Our Living Well Groups offer our retired community somewhere to socialise and reminisce with fellow members of our fire family – both face-to-face and online.
And central to their success are the volunteers who help organise and run them.
With guest speakers, activities and the opportunity to share memories, these groups help to ensure retired members of the fire service feel part of the fire family for life.
There are so many ways you could volunteer, both face-to-face and online. Below are a few of the opportunities. If you are interested in any of our volunteer roles, please email us at volunteers@firefighterscharity.org.uk or call us on 01256 366580.
Living Well Groups Coordinators (face-to-face)
The face-to-face groups are supported by two volunteer Living Well Coordinators who host the monthly 2-hour sessions. They organise for speakers to come along to talk about topics of interest (often guided by what the group want), as well as invite our practitioners along to give guidance on health and wellbeing. Demand is so high that we are looking to develop Living Well Groups across the whole of the UK.
The role would ideally suit someone with a fire and rescue service background, who has a regular weekday morning or afternoon to spare each month – full training and support is provided.
Living Well Groups Coordinators (digital)
During the pandemic, all of our beneficiaries were offered the opportunity to join Living Well Groups via Zoom. These proved so popular that we have continued to run them ever since.
In the same way as the face-to-face groups, the digital groups have a strong social element. They are hosted by two volunteer coordinators who offer a relaxed environment where members can chat together over a coffee, share interests and benefit from expert health and wellbeing advice, and/or activities.
Living Well Groups Volunteer Activity Organiser
To support both our face-to-face and digital Living Well Groups, we are looking for a small team of volunteer activity organisers to source and book speakers from local or national organisations.
For example, Men’s Sheds came to one group to talk about how the concept came about and how members can access a Men’s Sheds club locally. Another group had a taster of Tai Chi, another a talk from a local historian, etc. The list of possibilities is endless.
The role is flexible for the right person and you must have good organisational skills, and be willing to speak to people over the telephone and occasionally across Zoom. Full training and support is provided.
Specialist Living Well Groups Coordinators
Do you teach a skill, hobby or have specialist knowledge that can be shared with others, either as a one-off 1-hour session, or 2 hours once a month on a regular basis? We’d love to hear from you.
Social isolation after retirement can affect many of us, but it can be even more keenly felt after leaving the fire service. We are looking to develop special interest groups as part of our Living Well offering for our retired beneficiaries. The groups vary in size, up to a maximum of 20 members, and you can choose whether to join a face-to-face or digital group via Zoom. Full training and support is provided.
Living Well Groups – Digital Age Champions
For beneficiaries who don’t readily use technology or are not very confident about certain aspects of it, our Digital Age Champions can make a big difference to their lives.
Working in pairs, you will run live digital sessions over Zoom for our retired beneficiaries, demonstrating how to get the most from their smartphone, tablet, or PC.
The sessions are relaxed, informal and provide focus on the simple things such as sending text messages and emails, using social media and online shopping/banking securely, as well as connecting with family and friends via video calling.
If you are interested in any of our volunteer roles, please email us at volunteers@firefighterscharity.org.uk or call us on 01256 366580.