On 6 June 2025, Volunteer Centre Sutton marked 60 years of service with a celebration at Sutton Central Library, uniting staff, volunteers, partners, and the community to honour its lasting impact.

This report—based on insights from over 100 local organisations—explores funding challenges, collaboration opportunities, and how we can build a stronger, more connected sector.

We share the responses from CAMHS, School nurses and a local MP to the three questions posed by young people on mental health in schools and share some tools to help.

The Young Commissioners work closely with the Met Police and the council safety teams on a number of projects including helping with Child Sexual Exploitation awareness week, street safety, Met Police Updates and creating a newsletter to communicate the key police news to schools. Please help share this newsletter with young people you know.

The Ukrainian teenagers celebrate one year of gathering on a regular basis to connect together and have some fun. We marked this occasion with an unforgettable day at the Trampoline Park.

The first Sutton Youth Board for this year was held at Sutton Central Library on Thursday 13th March. A new format was devised to give even more power to young people including creating the content and leading the session.

Volunteer Centre Sutton will receive further funding for this project from Sutton Council's Cost of Living Fund. To date, we have supported over 370 residents and helped secure successful claims worth over £462,000.

Anna, also known as Queen of Manor Park and associated fairs, is a familiar face in Sutton. She volunteers across several areas and is a great example for International Women’s Day in March.

Join us for a Concert of Commemoration as we mark the 3rd anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

For February and Valentine's Day, we are sharing the stories of a couple who volunteer. Andrea and John are well known faces around our borough who help in numerous way and are a real inspiration.

How health and wellness checks can pick up concerning high levels of blood pressure, and can identify potentially life-threatening conditions.

Sutton’s Ukrainian Community brings joyful traditions to the festive season through celebrations and performances.

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve been able to deliver thoughtful gifts and gestures to those who need them most.

To round up this year of amazing volunteer stories, we spoke to some of the amazing MERU Christmas elves who transform toys to bring joy to disabled children and young people this Christmas.

By purchasing tickets through our unique link for the match on Saturday 21st December, you will help to raise vital funds towards our charity work.

The Hong Kong Group Volunteering Project, run by Volunteer Centre Sutton from September to November 2024, has been a huge success with 112 participants registered.

For Trustees’ Week this November, we asked Vaskor, one of our Volunteer Centre Sutton trustees, to share his story.

A group of teenagers from our local Hong Konger community joined our Ukrainian Teenagers Saturday Club for fun, games, snacks and bonding over their experiences of moving to Sutton.

Our annual gathering for young people aged 11-25 years old was a bustling spectacular. We were blown away to have over 400 registrations and over 220 people checked in on the day!

Our Health Navigator Volunteers joined colleagues from Volunteer Centre Sutton and NHS South West London to celebrate the achievements of the project to date, including providing over 2,500 free health and wellbeing checks since May 2023.

Our Benefits Form Filling Volunteers, trained by Citizens Advice Sutton, have supported over 250 residents and helped secure successful claims worth over £250,000 to date!

October marks another Sutton Soup, as Peter Struik had the limelight in July, we’ve asked Jeff Richards, another “serial volunteer” to share his story to help inspire others to try volunteering.

Volunteer Centre Sutton is delighted to be able to offer a programme of volunteering opportunities to the Hong Kong Community in the London Borough of Sutton. This project is funded by the Greater London Authority via Sutton Council.

Register now for the 2024 Sutton Youth Summit, a drop in space to connect with other young people and celebrate Sutton’s diversity together to reduce violent crime, as part of World Inclusion Day and World Mental Health Day all in Black History month. 

A huge thank you to Sutton Council for hosting a live stream webinar this week encouraging staff to consider volunteering with MAPS Mentoring.

One of our longest-standing teachers from the Ukrainian Saturday morning ‘school’ at Christ Church, shares her experiences.

To celebrate four amazing decades of Home-Start Sutton transforming family lives we hear from a number of their volunteers.

A part of our ongoing programme of introducing our Afghan families to the U.K. we took a trip to London Zoo. The British weather did not deter the children from enjoying themselves!

26% of residents who have undergone a free health and wellbeing check have been revealed to have high blood pressure. Anyone showing a high reading is immediately referred for medical attention through a robust follow-up process.

The Young Commissioners meeting every fortnight in term-time to help make a difference in Sutton. In their latest session, we arranged for local community artists, Team Imagineers, to do a short workshop so the young people could share some ideas for what to include in the new massive mural being made in Sutton.

Over 130 people came to our Volunteers' Week celebration, to thank volunteers and to learn more about our Impact and our new Vision "Building better lives through volunteering".

