Our village is fortunate that there are a number of community groups and activities that provide support, entertainment and education for us all. All these services require the essential support of volunteers in order to operate, and at the moment our community is currently experiencing a massive volunteer shortage.
Part of the pleasure of living in a rural village should be pulling together and uniting to form a strong community spirit. Without some additional volunteers, some of these services may soon have to close altogether, including our Memorial Hall, Youth Café and Toddler Group.
All sorts of people are needed, so please don’t worry if you don’t feel you have experience or qualifications, get in touch anyway. So please look at your diaries and calendars and offer your services to one of the groups below. Many really only need a small amount of your time.
- Pitstone Memorial Hall Charity is in urgent need of extra trustees and nominated officers. The charity meets approximately once every two months, for a couple of hours, so this will not take up a huge amount of your time. All types of people welcome, with an interest and passion in the hall & the services/events it can bring to our whole community.
- Pitstone Youth Cafe if you would enjoy helping our 11-14yr olds have fun, learn and grow, then the youth café is the place for you. The café needs people willing to get involved in the running & administration of the café, as well as general volunteers to talk to our young people, play a game of snooker/table tennis/football/cards etc with them. Minimum commitment not high at just 1.5hrs once per month.
- Pitstone & Ivinghoe Toddler Group is struggling along with no management committee and a lack of support to help set up/put away. If you can spare some time on a Wednesday afternoon to help the local mums and babies they would be delighted for you to join them.
- Ivinghoe & Pitstone Scouts are still looking for one assistant Beaver leader for a Monday evening & an assistant Cub leader on a Wednesday evening to work alongside the existing volunteer team, so if you can help our 6-10 year olds broaden their horizens and learn new skills then this is the role for you. Scouts also need new members and a secretary for the executive committee. They only meet once per quarter, so it won’t be a big commitment, but without the committee none of the scout groups are able to operate, so your support is extremely important.
- Pitstone Community Car Scheme needs a new co-ordinator and more volunteer drivers, neither are particularly onerous roles. The co-ordinator simply takes calls from the elderly residents that need to get to their hospital appointments and matches their requirement to one of the listed volunteer drivers. The scheme also needs more volunteers that are willing to take these residents to their appointments. You can volunteer for whatever days/times would suit your schedule and you will only be contacted if a request comes in that matches your availability. You will receive payment for your petrol and any car parking expenses.
- Pitstone Community Cinema shows a film on the last Friday of each month at Pitstone Memorial Hall. The cinema run by a small group of dedicated volunteers that help to select the films, sell the tickets and set up the hall. The local cinema is the only cinema that some of our less mobile residents, or those reliant on public transport, can get to. If you have a passion for films and can spare just a couple of hours each month, please get in touch.
- Pitstone Church need extra help to man the church on open days, and help with the annual flower festival. Please do get in touch and help preserve our wonderful village church.
- Party in the Park provides an annual summer outdoor concert on Pitstone Recreation Ground. If music and/or raising funds for good local causes is of interest, then please get in touch. The committee meet every month on the run up to the event and there are always things to be done on the day.
- Ivinghoe Entertainments have had to cancel their Summer Festival this year due to a lack of people on the committee. This organisation is made up of Pitstone & Ivinghoe residents that want to put on activities for the community and raise funds for local community groups. So if you have ever attended the firework display, ball or comedy night, then think about joining and lending a helping hand.
Please ring 01296 660791 or email parishclerk@pitstone.co.uk in the first instance and the parish clerk will be delighted to put you in touch with the right people.