipment at the ready, Chris Irving, Jo Webb, Angela James, Kelly Sullivan, Miranda Thomason and Bethan Warrington got to work trimming hedges, strimming and mowing grass, weeding and sweeping pathways and chopping brambles. Chief Gardener, Dexter (Bethan's rescue dog), was also on hand to give everything the sniff test and do a little extra digging for good measure.
After a few hours of hard work, Andrea came back to a much tidier and welcoming outdoor space for the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides who use the hall. The team had a great day outside in the fresh air spending time together.
We hope everyone had a fantastic Volunteer's Week and enjoyed it as much as the GAVO Monmouthshire team! If you are interested in volunteering in Monmouthshire, please contact bethan.warrington@gavo.org.uk (25+ yrs) or chris.irving@gavo.org.uk (14-25yrs) and we can tell you about local opportunities in your area. We also highlight an #Opportunityoftheweek everything Thursday lunchtime at 12:30pm. Keep an eye out for these on our Facebook page!
