Summer Volunteering Opportunities Projects Highlighted in Red are summer specific opportunities.

How do I get involved? If you would like more details of a particular opportunity or you would like to get in touch with an organisations please email the volunteering team specifying the name(s) of the opportunities you are interested in and one of our team will be in touch to support you through the process of applying.

A – Z of opportunities

Action for Blind People - is an expert national organisation ensuring blind and partially sighted people get practical support in all aspects of their lives. Volunteers are needed to help increase awareness amongst Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities of eye care services and how to access them by attending community events, health fairs and signposting to health services.

Alzheimer’s Society - Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers. Volunteers can be involved in various roles, which include befriending a person living with dementia, fundraising, telephone support and other activities which support people living with dementia and their carers.

Arkwright Meadows Community Garden - officially began opening to the public and selling organically grown fruit and veg. The aims of Arkwright Meadows Community Gardens are at the HEART of the Meadows. Volunteers can be involved in community events and gardening, planting, construction, preparation of fruit and veg in the growing season.

Backlit Gallery 'Performing Gender' Exhibition - This Summer the Backlit Gallery in plays host to the Performing Gender exhibition. The works in the exhibition deconstruct, question and criticise the relationships between gender and society through theatrical performance, documentary filmmaking, and experimental film that blur the lines of male-female binary conformity. They would like volunteers to assist with the exhibition who will oversee the security of the exhibition and monitor artwork and to welcome and engage with visitors and to record audience numbers.

British Heart Foundation - The British Heart Foundation is working towards a vision where we have a world where people no longer die prematurely from Heart Disease. Volunteers are needed to support the City Centre charity shop in the areas of sales, customer service and warehouse duties. During the summer period, they lose volunteers and would love to gain some fresh faces.

Broxtowe Mediation Service - Broxtowe Borough Mediation Service is a community mediation service providing residents with an alternative way to deal with conflict with their neighbours. Volunteers are needed to prepare, attend and facilitate mediation meetings between, or on behalf of, neighbours until a conclusion is reached and then report to the coordinator/mediation supervisor on the progress of cases and complete the necessary paperwork.

Carers Federation - The Carers Federation provides support for adults, children and young people affected by a family member’s illness, disability, mental health issue, or substance misuse. Volunteers will provide a range of practical and emotional support to enable carers, aged 15-18, to engage with new opportunities and activities such as life-skills programmes and one-to-one mentoring. Caudwell Children - provide family support services, equipment, treatment and therapies for disabled children and their families across the UK. Volunteers are needed to visit families who care for a disabled child across Nottingham who are in need of family support.

CHICKS – Respite break volunteer role - As a Respite Break Volunteer for CHICKS you will be a positive adult role model who will interact with the children and allow them to develop and experience new challenges. To be a Respite Break Volunteer you will be required to join a team from Monday through to Friday on a residential week supporting up to 16 disadvantaged children. ChildLine - If you are a good listener, non-judgmental and have 4.5 hours a week to spare go along to an open evening to hear more about ChildLine volunteering. ChildLine aim to answer every contact made and to offer comfort, advice and protection and they urgently need more volunteers in Nottingham to make that happen.

Citizens Advice Witness Service - Witness Service volunteers are court-based and offer free, confidential, emotional and practical support to people attending court as a witness, by helping them become familiar with the court before trial, offering support on the day of the trial, giving information about court procedures and arranging further help after court if required.

Cycle Live Nottingham and Sunrise 5k - Cycle Live Nottingham is the largest mass participation bike ride in the Midlands and as such requires a huge number of people to make it happen. The Sunrise 5k is a race for early starters, the kind that are able to get up early in the morning. Both of these events raise a great amount for a variety of different charities. There are a number of volunteer opportunities available at both of these events to help them run smoothly.

Derbyshire Districts Citizens Advice Bureau - is a generalist advice service. Using the CAB’s unique information system we can give you free, confidential, impartial and independent advice and information on a wide range of areas.

