The Volunteers' Week 2023 Celebration Event took place on Saturday 3 June in the Arboretum, where 30 organisations came together in the sunshine to celebrate together.
It was a fine, but slightly chilly morning at 8am when the first Nottingham City Council and NCVS team members arrived to set up. The crew from the gazebo company were setting up the rows of stalls, the Portaloos were delivered and very soon the first of the stallholders arrived.
As the day drew on, the sun showed its face and stayed around for the whole day. By 11am, the stalls were full and there was a buzz as volunteers, Leaders of Volunteers, and other organisation staff put the finishing touches to their stalls.
Fun in the Sun
At 11:30am, we were able to sit in the sunshine as young vocalist Lowri Ffion took to the bandstand stage to launch the event with a great 45-minute set of summertime songs. After Lowri had finished, we had a graceful Tai Chi display from members of the Nottingham Chinese Welfare Association.
There were times when it was difficult to get close to the stalls due to the numbers of people around them. There was a lot of networking among organisations, and many members of the public going for a walk or picnic in the Arboretum stopped to look and chat with the stallholders.
At lunchtime, there were groups of volunteers all around the area enjoying picnics, including some from organisations that had decided not to have a stall at the event, but to come along and join in with the festival atmosphere.
One of the culinary highlights of the day was provided by the City Council’s Parks Team along with their Green Guardian Volunteers who provided free jacket potatoes and toppings to all the volunteers and stallholders.
The day provided a great opportunity to meet face to face with people who had only been a face on a screen for the last few years. It was also great to see Leaders of Volunteers from several organisations that didn’t have stalls and a number of City Councillors came along to join in the fun.
By 3pm, when the party ended, most stall holders told us that they had enjoyed the day and had spoken to several potential volunteers.
A request for feedback from all stallholders has gone out, but if you were there and would like to feedback about the event, please contact our Volunteering Development Officer, Dave Thomas with your comments. Email davet@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.
The full list of organisations represented as stallholders:
- Age UK Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
- Base 51
- Carlton Rotary Club
- Clean Champions
- Community Champions
- COVID Vaccination Service
- Empowerment for Heya
- Fareshare
- Friends of Nottingham Arboretum with Friends of the Forest
- Green Guardians
- Groundwork
- Health and Wellbeing Programme
- Improving Lives
- Lifespan and Public Health University of Nottingham
- Literacy Volunteers
- Museums Service
- Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS)
- Nottingham City Libraries
- Nottingham City Parks
- Nottinghamshire Chinese Welfare Association
- POW Nottingham
- Resident Development and Resettlement
- Self Help UK & Macmillan Cancer Support
- Sherwood Exchange and Skills Bank
- Support for Survivors
- Support Me Maternal Project CIC
- Support Through Sport
- Sustrans
- Vanclaron
Thank you to all. The NCVS team is proud to celebrate with you.
