Tag: volunteers

Volunteers needed to bring LOVE back to Gorgie Farm!

The new folk at Gorgie City Farm are seeking volunteers to assist in bringing the popular visitor destination back to life, ahead of the farm opening its doors again to the public as LOVE Gorgie Farm on Saturday 29th February. 

LOVE Learning, an education and social care charity that supports vulnerable individuals by using innovative ways to engage them in learning, announced it was taking over the city farm in January after the farm went into liquidation in 2019. 

The charity is now looking for volunteers to help prepare the site in time for its official opening date at the end of the month. Activities for the volunteers will consist of organising and tidying up the site to make it presentable and safe for both the public and the animals. 

Volunteer days will take place from 10 am – 3:30 pm over the course of the next two weekends: 15th, 16th and 22nd, 23rd of February. Volunteers do not have to stay the whole day, even an hour would be great. 

After the site opens its doors to the public it will remain open 7 days a week and will be free for visitors. LOVE Learning intends to keep using the site as a city farm as part of their portfolio of environmental projects. 

In addition, LOVE Gorgie Farm will procure educational services to vulnerable children through animal and forest therapy.

It will also provide a range of professional apprenticeships and Scottish Qualifications Authority awarded qualifications, as well as organise social prescribing and wellbeing therapies in partnership with the NHS.

Lynn Bell, CEO of LOVE Learning, said: “We are delighted to have taken responsibility for Gorgie City Farm. LOVE Learning know how treasured and important the site is for the community and we want to bring this back to the people of Edinburgh as soon as possible. 

“We are asking anyone that might have been involved with Gorgie City Farm in the past, may have a fond childhood memory of the farm or that simply wants to come and give us a hand to contact us ahead of the opening. 

“There is a lot of work to get done prior to opening the farm doors on the 29th of February and the local community, businesses and volunteers will be key for the farm to thrive and achieve its full potential. 

“After we get the farm up and running on the 29th we will put in place volunteer activities for those looking to continue to be involved with our LOVE Gorgie Farm project going forward.” 

Volunteers are advised to bring lunch and wear old clothes and mud resistant boots!

Anyone looking to volunteer should contact LOVE Learning at

 Gorgie@l-o-v-e.org.uk

Could you help someone when they are most in need?

The Royal Air Forces Association, which supports the wellbeing of RAF veterans, serving personnel and their dependants, needs more befrienders and caseworkers to meet growing demand for its services. 

While volunteers are sought across Scotland, the greatest need is in the Central Belt, including the Edinburgh and Glasgow areas, where many RAF veterans and their spouses have settled in their retirement.

The charity’s Director of Welfare and Policy, Rory O’Connor, said beneficiaries’ needs ranged from requiring help to fill out forms for hardship grants to seeking a friend to talk with on a regular basis.

Rory said: “Sometimes we help people with more complex situations, so all our volunteers are fully trained to be able to offer, or signpost to, the appropriate help.” 

One of the charity’s volunteers, George Prentice, of Eyemouth, was able to use his RAF Association caseworker training to make a real difference to a couple who found themselves in a seemingly impossible situation.

George went to the aid of ex-pats Tina and John Wren as they were trying to come to terms with news that John needed an urgent triple heart bypass. 

RAFA

George (above (centre) with Tina and John) said: “That news would be scary enough for anyone, but it was made worse by the fact that John’s diagnosis came while the couple were on a short visit to their native Scotland – a long way from their home in Malta!” 

John, an Army retiree, had collapsed with a heart attack while watching a football match at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, and was resuscitated at the scene.

Having only been prepared to stay in Scotland for a few weeks, John and Tina, a former RAF Aircraftwoman, suddenly found themselves in need of local accommodation and financial support.

Tina’s service with the RAF meant that she and John were eligible for Association support, so the charity passed on the couple’s call for help to George.

Retired RAF Corporal George visited them in the hospital where John was being treated, and quickly got to grips with the situation.

He swiftly enlisted support from the charity’s Malta and Edinburgh branches to help the couple relocate their lives back to their native Scotland. He also applied on their behalf for funding from other military charities.

George, who subsequently received a British Empire Medal for his charity work over many years, helped the couple to find accommodation in Stirling, where Tina was able to care for John during his long recovery.

Tina said: “Our lives were turned upside down that summer almost three years ago, but, thanks to George and the RAF Association, we’re now back on track. 

“John’s heart attack, major surgery and recovery was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to live through, so I don’t know what I’d have done without the help of an RAF Association volunteer.”

The RAF Association has approximately 1,000 welfare volunteers from a range of backgrounds throughout the UK. While many are retired, some are working-aged, and usually give two or more hours a week. A military background is not necessary to become a volunteer.

