BBWCVS

I did not mention this before, but I got a job back in the fall. I was volunteering with projects through the Volunteer Centre at Basildon, Billericay and Wickford Council for Voluntary Services (BBWCVS) since the summer of 2007 and had gotten to know the staff pretty well. Last summer they had a couple of people leave and when the new Chief Officer arrived I volunteered to fill in temporarily until they hired someone new or until we moved back. It was great returning to work and what was even better was that my schedule was flexible and part-time, so I was still able to travel and volunteer.

Volunteering at the Basildon Library (taken for the Yellow Advertiser)

Shortly before the end of my employment, a colleague and myself had planned an ‘Away Day’ for staff and volunteers but the day happened to fall during the week of the blizzard. We had planned a day out in London, which would have been fabulous, but had to change the location to somewhere local. We ended up going to Festival Leisure Park for bowling and lunch. It was a great day and we were grateful that the entire staff was able to make it as well as a couple of volunteers.

Some of my BBWCVS colleagues

Staff Members and Chief Officer (l to r)

My last day of work was at the end of February and for my ‘Leaving Do’ we returned to Festival Leisure Park for bowling and dinner. It was such a fun evening and it was hard saying goodbye to my colleagues. I do hope we can all keep in touch – especially since most of us are on Facebook!

Volunteer Team Building at Essex Media Workshop

A couple of weeks ago, the Onsight Project volunteers met at Essex Media Workshop for a teambuilding activity. Essex Media Workshop is a charity that provides training in television and video production. We had a tour of the facility and learned what happens behind the scenes of television production. We were able to put on our own talk show - 'Out and About in Essex' - and each of us took on a role in production (from Director, Stage Manager, Video, Cameramen, and Presenters). Since I was the only female who wasn't shy in front of the camera, I was one of the presenters, along with a gentlemen volunteer. The script was from a show previously produced and it was fun reading from the tele-prompter and cueing to video clips. While our show was recorded, it was only for our purposes. Sadly I won't be on televesion for real. Haha!

The Onsight Project is one of the projects I volunteer with in Basildon. Onsight facilitates community tea afternoons for elderly in local libraries, as well as provides transport and shopping assistance for elderly in the Town Centre.