3rd-9th June is Volunteers' Week, and the 40th anniversary of it. The celebration starts today. It’s a chance to recognise, celebrate and thank the UK’s incredible volunteers for all they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector, and society as a whole. We wanted to shine a light on an extraordinary young volunteer in the borough: Dom.

For May, a month bringing awareness to mental health, especially with the 2024 theme being Movement: Moving more for our mental health, we had a quick chat with Sara Lee from Cre8 Football.

As Volunteer Centre Sutton is one of the Mayor of Sutton’s two chosen charities for 2023-2024, the Young Commissioners co-created an Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Saturday as a fun fundraising activity.

This month we hear from one of our longest serving MAPS mentors, Anthony French, about his experience over several years mentoring several young people in the borough.

A welcome-to-the UK course from Volunteer Centre Sutton helped Cynthia into volunteering as a Health Navigator.

Our Integrating Sutton project coordinator, Frennie, was recently invited to meet the Sutton Older Hongkongers.

In partnership with Sutton Council, Volunteer Centre Sutton is supporting an awareness campaign for Child Exploitation Awareness Week 18-22 March 2024.

We are delighted to announce that MAPS Mentoring is a recipient of the Mayor of London’s New Deal For Young People funding. This amazing opportunity, part of Propel, will provide MAPS Mentors for 200 vulnerable young people in Sutton.

Sam was isolated when he started at secondary school, making him highly susceptible to exploitation and grooming.

Ahead of #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek (5-11 February) we hosted a journaling session with our MAPS Mentoring pairs

MAPS Mentoring introduced our young people to using clay in a workshop funded by The Arts Society.

Sutton Council has extended funding for our new project supporting the Afghan community in Sutton.

This month we are celebrating Befriending Week from 1-7th November. Fresh from her Serpentine Swim fundraising for us, Jo Bolton shares her story of being a befriender as part of Sutton Befrienders, along with her other volunteering and fundraising support.

Sutton Vision shares their story, just ahead of Befriending Week, of Adrian who volunteers as a telephone befriender for them.

Volunteering as a Sutton Befriender helped Elisabete recuperate from her own mental health problems, as well as helping Pat to regain her confidence.

MAPS Practitioner Teresa Martucci shares her thoughts on what Care Leavers need, for National Care Leavers' Week.

Get ready for the Sutton Youth Summit 2023: cost of living, safety, inequalities, mental health.

Focus on the MAPS Mentoring Esteem Pathway - supporting young people facing poor mental health, low self-confidence or self-esteem, self-harm and risk of suicide.

Our ladies did it! They did swimmingly and raised money for Volunteer Centre Sutton!

Volunteer Centre Sutton has secured funding for part of our MAPS Mentoring programme from the William Wates Memorial Trust.

Find out more about the exciting array of events happening, raising vital funds for Volunteer Centre Sutton and St Raphael’s Hospice

Every month we are sharing inspirational volunteer stories, with September being the start of a new term and school year we thought it would be good to hear from one of the younger voices of the volunteering world.

Can we do it, YES we Ken!

Volunteer Centre Sutton's newest project: The Community Volunteer Squad is helping vulnerable residents across the borough.

Volunteer Health Navigators providing health checks to the local Ukraine Community at the 'Homes for Ukraine' event at The Salvation Army

Our annual event to celebrate the impact of Volunteer Centre Sutton and celebrate all that has been achieved over the past year took place on the afternoon of Thursday 6th July.

Easyfundraising is a super easy way to support charities like Volunteer Centre Sutton whilst you do your online shopping now that smile.amazon is no longer around.

Music and Movement 6 week programme by Sutton Befrienders proves hugely popular and a hit with locals looking to make friends, move and have some fun.

Previously owned laptops used by LexisNexis Risk Solutions colleagues are being distributed to disadvantaged families, providing them with access to technology they wouldn't otherwise have.

We were delighted to welcome Ellie Simmonds to Sutton to meet some of our activity buddies, filmed for BBC Morning Live in the run up to Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day.

The Young Commissioners have created a social media campaign to raise awareness of the issues.

Our wonderful colleagues, Hayley and Jenny, have been training hard since November to take part in this half marathon on 26th March.

At our most recent MAPS social, we set out to create a collaborative piece of art, in recognition of 2023's #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek theme “Let’s Connect”.

Navani, one of the Young Commissioners, will be writing regular blogs on what they get up to in their fornightly meetings

Our Ukraine Coordinator, Nataliya Semchyshyn, tells us about how the Ukrainian Community in Sutton has celebrated Christmas this year.