Dream Enterprise - is a creative 'Community Interest Company', a Social Enterprise which enables young people (ages 5 – 25yrs) to grow in confidence, raise their hopes and aspirations, release their talents in a positive way, gain new skills & develop in a supportive environment, become positive leaders in their communities.

Emmanuel House - is a drop-in provision for people who are homeless or vulnerable. People come for shelter, warmth, food, advice and acceptance. During the summer period volunteers are needed to support activities in the centre, kitchen and charity shop.

Go Digit All - is an organisation which delivers services in deprived communities to engage individuals in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), to reduce the digital divide. Volunteer roles include technical support, web design, administration and management, fundraising and teaching support.

Groundwork Greater Nottingham - The Young Person Participation Team (YPP) is a service within Talent Match- a Youth Unemployment Programme. Our team is looking for volunteers to come and help shape the project through forums, meetings and training sessions.

Guide Dogs - are recruiting volunteers in the Nottingham area! Do you want to make a difference in your community? By being part of the My Guide team, volunteers are trained to guide people with sight loss to help them get out of their homes and back into the community. The benefits of this scheme to the visually impaired person are huge in terms of building confidence and independence. If you can give a little time and make a difference, we would love to hear from you!

Headway Nottingham - The Headway charity's objective is to promote understanding of all aspects of brain injury and to provide information, support and services to people with brain injury, their families and carers in the city of Nottingham and . Volunteers are needed to support staff in a variety of workshops that are run by the centre and also on trips out into the local community.

Improving Lives - provide free support and information for the most vulnerable adults across the city of Nottingham. The majority of their service users have mental health issues, often undiagnosed and come to their attention either due to repeated calls to emergency services or antisocial behaviour. They provide person-centred support that focuses on what the person wants to change about their life. They do things like make and attend appointments and support the person to look at issues such as health, housing and debt.

Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance - is a rapid response emergency helicopter covering the entire counties of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. To ensure that the air ambulance can continue saving many lives each year they need to raise £1.8million annually. They rely heavily on volunteer support to do this and there is a wide variety of roles to fit around your lifestyle. This summer they are also leading charity for the Notts 10k and would love some students to help support the event.

Macular Society - is a national charity, which supports people with macular conditions or central vision field loss conditions. The society funds research into macular conditions and uses a network of volunteers to deliver support services to people with the condition. Volunteers can help improve the skills of those with macular conditions, raise awareness, and befriend their service users.

Maggie’s Nottingham - provide emotional, practical and social support to people with cancer and their families and friends. This summer they would like volunteers to be involved in a variety of their Fundraising events that will be taking place through the summer.

They will also be hosting the Culture Crawl in Nottingham, which is part night-walk, part cultural adventure, giving exclusive access to amazing buildings, surprises and delicious food and drink, inspired by the nutritional support available in our Centres.

Malt Cross Trust - is a charity based in the centre of Nottingham, which works with young people in the arts and music. They also run Street Pastors and Safe Space, which helps to look after people in the city at night. Volunteers are needed for various roles including media and communications, business and individual fundraising projects, events and heritage activities.

My Sight Nottinghamshire - promote greater independence for visually impaired people of all ages from providing support, advice, information to adapted leisure activities. By volunteering at My Sight Nottinghamshire you can assist local visually impaired people to realise their true potential.

New Art Exchange - is a contemporary arts space dedicated to culturally diverse, contemporary visual arts. NAE presents a varied programme of art exhibitions, creative activities for families and young people, film screenings, symposiums, lectures, festivals and live performances. The space houses three gallery spaces exhibiting work by emerging local artists, as well as work by world renowned British and international artists. Volunteers are asked to commit to a season volunteering with NAE, this will typically last three-to-four months. Volunteer roles include Gallery Invigilation, Family Friendly Event Support and generally assisting during events (ushering, ticketing and room set-up).

