This year marks the 38^th annual Volunteers’ Week and at Bedford Borough Council we want to say a special thank you for the fantastic contribution volunteers make across Bedford Borough.

Local volunteers contribute thousands of hours of support in our community each year across local parks, cultural venues, care settings and much more to help make Bedford Borough a great place to live.

A few highlights

• In 2021-22 volunteers across The Higgins, Libraries, Corn Exchange, Archives and Moot Hall, volunteers donated 4,338 hours of their time.
• Across events and open spaces in 2021-22, volunteers gave 12,746 hours of their time, with over 650 individual volunteers and nearly 3,000 organised sessions and events.
• A group of volunteers from the Community Hub, which supported people across the community during the pandemic, have moved on to actively supporting residents in our Care Homes as befrienders. We are pleased to see the community continue to support each other.

There are lots of ways to get involved with volunteering with the Council. Below are some of the exciting opportunities we have.

Help at the River Festival 23-24 July- become a Volunteer Festival Champion!

Bedford Borough Council are seeking volunteers to support increasing recycling rates and the delivery of the reusable bar cup scheme at this year’s Bedford River Festival on 23 and 24 July.

Volunteer Festival Champions will be stationed at key locations across the site to engage with festival-goers, raising awareness of what can be recycled and of the reusable cup scheme, encouraging them to return unwanted cups to either the designated collection points or any of the nine festival bars.

The Council can provide Festival Champions with a set of litter picking equipment, should they also wish to support us with maintaining a tidy and attractive event site.

No event experience is required, only a willingness to proactively engage with visitors. Volunteers for this activity need to be aged 18+. To register your interest and find out more, please contact volunteering@bedford.gov.uk.

Volunteering at The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford

Join the team at The Higgins to meet new people and enjoy a variety of volunteering opportunities.

We are looking for more volunteers in our gardening team who meet from 1pm until 3pm every Monday.

We are also looking for volunteers to help welcome and greet our visitors, collect visitor feedback and to support our holiday activities and school visits. We especially need weekend volunteers. Volunteers must be aged 16+.

Visit The Higgins Bedford website to find out more. 

Volunteering at Bedford Corn Exchange

Volunteers at Bedford Corn Exchange have the unique opportunity to steward different events such as music, theatre and comedy. If you enjoy meeting people and are looking for volunteering opportunities during evenings and weekends get in touch. Volunteers must be aged 18+.

For more information and an application form for either of these opportunities contact Gemma Hutton gemma.hutton@bedford.gov.uk  or call on 01234 276365.

Other Volunteering Opportunities

• Great British Spring Clean
• Park Champions and Friends of Parks Scheme – spend more time outdoors and volunteering in your local park or green space
• Community Champions – be proactive in their local area reporting issues and picking up litter to help keep our streets, clean, safe and green
• Event Champions – support events held by the events team

You can find more information and register to get involved with any of the opportunities by visiting the Council’s Community Volunteering page.