Tag Archives: volunteering

Hillsborough juniors – a celebration of our first two years

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A junior parkrun that brings a Sheffield park alive with volunteers and children on Sunday mornings

“We are the sum of our parts. Our core volunteer base who turn up week in week out, in all weathers are the absolute stars of of our junior parkrun. You know who you are, and you are amazing.” Diane, Volunteer Coordinator

Children running across the start line of the first Hillsborough junior parkrun

I’m writing this sitting on a sunny and windswept campsite, in the far corner of Pembrokeshire in Wales, sheltering in the lee of a substantial old hedge. The Swifts are swooping around me catching insects in mid air. It’s Sunday morning and as I write 195 children are striding or skipping their way around the 2k course in Hillsborough Park, Sheffield, 250 miles away.

I first met Diane and Keith over a coffee at the Riverside Café in Hillsborough. They had offered to be part of the team, in whatever role was needed, to help with the new junior event. I put to them the idea of being volunteer coordinators and they agreed – with little idea of what that would really involve.

Two girls holding hands and running

The seed for a new junior event in Sheffield had been sown in a chance conversation with John, the Event Director and main man at the Hillsborough 5k, late in 2019. I must have enquired if there had been any interest in a junior event given that there was such a thriving 5k. I probably let slip that I’d started and been the Event Director of Guildford juniors up until my move to South Yorkshire. And so the challenge was mine to accept.

Just before Christmas, John published an announcement on the 5k news page and by Jan 2020 we’d already assembled most of the team. We met, rather formally I recall, at the café at the Sheffield Olympic Legacy junior parkrun. We’d all volunteered and then their EDs shared some wisdom and gave us a quick demo on how to process results.

By February 2020 I had secured all the funding we needed to to start our new juniors and I was able to submit everything to parkrun HQ. The majority of the funds came from the Sheffield Town Trust and Sheffield City Council Ward Pot, plus donations from the local orienteering, triathlon and running clubs and a kind local donor who made up the final shortfall. We then had to wait 18 months as the Covid Pandemic paused all parkruns in the UK and beyond. Our inaugural event was finally held on 15/8/2021 where we had a manageable 44 children.

As I scribble plans for a new junior parkrun and prepare to say farewell to Hillsborough, I’m holding down the pages of my notebook in the gusts. I recall why we are camped next to the big hedge on this windswept field in Wales. Thank you Keith for your tip on where to pitch on this site so far away. “Don’t go for the view, go for the shelter”. You were spot on!

A little girl smiling and running with children and parents in the background

Things I’ll take with me from Hillsborough Juniors

Sophie overwhelming the marshals with loveliness
From the first event, young Sophie (and her parents) have played a key part in helping on junior parkrun day. After watching me brief the marshals for the first few weeks, Sophie stepped into this role, and confidently explained to a bunch of adults the responsibilities to keep the children safe and what to do if one took a tumble. She encouraged them to clap and cheer the juniors and she advised them that there might be grumpy park users who didn’t like the paths being full of young children – and that the best way to deal with moaners was to “overwhelm them with loveliness”. Oh how I smiled to hear my expression come out of Sophie’s mouth!

Keith and his happy hour
Within a year, Keith had stepped into the role of Co-Event Director bringing a calm, responsible, mature pragmatism to this role. It was a welcome addition to the team, a great help to me as by now I no longer lived in Sheffield, and a reflection that Diane was single-handedly mastering volunteer coordinating. I love that Keith describes junior parkrun as his “happiest hour of the week”.

Very young volunteer clapping
Young volunteer smiling in her High Viz jacket

Flynn being a junior role model
Flynn was our first finisher on our first event. He’s a regular first or fast finisher and usually catches his breath, pops on a high vis and starts scanning. We love to see juniors volunteering at junior parkrun. Flynn is now the proud owner of a 100 run wristband.

