Tamworth Blog

River Anker - Pic: Paulette Sedgwick.

Multi Agency River Clean up of Tamworth Town Centre Water Ways involving Tamworth Borough Council, Sea scouts, Fire Service, Police,Street Wardens (TBC), Street Scene(TBC),Environment Agency, The Angling Trust, HSBC Volunteers, Staffordshire Youth Service and more.

Anyone wishing to volunteer for the day meet at Holloway Car Park 9.30am for registration and health and safety brief.

Main activities will include litter picking, helping collate items recovered from the river, scrub clearance, information awareness on litter, fly tipping and pollution plus more plenty for everyone.
It will be a good day drinks provided, people are asked to dress appropriatley.

5 of the 100+ Volunteers who attended the open day

Over 100 people have expressed an interest in becoming a volunteer at Tamworths Sir Robert Peel Hospital.

The new volunteer scheme held an open day at the hospital on Friday July 3 and was attended by people from Tamworth and the surrounding areas, to find out a little more about the volunteer scheme.

The open day, which was organised by the South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust gave prospective volunteers to find out more about the opportunities which include meeting and greeting patients and families, supporting visiting healthcare workers or just simply talking to patients who don’t have that many visitors.

John Ward, Work Experience and Volunteer Co-ordinator, said:

“It was a fantastic day with a steady stream of people of all ages interested in helping their community hospital. We are confident that a number of people who attended the open day will go through the application process and hopefully start volunteering in September or October.”

The volunteers will donate their time to the hospital, spending two hours, to a couple of days volunteering.  The scheme which is new to the South Staffordshire area is being trialled on one ward at the hospital.

Colin Grazer Statue and St Editha's Church - Pic: TBC

Hundreds of Tamworth youngsters visited St Editha’s Church this week, taking part in craft workshops whilst learning more about Christianity.

Around 700 children from 22 Tamworth schools will visit the church over a 4 day period in the 8th annual open door project.

It was hoped that the youngsters of Tamworth would discover more about themselves, the building, its history and the role of St Editha’s in the community.

More than 50 members of St Editha’s and the Tamworth coveting churches volunteered their time to run the programme and the various work shops.

The Reverend Alan Barrett, vicar of editha’s said

”The children had a great time and at the end took home whatever they made”.

Sir Robert Peel Hospital - Pic: Angella Streluk

Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Mile Oak is opening it’s doors on July 3 (Friday) in a pilot scheme being run by South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust.  The open day is looking for kind hearted volunteers who want to volunteer their time to assist in the administration, meeting and greeting supporting health care staff or even just talking to patients who may not have friends or family to visit them..

The scheme is being trialed on one ward at the hospital and if it’s succesful will be rolled out to the whole hospital and further afield at Lichfields Samuel Johnson Hospital.

John Ward, Work Experience and Volunteer Co-ordinator, said:

“Volunteers have a choice of being involved in services on a hospital wide basis. Responsibilities could include directing patients to relevant departments or support our staff in providing services which will add to the patient experience such as reading, playing games, helping to prepare for busy meal times or simply have a chat with individual patients.”

Of course volunteers aren’t paid but they can take reward from the service they are providing in adding value and a personal touch to the NHS service.

The Open day will run from 10am to 4pm and those interested in volunteering will be able to talk to staff and existing volunteers about the opportunities and benefits of volunteering.