Have you noticed Rotary volunteers contributing to community events around Bromley Borough? You may be surprised to learn that aside from supporting the work of local charities in the borough, the organisation also has a truly global reach. Rotary is one of the world's largest humanitarian organisations, operating in over 200 countries with a worldwide membership of around 1.4 million people.

The charity’s key international focus areas include fighting disease, promoting peace, providing clean water, maternal and child health, supporting education, growing local economies and supporting the environment.

Supporting causes at the local community level enables Rotary to focus on delivering action on its wider goals. It does this through identifying areas of most need, then collaborating with local charities to help address these needs. So if you are looking for a way to give back or perhaps to contribute as part of your employers’ corporate social responsibility then this may just be the ticket for you. Giving back whilst having fun and creating friendships!

Rotary is always keen to welcome enthusiastic new volunteers and members and, for the would-be contributor, if you are intrigued about how to connect with various causes, there’s no shortage of local clubs to get involved in. The borough is currently home to eight different clubs, each covering specific areas such as Bromley, Beckenham, Chislehurst, Langley Park, Orpington, Orpington Crofton, Ravensbourne and West Wickham.

So what’s it like to be a volunteer? We spoke to Assistant District Governor, Christine Atkinson who initially got involved as a volunteer in support of the charity’s “End Polio Now” campaign:

“My mother had Polio, so to me the opportunity to support the End Polio Now campaign was really important. That was the big hook for me. But the other thing I value about Rotary is you’re not joining one charity. Within Rotary you’re working for hundreds of different charities and if your club isn’t working in your area of interest then you can explore what other Clubs have to offer and get involved there” 

The strength of the organisation is in its ability to utilise this global network of clubs to identify and react quickly to changing local, national or international circumstances and needs. This can mean providing speedy humanitarian response to unfolding crisis as Christine explains:

“We’re now working with clubs in Ukraine and Moldova. We’re helping them at the moment as they go into winter with snow and without light and heat.  We have set up a Task Force and amongst other activities are providing shelter and generators as well as much needed medical equipment, whilst at the same time supporting Ukrainians that have arrived in Bromley. You just don’t know from one day to the next what you’re going to be involved in. We will be out very quickly sometimes, something happens, a disaster somewhere in the world that will happen maybe on Wednesday and by Saturday we’re on the streets talking with the public and giving them a channel to contribute to issues as they unfold. It’s high profile.

Another excellent benefit is that once you join Rotary you can visit any other Club in the world to experience that global hand of friendship. You join a local club but why not visit a Club in Hawaii, Sydney or Singapore etc and meet friends you didn’t know you had”

Denise Meade-Hill recently became a Rotarian and is now Chair of Bromley Rotary Passport Club. This new associate club caters to those who can’t meet every week, often whilst working, but who would still like to find a way of contributing within their local community.

“There’s so much scope for cooperating with lots of different charities or lots of different causes. There is something for everyone and there are many opportunities to bring your vocational skills into a setting where you know that they’re going to be used.  Volunteering can support your own personal and professional development.

Denise also offered some advice to anyone thinking of volunteering:

“I would say sign up. Give it a go. Keep an open mind. You just never know what might be out there waiting for you. There’s something for everyone whether you wish to help behind the scenes or you are interested in doing something more high profile. It all helps to raise the flag for Rotary. “

Every day, volunteers across the borough are making a positive difference within our community and transforming lives. If you’ve been inspired to get involved in the work of Rotary contact us to find out more by emailing rotarynorthbynorthwest@gmail.com.

Bundna Jaswal is a trustee at The Maypole Project in Orpington which provides a wide range of support to children with complex medical needs and their families, from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. This includes counselling, inclusive activities and play therapy. These services are aimed at promoting mental well-being, alleviating feelings of isolation and bringing some much-needed support and fun for families when they need it most. The charity currently has a team of five trustees and is keen to welcome new applicants who share their vision.

Q; What is involved in your role as a trustee?

“As a trustee my responsibilities are to provide oversight and governance to ensure that the Maypole Project continues to offer its services in an environment with a continually increased level of need. Also it’s to ensure the organisation is being led in the best interest of the families and children it is serving as well as being responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity, which includes financial governance, ensuring the charity is running as effectively and efficiently as possible and ensuring it’s compliant with the relevant legislation.”