Newforms Enterprise Ltd - “helps people change the world by playing games!” They help people start-up or develop in business, deliver enterprise training in a creative and innovative way using innovative games and tools. Customers include universities, colleges, charities, social enterprises, businesses, and community groups. This summer’s opportunities with Newforms include Games Designers, Educational Training Assistants, Web & Video Media Assistants, Graphic Designers, Marketing, and Events Assistants.

Nottingham Alternative Film Network - are a not-for-profit organisation committed to increasing the variety of films available in Nottingham. They offer students insights into the international film festival circuit, and give them opportunities to engage local communities. That means they are always seeking new people who are passionate about delivering or advertising live events in innovative and daring ways.

Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum, or NNRF, is an independent, voluntary organisation set up to help and support asylum seekers and refugees in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. They are looking for General Advice and Youth Project Volunteers to support their service users over the summer period as well as volunteers for Refugee Week, which is a major event on the calendar for the forum.

Nottingham City Museums and Galleries Dinosaurs of China - sets out to inspire and challenge the way people experience, explore and develop their ideas about the diversity of the world through the creative use of museum collections and cultural resources. Volunteers are needed to support various events and exhibitions taking place at various Nottingham City Museums and Galleries.

Nottingham Community Sports Volunteers - Nottingham Centre for Voluntary Services has a wide range of sporting opportunities available during the summer months. For the opportunities, they have created a role called Nottingham Community Sports Volunteers. Events include the table tennis grand prix, the British gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling series and the National Synchronised Swimming Championships amongst others. There is also ongoing sporting opportunities with Age UK, Fit in the Community & Park Run.

Nottingham Credit Union - is a cooperative that provides fair and affordable financial services to anyone who lives or works within Nottinghamshire. There is a summer project taking place that requires the support from two helpful volunteers. They would support in researching the Credit Union database to find all of the loan customers who are unable to pay back their amount.

Nottingham Health and Education Support (NHES) – Summer School - aims to see young people and their families overcoming severe educational, health, language and economic barriers to achieve their true potential. They need volunteers to help with the activities on Saturday Mornings to motivate, support and teach children.

Nottingham Hospitals Charity - The Charity are delighted to be a partner for the first ever Gung-Ho! Nottingham which will feature ten of the greatest inflatable obstacles on the planet, including the world’s largest inflatable obstacle and Europe’s biggest ever inflatable slide! We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our Charity team for the day, and make sure that Gung-Ho participants have as much fun as possible!

Nottingham News Centre CIC - is a social enterprise, which supports the community through services in community Journalism, Copy Writing, Publishing and Training. They are seeking students with a desire to gain work experience (mainly online) in: Community journalism, marketing and adverting through social media, sales and graphic design. This summer they are in particular need of journalists to work on the Nottingham Carnival Heritage (HLF) project until the end of the summer.

Nottingham University Hospitals - provide services to over 2.5 million residents of Nottingham and its surrounding communities. We also provide specialist services for a further three to four million people from across the region. The voluntary services department are focusing on recruitment for Generic ward volunteers (mealtime assistants) as well as a variety of other roles that exist on the Queens Medical Centre and City sites.

Nottinghamshire Country Parks and Green Estates Services - Comprising of Country Parks such as Sherwood Forest and Bestwood this project offer a range of events and activities to involve the whole community in quality experiences of an environmental nature, including 'hands on' conservation work. You will be involved in a range of activities which usually revolve around the management of varied wildlife habitats and may also include maintenance and tidying of the park.

Nottingham Library Service Summer Reading Challenge - Each summer at your local City library volunteers are recruited to help with the Summer Reading Challenge, a national library scheme which encourages children to read 6 books over the summer holidays, with incentives as they go.

