WRVS in Leicestershire

WRVS members in Leicester and Leicestershire deliver books to the housebound, work in hospital cafes and shops and respond to emergency calls from the police and the emergency recovery and resilience services.

Members choose which activity they would like to undertake according to the time they have availabe, interests and physical capabilities.

For instance to deliver books to the housebound, volunteers should be willing to donate at least three hours every week to this activty. They should have strong arms (although we have recently received funding from Leicestershire county council for trolleys,)and be interested in books and reading. Preferably they should be willing to drive their own cars. ( A mileage allowance can be claimed).

Training is given both by library staff and fellow WRVS colleagues. For this branch of the service, where members will be working with vulnerable people in their own homes, members have to undertake police checks before they can start working. The WRVS pay for the checks.

To work in the hospitals WRVS members need food and hygiene certificates. Training for these certificates is provided by the WRVS. Members need to work a set number of hours each week for this activity.

To work in the Resilience and Recovery services members have to undertake a variety of training sessions to keep up to date with current requirements. Training is provided by WRVS, police and local authorities. For some aspects of these services members should also have legible handwriting. Car ownership is desirable but not essential.

Since real emergencies are completely unpredictable and luckily very rare, members of the Emergency Core spenb more time on training than on active duty. For that reason most members opt for additional service in another WRVS core activity.