The Volunteer Networking Day held at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury was hugely successful with 73 delegates attending.
Colette Marshall, Director of Operations, attended and was impressed
“by the energy and passion of the group of volunteers brought together – truly representing London”.
There were a great variety of volunteers present including Speaker Scheme Volunteers, Diabetes Voices, Community Champions, Event Volunteers and a number from Voluntary Groups. The day was organised as a chance for volunteers to informally get together to share ideas and experiences and meet staff. There were opportunities for volunteers to meet over lunch, have fun through a ‘Getting to know you’ quiz and opportunities to ask questions at the Q&A session.
An inspiring talk was delivered by Venugopal Vijayakumar (below) about his experience as a Diabetes UK Speaker Volunteer and details of the Ramadan Project was presented by Community Champion Yasroon Elmi (below).
As well as regional and volunteering updates and information on the launch of the Tesco partnership, there were a range of information stands including the Havering Family Group stand and London Region stand, where volunteers were able to sign up to opportunities and take literature away with them. Diabetes Voices, Fundraising and Equality and Diversity also exhibited stands. The Networking Day proved a great success which gave volunteers a really good opportunity to meet and find out about all the different volunteering opportunities available.
Volunteer Quotes from the Day
“A thought provoking day – knowledge received and thoughts expressed freely”
"Informative, interesting, extremely thought provoking, demonstrated further importance of these meetings, so the word can be spread.
"Great day... really good to talk to everyone"
"I am really glad to have attended today - meeting people who are so enthusiastic"
"I am very happy that I attended the conference. Very helpful. Thank you DUK"
A big thank you to all those who attended and made the day a success.