Volunteer for us: One of the family

Our volunteers bring a wealth of skills and experience that help to support our residents. No matter how much or little time volunteers can give, their generosity makes the world of difference to the veterans in our care.

Please note that our Surbiton Home is not accepting volunteers at the moment.

What can you do?

Whatever your skills, whatever your free time, you can make a difference. From supporting on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, to helping residents get to activities or even attending outings, our volunteers help to make every day special.

What's in it for you?

We provide training and support to help welcome volunteers into our family. They also share in a wide range of exciting activities and outings and learn new skills. Due to current guidance in place, all volunteers are required to be double vaccinated, to participate in regular testing and to wear PPE as directed by staff.

Friendly Companions

Nothing beats a chat over a cuppa… and for our residents, time spent one-to-one with a friendly face or being supported in small groups brings such pleasure.

Just an hour a week talking and sharing puzzles, newspapers, handicrafts or activities makes all the difference to residents wellbeing and keeps them connected to the wider world.

And with their wealth of life experience to share, the benefits are mutual.

We’d hope that Companions can visit once a week for at least six months and become a trusted friend – but many stay much longer.

Wellbeing Assistants

Our Wellbeing Programme focuses on delivering activities and exercise that is person centred and meets the needs of each individual resident. You will be supporting our inhouse team with activities such as music, arts & crafts, quizzes and debating – inspiring our residents to join the fun.

We have a lively activities programme and need volunteers who are happy to support or even to plan and lead their own sessions.

Wellbeing Assistants who may have evening or weekend time to offer are most welcome too.

We hope that our volunteers can commit to running regular sessions for at least six months to become a familiar ‘star turn’ at the Home.

Outings Assistants

Lively, adventurous and engaging, Outings Assistants will accompany our residents on day trips, outings and other activities outside the Home, once it is safe to do so. We don’t anticipate this starting until early 2022.

With a gift for putting people at ease, and a love of exploring, you’ll be supporting staff to take our residents, many of whom use wheelchairs, to garden centres, theatres, parks and pubs – wherever they want to go!

Gifted Gardeners

Help our garden-loving residents to enjoy our beautiful landscaped gardens.

In preparation for Spring 2022, we are seeking any gifted gardeners who can not only support residents with potting and planting but also work independently to assist with planning and maintaining the grounds, the raised beds and greenhouses. We are keen that you register your interest now so we can plan ahead.

If you have three hours a month or more to share your horticultural knowhow, we can guarantee that you’ll reap the rewards of meeting inspirational people while helping to shape our much-loved green spaces.

Occasional Volunteers

If you are happy to lend a hand now and again to support our Homes with specific projects, we’d love to hear from you.

We need volunteers who can help with one-off projects such as external events, clearing the river or giving our gardens a spring clean.

We’d be in touch to invite you to help out as and when we need it, usually for a couple of hours.

There won’t be too much demand on your time and you can pick and choose your projects while doing your bit to support our veteran residents.