November’s Volunteer Coordinators' Forum was our last of the year as it was agreed with the members that December is too busy, even for a social.

It also seems that November is a time for winter bugs to take hold it seemed as along with a lot of our regular smiley faces being struck down, both our two key speakers and our note taker were unable to attend. We were very grateful to have kind replacements coming in at the last minute to hold the fort, so that those who attended in person and virtually could benefit. It was a lovely lively session, as they have all been this year!

Rebecca from DofE Head Office did a great job filling in for Jade from home via video call, with her presentation and great handling of all the questions thrown her away, and that was just by the third slide!

Eric kindly hosted for the Sutton Libraries, setting us up the beautiful Mallinson Room with yummy treats and giving his perspective on the reality of having DofE students volunteering.

Souvi kindly took notes for us and joined the other attendees as the discussion flowed about helping younger people volunteer across the borough. It was great to see our last minute online provision allowed members to join from home as well as in person.

Thanks to all who came.

For January our theme for organisations and volunteering will be “Joyful January” therefore it feels fitting, instead of a Forum during the day we will be having a social at the Sound Lounge and going onto Sutton Soup which you can find more about here. Hope to see you then! Book your place for Sutton Soup here. £5 entry which covers a bowl of soup for you and the money all goes to the winning charitable community project of the night. Just drop into Sound Lounge beforehand if you finish work earlier and fancy some relaxed company. Please RSVP by email, so that we know to look out for you and you can have our contact details if you get lost. Until then, have a great festive period and hope you get some time off.

Here's a recap of what we covered in 2023:

Thank you to all those who came, hosted and made them the fun events they were!