Volunteers Together

Befrienders from our home visiting, telephone befriending and pen pal schemes came together last month for our first Befrienders Conference that was held at Woodland Grange in Leamington Spa. The 24-hour event included workshops on volunteer experiences, how to boost recruitment and encourage more beneficiaries to sign up to the schemes. The guest speaker, who joined the conference via video link, was our very own Board Director Dr Martin Hyde who delivered an interesting talk on the ‘Benefits of Inter-generationality’. The event was co-hosted by our Board Director for Befriending Services, Gillian Smyth and Deputy Chief Executive Denise Headley with support provided by Office & Services Support Administrator Michela Ferrari and our regular office volunteer Jean Anderson.