A spare three hours a week is all it takes for you to develop a new social circle, have fun, and acquire new skills – all while making a huge impact across Gloucestershire. Just ask your fellow Longfield Community Hospice volunteers.
Richard: volunteers at the Hospice for the Wellbeing Centre. He said, “The reward for volunteering is in the volunteering itself. The participants of the two men’s groups I’ve helped with have come together, some as complete strangers, and formed instant bonds of camaraderie and friendship. They feel a sense of comfort and belonging in the safe space that Longfield provides, which enables them to share their feelings. It’s very refreshing knowing that I have helped to create that experience.”
Chrissie Howse, aged 70, from Cirencester, works in the Dyer Street shop and helps run a fundraising group for Longfield. She said, “it’s a great way for you to make friends and be social. Everyone in the shop is lovely and friendly. If you can spare just three hours a week, that’s all you do, and it’s perfect.
Chrissie added: You’re helping people – I really like clothes, so I can go on the floor and help people find what they want. If somebody’s on their own, widowed, divorced, and needs company, this is the perfect place. It’s rewarding, it’s fulfilling, and it’s good to feel useful. You meet lovely people from all walks of life, what makes me come back is the camaraderie between the team of people either at the shop or in our fundraising group.”
We urgently need volunteers to help across all areas of the hospice – whether at the hospice in Minchinhampton, out and about in the community, or in our charity shops.
Volunteers are so important to Longfield. Not only are they invaluable to our retail operation but they are just as important to our fundraising and care services. We need volunteers to help with services at the hospice from welcoming patients to activities, to helping provide homecooked meals to driving patients to and from the hospice.
Now is the perfect time for you to volunteer with the Longfield Hospice retail team as we expand our retail operations in 2024, including opening a new shop in Winchcombe. We are always on the lookout for people to volunteer in our shops across Gloucestershire, but we’re also searching for volunteers in areas you might not have thought of!
Longfield has 20 charity shops across Gloucestershire, including our warehouse in Thrupp, an online store, and the main hospice in Minchinhampton. Various roles are available, from being a shop floor volunteer to becoming a PAT tester in the warehouse, a hospice volunteer, or even a van/patient driver. We also need ad hoc volunteers for events.
If you would like to volunteer with Longfield Hospice but are unsure which role would be the best fit, please get in touch to discuss the different opportunities in more detail on:
Phone:01453 886868