Announcing speakers for our December Networking Event

Our charity networking event on 11 December will feature Renée Padfield, West Surrey Alliance Board Chair and CEO of CSH Surrey, who will talk about the remit and plans for the newly formed West Surrey Health Board.

From Voluntary Support North Surrey, Alison Morey and Solette Sheppardson will also speak about the UK Government Funded Crisis Resilience Fund and our local offer - called Out of Crisis - for Spelthorne and Surrey Heath.

Alison will also be running her annual Christmas quiz, for the last time sadly as we will be saying a fond farewell to her when she retires at the end of this year. It's going to be a special event, so make sure you book yourself a place!

Nominations closing soon: Surrey Heath Volunteer Awards 2026

Many groups tell us it can be challenging finding ways to recognise and reward their volunteers.

Our annual awards are a high profile way of honouring the invaluable contribution made by volunteers in Surrey Heath. This is a great opportunity for you to celebrate and recognise the incredible contributions volunteers make to your organisation and the wider community. 

If you’re a Surrey Heath organisation, please nominate one or more of your volunteers, volunteer teams or businesses for these awards. This year’s awards categories are as follows:

• Unsung Hero Award – Recognising those behind the scenes such as a helpful trustee or someone working hard to support other volunteers and staff.
• Inspirational Volunteer Award – For volunteers who have made a huge difference to your cause and whose passion and dedication inspire others to make a difference.
• New Volunteer Award – For those volunteers who are new to volunteering and have been in their post for at least a year.
• Long-Service Award (for 10+ years of service) – For our long-standing volunteers who have been volunteering for more than 10 years.
• Volunteer Team Award – To recognise a volunteer team’s collaborative efforts and contributions to residents of Surrey Heath.
• Fundraiser of the Year Award – Honouring both individuals and teams for their passionate and/or innovative approaches to fundraising, regardless of the amount raised.
• Engagement in the Community – Recognising businesses that actively support local charities and non-profits, making a positive impact through their corporate social responsibility efforts.

You can nominate a volunteer or organisation for a volunteer award using this online form. The deadline for nominations is 6th November.

Once nominations are closed, a judging panel comprising representatives from the local community will decide on the winners for each category. On Thursday 3 December, we will be hosting an awards ceremony at Chobham Golf Club.

If you need help completing the form or would prefer it in Word format please contact us on 01276 402789 or email Mark And do forward the details of the volunteer awards to anyone in the Borough that you feel may be interested in nominating a volunteer – we want these awards to be as inclusive and wide-ranging as possible.

Connecting local businesses to charities

Families Thriving Together supports parenting across Surrey - but their IT systems were causing them all sorts of headaches. Voluntary Support North Surrey connected them to the IT team at Fleet Mortgages, who used a day of their volunteer leave to tackle the challenges together - installing new systems, educating staff and offering further support with a remote session too. As a result, the charity is not just running more smoothly, but is more confident, more secure and ready for the future.

Michelle Tucker, the charity's CEO said "It's been so incredibly beneficial and has led to even more support in other areas of our IT - we could never have covered this alone." 

We would love to connect more organisations to businesses, so do let us know if you are in need of corporate support.

A Question of Balance: new guide to the Chair / CEO relationship

The relationship between Chair and CEO is crucial; it impacts the board and the wider organisation and is at its best when it is effective, positive, and productive. So how do you build the best partnership possible?

A new free guide A Question of Balance explores this relationship from the Chair’s perspective. Drawing on new research by ACEVO and nfpResearch, the guide is packed with insights from Chairs and CEOs, and covers all aspects of the partnership.

The guide explores ten areas where the Chair and CEO can reflect on their approach and find the best balance. It also covers the factors that impact the relationship, and what to do when things go wrong.

Join our team and support people in North West Surrey

Thanks to successful National Lottery and Surrey Consortium bids, we are pleased to announce that we are looking for two people to join our team:

• Lottery Project Lead - £40k FTE, 32 – 36 hours/week, Chertsey/ Staines

The Lottery Project Lead will take a hands-on role in delivering this new project, working directly with charities, voluntary organisations and community groups to understand their needs and provide practical support to build their resilience and capacity. The postholder will also coordinate the project team and ensure delivery meets National Lottery Community Fund requirements.

• Out of Crisis Consortium Coordinator, £40k FTE, 32 - 36 hours/week, Staines

The Consortium Coordinator will manage the day-to-day delivery of the Out of Crisis programme across Spelthorne and Surrey Heath. You will bring our 28 partner organisations together to monitor and support their progress and help make sure local residents receive joined-up support from our consortium. This is a coordination role, not a specialist casework role. You will help partners work effectively together so people receive the right support.