Oscar who had his 4th birthday on parkrun day
Ringing his cowbell and shouting “go faster”, Oscar became a regular marshal as it got closer to his 4th birthday. To his mum’s great excitement that important day was on a Sunday – a day now known as “parkrun day” in their house. On that big 4 day they ran a bit, walked a lot, hopped, galloped, and chased each other, accompanied by his cousins and his nana, and cheered on by birthday high-fives from the marshals.

Young volunteer with her mum and dad celebrating 100 volunteering days at parkrun
Young volunteer helping pack up kit

Katy – Oscar’s mum making it fun
Now that Oscar is about to get his half-marathon band, Katie, who is a competitive mountain runner, says her biggest takeaway is to make it fun. “Every week we go at Oscar’s pace and that’s OK, we’re there. For anyone thinking of taking their little one and unsure – go for it. Whether you walk or run, make it all the way or just do one lap, you’ll be made very welcome.”

Michael
A keen VM70-74 parkrunner, who started his journey into athletics on the long-since closed Hillsborough track, ran 5 miles each way to help at the inaugural event. Michael acknowledges our hardy and dedicated volunteers who turn out in all weathers and he’s been a regular in a high-viz ever since. “I’m glad to see the park now being used to give our youngsters a great start to the day and which, for some, may be a starting point to an athletic future.”

Diane – once met never forgotten
According to Keith, Diane never sits still so, if you’ve volunteered at Hillsborough juniors, you will know that an offer is always accepted and processed on the parkrun website within minutes. Diane sometimes can’t be physically there on the day but Keith can’t remember a time over the last 2 years when she didn’t coordinate and process the volunteer system from wherever they have been – Cape Verdi was probably the furthest away. There is a lovely community feel about volunteering at Hillsborough juniors, everyone knows each other and there’s always a buzz while we wait for the children to arrive which is no small measure down to Diane making sure she knows everyone: Once met never forgotten!

Lessons I’ve learnt from Hillsborough juniors

The volunteer team on a cold, damp winter morning
  • A friendly, conscientious Volunteer Coordinator can make the difference between a struggling rota and a full one
  • A rota of 5-6 Run Directors means the role never becomes onerous
  • Expect churn amongst your volunteers and core team – life circumstances change a lot for young families
  • A core team WhatsApp group is a good idea to keep EDs/RDs/Comms connected
  • A general volunteer WhatsApp group is a friction-free way for adult volunteers to offer to help – and works well if the Volunteer Coordinator can keep up with it and assign names to roles in the online rota
  • Having extra Run Directors in the park is reassuring if the weather forecast is dodgy eg icy or if there is work going on in the park (even if the landowner assures you it will not impact, unexpected things can happen)
  • The heart-warming way that local runners and non-runners can embrace a junior event and become regulars helping in the park on a Sunday.
Me holding up a big bunch of flowers when I hear my name shouted out at the very first event

Dedicated to Diane – Volunteer Coordinator and chief flower organiser! I know that you love what you do, and that you do what comes intuitively. You’ve been instrumental in building our community of volunteers and I think that you are exactly what every junior parkrun needs on their team. Linda

Hillsborough junior parkrun event statistics

Events: 91
Finishers: 1,188
Finishes: 7,418
Average finishers per week: 81.5
Volunteers: 237
PBs: 1,688
Average finish time: 00:13:52
Average finishes per participant: 6.2
Groups: 22
Stats last updated: Fri 11 Aug 2023 01:31:30 UTC

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/hillsborough-juniors/

Photo Credits George Carman and other volunteers

“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it”

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said, George Bernard Shaw, and I agree.

Ever wanted to put your hand up but hesitated in the face of negativity? Ever watched while a single doom-monger, with a well-timed outburst, puts off a whole crowd who are working on a good idea?

You may have just encountered a pessimist. Pessimists will often sound like this: He tried whatever you are suggesting once (just once, mind!) and it didn’t work. She did something similar to what you are suggesting and it didn’t work. They know someone who tried something ……..

What to do? Here’s a simple 3-point plan:

Separate
Dismiss
Gather strength in numbers

Separate yourself from these negative people. You will never change them. They may be people who have always had trouble seeing the positive or they have had a past experience that has put them off.

