HADCA Volunteering Network

HADCA Volunteering Network

Our latest update for everyone involving volunteers in Harrogate district. Thank you for all you do inspiring and supporting people to give time.

1.  Need extra pairs of hands to help your events go with a swing?

Delivering leaflets, setting up, marshalling, clearing away, pulling pints, baking cakes – just let us know how we can Help Out!

Our Help Out Harrogate crew, together with our growing Help Out Ripon crew, are friendly and willing folk ready to support local events and charity activities where a few extra pairs of hands could make all the difference.

In the last 12 months our Help Out Harrogate volunteers have given over 630 hours of help to 37 different charities and community groups across the Harrogate and Knaresborough area.

Since the launch of Help out Ripon in November, 15 volunteers have been recruited and 43 hours of help given at 20 events. Volunteers are busy this summer helping with events including Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Triathlon Festival, St Wilfrid’s Procession, Mind’s Go Bright Fun Run and at Ripley Food festival, This is Me Festival, Saint Michael’s Newton Conyers Open Gardens.

If your community organisation in Harrogate, Ripon or the surrounding areas needs extra pairs of hands, you can find more information and request help here  

2. Wednesday Evening Superstars – our Community Fit Crew are here for you 

We are so grateful – you are a wonderful, positive, helpful group of superstars!”

If you’re involved with a local school, charity, community group or environmental project which could do with a few extra pairs of willing hands on a Wednesday eveningin the Harrogate area, please get in touch with us – all practical, non skilled tasks considered!

Find out more here and request help

3. Do you offer meaningful opportunities for young people?

Benefit from the energy, creativity and new ideas of young volunteers with HADCA’s Power of 10  

The Young Volunteers’ Handbook includes a Power of 10 volunteering passport to record volunteering hours across different projects and helps young people achieve awards and rewards, from 10 hours upwards.

An inspiring volunteering journey
Zoe, one of our Power of 10 Ambassadors and Chair of the new Ripon Youth Council, made a brilliant video with our friends at Community First Yorkshire sharing Zoe’s inspiring volunteering journey. Please take just 3 minutes to watch at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5rXLrHaedM and hear how Zoe wants to inspire the next generation of young volunteers.

Is your organisation recruiting young volunteers or planning to involve young people for the first time and would be interested in a free 2-hour volunteer strategy session?
Please email Jo  powerof10@hadca.org.uk if you would like to know more.

4. Looking for more volunteers? List your opportunities in our local HADCA Directory for free and we’ll help promote them for you! 

Looking for extra help with your organisation’s fundraising, social media, events or admin, in your shop, café, library or garden?
Need committee members, befrienders, drivers, social media or website help?

Remember that you can advertise your volunteering opportunities in our local HADCA Volunteering Directory for free! If you’re not already registered to advertise your roles, you can do this quickly now here

‘HADCA is responsible for a large portion of our volunteers, having seen the advert on the HADCA volunteer directory.’

Opportunities are also shared on Facebook (please tag our dedicated volunteering account @VolunteerHADCA), in our weekly e-bulletin, regular press columns and in our booklet of opportunities available at community venues and local events around the Harrogate district.

Please log in and update your opportunities if any details change and please make them ‘inactive’ if you are not currently looking for help in that particular role. Please also review the ‘advert end date’ to make sure roles do not ‘expire’ when you still need help.

If you have any questions we’re always here to help at volunteer@hadca.org.uk

5.  Who are Ripon’s unsung heroes? Nominations are now open for St Wilfrid’s Stars Awards 2026

Every day, local people give their time, energy and enthusiasm to make Ripon a better place. The St Wilfrid’s Stars Awards are your opportunity to recognise those individuals, groups, businesses and organisations whose efforts deserve to be celebrated.

Organised by Ripon Together, the awards celebrate local volunteers, community champions, young people, sports clubs, businesses, environmental projects and many others whose efforts often go unnoticed.

Nominations are now open and everyone is invited to take part. If someone deserves a thank you for their contribution to city life, why not nominate them? All nominees will be invited to a special celebration event at Ripon Cathedral in October.

For details and nomination forms, visit the Ripon Together website. https://www.ripontogether.com/st-wilfrids-stars/    

6.  Volunteer Co-ordinators Network meeting 
Measuring & demonstrating Volunteer Impact
23 September, online

The full value of volunteering is not always easy to capture. Join this Community First Yorkshire meeting to find out how can you show the contribution volunteers make to your organisation, the people you support and the wider community.
7.  Managing Volunteers
22 September in Tadcaster

Unlock the secrets of effective volunteer management in this four-part Community First Yorkshire training session. Whether you’re new to the role or looking to refresh your skills, you’ll gain practical tools and insights to recruit, support and celebrate volunteers.

