Thousands of people across Staffordshire volunteer in either a formal or informal capacity. In a recent survey, 13% said they had volunteered in a group, club or organisation while a huge 1 in 4 people said they had volunteered to help their friends and neighbours. These numbers are growing all the time.

Parish Councils are in the perfect position to mobilise local support to take action on local issues, and many organise volunteer working parties to tackle small highways amenities tasks. But with time being limited it can feel like an uphill task for some local councils.

Help is available:

• The 'S3' consortium
     S3 (a consortium including Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services (SCVYS), Support Staffordshire and South Staffordshire Community Voluntary Action (SSCVA), works with the county council to empower local communities.  S3 can give some introductory advice to any parish council about volunteering and will also discuss further services with you. Contact S3.
  
• Tips from Parish Councils about setting up a voluntary group
  Tips from  Milwich and Fradswell Footpath Maintenance Group about setting up a voluntary group:

  • Try and recruit members who walk the paths regularly
  • Make each session fun
  • Ensure you have a coffee and biscuits break during the work and finish off with a pint or two in the local pub
  • Ideally teams need to be a minimum size of 4 people and you need to be aware that this is likely to grow when people see the work that you are carrying out
  • You need to have some means of transporting tools and people off-road
  • Publish your activities on a website if possible and in parish or local magazines with pictures.

• Contact us to see if existing volunteers can help
     The county council has  a countryside volunteer programme  and volunteer rangers that may be able to help in your area.  
• Our tips to help manage volunteers
     Here’s a ‘starter for 10’ top tips to help recruit and retain volunteers:

  • Do what you say you are going to do when you are going to do it – Be responsive and prompt. This helps build trust and relationships.
  • Ensure a quality volunteering experience from the outset – Training, support and engagement. A quality experience will enable volunteers to be positive advocates and further recruit volunteers for you via word of mouth.
  • Network, network, network – Local engagement, in a variety of ways (i.e. a menu of engagement options) helps build staff profiles and opportunities to recruit. Also be aware of what other groups in your area are doing – are they recruiting? Can you collaborate?
  • Acknowledge your volunteers’ contribution –  Let volunteers know (and frequently) that they are appreciated and valued.
  • Celebrate success –  Shout about what outcomes you see, what impact volunteering is having on individuals,  the wider community and your organisation. Social media, local community meetings, newsletters, community noticeboards are all really helpful.

Contact us if you want any advice.