For both roles, we're reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Supporting a thriving voluntary sector

A thriving voluntary and community sector has a network of organisations providing advice, connections, representation and practical support behind it. It can be easy to overlook this work, precisely because its purpose is to help other organisations succeed.

New analysis from NAVCA highlights why that matters. Local infrastructure organisations bring detailed knowledge of their communities, strengthen frontline voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and act as a bridge between the sector and public bodies. For commissioners and policymakers, those trusted relationships can also provide a clearer understanding of local needs. Yet NAVCA reports that 53% of infrastructure funding is awarded for just one year, while half its members recorded a deficit in 2024-25.

Recent events bring that vulnerability sharply into focus. Reach Volunteering announced a planned closure before nine funders and donors came together to secure its future to the end of 2028. Reach itself says that saving one organisation is not the same as having a strategy for infrastructure and resilience.

Sadly, the Directory of Social Change has not had the same outcome. After more than 50 years supporting charities and community groups, DSC announced on 14 October that it had appointed an insolvency practitioner to manage its closure, highlighting the financial pressures facing infrastructure organisations.

For North West Surrey, Voluntary Support continues to connect the sector, sharing knowledge and practical support so that our local groups can continue with their work supporting communities. We know that sustainable infrastructure isn't an optional extra but a a part of what makes a strong local voluntary sector possible.

What volunteers are telling us

Earlier this year, we asked volunteers registered with Voluntary Support to tell us about their experience of volunteering, what matters to them when choosing a role and how we can improve the support we provide.

We received 102 responses, and while we’ll be sharing more from the survey soon, there are already some useful messages for organisations involving volunteers.

There was plenty of positive feedback: among respondents who had applied for an opportunity through Voluntary Support, nearly two-thirds found a volunteering role, and more than two-thirds of those were still volunteering when they completed the survey.

Once volunteers reached an organisation, their experience was also very positive: 83% said they felt very or extremely welcomed and supported.

That matters. The way somebody is welcomed, supported and communicated with can make a real difference to whether their volunteering journey succeeds.

Responding quickly matters

One of the clearest findings was the importance of what happens after somebody expresses an interest.

Of volunteers who were contacted quickly after applying, 74% went on to find a role. Among those who told us they heard nothing, only 12.5% found a role.

A quick acknowledgement, an update if there is a delay, or simply letting somebody know that they have been unsuccessful can make a big difference to their experience.

What are volunteers looking for?

Volunteers told us the factors that mattered most when choosing a role were:

• Location - 75%
• Making a difference - 64%
• Flexibility - 59%
• Meeting new people - 55%
• Using skills they already have - 53%

Volunteers also told us they would welcome more flexible, short-term and one-off opportunities, better use of their existing skills and clearer information to help them decide whether a role is right for them.

We’ll be using this feedback to shape our own work, including how we promote opportunities, how we help volunteers find the right role and how we support organisations to design and recruit for volunteering opportunities.

Now we want to hear from you

We will shortly send out a survey asking for feedback from groups involving volunteers.

Your feedback is just as important.

We want to understand the challenges you are facing, what support from Voluntary Support is most useful, what you would like more help with and what our training, networking and volunteer development offer should look like in 2027.

The volunteer survey has told us what volunteering looks like from one side of the relationship. Your survey will help us understand the other.

The more organisations that take part, the better we can shape our support around what you and your volunteers actually need.

Please look out for the survey soon and take a few minutes to tell us what you think.

Time to Talk Befriending reducing loneliness and building genuine friendships  

A recent survey by our Time to Talk befriending service found that its befriending is reducing loneliness and building genuine friendships across North West Surrey. 

We asked 20 clients and 18 volunteers in our befriending service what the visits mean to them: 

• 95% of clients feel they benefit from their visits 
• 85% have noticed a positive change in themselves 
• 100% of volunteers enjoy befriending and feel supported in their role 

One client told us they “didn’t realise how lonely” they were until their befriender started visiting. Another said it was a “wonderful feeling having someone to talk to”, and another described their befriender as “just like old friends”. 

Volunteers told a matching story. All 18 said they enjoy befriending and feel supported in their role. Many said they get as much from the visits as their clients do. As one put it: “The impact isn’t just on them, it’s on you too - it’s rewarding to know you can make a difference.” 

Befriending Week (1-7 November) is the national campaign celebrating befriending and the volunteers who make it happen. This year’s theme is “Supporting each other through meaningful connections”, and it’s clear from these findings that befriending is having an impact on people in North West Surrey. 

