Dementia Activities Volunteer

Dementia Friendly Activities

VOLUNTEER ROLE DESCRIPTION

Our services for people in later life are wide-ranging and cover the whole of Berkshire. We provide support and services that make a real and positive difference to the quality of older people’s lives, including the most vulnerable and isolated. This roles support our dementia activities which support people with dementia and their carers

Main Tasks

Tasks will vary depending on the activity you are undertasking, but may include:

• Help set up the hall before the participants arrive
• Serve refreshments
• Join in with the activities such as arts and craft and bingo
• Help clean and tidy the venue after the activity has finished.

• Qualities
• Confidence, patience and empathy in talking with the general public.
• Friendly, positive, can-do attitude with willingness to undertake a variety of tasks.
• Team player with good communication skills.
• Organised, reliable and flexible.

Experience

No previous experience is required, although not essential, you may find it can be an advantage if you have experience of dealing with, or caring for, older or disabled people either informally (e.g. contact with or care of older family members), or formally in employment.

Formal Requirements

We require a completed application form. We also require the names of two referees who have known you for a minimum of one year.  They should not be family members, and one of these referees should have known you in a formal capacity e.g. employer or tutor.

If accepted as a volunteer, you will be required to satisfactorily pass an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, or provide information to allow us to verify your status using the online DBS Update Service. Your disclosure of any past or spent convictions may not preclude you from volunteering with Age UK Berkshire. For more information see www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check.

Availability

We are looking for volunteers to support the following groups:

• MCST (Memory support group) in Earley every other week on a Tuesday 13:30 – 16:00
• Wokingham Walk (locations changes each month) is the 1st Thursday of each month 10:00 – 12:00

• Shinfield café (café +activity) is the 4th Wednesday of each month 10:00 – 12:30
• Love-To-Move (seated Gymnastics) in Charvil is the 4th Thursday of each month. This is a seated exercise class.  13:00 – 15:00
• Memory Lane (Singing Group) in Wokingham is the 4th Friday of each month 10:00 – 12:30 term time only

Our Aim
We believe that helping our clients to enjoy the physical and emotional benefits of attending regular activities can be hugely rewarding, and want our volunteers to gain experience and be proud of what they achieve whilst with us.  To this end, we offer ongoing support, and hope volunteers will always feel free to contact one of our team to discuss any matter which will help them during their time with us.