Time2Volunteer
This year we have been working closely with Time2Volunteer. Time2Volunteer is a volunteering platform for Hull and East Riding, bringing all the possibilities of volunteering to one place.
It provides access to a wide range of volunteering opportunities as well as information and support in accessing volunteering and utilising volunteers. It also informs and involves people in the big issues around volunteering across Hull and East Riding.
Festival of Volunteering
Active Humber sponsored the Time2Volunteer Festival of Volunteering that took place in Hull the weekend of 10 June with a number of smaller satellite festivals also taking place in Pocklington, Bridlington, Goole and Hornsea. The free festival involved lots of opportunities for learning, development, and fun, with entertainment, performances, workshops, food, volunteers' prize draw, an opportunities fair, and the chance to hear from volunteers.
We encourage organisations and individuals to use the Time2Volunteer website as a valuable resource. We put Run for All in touch with Time2Volunteer, and signed them up on the platform, when they came to us looking for volunteers to staff their upcoming Hull Running Festival which includes the Hull Half Marathon and Hull 10K races on 11 June.
Volunteers Week
We have also been promoting Time2Volunteer during Volunteers Week, 1st - 7th June, across our social media . The Time2Volunteer Awards have also been launched during Volunteers Week. We are once again sponsoring the Sport and Physical Activity Volunteer Award and will be in attendance to present the award on the day.
Time2Volunteer Awards
In August Garth, our Active Communities Manager for People, attended the Time2Volunteer Awards judging panel where a collective decision was made on each category with the partners around the table. It was a much improved method of selection to last year when each sponsor decided on their own category. The Awards ceremony was on October 5th at the Double Tree in Hull. Active Humber sponsored the Sport and Physical Activity Volunteer Award.
Garth and David, Active Humber CEO, attended the T2V awards in October. It was a great celebration of volunteering and it was so good to see organisations we have worked with represented across the different award categories. David presented Steph Atkinson from Little Victories FC our award. We talked to the Little Victories team who were sat at our table and they were brilliant, full of enthusiasm about what they do and it was good to chat with them about it.
Community Ambassadors
Off the back of the awards we signed up Sophie Bartup from HEY Smile and who volunteers at Little Victories FC and Barton Inclusive FC and Jo Lambon, a player and volunteer coach at Barton FC to become Community Ambassadors. Part of a scheme in which volunteers share their stories to inspire others to become physical active.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year - Unsung Hero Award
Steph Atkinson, who helps at a football club for children with cerebral palsy is the BBC Sports Personality "Unsung Hero" for East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Steph Atkinson from Hull is a volunteer coach and welfare officer at Little Victories FC, in Barton-upon-Humber. Her twin sons both have the condition and she started volunteering when the boys joined the club 18 months ago.
She was nominated by Garth de Roux, from Active Humber who said: "Steph's journey as a volunteer highlights the power of compassion and the immense impact that one person can make".
The club's founder, Sophie Bartup said it was important that there was specific football provision for players with cerebral palsy so they could "develop their physical literacy, confidence, and self-esteem".
"It is also a fantastic support network for players' families too, who are going through similar experiences," she said. "Little Victories FC is a real community."
The overall winner of the BBC Unsung hero award will be announced at the BBC Sports Personality programme, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The ceremony, which Ms Atkinson will attend, will take place on 19 December on BBC One and iPlayer.
Resilience project with Sported
Active Humber commissioned Sported to work with six of the organisations we funded through the Together Fund. They had 1:1 sessions with Sported to work on a development plan for their organisation. Then each organisation worked on the areas they identified to take them forward. One group focused on their governance and funding strategy while another group were looking at the challenge of having an older board and planning their succession.
Green and Blue Social Prescribing
We worked with Anthony Hurd from HEY Smile as his Green and Blue Social Prescribing project has secured some new funding to take it beyond the pilot stage that has now finished. We supported Anthony to get his questionnaire out to physical activity providers across our region.
Anthony is also going to have a look at our health module that is in development on the YH Learning Community and provide us with some feedback.