Nottinghamshire Rape Crisis Centre - Nottinghamshire Rape Crisis was established 30 years ago and provides a specialist service to support survivors of sexual assault, whether this is recent or historic. They provide a telephone helpline, counselling, group work and independent sexual violence advice. Volunteers work on Helplines providing support, advice and information to survivors of sexual violence.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust - Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is the country's leading wildlife conservation charity working to protect and enhance local wildlife and habitats, managing over 70 nature reserves. Volunteers can get involved in various wildlife and conservation projects running within Nottingham.

NTU Research Assistant in Cultural Heritage & Identity - We are looking for Research Assistant’s interested in cultural heritage and identity. The principal purpose of the Research Assistant role will be to contribute to a research project, which aims at identifying and opening a debate about cultural heritage as material culture, as symbol of local identity. This will involve using a number of research methods, which encourage participatory research, and co-creation of knowledge. The ideal candidates will be willing to participate in public engagement events. We are not looking for students from a particular School, all welcome if sharing skills! (DEADLINE HAS ENDED TO TAKE PART IN THIS PROJECT)

Oxjam Nottingham - Oxjam festivals, an initiative by Oxfam are ran by volunteers across the country to raise money. Other objectives of the festivals are to provide a platform for local bands and musicians to perform and educating people on the work Oxfam does. Oxjam are looking to recruit volunteers to help organise this event. There are three specific roles currently; however, as we get nearer the event Oxjam will need many general volunteers. These roles are marketing coordinator, music production coordinator and a fundraising coordinator.

Playworks - PlayWorks is the home of children’s play in Nottingham. As a leading resource centre for play they help everyone from schools, nurseries, clubs and communities to professionals, volunteers, families and community groups. They provide play activities, training, advice, information, networking opportunities and resources including our legendary Scrapstore, brimming with amazing recycled arts and crafts materials and ideas.

Practical Conservation Volunteers - The Practical Conservation Volunteers undertakes a range of activities on our practical conservation task days. Activities depend on the season and habitat: These include woodlands, waterways and wetlands, footpaths, hedge laying, dry stone walling, fencing, trees and aftercare, habitat creation and the control of invasive species. As well as our conservation days we also run conservation holidays.

Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) - is a charitable trust which provides support, information, advice and guidance to friends and families of prisoners. They provide meet and greet services, telephone support and visits bookings together with provision of refreshments in the visits hall during visits. Opportunities for students to create their own projects which support families are also available.

Radford Care Group - Radford Care Group is a local charity that has been providing innovative and invaluable support services to older people since 1968, working in partnership with a number of public and private sector bodies, often as agents to deliver funded projects. Volunteers are needed to help in the Friendship Group and in Day Care (for older people with mental health issues or physical disabilities) or could create and run their own activities as a one-off session or regular activity. You can also support their ‘Buy-a-Brick fund to help in the development of a new centre!

Rainbow Parents Carers Forum - Rainbow PCF is a support group and independent voice for parents/carers who have a child with a disability or additional needs in Nottinghamshire. They run sessions on 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month which is informative for parents/carers and a play setting for their child(ren). This summer they would like to have one or two volunteers that can help with marketing, social media and policies and also helping to set up monitoring systems for their 5 year Big Lottery Fund Grant!

Rethink-Combat Stress Helpline - The helpline operates in conjunction with Rethink, the leading national mental health charity, to provide a specialist mental health helpline for veterans of the armed forces, those serving, and their families and carers. Volunteers will assist with calls made to the Combat Stress helpline, via telephone, email or text messaging, and become familiar with call handling procedures and signposting to other services.

Safe Families for Children - works hand in hand with children's services to link families in need with local volunteers who can offer them help and support. Volunteers can be a family friend for a child or children or their parents, which involves supporting a family by taking the children out to give the parents time to sort out any problems they may have.

Safer Living Foundation - aims are to protect society from sexual crime, prevent further victims of sexual abuse and rehabilitate perpetrators of sexual crime. As part of these objectives, Safer Living Foundation runs Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) for elderly (55+) and intellectually disabled offenders. Volunteers meet on a regular basis both as a group and as individuals with a high risk sex offender to assist in reintegrating the offender back into society while acting as a support network and safety mechanism for the offender and the community at large.

