Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills, meet new people, gain confidence, help others, keep active, have a sense of purpose, gain work experience and improve your mental health.
Our volunteers play a vital role at Horton Housing by helping us to deliver good quality services for people in Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and North Yorkshire.
We are committed to ensuring a safe and professional environment for our volunteers and are proud to have Investing in Volunteers accreditation. More information about what this means can be found here.
Apply today by filling out our application form here. For student placement applications, click here.
READ: Volunteer and Donations Newsletter – Autumn 2024
Volunteer Service description (doc.)
We have new volunteer roles to fill!
Please note that all of the current volunteer roles advertised below require an enhanced DBS Check, of which we will cover the cost. All of our roles require volunteers to follow Safeguarding processes when needed.
Roles in Bradford
Activities Support
You will assist with the activity support group at one of our services based in Bradford city centre. You will help to organise and run a variety of service activities including arts and crafts sessions, coffee mornings, consultations and trips out in the community. The role will require you to attend once-a-week.
Van Driver Volunteer
You will help our drivers with organising and collecting furniture or large item donations around the region. You will need to be physically fit to lift donations, which often includes items of furniture. The Van Driver’s Mate will also help to keep accurate records of our collections and deliveries.
Gardener volunteer
The gardener encourages and supports our tenants to spend time outside in an allotment, helping to create a space for relaxation, exercise, gardening and activities. This role is in Shipley. We hope to welcome individuals with a holistic perspective and ideally some community experience, who enjoy working with groups.
Activities Support
You will assist with the activity support group at one of our services based in Bradford city centre. You will help to organise and run a variety of service activities including arts and crafts sessions, coffee mornings, consultations and trips out in the community. The role will require you to attend once-a-week.
Van Driver volunteers
We are looking to recruit van drivers who can help us collect and distribute all of our donations to our services across West and North Yorkshire. The volunteer will need to aged 25 or over and be physically fit to lift donations, which often includes items of furniture. For this role, you must have a full valid UK manual driving license and be able to commit to one day a week.
Van Driver’s Mate volunteer
You will help our drivers with organising and collecting furniture or large item donations around the region. You will need to be physically fit to lift donations, which often includes items of furniture The Van Driver’s Mate will also help to keep accurate records of our collections and deliveries.
Activities Support
You will assist with the activity support group at our male-only accommodation service. You will engage with group activities including arts and crafts, coffee mornings, community trips, and much more. The role will require you to attend once-a-week.
Female Befriender
The Befriender role involves giving support and companionship to people who are socially isolated or experiencing mental health challenges. Befrienders are matched with people in our scheme based on your interests and experiences. You will arrange to meet up with the person you are matched with once-a-week. This may include trips to the park, cinema or telephone conversations.
As a Befriender you will need to be a good listener and communicator, friendly, approachable, empathetic, and non-judgemental.
Please note that due to the nature of this service, this is a female-only role.
Activities Support
You will assist staff at our Housing and Community Support (HACS) 4 All with organising activities and taking part in weekly support sessions at the scheme. This role also require you to help staff with administrative tasks including answering the phone, photocopying, and sending letters.
Roles in Kirklees
Work Coach
Work Coaches give advice and support with finding jobs. You will help to improve and develop a person’s strengths and weaknesses to help them become job ready. The role involves working one-to-one with the people to find suitable job opportunities based on the person’s skills, interests, experience, and qualifications.
Befriender
The Befriender role involves giving support and companionship to people who are socially isolated or experiencing mental health challenges. Befrienders are matched with people in our scheme based on your interests and experiences. You will arrange to meet up with the person you are matched with once-a-week. This may include trips to the park, cinema or telephone conversations.
As a Befriender you will need to be a good listener and communicator, friendly, approachable, empathetic, and non-judgemental.
Activities Support and Administrative Assistant
The role involves providing administration support for Horton’s Substance, Tenancy and Resettlement Service (STARS). You will also help staff to facilitate group activities and the occasional day trip out with people in the scheme.
Roles in Calderdale
The following volunteer roles are based at our YPASS service in Calderdale. For more information or to apply, please contact YPASS Volunteer Coordinator Tanya on 07809 203876.
Gardener
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to help us to keep the outside space tidy and neat. The ideal candidate will have some knowledge of gardening, or a willingness to learn on the go.
Duties will include:
– Pruning the already planted and growing shrubs/ plants.
– Regularly de-weeding and clearing falling leaves and rubbish.
Admin Assistant
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to assist in the successful running of our office space. The idea candidate will have strong desire and willingness progress in an office environment.
Duties will include:
– Carrying out organisational tasks like filing, organising and scheduling appointments.
– Assisting other staff members and drafting emails or messages.
– Supporting to manage and keep the office running smoothly.
Early Intervention and Prevention Assistant
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to engage with young people who have been referred to our Young Persons’ Prevention and Support Service. The ideal candidate will engage them and offer support wait to be allocated a support worker.
Duties will include:
– In person and telephone befriending.
– Encouraging clients to attend sessions in scheme and in the local community.
– Uploading referrals to a secure online database, logging notes and completing forms.
Book Club facilitator
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to facilitate Book Club. The ideal candidate will have a passion for reading and unpacking storied in a group setting.
Duties will include:
– Photocopying chapters ahead of group.
– Encouraging members to read and unpack the chapters.
– Facilitating conversations about what books to read next.
Arts and Crafts facilitator
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to facilitate our craft’s group. The ideal candidate will have a passion for creating and making things with a group.
Duties will include:
– Researching different things that can be made in a group setting with our members.
– Encouraging members to work together to make things.
– Encouraging members to communicate with each other while the group is in session.
ESOL Tutor
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to deliver in-house ESOL classes. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of teaching ESOL and an accreditation.
Duties will include:
– Evaluating students level of learning.
– Delivering a 1 hour session to a small group of students once a week.
– Creating lesson/ session plans for students to follow.
Yoga Instructor
We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual to deliver in house yoga sessions in our comfortable client space. The idea candidate will have knowledge of facilitating Yoga session and an accreditation.
Duties will include:
– Facilitating sessions that can be easily adapted to members capabilities.
– Being able to connect with members and keep them engaged in the session.
– Being encouraging and offering lots of praise to members in attendance.
Cooking Companion
We are looking for a motivated individual to join in at our Cook and Eat Sessions. The ideal candidate will have a passion for cooking and enjoying being in a group.
Duties will include:
– planning meals and researching recipes to cook in the session.
– engaging with the group and encouraging conversations in the session.
– supporting members to prep and cook meals as a group.
Our Stories:
We are proud to launch Our Stories, an online publication celebrating the voices of our colleagues, volunteers and the people Horton Housing supports.
To inspire your volunteering journey with us, download your free copy by clicking here to view online or here to view as a PDF.
For more information about any of our opportunities, please email: volunteer.applications@hortonhousing.co.uk.
