Volunteering with Adults
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Volunteer
Volunteering with Adults
Do you want to help support adults with learning disabilities in your local community?
Look no further, we have all the opportunities you could imagine! From weekly clubs to special events and day trips, even holidays.
Volunteering with Keynsham Mencap is a second-to-none experience when it comes to making a real difference to your own and other people’s lives.
We run 5 clubs each week for adults and while there is a paid Team Leader and often a Deputy responsible for each club they could not run without our dedicated volunteers.
A summary of each club is below and you’ll find more details of the fun you’ll have and what’s expected of our volunteers on the individual club pages.
You can volunteer for one club or several clubs and we can be flexible if you can’t make it every week. We just ask that you let us know your availability so we can plan. The clubs for adults are all based in Keynsham (Postcode BS31).
Opportunities available
Club25 (Thursday)
Rather than watching Eastenders how about helping out at our Club25 social club? It runs every Thursday evening in Keynsham and could be the highlight of your week as well as many of our members.
There is an exciting programme of events that is different every week and members choose to take part in either in-club activities or go on the external trip in the mini bus. View an example programme.
Volunteers dancing at 18+ Club nightOh and there is often music which is a cue for spontaneous dancing. It helps if you can either do “dad dancing” or “dance like no-one is watching” as demonstrated by volunteers Niall and Toby who can do both!
So what would you actually be doing at club, apart from occasional dancingA spontaneous conga line of members and volunteers (which is optional of course)? Volunteers are needed to help support members taking part in activities such as crafts, themed nights eg Easter, Christmas, Halloween, discos, circus skills, movie night, drumming, also running the tuck shop and helping clear up at the end of the evening.
Volunteers also go on the external trips – for example, to the pub, bowling, for a meal, crazy golf, Bath Christmas market, campfire in the woods, ice cream parlour etc – so there will be lots of variety in what you do.
Opportunities available
Go Explore Club (Wednesday)
Every third week there is a trip out into the community to do something such as a meal out or trampolining.
Opportunities available
Fitness Club (Monday)
Opportunities available
Football Club (Tuesday)
Opportunities available
Boccia Club (Tuesday)
You don’t need to be particularly sporty or active to volunteer, just a willingness to get involved and a positive attitude!
Why volunteer
Why you might want to volunteer with Adults
Career
Relevant and rewarding experience for your career choice
CV
Volunteering can be a great addition to your CV
We Need you!
Keynsham Mencap relies on volunteers to continue supporting local children.
Rewarding
Choose to do something useful with your spare time instead of watching TV
Smiles!
Simply putting a smile on a child’s face is thrilling
Learn
Learn some new skills such as driving a mini bus or learning sign language
Challenge Yourself
Fancy a challenge? Its possible you may do things you’ve not done before
Social
Meet new and interesting people, both members and volunteers
Get involved
So what do you need to do to get involved?
Other opportunities
We also have other opportunites available
Other opportunities
Day trips and special events
Could you help us by volunteering for day trips and special events
These are one off events that can be on weekend days or evenings in the week and they tend to look something like this:
- Christmas Dinner – staff at our regular venue even ask to work the night we are there!
- Theatre trips – our members are big fans of musical theatre so we often fill a 52 seater coach to go to the Hippodrome
- Millfield School – a wonderful day each year where Millfield students put on 50+ activities for people with learning disabilities in the South West. Its very well managed indeed
- Shindigs – a festival for people with learning disabilities that debuted in 2017, we hope it will continue
This is just an example of the extra events that Keynsham Mencap run for our members. These events cannot happen without volunteers so come on, get involved.
Other opportunities
Holidays
3 or 4 times a year, between June and September, we take members on holiday usually in the South West either for a week or a long weekend. Its a fantastic opportunity for members to experience more independence, hang out with their friends and have oodles of fun.
For volunteers its an opportunity to really get to know members better and make a huge contribution to this special occasion. Its not a relaxing holiday for volunteers as we’d be kidding if we let you think it was restful however its possibly the most rewarding of all our opportunities.
Did you watch the holiday video above? Could you see yourself in those volunteer’s shoes?
Testimonials
See what other volunteers have to say
Georgia
Charlotte
Knowing that by volunteering I am helping put smiles on people’s faces is very rewarding. Gaining balance in my life and a sense of perspective that makes me appreciate what I have and know that with very little effort I can create joy in other people’s lives. I enjoy driving the bus and knowing that helps Mencap to have that skill. I also love the holidays which is like a mega volunteering session. Its an opportunity to really get to know members better and understand the challenges they face. Its also great to see them having so much fun.
Kath