Making A Difference Volunteer Update

This week we wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you to Samita, our new Transport Facilitator. Samita has joined the Inclusive Service's team and will be a first point of contact for any volunteer drivers taking part in our community car scheme or projects delivered through the use of our minibuses. Please feel free to reach out to the travel team to introduce yourself if you have not been in touch already by sending us an email here. You can find out more about the Communities 1st team on our website.

With the Communities 1st Annual Conference for the VCSFE sector just around the corner, we wanted to remind you that there is still time to register and come along. You can find out how to register below.

With a new month comes a new Action For Happiness calendar. The theme for this month is Jump Back Up July, so please do feel free to explore the different ideas you can try to help feel more motivated throughout the month of July. You can access the calendar below.

All the best,

Stephen Craker
Chief Executive

Come along to our Annual Conference

Come along to our Annual Conference!

With the Communities 1st Annual Conference for the VCSFE sector just around the corner, we wanted to remind you that there is still time to register and come along. The conference will take place on Tuesday 16 July and we hope to see you there.

What can you expect?

You will have the opportunity to catch up with the Communities 1st team about the latest volunteering opportunities in your local area and share your experiences with other volunteers too. The event promises to be a vibrant and inspiring day filled with valuable workshops, engaging speakers and ample networking opportunities where you can connect with peers.

You can attend workshops and catch up with the Communities 1st team about volunteering opportunities and even share your experiences with other volunteers and members.

Time: 9:30am until 2pm
Venue: St Peter's Street, St Albans, AL1 3HG

To register, please click on the button below. We look forward to seeing you there!

Register Here

Check out the volunteer blog

Read about our volunteers experiences and projects!

Have you taken a look at the Communities 1st Volunteer Blog? As some of you will already know through your own participation, the volunteer blog documents the insightful experiences of our volunteers and allows others to take a glimpse at what its like to volunteer with Communities 1st.

If you want to know what it's like to take part in other volunteering opportunities and projects or just want to read the experiences of fellow volunteers, you can check out the volunteer blog on our website.

Help out at our Creative Cafés

Share your creative skills and hobbies with the community

Do you enjoy creative hobbies and want to share them with people in your local community? Communities 1st facilitates regular creative cafés across the Borehamwood and Radlett area every week. Our Creative Cafés give people in the local community the opportunity to meet others and share different creative skills, hobbies and interests.

From knitting to card making and even bringing instruments along to play some music, we welcome all creative activities.

If you would like to support a creative café near you, you can find out where we will be below:

Mondays - Windsor Hall Community Centre, Blyth Close, Gateshead Road, Borehamwood, WD6 4EE.

Tuesdays - Phillimore Community Centre, Phillimore Court, Radlett, WD7 8NN.

Wednesdays - Aberford Community Centre, Aberford Road, Borehamwood, WD6 1PL.

Thursdays - Farriers Way Community Centre, 27 Farriers Way, Borehamwood, WD6 2TB.

Fridays - Organ Hall Community Centre, 37 Bairstow close, Borehamwood, WD6 4TB.

If you would like to take part and support the Creative Community Cafés, you can let us know by sending an email here, or give us a call. We look forward to seeing you there.

Help us deliver fun day trips

'I look forward to the day trips, its the only time I leave the house all week.

Our weekly day trips across Welwyn and Hatfield, Three Rivers and Hertsmere make it possible for people who would otherwise struggle to leave the house, have a fun day out and meet new people.

With the growing popularity of our day trips we want to ensure that we are able to continue to deliver this service to people in the community and we need your help!

If you enjoy driving, visiting new places and want to help us combat social isolation, why not sign up as a minibus driver? By volunteering as a driver, we will be able to ensure that the much anticipated day trips can go ahead each week.

We release our new day trips on our website every month, you can check out the upcoming day trips of July below!

Welwyn Hatfield Day Trips every Monday:
8 July - Van Hage Garden Centre and Toby Carvery lunch

15 July - Letchworth Garden City shopping centre

22 July - Carpenters Park Garden Centre

29 July - Natural History Museum Tring

Hertsmere and Three Rivers Day Trips every Wednesday:
10 July - Biggleswade and Jordans Mill Farmers Market

17 July - Letchworth Garden City shopping centre

24 July - Springtime Nursery and lunch

31 July- Natural History Museum Tring

To volunteer as a driver for the day trips you can give us a call and send us an email, we look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Become an Energy Agent

Help deliver energy advice in your local community!

Why not come along to support the members of your local community at our creative cafés? Apart from welcoming visitors and helping with activities this year, we also want volunteers to be able to become Energy Agents. In this role you will be able to help people make informed decisions about their energy usage, conserving energy and safety.

If you would enjoy delivering this helpful advice to people in your community who need it, please get in touch with a member of the team or sign up on your volunteer dashboard.

We will offer you full training and resources to assist you in delivering the information to members of the community and to help you with this volunteering role. Please feel free to give us a call or send us an email to find out more. You can also visit our website here.

Our Creative Café spaces are available across Hertfordshire and every week from Monday to Friday in Hertsmere. Find out which is closes to you below:

Mondays - Windsor Hall Community Centre, Borehamwood from 10:30am to 2:30pm.
Tuesdays - Phillimore Community Centre, Radlett from 12pm to 4pm.
Wednesdays - Aberford Community Centre, Borehamwood from 12pm to 4pm.
Thursdays - Farriers Way Community Centre, Borehamwood from 10am to 2pm.
Fridays - Organ Hall Community Centre, Borehamwood from 10am to 2pm.

Volunteer at an upcoming event near you

Are you available to support a local event?

Supporting and engaging with the local community is very important to Communities 1st and what we do. That is why we like to attend local events as an opportunity to meet new people and reach those who may need support.

Below you will find a list of upcoming events in the local area and we would like to invite you along to take part. If you would like to attend as a helping hand and support Communities 1st at any of these events please get in touch with us below. You can also contact us if you have any questions about the events.

If you happen to be attending any of the events below already, please feel free to pop over and say hello, we look forward to chatting with you.

Festival in the Park - Sunday 7 July - King George Recreation Ground, time to be confirmed.
The Cottonmill Gathering - Sunday 14 July 11am to 4pm - St Albans.
Hatfield Community Fair - Tuesday 13 August 11am to 3pm - Hatfield.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more you can give us a call or you can send us an email.