During the day, we’ll cover best practice in volunteer involvement, reaching and inducting volunteers, supporting teams and recognising impact. Learn how to write effective role descriptions, manage the volunteer journey and build strong relationships.

8.  Free/low-cost local summer holiday activities 

With children facing an extended 7 week summer holiday this year, we’re encouraging families to make the most of our guide to free & low-cost local activities and ways to have fun without breaking the bank.

Please take a look here and share, there’s so much brilliant creative stuff going on!
9. Looking for Meeting Space?

Harrogate Community House is home to a variety of vital and much-loved charities and we offer a warm and friendly welcome to all tenants and visitors. We also have well equipped meeting spaces to hire. These can be booked by anyone and are suitable for everything from interviews, one to one to training, workshops and group events for up to 25 people.

Our friendly reception team would be very happy to show you round and give details of our very reasonable terms. We are less than 10 minutes from Harrogate railway and bus stations.

Find out more here or call in Monday to Thursday 9 – 4.30 pm (other times by arrangement).

10. Volunteering News, Views and Resources Round up

Could your organisation offer someone living with Young Onset Dementia an opportunity?
Young Onset Dementia is dementia that develops when someone is under the age of 65 and can affect people in their 40’s and 50’s. It can be difficult to give up work. Volunteering can be an invaluable opportunity to help keep someone the person they were.
Could your organisation offer someone an opportunity, with training, guidance and support from Dementia Forward? People living with Young Onset Dementia are physically fit, have energy and want a purpose.
Email Debby Lennox to find out more debby@dementiaforward.org.uk

Increase to Approved Mileage Rates 
On 21 May, the government increased the approved mileage rate for employees and volunteers using their personal vehicles for business / volunteering purposes. For cars and vans, the new rate is 55p for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile over that. The rate changes apply for the whole of the 2026-27 tax year and so will apply retrospectively to all miles travelled since 5 April 2026.

Volunteering for employability skills
Top tips from Leeds Volunteer Centre – what your volunteers need to become your next best employee.

VOLUNTEER, REFLECT, GROW: Cards to Inspire & Sustain Volunteering
A collection of 27 cards each introducing a model of reflective practice around training, commitment & motivation, resources and the diversity of volunteers.

NCVO Training

• Recruiting volunteers
• Good practice in volunteer management
• Volunteers and the Law.

Volunteer Managers Toolkit
A set of user-friendly resources designed by and for Volunteer Managers, to use as a foundation for your work, from NOVA Wakefield.

Food for thought from some recent blogs 

VolTipTalk
Quick Tips and food for thought on a variety of Volunteer Subjects including:

Those Adjectives that Turn Off Prospective Volunteers  
Do Volunteers say ‘they’ or ‘we?’
 Hey Corporate Volunteers: How Great is Weeding?
 Volunteer Managers: Extroverts or Introverts?

AI and volunteer engagement: threat, distraction, or opportunity?
Is artificial intelligence potentially the best thing to happen to volunteer engagement professionals, or just a new shiny object for us to get distracted by?

Catalyst — The Volunteer Engagement Superhero
Recognise your Volunteer Engagement Professional powers.

Four ways I am using Artificial Intelligence
The consultant Rob Jackson is using AI, but what about you? How are you currently using AI in your work as a Volunteer Engagement Professional? Or are you trying to avoid the use of AI in your work?

11.  HADCA Intro Session
New to the area or in a new role?
Join us on Thursday 17 September, 11am -12noon on Zoom

All are welcome, whether new to the area, in a new role, or just wanting to find out more about what is happening locally and how HADCA can help.

The sessions are free, last one hour and are packed with info about HELP, Community Fit; Help Out; Power of 10; Harrogate Community House; THE LOCAL FUND; THE LOCAL LOTTO, our Where To Turn and Volunteering Directories, and much more!
Please book your free place here 

12.  10 ways for good mental health in the VCSE sector
23 September 10-12 online

Your mind shapes everything – how you see the world, handle challenges, build relationships and find fulfilment. Yet it’s often the part of ourselves we care for the least. This uplifting workshop will help you change that.

In this 2.5‑hour session, you’ll explore ten simple, clinically proven ways to support good mental health – practical techniques you can weave into everyday life to boost resilience, reduce stress and find more calm in a fast-paced world. Think of it as a ‘five a day’ for your mind.

13. HADCA e-bulletins – don’t miss out! 

‘The HADCA bulletin is the most useful and interesting email I receive all week – I look forward to it coming!’
This newsletter has a focus on recruiting, involving and supporting volunteers but if you want to catch up on all the latest news and opportunities in Harrogate District you need to subscribe to our weekly bulletin too!

Don’t miss out on any training, funding, resources, guidance or partnership opportunities and make sure you get a chance to respond to consultations and surveys on issues that matter to you and the people you work with. Our HADCA e-bulletins are packed full of the latest news and updates on local services.