Volunteering Roles

Below are just some of the roles where you could help, however there are many opportunities to get involved.  

If you would like to know more or you want to apply to become a volunteer then click on one of the buttons below and we will contact you.

Key Roles:

Events Team

We currently have a very active Events Team but need more help to plan and attend events. In addition to several major events, the Society attends various local shows and sets up stands at strategic locations along the Canal to get people involved in the Canal and to attract new members to join us in our work.

If you like talking to people, have been involved in events, and/or are good at organising, then we would like to hear from you. It’s great fun and very important to help us get the message out to the local community. 

Helping overview the Society’s IT

As with all charities we are increasingly using IT in all aspects of our work. We have various experienced people running, for example membership, web site, boat bookings, etc but we need help with someone overviewing IT, coordination and planning. Needless to say it requires general IT experience along with organisational and teamwork skills.

It is a fascinating role and the individual(s) would be working as part of a team and getting involved with many parts of the Society. Recognising that it is a volunteer role we would be suggesting a time commitment of around 3-4 hours a week. To find out more please contact us.

We are also looking for some volunteer support on:

1. Document Control: With the growth of both our charity, and the legislation requiring formal data management, we are looking for a volunteer to help overview and control our documentation. Clearly this person should have some experience in this field and ideally have an appreciation of Google Suite. The initial priorities include ensuring adherence to GDPR and managing the records on some of our key projects. The role could then be developed over time where we would be keen to get an applicant’s own views on ongoing priorities.
2. Reviewing Processes: In parallel with the above Document Control role, we are looking for someone with System Process experience to help us review and bring some better shape to documentation of our main systems eg IT and Projects.

Build Links with Local Businesses

We work with local businesses both in terms of corporate volunteering, sponsorship and supporting the canal. Indeed we have been particularly successful with corporate volunteer days and want to build on this with both local businesses and major employers along the canal.

If you are from a corporate or local business background, or have a marketing bent and would like to join the team to help get local business more involved, and have ideas on how to do this, then please contact us.

Social Media Team

We currently have a very active Social Media presence but need more help to plan and get our message out. We are therefore looking for someone to join our Social Media/Marketing team to further increase our local profile. In this we welcome new ideas and as such it is a really interesting and creative role. Please contact us to find out more.

Support Recruiting New Volunteers

We are a totally volunteer led charity with over 300 volunteers and on average 2 more joining us each week. However we need help with new volunteer enquiries and then following through with the admin to track and support volunteers. It’s great fun and very rewarding helping volunteers get involved with the charity. You would be working with the existing volunteer coordinator. Flexible with around 3 hours work a week. Please contact us to find out more.

Help Grow our Membership

While we have over 1200 members we are keen to get more people joining to help protect our local canal. We are therefore looking for someone to work with the membership and marketing teams to both support existing members and help promote membership. It is important to have some basic spreadsheet skills. 

Electrical Engineer on our trip boat

To support our 50 passenger John Pinkerton trip boat at Odiham we need someone with marine electrical experience to join the boat maintenance team. To find out more please contact us.

Boat Champion

We are looking for a small team to help raise the profile of boats and navigation on the Canal.

The role is flexible but we need someone to help give more ‘voice’ to boats on the Canal and we would be suggesting that this includes:

• Working with organisations that use boats on the canal (Galleon Marine, Accessible Boating, canoe clubs, etc)
• Have contact with boat owners on the canal to get them involved. Also represent the interests of boaters at the twice yearly BCA boaters’ meeting
• Promote boating on the canal including feeding stories to the Society’s press and marketing team

Do you have Company Secretarial Skills?

Our current trustee secretary is a volunteer and would appreciate help with some of the Company Secretarial responsibilities. If you have experience in this area this would be an interesting role. Time commitment is flexible but say 2 hours a week.

Fundraising: Donations and Legacies

Join our fundraising team to help increase the monies received from donations and legacies. With the increased awareness by the community of the value of importance of the canal, there is a real need (and opportunity) for us to obtain donations to help support and protect the Canal. We have various initiatives underway and this role would help the team put these into practice, along with bringing your own ideas to our future plans.

Leaving a bequest is also a wonderful way to leave a gift for both present and future generations. This is a longer term initiative and over the last few years we have received many gifts which have been used towards various projects including the new moorings at Farnborough, our new Kitty electric boat and tools for general maintenance of the towpath.

Chobham Talks Organiser

We are looking for someone to take over this existing and interesting role.

The Society organises a talk at the Chobham Recreation Ground Pavilion on the evening of the fourth Wednesday of each winter month between October and April. The usual format is a talk about the Canal or an associated or local subject typically lasting between 45 and 60 minutes followed by a break for tea or coffee and Q&A. 

The organiser will arrange the speaker programme and liaise with them on the evenings of the talks. There will be help in setting up the venue on the evening and the organiser is well supported by a fellow volunteer who will continue to help and has previously chaired the evening in the organiser’s absence. To find out more please contact us.

Trustees

There is the opportunity to get involved and help lead the Society either as a Trustee or supporting one of our existing trustees (with the opportunity of a full trustee position at a later date). We already have a range of skills on the Board but we are in looking to get others involved in supporting the following trustees:

• Projects
• Health & Safety
• Building links with local businesses
• IT
• Working with local councils

Either as a trustee or in a ‘deputy’ role, provides a real opportunity to get involved in the work and direction of the Society and in so doing, directly help protect this wonderful local amenity for use by the community and boats for navigation.

If you are interested in finding out how you could get involved please contact us and meet one of our existing trustees to understand our plans and discuss how you could use your skills. Time commitment is flexible and will be discussed when we discuss the roles.