‘Next Stop’ Volunteering

Volunteering in sport is both rewarding in itself and an excellent way of gaining experience and developing skills. It is a way of ‘giving something back’ to your community. The ability to show relevant experience on your CV is often as important as having a background in training when looking for employment.

Research carried out by Sport England demonstrates how important volunteers are to sport:

• There are 5,821,400 sports volunteers, representing 14% of the adult population.


• The sports sector makes the biggest single contribution to total volunteering in England.


• Volunteers contribute one billion hours each year to sport, equivalent to 720,000 additional full-time paid workers.


• The value of the time contributed by sports volunteers in England is over £14 billion.

Sports Train is designed to help volunteers find out about and become more involved locally.  Additionally there are a number of initiatives that can support volunteers, e.g. Millennium Volunteers, Volunteer Investment Programme, Volunteer Centre Glossop and Volunteer Centre Buxton.  These are explained below, along with contact details.

The following initiatives exist to provide support for volunteers:

Millennium Volunteers (MV)

• Is a government initiative, available nationwide
  
• Encourages young people aged 16-24 years to make a difference to their community through volunteering
  
• There are two organisations providing routes to MV accreditation; Read On-Write Away! and BTCV Derbyshire. 

For more information on the Millennium Volunteers visit www.rowa.co.uk  

YouthTrain

This is a development skills learning programme for young people between the ages of 14-25.  It is primarily aimed at those who are at risk of leaving or have left school with a lack of skills to achieve their full potential.  It has been successfully used by young people to accredit their volunteer work.

For more information you can contact Youthtrain on
01629 580 000 ext 5689

Local Information

Information on local opportunities for volunteering can also be obtained from the Volunteer Centres in Buxton, Ashbourne and Glossop and the website www.do-it.org.uk.

Volunteer Investment Programme

Through the Volunteer Investment Programme, Sport England plays a key role in the promotion of volunteers' support. It offers welcome packs, fact sheets, good practice guides, FREE regional seminars, links to training, Recognition Awards and direct mailings.