Two Weeks In - Reflections from our new Volunteering Team
- lewishallwcvs
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
New beginnings
When you start with a new organisation in a new role, you never really know what to expect. Will you get on with the team? Will your role be something other people engage with? How quickly will you pick things up and will there be people to ask for help without annoying them too much?
We (Emma and Jen) are now at the end of our second week as the new Volunteering Team at Wirral CVS, and it’s already clear that neither of us had anything to worry about. What an amazing warm welcome we have had! After meeting the Wirral CVS Team it was immediately clear we were joining a passionate and dedicated gang and we both felt right at home! The time has flown by learning the ropes and arranging meetings with some Volunteer Managers and organisations across the Wirral to introduce ourselves. We honestly could not have a had better start!
What we've been upto
Our first outing was to gate-crash the Volunteer Open Day at Koala North West. Linda, the Volunteer Co-ordinator, made us a lovely coffee and we heard all about their volunteering processes and had a good chat about the use of the Volunteering Portal - which is something we want to learn more about from everyone else. Unfortunately we were so busy chatting we forgot to get the camera out – but we won't make that mistake again!
We’ve also been to Age UK Wirral to meet Rose who is relatively new to the role of Volunteer Co-ordinator since her predecessor retired. Rose was kind enough to give us copies of their handbook and different forms they use for recruitment so that other Volunteer Managers can have a look through. Hopefully we can start to build up some good practice examples within the Volunteer Managers Forum so that we can support each other to develop practices that best suit roles and organisations.
On Thursday we had a mad dash around Birkenhead with three visits in one day. First Zoe from St. James' Centre welcomed us and told us about the great relationship they have set up with Wirral Lifelong learning - then we spent time with Bridget at Heart4Refugees, looking at the amazing impact their volunteers have and discussing potential training needs. Finally, John from Role On treated us to a lovely coffee at their bi-weekly coffee morning at the Liberty Bell Café in Hamilton Square, where we met lots of former carers who have been supported by their grassroots organisation over many decades.
What we've learnt
So what have we learnt so far? Well, we have had some very informative and open conversations regarding what you need and how we can help, and all of the these have highlighted what fantastic work happens across the Wirral and how crucial volunteers are. We know we are going to find lots more examples as we meet more people!
We’ve also started to hear more about the use of the portal, the need for particular types of training for staff and volunteers, the way volunteer recruitment and support is changing and the need for some more Wirral-wide plans for volunteer reward and recognition.
These are the types of conversations we will pick up at the next Volunteer Managers Forum, so we really hope you can join us!
If you can’t make the next one, but would still like to meet with us so we can get to know your organisation, please get in touch and we will arrange to come out to see you.
The Vision for Volunteering
We have some ideas around what we will be working on over the next few months that we would like to chat through with Volunteer Managers and volunteers. We both have a way of working that focuses a lot on co-production and collaboration – the motto “nothing about me without me” is one we have both followed in our previous roles, and we intend to apply it here too.
We’ve also got a survey out where we’d like to capture your thoughts and suggestions around the use of the Volunteer Portal – so if you have five minutes to spare and could fill this in, it would help us to understand your point of view:
We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has welcomed us into our roles and we are really excited to be working with you to ensure the value of volunteering is understood and recognised across the Borough.
So in conclusion regarding our first two weeks, two things have stood out. One is the number of extraordinary organisations and people that we're very excited to be working with and two... Wirral rules!
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