Registered Charity No. 274925. Trustees: Jad Adams MA FRHistS; Roger Davies MSc; Adam Powell BSc MA MA

Simply contact our Volunteer Co-ordinator. Typically prospective volunteers also come and see our work first hand - it's best to come on a Sunday.

Some people make food and go out to the Queen's Gardens one night every fortnight, so the commitment is just a few hours. Some go out once or twice a week. Some people (normally committee members) make Nightwatch their main voluntary contribution and work for the charity for a day or more a week.

 

Teams meet at the kitchen at 9pm; go to the Queen's Gardens at 9:30pm, then return to the hall to clean up and write the log. You would expect to leave around 10:30pm or 10:45pm.

Frequently Asked Questions

For volunteers to work directly with homeless people they need to be over 18, and level headed. All life experiences are helpful in our work. Volunteers come from a very wide range of backgrounds, and some are former homeless people too.

1. What experience do I need to volunteer?

2. What is the time commitment involved in volunteering?

3. I want to volunteer. How do I get started?

Sometimes there are difficult and disturbed clients who have to be dealt with carefully. This is where the 'level headed' part of volunteer qualities comes in. The volunteer handbook Chapter 5, 'Personal Safety', and the Notes for Volunteers section, 'In the Gardens', at the end of the annual report gives details of our procedures.

 

We have training courses on dealing with difficult clients, working with drugs, alcohol and mentally ill clients.

4. Can volunteering be dangerous?

We urge volunteers to claim all expenses spent while doing Nightwatch work including travel expenses, purchasing sandwich ingredients, fruit etc. Keep receipts and send them to the Treasurer, or leave them in the kitchen with a note and you will be sent a cheque.

 

More information on volunteering can be found in our Volunteer Handbook.

6. I am on a low income and have to travel to get to Nightwatch. Can I claim my expenses?

Some people have taken on administrative roles but the most common activity for people who do not go down to the gardens is to prepare sandwiches. This has proved a popular activity with people who have to stay at home, and the sandwiches are picked up by the team going out that night.

 

We need people with cars to go to the cash and carry warehouse to buy things like toiletries that we regularly give out. We also need people to shop for clothes which we supply on request.

 

Some people collect unused food from shops at closing time, which we can distribute that night (before it has passed its sell-by date).

 

We do a lot of work re-settling former homeless people which requires liaising with carpet fitters, furniture suppliers and so on.

5. Are there roles for volunteers outside of the nightly meetings?