VCM

Hello and welcome,

In our post today I’d like to let you know about the Volunteer Fair and Volunteers Surgery that we have pencilled in for Volunteer’s Week.

What is Volunteers Week?

Well, Volunteers’ Week is an annual event which takes place at the start of June. It celebrates the contribution made by millions of volunteers across the UK.

As I write this, the team are just about to head over to the Mechanics Institute for today's Emergency Voluntary Sector Assembly event to discuss the impact of Council budget proposals on the work of the voluntary and community groups in Manchester.

Four weeks to go and the Spirit of Manchester Festival is building up nicely.

One of the things I love most about working in the voluntary sector is that if you have a really good idea you can generally find a way to make it happen. It might take a while – things like our State of the Sector and Civil Economy work were on my wishlist for years before we were finally able to publish the finished work. But sometimes you can be taken by surprise at how fast you can go from the idea to it actually happening.

I’ve just come back from being on the BBC Breakfast sofa talking about volunteering. As is always the case with these things, it’s all very rushed and last minute and it’s over in a flash. Actually that’s one of good things in a sense because it gives you less time to panic! It was a great opportunity to fly the flag for volunteering in the middle of Volunteers Week and to talk about the sheer wealth of volunteering which happens in Manchester, as one exampleof the amazing work of volunteers across the whole country.