NCT Shefford & Villages branch revival

Volunteering opportunities in Shefford & Villages

We would like to invite you to a meeting to revive the local branch

We don’t have a team of volunteers and we now need a new team of members. We need to ensure that Shefford & Villages branch can continue to offer support and friendship to those in the First 1,000 Days in Arlesey, Henlow, Henlow Camp, Lower Stondon, Upper Stondon, Shefford, Clifton, Meppershall, Campton, Chicksands, Beadlow and Deadman's Cross. The larger the team, the lighter the workload. Volunteering is fun, allows you to use your experience and gain new skills, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping the NCT make a difference for parents.

For the immediate future, we think the branch needs to focus on what is really essential and then add the “nice to haves”. These ideas are based on the Branch Charter. We’re a branch with 83 members, so we should be able to find:

• Branch coordinator/Chair: who coordinates the work of the Branch committee or team, leads and develops the committee or team as a group, and is the principal link between the Branch and other parts of NCT
• Treasurer: who provides financial information necessary for the Branch committee/team to manage the Branch’s finances, keeps the Branch’s accounts up to date and prepares annual accounts
• Membership coordinator: who welcomes those getting in touch with the Branch (either directly or through other NCT channels) and encourages involvement and membership, keeps in touch with members and encourages renewals
• Parent support coordinator: who coordinates parent support activities and responds to enquiries from local parents, putting them in touch with Branch activities and services meeting their needs
• PSA Link: who is the link between the branch team and the antenatal courses

Ideally, we would also like to have:

• Bumps and Babies Coordinator: who works with the Parent Support Coordinator to run a Bumps & Babies Group.
• Nearly New Sale Coordinator: who puts together a team and works with them to organise our Nearly New Sales. There is a guide to assist in this - the Branch Guide to Nearly New Sales
• Newsletter Editor: who gathers interesting articles and edits them into our local bulletin for members
• Newsletter Advertising Coordinator: who works with the editor to sell advertising to companies/individuals offering services of interest to our readership and help cover the newsletter’s costs
• Publicity Officer: who develops relationships with the local media, writes and places press releases and helps publicise the local NCT
• Branch Webmaster: who develops and keeps up to date our branch pages on www.nct.org.uk so parents know who we are and how to access our activities (again there is a Branch Guide to help you do this)

So, are you interested in meeting people, working in a team, helping new parents get established in their new role? Do you have a background in administration, customer services, finance or accounting, information technology or databases, copywriting, marketing, the media or the web? Or would you like to develop some of these skills? If so, there is definitely a role for you! And a friend - all the roles can be organised as job-shares.

Claire Shadbolt, regional teams facilitator, will be available to support you in building a new team for Shefford & Villages and will be here to offer you guidance and support. In addition, East of England region will be holding a training day in the spring for volunteers from all over the region, so you’ll be able to attend training workshops and network with other branches to share ideas and good practice.

We hope therefore that you will attend on 11th September to find out more and to join the new team. Please let us know you are attending to make sure we have enough refreshments. If you are unable to attend but still want to help, please get in touch.

Thank you for reading this and see you on the 11th September!