Dismiss their discouraging remarks for what they are – usually an isolated or historical example not relevant to the plans in progress.

Gather strength in numbers if there are more of you with positive ideas on what CAN be done, stick together. Support each other.

What ever happens, don’t let a lone negative voice disrupt the way of progress and good ideas. If all else fails, quote George Bernard Shaw at them!

And see for here for more inspiration

 

 

To all my volunteers

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I just want to say you drive me forward. I do what I do because of you. Your loyalty, your support and the satisfaction of working with you keeps me going more than the end result. I am immensely proud of what we achieve. Sometimes it feels that there is so much left undone but if you look at where we are now, you can see how far we have come. So thank you to all of you. Thank you for your commitment and dedication. I would be nowhere without you.

Linda

If you are one of my volunteers (or if this strikes a chord anyway) please leave a comment below.

How can you get a job without having an interview?

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Here is the first of two real life examples to help answer that question.

Freshly repatriated from abroad, I found myself unable to return to my previous career. While abroad, like many of the “trailing spouses” I had engaged my brain in voluntary work and for several years I had been an editor. This role kept my computer skills up to date at a time when things were changing fast. On returning to the UK, I was welcomed with open arms at the local primary school when I offered to help in computer lessons. From there I became the official photographer and went on to build a website for the school – all as a volunteer. Little did I know at the time, but these skills were going to be a ticket to a new career direction.

First of all, though, I had to do my apprenticeship. I started teaching basic computer skills to career-break-returners – mostly mums who had been out of the workplace for a while. So ironically, there I was, also in my first job after a break, teaching other adults skills that I’d learnt as a volunteer. At this point, things were going really well and I embarked on the next level of teacher training. And while I was on the training course, one of the tutors spotted me. They noticed that I had previously taught English as a foreign language, while abroad, and was now teaching IT. This was a combination of skills the college had been seeking for some time. On the strength of this they offered me a great job – teaching IT to international students on university foundation courses. And so without even looking, I had landed myself my next post where I spent several satisfying years working with ambitious and interesting young people.

Can you get a job without having an interview? Well, I did. In fact, I’ve never had a job interview! Apart from my first job after university I have not applied for anything I have ever done. All my work has come my way, directly or indirectly, as a result of my volunteering. I’ve made career changes by getting to know people, by people finding out about me by word of mouth and by being in the right place at the right time.

For some other ideas, take a look at Volunteer your time, you may find a job

What useful skills have you learnt as a volunteer? Please leave a comment and tell me.

Are you invisible?

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  • Do you coach your kids’ football team every Saturday?
  • Are you a student doing your “volunteering” towards your Duke of Edinburgh award?
  • Have you marshalled at one sports event to get a free entry at another?
  • Are you a parent listening to children read at your own child’s school?
  • Have you joined a neighbourhood working party to clear a pond or maintain a local wild space?

Continue reading →

2012 volunteers face ban on facebook

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On the one hand the British Olympic Association says the London 2012 Olympics will be the “Twitter Games”. And on the other, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) are telling their volunteers that they should not share their experiences via social media.

The athletes have had strict guidelines for a while, but recent publication of rules for the volunteer “Games Makers” is causing a bit of a stir. Some of these rules might be justified in terms of privacy such as not taking photos of areas closed to the public. But others seem to be unenforceable nonsense – not talking about a VIP or celebrity and not disclosing breaking news about an athlete. Social networks will be humming with this sort of news, surely.

You could argue that Games Makers have a job to do and shouldn’t be working one-handed – or take their eye off the ball – in order to tweet. But many games makers are passionately excited about what they are doing and will be desperate to share a celebrity snippet, an ad lib moment, or a significant sports sight, with their friends and families. Can rules really stop them? Paul Adams predicts “that we will see tons and tons of footage leaking out from the 70,000 volunteers, and that the best footage from the Games will come from regular folks, attendees and volunteers, and not from official TV crews.” He also thinks “that by the time the 2016 Olympics rolls around, this decision will be laughable, and the enforcers of this rule will look like dinosaurs.”

i-volunteer is running dire predictions of volunteers voting with their feet at these social media rules. But as LOCOG have reportedly got a problem of managing disappointment of potential volunteers who are surplus to requirements, I doubt that they are too worried.

