1Good morning everyone.
2I'm Steve Wainwright from Elmley Town Council
3and I organise the town's volunteer scheme.
4I'm delighted you're all interested in joining the scheme.
5Our volunteers help to create a sense of community among the many people who live in our historic town of Elmley
6and make residents and visitors feel welcome at local events.
7Eh... first, I'll mention just a few of the activities that volunteers carry out.
8One is to walk around the town centre streets wearing our volunteer T-shirt.
9Tourists often ask how to get to a particular shop,
10and they might also be grateful for recommendations about what to visit.
11The town holds a large number of concerts each year
12and part of the volunteers' role is to get everyone in the audience to the right place as smoothly as possible.
13You'd be surprised how many people buy tickets, then don't check them, and head for the wrong section of the hall.
14Volunteers may get involved with community groups,
15such as sports clubs or gardeners' associations.
16Here, the volunteers talk about how groups can help each other.
17For instance, a writing group might want to travel to another town to hear a talk by a well-known author,
18but may not know that another club has a coach they could travel in.
19The town produces a monthly magazine,
20and anyone who lives in the town can send in articles.
21It's free to residents and is paid for by local businesses.
22That's the responsibility of the council's advertising department.
23We depend on volunteers, though, to find out what people think of events they've attended
24and any suggestions they have for the future.
25The volunteers then send a summary to the editors.
26There are a number of clubs for retired people
27and every year the council arranges lunch for all the members.
28The volunteers welcome the guests
29and when everyone's sitting down and relaxing after the meal, some volunteers put on a show.
30Usually around half an hour of songs and short plays,
31the club members really welcome the chance to chat to the volunteers at these events.
32The town council has a website, of course,
33and volunteers are asked to help by making sure residents know about it.
34It's updated every day with information about future activities
35and we want as many people as possible to use it.
36Okay, now you know some of the things our volunteers do,
37I'll go on to some practical matters.
38As you probably know,
39the town arranges three major festivals every year,
40and they all depend on a large number of volunteers.
41The book festival lasts three days, and uses several venues which all need volunteers.
42More are needed for the music festival because that lasts a whole week,
43and even more help is required for the science festival,
44even though it's only two days long.
45It involves quite a lot of venues, though.
46It's a good idea to help at the festival you're most interested in,
47because you can attend most of the events for free.
48We try to use volunteers who are flexible, though, because...
49some festival events are held outdoors and the weather may affect the size of the audience.
50And even whether the event can take place so there can be changes at short notice.
51What's essential, though, is being able to get on well with other people
52and also to deal with someone who's behaving badly, as occasionally happens.
53Our plan is to get you all working in September,
54after a week's training starting on the 2nd,
55so we'll be timetabling you for duties the following week from the 9th onward.
56Later, in the week beginning September 23rd,
57we have a chat with each of you to find out how you feel about being a volunteer
58and what extra support you need.
59As a thank you to the volunteers, we arrange an annual event.
60In recent years we've had a party in the Town Hall
61and last year a barbecue in Chamber Park.
62Our forthcoming event is a trip along the canal from here to Dewhurst and back.
63It's on Saturday, September the 28th.
64And if you'd like to attend, you can sign up once you start work.
65Now, this is the Volunteer's T-shirt...