Q; What do you enjoy about this role?

“I love the satisfaction I get by contributing to supporting a charity with such an amazing purpose and Impact to children with these long-term complex medical needs.”

Q; What are the key skills /attributes needed for the role of trustee?

“We need someone who is proactive, having some sort of change governance experience is beneficial. Also someone who is curious and not afraid to challenge and speak up. We need someone who is willing to input into the decisions needed to run an organisation, have good relationship management skills, can commit time and energy to the project and is capable of collaborating and seeing the bigger picture.” 

Q; Is the role of trustee open to all skillsets?

“I think so, if you think about the different types of skills that would benefit a charity board like people with financial backgrounds, people with direct experience with children with complex medical needs, people with legal experience regulatory experience, change management experience or any sort of governance experience can all play a major role and contribute as a trustee.”

Q; What would you say to anyone thinking of volunteering their time as a trustee?

“I would say it’s a very rewarding experience as you do get to give back and contribute to some amazing causes. Also you do learn a lot of key skills that you can take to other parts of your life.  Plus the networking is all beneficial.” 

Janet Tibbalds is Chair of trustees at Community Links Bromley. The organisation represents and supports the voluntary sector within the borough and aspires to help develop skills, raise funds, and ensure that voluntary organisations operate effectively and with good governance. The seven strong team of trustees are always keen to welcome new members who share their enthusiasm and vision.

Q: Why did you decide to become a trustee?

“I have a sort of motto, which is, ‘to each according to his needs, from each according to his ability’ and I suppose on evidence I’m arrogant enough to think that I have the ability to contribute. And there are plenty of people in Bromley, directly or indirectly who have a need and so I want to be able to contribute to them, to their welfare and wellbeing.”

Q: What do you enjoy about being a trustee?

“Well, just being able to contribute ideas to help to improve the performance of the charity and to make Bromley in the long term a better, fairer place to live in.”

Q: Who can become a trustee and what skills do they need?

“We want a range of people with experience, management experience, obviously some with finance experience. It’s good to have someone with HR experience because there will be times at which HR issues arise and you want to monitor how the charity’s handling them. Business development experience, people who’ve developed companies and jobs themselves who know about the sort of things you have to take into consideration when you’re planning and developing. People who are good at communicating, publicising your charity to make people stand up and take an interest.”

Q: What would you say to anyone thinking of volunteering their time as a trustee?

“Do it. If you commit yourself to it, in an organisation where you think you can provide something which will benefit the group you’re interested in or the community or whatever? It’s very rewarding.” “You are doing something which is worthwhile and benefit’s a lot of people.” 

If you are interested in finding trustee roles or any other volunteering roles in general - why not search our Volunteering Platform for ideas and inspiration of ways you can volunteer. 

For further information about getting involved in volunteering in Bromley - contact Fay Millen

It’s that time of the year again and as part of national Trustees’ Week celebrations, Community Links Bromley is showcasing the work and achievements of some of the borough’s many charity trustees.

We spoke to Ian Dawson - Chair of the trustee board for BVST, who told us about his role and why he volunteered as a trustee?

“I’m retired, so there’s a lot of time and there’s only so much daytime TV you can watch. So you still want to do something productive and you’ve got so much skills and experience.” “I’ve worked in financial services for forty something years, so I understand numbers and figures and projections and budgets and how important they are. And it’s actually great to be able to put that all into practice in the real world and make a real difference.”

Q: So, what does a trustee do?

“A trustee is a director of a company and we are a limited company and we also are a registered charity. So every trustee we have is a director and is responsible for and can provide input to our long term plans. We have a 5 year plan and we set a budget every year. “

“In a charity you can see the real big picture because you’re dealing with real issues, where spending three or four hundred pounds is important as opposed to in a big company sometimes where things are spent, thousands of pounds but you never actually see what they’re doing, you never actually see the end result. In a charity you actually get to spend real money, make real decisions that have a real effect and a real impact on people’s lives. So it’s actually more important I would suggest and a lot more satisfying than perhaps working for a large company.”

Q: Is the role of trustee open to different skill sets?

