The weather was beautiful last week as we gathered at Headington Hill Hall for the monthly Volunteer Coordinators Forum. Maya Patel from Oxford Brookes had kindly offered to host and provided a lovely lunch, location, and atmosphere for the event.

We were joined by over 30 people who are all looking after volunteers in one way or another. Some were volunteers themselves, others paid. They represented organisations of all sizes and types.

Maya opened the formal part of our meeting with a presentation of her role as the Volunteer Coordinator at Brookes, and all the support and encouragement students are given to volunteer. She talked about their events, experiences and opportunities which the group found really interesting.

I gave an update from my role covering training, news, conversations, and OCVA updates. We then went round the room making introductions and sharing our roles and goals.

Lastly more time for networking and connecting, it was clear that the introductions led to an avalanche of connections, shared goals, plans to attend each other’s events or hear more from others.

A big thank you to Maya and her team who hosted us and provided such a great opportunity to connect and share.

If you haven’t been to the forum yet please do sign up and come along. We meet monthly, mainly on Zoom with face to face meetings across the county.

Jenny Bowley

Volunteering Development Officer