As our initiative to regenerate St. Mary’s into a valuable community asset moves closer to becoming a reality, there are a number of ways that volunteers can become involved in deciding and implementing what is delivered.
We are looking for people to help with the planning of and running promotion for events at St Mary prior to start building work there to create a new event space. You might be a musician, artist, or part of the creative community.
Experienced or not, your enthusiasm and ideas for exciting creative events are what we are looking for!
You will join a small volunteer Events Team formed to plan a future arts programme for St Mary, and be someone who has a little spare time to give, perhaps some experience in the arts, but mostly energy for and interest in our project at St Marys.
What does it involve?
General volunteers
You may want to help out at events with practical skills such as checking tickets, serving refreshments and setting up the venue for specific events.
Planning volunteers
Giving help could mean meeting with a small group perhaps once a month in the evenings, to plan our progress.
We wish to reach out to people of all backgrounds and ages and we are particularly keen to involve local young people who could make such a valuable contribution to future opportunity in the arts here in Devizes.
There will be some preparation and follow-up work outside meetings but this would depend on your media skills and the ability to undertake practical tasks as well.
You may be someone engaged in or considering a degree course in Arts Management or Performing Arts Management who would see this as an opportunity to gain valuable experience.
Find out more
Get in touch with Paul Morgan, Chair of Trustees and Events Co-ordinator via info@stmarydevizestrust.org.uk or call him on 07919 405077.
NOTE:The email link may not open if you use webmail (e.g. gmail) – copy and paste this address into a new email to send us a message.
The benefits of volunteering…
Research reported by happiness.com shows that helping with a local project like ours can be really beneficial to those who volunteer.
Volunteering connects you with others | Working with others from our community is an important – and often fun – way to meet new people. Commit to a shared activity together and connect to people who have common interests and passions and who could go on to become friends. Because volunteering is open to everyone, it allows you to meet a wide variety of people from all sorts of walks of life.
Good for young people (and the not so young) | Research shows that volunteering could be particularly useful and important in boosting the self-esteem and confidence of adolescents who are just starting out on their life journey. Altruistic behaviours may indeed raise teens’ feelings of self-worth and that adolescents who assisted strangers reported higher self-esteem one year later. Research from Carnegie Mellon University found that adults over 50 who volunteered regularly were less likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) compared with non-volunteers.
Volunteers are happier | A study from the London School of Economics examined the relationship between volunteering and happiness in a large group of adults. The more time spent volunteering, the happier people are. Compared with people who never volunteered, the odds of being ‘very happy’ rose seven per cent among those who volunteer monthly and 12 per cent for those who volunteer every two to four weeks.
Expands work prospects | Volunteering experience can be incredibly useful. It shows potential employers that you can take initiative and that you’re willing to give your own time to improve the world for other people. If you are applying for jobs for the first time or looking to get back into work it can be a real bonus to add you voluntary work to your CV.
