Main Logo - Volunteer Centre Sandwell

Your voice about volunteers and volunteering in Sandwell.
Welcome to our homepage - updated 26/08/08.

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Information about Volunteer Centre Sandwell
Information for Volunteers & about Volunteering

Volunteer Centre Sandwell has been supporting volunteers and volunteering in Sandwell for over twenty years.   During this time we have developed to meet a wide range of local needs and demands from local people and from organisations wanting to support and engage volunteers in the communities they provide services or facilities to.

As a member of Volunteering England helps us to keep pace with national trends and changes in the way volunteering is shaped and happens.

As well as providing a core service supporting volunteers and volunteering, Volunteer Centre Sandwell also supports a number of projects within it's premises in Oldbury.

Volunteer Centre Sandwell - theTeam

Sue manages the Volunteer Centre and has experience in the sector stretching back over twenty years.

Sue manages Volunteer Centre Sandwell

Sue became manager in 1992 and has channelled a lot of energy into making the centre a strong and responsive place able to deal with enquiries on all levels from the simple to the technical relating to volunteering in the community. Her role also involves ensuring that we follow the standards set down by our national volunteering development body -  Volunteering England.

logo for Volunteering England

Centre Administrator 'Rich' handles calls, letters, emails and visits from people wanting to find out more about volunteering, as well as ensuring the smooth running of the office.

'Pete' works within the office and meets people for pre-arranged chats to find out about volunteering opportunities and looking at what people want from volunteering and the various stages involved in getting started.

Centre Manager Sue also manages and oversees a number of specialist projects within the Centre, more details below.

Volunteer Centre Sandwell is core funded by
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
logo Sandwell Council

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Schools Mentoring Project

Developing from strength to strength, the Children's Fund supported Schools Mentoring Project continues

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with it's work in recruiting volunteer mentors to help out in three key areas of mentor related activities:
  • community mentoring - in primary and secondary schools
  • peer mentoring - developing systems for senior school children to buddy their younger learners
  • 'lads for dads' - a different approach looking at solutions for developing role models for young black learners where there is an absent father
In March 2008, a conference was held looking at developing the Lads for Dads side of the mentoring project.  Some powerful comments were made during the event:

"my favourite part of the conference
was when the man talking about
things that you can do in your life"

"I enjoyed talking about what we
can do to solve our anger"

"I enjoyed the bit about getting to know
how we feel , when we all discussed
things with each other
"


2008 also saw the Schools Mentoring Project acquire 'Approved Provider Standard' - a government benchmark in standards and quality in service.

logo Mentoring and Befriending Foundation

Jean looks after the Schools Mentoring Project and can be contacted on 0121 544 8326. She also has her own direct email address - jtvcs@yahoo.co.uk

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Supported Volunteering Project

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'Liz' started with us in June 2008 to develop a specific service of support and information designed to meet the needs of people with a mental health background who want to get involved in volunteering.

big lottery logo

1 in 4 of us will have some kind of mental health issue during the course of a year.  To feel better we may need to do an activity which helps us restore our confidence and makes us feel valued, sometimes that comes through helping others.  Volunteering can provide opportunities for us to try new things, feel useful, makes friends, learn new skills and make a difference

The project is backed by the Big Lottery Fund for three years and is currently developing a friendly and clear system for recruiting volunteers and working with them in a sensitive and understandable way to locate potential volunteering opportunities.

All volunteers accessing the project will be supported throughout their volunteering and will be encouraged to develop skills across a range of areas of life experience and achievement.

Contact Liz on our main number 0121 544 8326 or via email at - lizsvp@yahoo.co.uk


Interested in becoming a volunteer? - please read through this section of the website which should help you feel informed about the benefits of volunteering.

We support you in a number of ways:
  • we are in touch with a wide range of local community and voluntary organisations needing volunteers
  • we support you and spend time with you matching your skills to organisations and their needs
  • we are committed to equal opportunities for all
What volunteering offers you:
  • learn new skills
  • use existing skills
  • utilise your expert knowledge
  • develop new interests
  • meet new people
  • make new friends
  • be more active and involved
  • bring about 'social' change
  • help a community or communities
  • enjoy doing meaningful tasks and feel involved
  • make a difference for local people and communities
We believe that volunteering is a valuable and essential way of improving the quality of community life.  Everyone has the right to volunteer, without previous experience, discrimination or pressure.

We believe that volunteers deserve to be recognised for their time, their skills and commitment to giving time to make a difference in the community, to this end we advise, inform and support established and new volunteers sensitively on a wide range of topics.

Getting started

You can access all of our current volunteering opportunities by accessing the Do It website.  Here you will find you can search vacancies using your postcode and searching through volunteer vacancies by charity or community theme and activities within that area.  If you have an email address the Do It website will keep you updated with news and updates. Click the logo to get started ...

Do It website logo

You can download one of our volunteer registration forms here - download, save to your computer and complete and email back to us OR download and print and post it back to us, our address is below.

When you return your form to us we will be in touch by:
  • post
  • telephone
  • email or
  • will arrange a one to one chat with you
We will provide organisation matches based on the information you give us, this can involve getting up to date information from community groups who support volunteering.  Many of them will invite you in for a chat and a coffee for you to see what they do.  Your commitment to volunteering starts only when you find the project you really want to give your time and support to.

Please note: we have a ground floor accessible room for interviewing people with mobility considerations, be sure to let us know in advance and we can make your visit a more comfortable one.

We only deal with volunteering within Sandwell, however our friends in neighbouring boroughs can be contacted as follows - Volunteer Centres:

Birmingham - 0121 678 8839
Dudley - 01384 267414
Walsall - 01922 619840
Wolverhampton - 01902 572323
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Resources relating to volunteering
that you might find useful.


Sandwell organisations wanting to register with us to involve volunteers in their services or facilities can download an organisation registration form here *click*

Volunteers and the Law
- download the latest version of this guide from Volunteer England on the legal side of volunteering, *click*

Volunteer England information sheets - you can download for free, *click*

50 of the most frequently asked questions about volunteering, *click*

Volunteering England publish many useful books and reports, find out about them here, *click*

Need guidance about CRB's and the new ISA's coming in by October 2009? Find out more from Volunteering England about them here - Introduction to CRBs *click*  and their Independent Safeguarding Authority Briefing here *click*. General questions about CRB and ISA developments can be found here *click*







Our opening hours are:
Monday to Thursday 09.30am  to 5.00pm
Friday 09.30am to 4.30pm

Contact us:

Office: Volunteer Centre Sandwell, Old Municipal Buildings, Freeth Street, Oldbury, B69 2AB
Telephone: 0121 544 8326
Fax: 0121 544 3959
Email: sandwellvb@btinternet.com
Web: http://sandwellvolunteerbureau.org
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Volunteer Centre Sandwell is the operating name of Sandwell Volunteer Bureau.
Charity No. 1078380 and is a company registered in England No. 3827719.