More information for anyone interested in volunteering to become either a caseworker, like George, or an RAF Association befriender, is available at: https://www.rafa.org.uk/volunteer/ 

Childline counsels rising number of children about sexual exploitation

 

  • Childline Annual Review 2018/19 released
  • 12 counselling sessions a day with children who’ve been groomed & forced into sexual activity
  • More than 200 contacts from children in Scotland about this issue in 2018/19
  • Charity calls for teacher training on improved personal and social education
  • Other major concerns include: mental health issues, family relationships & suicidal thoughts

Childline’s annual report has revealed the service carried out on average 12 counselling sessions every day in 2018/19 with children who have been sexually exploited. 

The NSPCC’s round-the-clock service delivered 4,500 counselling sessions – up 16 per cent from the previous year – to children and young people, the youngest aged nine, who were coerced or forced into sexual activity. More than 200 of these contacts were from children living in Scotland, which was a 28% increase from the previous year.

In more than a third of counselling sessions young people disclosed they were targeted online – usually through social media or video games – often by their peers or people known to them.

Most commonly children received help from Childline because they were forced to perform or watch sexual acts or had been persuaded into sending naked images or videos of themselves – some were threatened with the images being told they would be shared with friends and family.

In the total number of counselling sessions about sexual abuse (8,841) exploitation featured in more than half.

Young people told Childline their experience with sexual exploitation also included receiving affection or gifts in exchange for sexual activities.

To help address the problem the NSPCC is calling on the Scottish Government to provide proper training to teachers so they can deliver effective and relevant lessons about healthy relationships, consent and sex; and support young people to get help from a trusted adult.

One 15-year-old girl told a counsellor she was feeling suicidal after being sexually exploited by a gang of boys:

“I never thought I would ever be the sort of person who could be sexually exploited.  One day I met up with some boys and they made me feel worth something. It started off small, complimenting me, stroking my hair. One day one of them started kissing me so I pushed him away and said no, but he wouldn’t stop.

“I ended up having sex with him because I was scared about what would happen if I said no. This pattern continued between the gang. I didn’t see a problem with it until school found out and told me what was happening was a crime.”

The Childline Annual Review also shows the biggest jump – up a quarter – in the amount of 16-18 year olds receiving counselling for sexual exploitation.

An 18-year-old girl revealed to Childline:

“When I was younger I kept going online to talk to people mainly because I felt so alone.  Some older guys started chatting to me and I sent nude pictures and videos of myself to them. I got compliments and didn’t know how to say no.

“Most of them knew I was just 13 and some of them threatened to post the pictures online if I didn’t send more. I feel sick just thinking about it and feel so insecure about this all coming back to haunt me.”

Matt Forde, National Head of Service for NSPCC Scotland, said: “Sadly, we are hearing from young people every day who are being manipulated or blackmailed into carrying out sexual acts. For many this impacts on their mental health and leaves them feeling isolated from the people closest to them. Some turn to self-harm, alcohol or substance misuse as ways of coping with their experiences.

“Everyone must be prepared to confront this problem, from government right through to schools, parents, professionals, and us at Childline. Earlier this year, the Scottish Government made 16 recommendations after reviewing personal and social education in its schools.

“It needs to now ensure that when these recommendations are implemented, teachers are confident to deliver the improved messages. Childline needs to recruit more volunteers to make sure they can be there for every child who needs our help, at all times of day and night.”

Scotland embraces annual ‘Poppy Day’

Thousands of volunteers took to the streets across the country yesterday to collect for the 2019 Scottish Poppy Appeal.

A day before Remembrance Sunday, it was one of the last opportunities for the Scottish public to pick up a poppy and make a donation to help support the country’s Armed Forces community. Continue reading Scotland embraces annual ‘Poppy Day’

Briggs praises work of Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations

Lothian MSP Miles Briggs has praised the work of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) in supporting charities, social enterprises and Voluntary groups to make Scotland a better place.

The SCVO promotes voluntary organisations and lobby the Scottish Government on their behalf.

To celebrate 20 years of the voluntary sector and the Scottish Parliament working together SCVO have published a book, “Charities, Scotland & Holyrood, Twenty Years Delivering Change”. You can find an electronic copy of the book here.

Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP, said: “The voluntary sector in Scotland plays a huge role in communities up and down the country.

“Thousands of volunteers give their time and money to help a range of excellent causes that make a huge difference to peoples life.

“The SCVO do an exceptional job speaking on behalf of volunteers in Scotland and this new book aptly celebrate the working relationship between the Scottish Parliament and the voluntary sector over the last 20 years.”

Charities-Scotland-Holyrood-Twenty-Years-Delivering-Change

Can you help ‘lead’ the way in canine welfare as a rescue dog volunteer?

Local Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in West Calder is looking for volunteers to come onboard and lend a paw to help the canine residents in their care. The team has a number of volunteering roles to be filled, which includes canine care assistants and volunteer receptionists. Continue reading Can you help ‘lead’ the way in canine welfare as a rescue dog volunteer?