If you are reading this in the UK then you probably know that we had a flurry of snow that caused a little disruption to the usually smooth running public transport system here in London.  OK, that’s not exactly correct, if you’re lucky it might be running but seldom is it ever smooth! 

Unlike a lot of people who found themselves stranded at home I was able to work thanks to the wonders of remote access. It’s interesting how things have progressed, I remember in 1989 when I worked for British Telecom and the notion of being able to log onto your corporate desktop from your home PC was getting bandied about.  No one quite believed it would ever catch on and even to this day there are a great many sceptical people, managers included, who raise an eyebrow when someone says they are working from home, the belief is often that without someone there to watch over them the at home worker will spend all day watching daytime TV in between visits to the fridge. (more…)

I am the Volunteer Officer for ScotsCare. I recruit, interview, screen, train and then place all new Volunteers in our charity. We have various Volunteer opportunities in ScotsCare. The reception desk at the front of the main office in Covent Garden is staffed by a rotating shift of volunteers. The shifts last from 9am to 1pm and from 1pm to 5pm. The Reception Volunteers are given an Induction training when they first start and then myself and the Office Manager train them on the various administration duties that reception requires. Today, we had a new Volunteer on reception who is a retired Teacher and has just returned from a day’s external training on the ‘Outlook’ PC package which she found to be ‘extremely useful’.

The ScotsCare helpline is similarly staffed by Volunteers who start on Reception duties and then are sent on 3 levels of certified helpline training with The Telephone Helpline Association. The Volunteers are then trained up to use our in-house database.

Volunteers are also an integral part of our Social Events including the lunches that take place regularly in Euston and Bloomsbury. Trained in Certified ‘Food Hygiene’ they help serve the lunches and clean up afterwards.

The Volunteer Befriending Scheme is another main aspect of the Volunteer Programme in ScotsCare. Volunteers are given Induction Training before being placed with an elderly and/or disabled client who is socially isolated. The Volunteers visit their clients once a week and this service has been shown to greatly improve the quality of life for the clients as the Befrienders are often the lifeline to the wider community.

We currently have 57 active Volunteers in ScotsCare and for a small charity we are grateful for the continuous and passionate interest in our Volunteer Programme.