Volunteers Week 2025 - Our Favourite Time of Year

Volunteers’ Week is an annual UK-wide campaign held from the first Monday in June to celebrate and recognise the contributions of volunteers. It has been running for over 40 years, providing organisations and communities a platform to thank current and past volunteers for their invaluable efforts. Volunteers’ Week fosters connections, and celebrates the spirit of volunteering that enriches communities each year.

Every year for Volunteers Week MVA supports community activities that the whole sector can get involved in to celebrate and say thanks to local volunteers! This year we’ve gone bigger and better, with generous support from our Rochester Cathedral, Medway Council and The Historic Chatham Dockyard partners.

We’re delighted to announce that this year we have 5 exciting FREE activities that volunteers and VCSEF organisations and groups can get involved in.

Click HERE to check out the activities schedule to see what's going on and when at the Fair. Use the buttons below by each activity to find out more.

So what’s next… Get Involved - Spread the word and we look forward to seeing everything the VCSEF in Medway has going on

Activity 1 - 'Creating Community Connections at the Cathedral’ Volunteer Fair

Join us for our ‘Creating Community Connections at the Cathedral’ Volunteer Fair. This is our Volunteers Week showcase event for existing volunteers and for those interested in learning more about it.

At the Fair there will be information stands about starting volunteering, and other activities going on throughout the day supported by MVA’s Joy social prescribing partners.

The Joy App makes accessing local support in communities in Medway easy just a few clicks away.

Come explore the rewarding world of volunteering, and discover how you can start making a difference also, as well as having the opportunity to talk with existing volunteers about the amazing work they do.

The event is being generously supported by Canon Gordon Giles and the Cathedrals’ Events & Volunteering teams. We’d all love to see you there.

In addition to the above in the Cathedral, there will also be a programme of community themed activities going on during the day, and an opportunity to view the Creative digital community art project which you can find out more about taking part in below.

Click HERE to check out the activities schedule to see what's going on and when at the Fair.

Activity 2 - ‘Connected Creations' MVA's New Digital Bunting Community art project

Join our new ‘Connected Creations’ digital art project. We want to know what community means to you and we’d like you to share with us ‘creatively’.

MVA are inviting all Medway volunteers to get creative and design digital bunting which will be displayed at their Cathedral Volunteer Fair.

This can be either an individual or collaborative effort where VCSEF organisations and groups come together to celebrate volunteering.

The deadline to submit creations is by email to MVA before 5pm Monday the 2nd of June to volunteering@mva.org.uk.

You can download instructions on how to join the project in our free resource pack by clicking HERE.

Activity 4 - Telling Tales Storytime - NOW LAUNCHING LATE JUNE / EARLY JULY

Attend one of our FREE ‘Telling Tales’ Storytime Sessions celebrating diversity and heritage across Medway in the local libraries. WATCH THIS SPACE as we will be announcing dates etc for the first session in late June/early July.

There are 2 ways to get involved using the buttons below. You can either come and share your story or your communities culture.

Or you can come along and learn more about the diverse range of communities in Medway and the powerful impact of volunteering.

Click HERE for details of days and times which will be updated soon.

Activity 5 - The Historic Dockyard Chatham • The Matey’s Tour

Step back in time and discover the Historic Dockyard through the eyes of those who knew it best. Join the team for a relaxed, volunteer-led walking tour with two former Dockyard Matey’s, David Lawrence and John Masters, who started their apprenticeships here in 1960 and 1970 and worked at the dockyard until the 1980s and now generously volunteer their time to help look after our historic site and share their unique stories.

With decades of experience, David and John bring the Dockyard’s history to life in a way only they can.

This FREE ACTIVITY exclusively for local volunteers, is being very kindly donated by the Historic Chatham Dockyard, to celebrate local volunteers.

Request a tour space NOW using the button below to make sure you don’t miss out, as these tours are very popular and spaces are limited. Please note that this is the only way you can book a free space.

There are 2 tours both on the Tuesday the 3rd of June - one at 11am and one at 2pm.

Click HERE for more info.

We will ask you to send us evidence of your volunteering, which you can ask your volunteer manager to do by emailing confirmation to lisa@mva.org.uk.

Please note that for all volunteers week images, photos, recording or audio to be used we need you to complete our media release agreement to grant us permission which you can download HERE. Please send this alongside any items you send to MVA, as we cannot use without this consent.

If you have any question regarding any of the above please contact Lisa at lisa@mva.org.uk.