Afternoon tea?

Would you like to volunteer but aren’t able to commit to helping very often? Well, there are lots of organisations that need volunteers only once a month or even less regularly.

One such group is Contact the Elderly, which offers friendship to isolated elderly people by organising group outings for Sunday tea.

Contact the Elderly currently needs volunteer hosts and volunteer drivers in and around the local area.

Volunteer hosts need commit to only one or two Sunday afternoons a year. Hosts provide afternoon tea for a small group of elderly people who live alone and visit different hosts’ homes once a month to spend a few hours in the company of friends.

An ideal host would be a warm and welcoming person who is able to cater for 8-12 people. Your house should have easy access and a downstairs toilet. A garden for the group to sit out in during the summer would be an added bonus but is not essential.

Volunteer drivers usually help one Sunday a month, from 3pm-6pm. They collect one or two elderly people from their homes, take them to the home of a volunteer host to join other members of the group for Sunday tea, and home again.

Contact the Elderly would like to hear from anyone who can either offer to be a Sunday afternoon tea host or who is a safe driver with a full, clean driver’s licence, All volunteers should enjoy being with elderly people, and be a good listener with a sense of humour.

To find out about either of these volunteering opportunities or others in your area, contact Lucy or Rebecca at Volunteer Centre South Bedfordshire, tel. 01525 850559.