What do you think about the Olympics’ social media guidelines?

 

The volunteering phenomenon of the decade

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Every Saturday, about 12,000 people take part in 5km timed runs all over the UK. These events are completely free and are organised by volunteers. Yes, completely organised by volunteers! The events are called parkrun, and are the brainchild of an inspiring philanthropist who believes that it is everyone’s right to get up on a Saturday and run in a 5km timed event without paying for the pleasure.

Paul Sinton-Hewitt founded the Bushy Park run, in Teddington, with just 13 runners in 2004. In 2009 he won a Runner’s World Heroes award. This week’s Bushy Park parkrun attracted a record 1000 runners and the organisation is within sprinting distance of their millionth run. On current turnout it’s predicted to happen next weekend.

Even if you don’t run and aren’t at all interested in sport, parkruns are a shining example of what can be achieved when a group of motivated people are facilitated to make something happen. There has always been a pool of potential volunteers -runners – who collectively stood to gain from free runs. But parkrun’s runaway (!) success shows what can be achieved when a leader brings together the vision, the volunteers and a practical system that enables it to all happen. And it all happens every Saturday when armies of unskilled volunteers organise parkrun events all over the world.

Have you run in a parkrun?

What motivates a volunteer?

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All volunteers are unique and have their own set of reasons for volunteering. Here are 5 of the common reasons that make them step forward:

1 To support a team leader or friend that they respect

Don’t underestimate the strength of personal connections.

2 To meet useful people and increase their network

They are looking to see how your volunteering role could benefit them – so sell your ideas so they appeal to the “what’s in it for me” side of potential volunteers.

3 To socialise and take part in an interesting activity

Promote the social side of your opportunities and make sure your teams get along well – and that you have some well-planned activities lined up for them.

4 To support a cause that they believe in

If you are a charity, a children’s school, or local community are you inspiring your own followers and supporters?

5 To be nosy and get some inside info on an organisation

How does a publisher function? What’s it like back stage? Could you be promoting your organisation to appeal to this type of volunteer?

Organisations seeking volunteers are also very different. Do you relate to any of these motives. Do you think your organisation could use one or two of these motives to promote your opportunities?

Please leave a comment and let me know.

 

 

6 Tips for recruiting volunteers (and getting them to come back again!)

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1. Recruit them for a finite and achievable activity

Would you sign a blank cheque for your time? No, I doubt it! Neither will the person you are looking for. It’s much better to offer a specific task with a manageable time-scale. Volunteers like a project that they can complete and then get on with their lives.

2. Tell them exactly what the role is

Keep it easy to understand. Use plain English, avoid technical jargon or you will annoy people. Paradoxically, if you make the job sound grand and high-powered this will only put people off.

3.  Find out a little bit about your volunteer

If you take the time to get to know them just a little then you can try and give them a role that is satisfying and appropriate to their experience and physical ability. They will be happier and they will do a better job for you.

4. Give them enough training to enable them to do the role effectively

Make sure you show your volunteers what they need to do, or team them up with someone with experience. And giving them a written brief/map/instructions/crib sheet/contact list really helps. It can be scary being a new volunteer – if you are bombarded with important information at the start its easy to forget a vital detail.

5. Acknowledge them on the day

It is surprisingly easy to be blind to your helpers during the actual event or project because it is so hectic for you. Make an effort to know who they are and say hello.

6. Say thank you afterwards

It’s all over! You collapse with exhaustion and feel waves of relief wash over you. It might sound old-fashioned but a phone call, e-mail or letter gives your volunteers a nice warm wanted feeling. Prompt and personalized but not patronizing and ending with “See you again next time”.
Q Have you volunteered in the last 6 months? What did you do and what inspired you to do it?