| Good morning everyone. |
| I'm Steve Wainwright from Elmley Town Council |
| and I organise the town's volunteer scheme. |
| I'm delighted you're all interested in joining the scheme. |
| Our volunteers help to create a sense of community among the many people who live in our historic town of Elmley |
| and make residents and visitors feel welcome at local events. |
| Eh... first, I'll mention just a few of the activities that volunteers carry out. |
| One is to walk around the town centre streets wearing our volunteer T-shirt. |
| Tourists often ask how to get to a particular shop, |
| and they might also be grateful for recommendations about what to visit. |
| The town holds a large number of concerts each year |
| and part of the volunteers' role is to get everyone in the audience to the right place as smoothly as possible. |
| You'd be surprised how many people buy tickets, then don't check them, and head for the wrong section of the hall. |
| Volunteers may get involved with community groups, |
| such as sports clubs or gardeners' associations. |
| Here, the volunteers talk about how groups can help each other. |
| For instance, a writing group might want to travel to another town to hear a talk by a well-known author, |
| but may not know that another club has a coach they could travel in. |
| The town produces a monthly magazine, |
| and anyone who lives in the town can send in articles. |
| It's free to residents and is paid for by local businesses. |
| That's the responsibility of the council's advertising department. |
| We depend on volunteers, though, to find out what people think of events they've attended |
| and any suggestions they have for the future. |
| The volunteers then send a summary to the editors. |
| There are a number of clubs for retired people |
| and every year the council arranges lunch for all the members. |
| The volunteers welcome the guests |
| and when everyone's sitting down and relaxing after the meal, some volunteers put on a show. |
| Usually around half an hour of songs and short plays, |
| the club members really welcome the chance to chat to the volunteers at these events. |
| The town council has a website, of course, |
| and volunteers are asked to help by making sure residents know about it. |
| It's updated every day with information about future activities |
| and we want as many people as possible to use it. |
| Okay, now you know some of the things our volunteers do, |
| I'll go on to some practical matters. |
| As you probably know, |
| the town arranges three major festivals every year, |
| and they all depend on a large number of volunteers. |
| The book festival lasts three days, and uses several venues which all need volunteers. |
| More are needed for the music festival because that lasts a whole week, |
| and even more help is required for the science festival, |
| even though it's only two days long. |
| It involves quite a lot of venues, though. |
| It's a good idea to help at the festival you're most interested in, |
| because you can attend most of the events for free. |
| We try to use volunteers who are flexible, though, because... |
| some festival events are held outdoors and the weather may affect the size of the audience. |
| And even whether the event can take place so there can be changes at short notice. |
| What's essential, though, is being able to get on well with other people |
| and also to deal with someone who's behaving badly, as occasionally happens. |
| Our plan is to get you all working in September, |
| after a week's training starting on the 2nd, |
| so we'll be timetabling you for duties the following week from the 9th onward. |
| Later, in the week beginning September 23rd, |
| we have a chat with each of you to find out how you feel about being a volunteer |
| and what extra support you need. |
| As a thank you to the volunteers, we arrange an annual event. |
| In recent years we've had a party in the Town Hall |
| and last year a barbecue in Chamber Park. |
| Our forthcoming event is a trip along the canal from here to Dewhurst and back. |
| It's on Saturday, September the 28th. |
| And if you'd like to attend, you can sign up once you start work. |
| Now, this is the Volunteer's T-shirt... |