Volunteer with Blythe House Hospicecare or Helen’s Trust

Without our volunteers, Blythe House and Helen’s Trust simply could not function. Our team of over 250 volunteers collectively donate approximately 590 hours of their time to us each week.

Apply now

We’re very fortunate and proud to have a team of over 250 volunteers supporting the hospice on a regular basis. They play an integral and vital role at Blythe House and Helen’s Trust, and their support means that we can spend the maximum amount of money directly on support and care for our patients and their families.

We are very proud of our volunteers. They are important ambassadors for Blythe House and Helen’s Trust in the community and we very much appreciate the time and commitment they give.

Blythe House Hospicecare relies on the support of volunteers in four key areas:

Patient/client services – in-house at the Blythe House Hospicecare Community Hub
Patient/client services – Community volunteers for both Blythe House Hospicecare and Helen’s Trust
Retail
Fundraising

Training, orientation and support is provided for all of our volunteering roles.

Patient/client services at the Blythe House Hospicecare Community Hub

Exciting opportunities for volunteers with a wide range of skills and talents are available at the Community Hub! We encourage anyone to contact us, who is comfortable supporting people impacted by a life-limiting illness, and who would enjoy a varied day. The role supports our patients, carers and staff by assisting with all aspects of our service delivery including, but not limited to, reception, catering, complementary therapy, transport, companionship, gardening, maintenance and administration.

Patient/clients services – Community volunteers

The Community Volunteer programme is designed to enhance and expand the support that Blythe House and Helen’s Trust provides to our community, especially to patients wishing to be supported in their own home. Community volunteers offer companionship, phone support, transportation, and respite breaks for patients, family members and carers. This role is varied to meet patient/family needs. Requests can be for practical and/or emotional support. Tasks may include shopping, running errands, gardening, dog walking, or simply ‘being there’ so a carer can rest.

Retail activities

This role is very varied and includes sorting, pricing and displaying donated stock, helping and serving customers at our five hospice charity shops in Bakewell, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills and Whaley Bridge. We also have opportunities for collections and delivery volunteer assistants at our Whaley Bridge department store; ideal for anyone who is happy to lift and shift items of furniture and help with collections and deliveries.

Fundraising

Blythe House Hospicecare is a charity that relies on 80% of its income through fundraising, including events, donations, regular giving and gifts lefts in wills. You could get involved in helping the hospice to raise these much-needed funds, to be able to provide free care and services to local people. Volunteer roles include assisting with the planning and organisation of events; distributing posters and leaflets across our local community; managing our collection pots, that raise over £10,000 per year in local businesses and other organisations; supporting our communications team with drafting content for social media, newsletters or appeals.

You could also support community fundraising, including meeting local people who wish to support the hospice, and saying thank you for their generosity, or perhaps you might like to help with administrative duties such as database inputting, and supporting our donor communications.

What do we look for?

We expect our volunteers to be reliable, empathetic, understanding of the need for strict confidentiality and able to bring life skills and experience to their volunteer role.

What do volunteers get out of it?

Our volunteers aren’t paid but their rewards include knowing that their support is appreciated by patients and staff, and that they are part of a team that makes a real difference to people in our community living with a life-limiting illness, or affected by bereavement.

In addition, we offer free, high quality training relevant to their volunteer role and the opportunity to learn new skills.

Please be aware of the following points:

To become a volunteer in a Blythe House shop you need to be over 16 years old.
To become a volunteer at Blythe House Hospicecare or Helen’s Trust you need to be over 18 years old and able to give a regular, long-term commitment.
We expect our volunteers to be willing to undertake any training required for their role.
Volunteer counsellors and complementary therapists must have recognised qualifications and the relevant experience, knowledge and skills required for their roles. Proof of professional qualifications is required. These roles also demand a firm time commitment.
Police checks are undertaken for all hospice-based volunteer roles and all volunteers are required to provide two satisfactory references.
Given the sometimes difficult demands of volunteering both within, or connected to, a hospice environment, we strongly recommend that clients and former clients only consider volunteering after 12 months has passed since being discharged from our clinical or counselling services. Please refer to our policy on client support for Blythe House for more details. However, there are other ways of supporting Blythe House, please contact us for details.