White Ribbon Day was on 25th November this year and marked the beginning of 16 Days of Action against gender-based violence.

Information about Warm Spaces in the borough of Sutton

We were delighted to welcome staff from British Airways to learn more about our Activity Buddy programme, funded by Comic Relief.

Our Young Commissioners met ahead of London Voter Registration Week 2022 to brainstorm messages that they want to share with young people

Join our team of Warm Spaces Volunteers

Volunteer Centre Sutton is one of over 40 national and regional projects being allocated further government funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to help British National (Overseas) families settle successfully into life in the UK.

Newly arrived Hong Kongers and local people united over afternoon tea in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee in Sutton’s Manor Park

Bernard moved to Sutton from Hong Kong in August 2021

Our MAPS mentoring project supports many young carers with one to one mentoring.

Volunteer Centre Sutton is one of 47 national and regional projects being allocated government funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to help British National (Overseas) families settle successfully into life in the UK.

A huge thank you to all the people in Sutton who generously bought gifts for the vulnerable children and aduts we support

We spoke to Neil Davies, who joined Volunteer Centre Sutton's board in 2021, on why he decided to become a Trustee.

"During my mentoring year I have learnt It can be good to meet new people" Jaz, aged 12

UPDATE: Thank you to EVERYONE who has donated to this appeal. We are now full and are no longer accepting any more physical donations.

As the Nonsuch Vaccination site winds down, we reflect on the past four and bit months, and an incredible team of 190 volunteers who have made it all possible

Rosina and Alex, one of our Sutton Befrienders pairs

Trevor and David, one of our Sutton Befrienders pairs

Since the start of the pandemic, a staggering 12.4 million adults in the UK have volunteered – with more than a third stepping forward for the first time. Read Katie's story about how lockdown gave her the impetus to volunteer with us

Sutton's Community Awards 2020 celebrates the people who make Sutton a great place to live, work and bring up a family and who have gone above and beyond in the face of COVID-19.

From managing 150 volunteers to managing 733 volunteers during Covid-19: #SmallCharityBigImpactDay 19th June 2020

Today we are launching a Covid-19 appeal to support the ongoing work of Sutton's Voluntary and Community Sector in response to the impact of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak.

Between the 1st and 24th December, we're bringing you a new volunteering opportunity from organisations in Sutton and beyond

Congratulations to one of our longest standing MAPS Mentors, Derek Terrell, who was awarded Outstanding Volunteer at the 2019 Sutton Community Awards

Find out who was shortlisted for this year's Sutton Community Awards

Do you know an individual or group that deserves special recognition? Nominate now for Sutton's Community Awards

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton. Sutton Carers Centre would like to thank Jean Sharpington.

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton. The Dreaming Tree Project would like to thank Bambina.

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton. Sutton Community Works would like to thank Vicki.

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton. Home-Start Sutton would like to thank Diana Broad.

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton and beyond. Jigsaw4u would like to thank Jacqui O'Connor

Throughout Volunteers' Week we're sharing 'thank you' messages to volunteers from organisations in Sutton. Our MAPS team would like to thank Caroline Magin

"I have volunteered forever" read Mary's inspiring story

There are currently around 850,000 people in the UK with dementia. Dementia Friends is a programme led by the Alzheimer's Society to change people's perceptions of dementia and to create dementia-friendly communities.

Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. And doing these things as a volunteer will benefit you even more!

Our Young Commissioners help shape Healthwatch Sutton's recent survey into young people and mental health

With this funding, our two organisations will work together to deliver a programme across Sutton's voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector. We will build and develop the capacity, skills, knowledge and experience of the sector, helping to transform Sutton's communities.

Tuesday 27th November is #GivingTuesday and to celebrate we want to share with you some very festive volunteering opportunities in Sutton this Christmas as well as ways you can support local giving initiatives.

But a love of fast cars and a mentor helped him find a way forward

Unable to see a future, she turned to MAPS for help

Our volunteer management system, Volunteer Connect, has recently had some useful updates - find out how these changes benefit your charity or group!

Pat, our Volunteering Development Manager, relates the story of Patrick, one of the participants in our prescribed volunteering project, who said that volunteering is the connection between his old world and his new world.

Matt (Digital Inclusion Coordinator) interviews Helen Gasparelli (Mentoring & Advocacy Manager) about her recent Employee Volunteering (EV) experience.

Priya volunteers at the Refugee and Migrant Network in Sutton, where she teaches English as a Second language to adults