If you know someone who would welcome a regular friendly visit, then please visit our Time to Talk page or call 01932 571122. 

Improving everyday active travel in Chertsey

The Chertsey Sustainable Travel Working Group has produced a report Improving everyday active travel in Chertsey, demonstrating the value of bringing local organisations and community voices together around a shared ambition for more sustainable travel.

The report was produced through a process that created a space for people to share their knowledge and experience, identify the issues that matter locally, and develop practical priorities for action. VSNS played a vital role throughout the process, facilitating constructive discussions between partners and helping to shape and produce the final report.

Improving everyday active travel in Chertsey provides a useful platform for taking that collective insight forward and strengthening the community’s role in shaping future sustainable travel improvements in Chertsey.

Building relationships for greater community impact

17 November 2026, 9.30am - 12 noon, Enterprise Egham

Enterprise is delivering free training for charities on relationship-building - timed to coincide with the formation of the new West Surrey Council. The session will explore stakeholder mapping, helping organisations identify their key stakeholders, understand their influence and interest, and consider where new relationships or connections need to be developed. It will also look at ways to approach new contacts.

The training aims to strengthen collaboration and sharing of resources and build more productive relationships with supporters, generating greater visibility for funding opportunities, a better service for clients, and improved retention of staff and volunteers. 

There are ten places available. Email Jo Buckell to find out more.

Grants and Trusts Fundraising Applications Training

19 November, 9.30am - 3pm, VSNS Chertsey Office

This one-day introductory training session will guide you through structuring and writing charity applications for national and local grants and trusts.

During the session, we will cover:

• Researching the need for your project
• Planning
• Measuring impact
• Finding the appropriate funder
• Application structure
• Funding Strategy

Trustees Roles and Responsibilities 

24 November, 10am - 2pm, Rangeford Villages Homewood Grove, 3 Nightingale Avenue, Ottershaw, KT16 0AU

Voluntary Support North Surrey is offering a half‑day course to help trustees and charity leaders strengthen governance, understand legal responsibilities, and improve financial confidence.

Led by charity law expert Helen Harvie, the session covers:

• Trustee duties & recruitment
• Board roles and effective meetings
• Governing documents & Charity Commission requirements
• Financial health, accounts & reporting
• Serious incident reporting & key legal essentials

Perfect for new or experienced trustees, CEOs and senior leaders who want to keep their charity compliant, confident and well‑run.

Emergency First Aid at Work

25 November, 9.30am - 12.30pm, High Cross Church, Camberley

Join us for our First Aid Training – Emergency First Aid at Work on Wednesday 25 November at High Cross Church, Camberley.

This training includes three hours of e-learning followed by a three-hour practical assessment, leading to a certified Emergency First Aid at Work Qualification. The three hours of e-learning must be completed prior to the practical assessment on 25 November.

Cost: £20.00

Email Jo Buckell to reserve your place.

Spelthorne Mental Health Forum 

1 December, 10am - 12noon, Stanwell Events

Our quarterly Spelthorne Mental Health Forum will next meet on Tuesday 1 December,  10am–12noon at Stanwell Events. Speakers are to be confirmed.

This event is for groups based in or operating across Spelthorne with a connection to mental health, whether that's through tackling isolation, age-related mental health or disability.

Each meeting has one or two speakers, followed by a roundtable session where people can give an update on their service and share anything new for discussion.

If you’re interested in attending, please contact Catherine for more details.

Runnymede and Spelthorne Older People's Forum 

3 December, 10.30am - 12noon, Staines Library

Our quarterly Runnymede and Spelthorne Older People's Forum will next meet on 3 December, 10.30am–12noon at Staines Library.

This event is for anyone based in or operating across Runnymede or Spelthorne who works for an organisation with a connection to older people (there’s no defined age but approximately 55+), whether your focus is tackling isolation, age-related physical or mental health or another service.

If you’re interested in attending, please contact Elaine for more details.

Charity Networking Event 

11 December, 10am - 12noon, Enterprise House Egham

Our last Charity Networking Event of 2026 will be held on 11 December at Enterprise Egham.

These events are designed to bring together local organisations and community groups. This event is a great opportunity to share what your organisation does, connect with others in the sector, and explore new opportunities for collaboration.

Speakers for our December event

Training and Networking Events 2026

Trustee Roles and Responsibilities - 24 November, 10am - 2pm

First Aid Training - 25 November, 9.30am - 12.30pm

Spelthorne Mental Health Forum - 1 December, 10am - 12noon

Runnymede and Spelthorne Older People's Forum - 3 December, 10.30am - 12noon

Charity Networking Event - 11 December, 10am - 12noon