Volunteers Week 2025

Volunteers’ Week Monday 2nd June – Sunday 8th June is a UK wide celebration of all volunteers recognising the contributions of people who volunteer their time and expertise to organisations across the country.

“Launched in 1984, this initiative has been running for over 40 years, providing organisations and communities a platform to thank current and past volunteers for their invaluable efforts” VolunteersWeek.org/about 

Now in its 40th year, this campaign to highlight the contribution of volunteers has never been so needed as times get ever challenge for all charities and organisations. 

In 2024/25 Age UK Sutton fully embraced our volunteer programme with a refreshed ambition to develop and improve existing practices, we successfully achieved the Investors In Volunteering accreditation, which was presented to the team by Leader of the Council Barry Lewis in March at the Oru Town Hall in a celebration event attended by many of our volunteers. 

We celebrated all 70+ active volunteers at the event, with awards and special recognition for Acts of Kindness, Making A Difference, Age Friendly, Unsung Hero and Ray of Sunshine awards, alongside all volunteer receiving a special Age UK Sutton pin to congratulate on the length of service, Bronze, Silver and Gold for those who have volunteered for longer than  5 years of which there were 9 individuals with a combined length of service 82 years! 

We also thanked our wonderful Trustee’s who are also volunteers, we gave special recognition to our outgoing Chair Jan Samuels who will remain on the board, whilst welcoming existing Trustee Zoe Lelliot to her new role as Chair from April 2025, and Vice Chair Chrisha Alagaratnam. 

Volunteering In Action – 2024-2025 

We developed new roles as well as made improvements to some of our more traditional roles; we now have a collection of roles for people to choose what suits their skills and interests and we believe there truly is something for everyone who would like to get involved. From “micro-volunteering” options such as Reception Volunteer, regular roles that require just an hour a week such as Walk & Talk Volunteers, to roles in our Welcome & Information team, supporting our busy helpline that took over 8,500 incoming calls last year!  

A new role last year was our Digital Champion role, which required people with digital skills and confidence to share this with those who are not so confident in the Digital world, working on a 121 basis or within a group setting we have reached many people to support with Digital Inclusion.  

Volunteers had opportunities to attend social events, including the Age UK Concert, Pot Luck Lunches, as well formal and informal training and development of their skills, alongside being invited to the Volunteer Thank You Award event.  

We feel so proud of our Volunteer Programme and could not be more grateful to all the wonderful people we get to meet who join as volunteers and become friends of Age UK Sutton. We truly couldn’t make the difference we do without each and every one of them!  

This Volunteer week, we’ll be saying thank you, celebrating everyone who gives up their time, we’ll be having a Potluck Lunch (likely in the office meeting room rather than the park as planned if the weather was good!) and sharing stories from our volunteers, what makes them motivated and why Age UK Sutton is the charity they choose to support with their time. Watch out on our socials Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates!  

A really big Thank you, from your Volunteering Team at Age UK Sutton  

Author of article: Michelle Blagrove, Community Services Director