SOVA - Sova works across England and Wales to help people steer clear of crime. We do this by making sure that when people find themselves in difficult situations they have someone on their side to help them make better choices so they can stay out of trouble and build better lives. Volunteers are needed to mentor young people, aged 8 to 18, helping them to engage in positive activities, reduce their antisocial behaviour, increase school attendance and develop more confidence and self-esteem.

St Anns Allotment - The St Anns Allotments, Nottingham, is a very special and unique allotment site. It is the oldest and largest area of Victorian detached town gardens in the world and has recently been listed with a Grade 2* by English Heritage. The site covers 75 acres and sits in the heart of the one of the most deprived inner-city communities in the country. You can get involved in their urban nature project, helping conserve local wildlife.

St Anns and Sneinton Foodstore - is an independent food bank which opened in December 2012. The Food Store provides people, who have no income, with a parcel of nutritious food and currently providing food parcels each week for families with young children, pensioners, disabled persons as well as those who are homeless or in a period of transition in their life. Volunteers get involved in the everyday running of the food store from taking donations, stocking shelves and creating packages to give to the community. Stonebridge City Farm - is a city farm for the local community, but also works with adults with learning difficulties and other special needs and vulnerable people within the community. The aim is to involve people with varying abilities in the day to day work of the farm. Volunteers can get involved in various opportunities ranging from animal care, planting and outdoor activities through to supporting activities with visitors and other business related areas within the organisation.

Tasty Tuesdays - is a weekly community meal, free to all, currently served at Thomas Helwys Baptist Church, Lenton, every Tuesday at 6pm. A hot, hearty, meal in a relaxed, friendly, environment. All welcome, no matter where you live or what your financial status is. Just turn up. Entirely cooked and served by members of the community.

The National Trust - Calke Abbey - The Abbey is a National Trust Treasure. Based in a beautiful area of Derbyshire you can volunteer there during the summer helping families get in touch with nature and enjoy the gardens. The roles also extend to conservation work and looking and surveying the land where the abbey is based. They run internship roles for interested students, a great way to spend your summer. They are currently advertising some summer specific roles. During the school summer holidays we are opening the “Garden of Imagination” in our large kitchen garden. It will enable families to explore the grass labyrinth, discover a mini world of beasties and create some natural art.

The National Trust Southwell Workhouse - The National Trust is the largest Conservation charity in Europe and looks after a wide range of buildings, parks and gardens and landscapes. The Workhouse is the first of it’s kind, and tells the story of poverty and welfare from 1824 to present day. Volunteering opportunities range from the garden to Conservation, Room Guiding to Reception.

The Send Project - aims to provide enjoyable and engaging sessions to young people enabling them to develop transferable skills, whilst exploring their creativity. This is an exciting opportunity for you if you're interested in gaining, using or refreshing your experience of supporting young people.

VictimCARE - Commissioned by and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Victim CARE is a free and confidential service available to all victims of crime and Anti Social Behaviour across Nottinghamshire. The service supports Victims and survivors to be resilient and in doing so are less likely to be re-victimised; empowered to cope and recover from crime and anti-social behaviour by timely and effective victim-centred support from local services, families and communities.

Women’s Aid Integrated Services - WAIS offers a free, confidential, holistic service to women and their children experiencing or escaping domestic abuse in Nottingham and the region. WAIS work in partnership with the statutory, voluntary and community sectors to tackle domestic abuse and reduce its effects.

YHA (Youth Hostels Association) - Do you have experience of supporting young people or know someone who does? YHA run residential camps during the summer holidays offering exciting outdoor activities for young people aged 10-19. We are looking for 100 volunteers to support the pastoral care of the young people at camp. This is a very special volunteering opportunity to make a huge difference to the life of a young person as you encourage them to make the most of the activities on offer and their time away from home.