As many of us will be doing this week to celebrate Volunteers' Week, we wanted to take a moment to applaud the momentous amount of work undertaken by incredible volunteers at venues across the house network - without which, many of us wouldn't be able to function.

Not only is this reflective of the incredible generosity of spirit found in our communities, but testament to the ability of venues to create a sense of community and creative vision that attracts individuals to want to volunteer their time and support.

Our home venue Farnham Maltings is supported by a team of 120 volunteers. Nicola, Volunteer Coordinator says:

“We are truly grateful for everything that our team of volunteers does for us - from our wonderful team of stewards to all our other fantastic volunteers across the Maltings and Museum whose roles include admin, collection care, community, craft, games night, gardening, marketing ambassadors, museum front of house, singing for the mind, youth theatre and much more! We are very lucky to have their support and can’t thank them enough - not just during Volunteeers' Week but throughout the year.”

Marion one of the team of volunteers adds:

“I volunteer to give back for some of the pleasure I get from doing things at the Maltings. It is also fun to be able to steward at events which I enjoy especially for National Theatre screened plays and films. The main reason for volunteering was to give me a purpose in life.”

Across our network of over 180 venues in the South East, many are completely volunteer led, or like The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, have a staff teams who are supported by wonderful volunteers and say:

“We're shouting out to our amazing volunteer team today! Without them, giving up their time and doing a fantastic job welcoming our guests, we simply wouldn’t be able to bring our diverse range of performing arts to Banbury.

On an average month, the social impact of our volunteer ushers is worth around £2k every month to our community!* More importantly, it means that our audience receive a friendly greeting and help when they need it.”

Whether it's a friendly face greeting someone who's never been to your venue before, or being a listening ear to feedback in the bar post show, volunteers are often front and centre to our audiences but not always front and centre of sector praise. So, thank you to the volunteers who chose to give their time to our spaces, stages and audiences consistently every year. Every week is volunteer week in our eyes.

Images: Volunteers at Farnham Maltings
*Community impact figure calculated through the Theatre Green Book