“Charities always need new people, we’ve got people who’ve got a marketing background or HR background. We’ve got a couple of solicitors on the board, someone who was a teacher. So yes, any skills in life.” “It’s a proper team, all different skills coming together. If everybody is financially based then all you get is attention to detail or numbers and you don’t get enough about raising money or marketing yourselves. So different skills are vital.”

Q: What does a typical day look like for you?

“There isn’t a typical day. It is very different. You’re basically a member of the board of directors. You’re responsible for big picture decisions. Not interfering in day to day management of the charity but you’re responsible for steering the charity towards key objectives and particular objectives whether it’s to raise money to buy something or to survive, or to keep more money in the bank.”

Q: What are the main challenges that you face as a trustee in achieving your objectives for the charity?

“Just the uncontrollable elements really such as COVID and the financial situation in the big wide world which has massive effects on us as you’d expect. Energy costs now are a huge part of where we spend our money.” “Most other things you can control or predict with a degree of certainty but it’s the uncontrollable that are problems and you just have to be aware that they will happen and therefore have either money in the bank or a plan that’s flexible enough to be able to adapt.”

Q What would you say to anyone thinking of volunteering as a trustee?

“You’ve got to be switched on by the aims of the charity initially and then go and talk to someone to find out what they’re looking for? I’m sure they’d be looking for skills that people have got and time obviously. The skills that you pick up from work will be used in your charity work and vice versa and you’ll come out of it as a much better employee and manager and a better person.”

Q: Does it take up a lot of your time?

“Volunteering is a wonderful thing, it can take up as much time as you want it to.”

“Some people have got very very busy jobs. Perhaps they could only give up a couple of hours a week but a couple of hours a week every week is a lot. There are different volunteering roles on trustee boards. We’ve got some of our trustees that give up a lot of time because they’ve got it, some that haven’t; they can’t give up much time but they’ve got a lot of experience and skills because of the particular jobs that they do, so they’re just as valuable.”     

If this article has inspired you to want to find out more about becoming a trustee, why not check out Community Links Bromley's On-line volunteering portal (Simply Connect Bromley).  We have a number of trustee roles available across Bromley.

"Growing up I longed to be a special needs teacher, however having done my work experience at a special needs school, I decided I would get too emotionally involved, and changed career paths, quite dramatically... 23 years of office work later, and unfortunately not being able to have my own children, I knew I wanted to get involved in doing something that some purpose.  I've previously been a volunteer for the National Autistic Society as a Befriender in my 20's, which was a wonderful life experience, and I also volunteered at a night shelter for Robes, the homeless charity.  When Covid hit, unfortunately I was unable to continue with the homeless charity, once we returned to "normal" life, I knew I needed to look for something where I could give back.  I found Community Links online and uploaded my details (which was very easy), I then looked a few positions that might suit my skills and attributes.  I applied for Magpie Dance, because I have been aware for many years of the great work they do for people with learning disabilities.  A few other charities reached out to me, but unfortunately I didn't think that my skills/time constraints would be suited. 

Magpie contacted me and I had a video call with them to discuss my background and what I was looking for.  Initially I didn't I would be able to give every Saturday to them, so I offered to help wherever I could, in the office giving my admin skills and helping out on rehearsals and show days.  I was asked to attend a Saturday session for the 3 slots they offer to the dancers just to see what Magpie was about, and it was magical.  I totally fell in love with everyone there.  When I came home and told all my loved ones about it, I lit up from the inside.  One of my friends commented, she'd never seen me so animated in the time she'd known me.  And thats when I made the decision that if it made me so happy, that's self care in itself and I would make the commitment the Dancers needed each week.  

I started with Magpie in May 22, and help out at the Junior sessions.  We developed our dance over the coming weeks, to build up to a finale show in July.  And what show it was!  The Dancers were incredible (as were the staff and the musicians), and as you can see from the smile on my face, it was probably one of the best days of my life. 

I often wonder if I'm selfish getting so much out of it, seeing as I'm meant to be the one giving as the volunteer.  I am equally as happy to see the Dancers as they are to see me every week.  Even as I type now, I have the biggest smile on my face thinking about it.  Magpie really is my happy place. 

Having a platform like Community Links Bromley, really helps people find the right match for volunteering posts, so am grateful that it exists!"

- Ronié