Volunteering

Companion Cycling relies on a pool of willing and dedicated volunteers to be able to operate, and we are constantly looking for more help. You may be interested in joining us and there are a number of ways in which you may be able to help us:

Help at regular sessions

We run regular sessions where volunteers are on hand to assist our riders. These sessions are currently held on Sunday mornings from 10.00am to 1.00pm and Saturday mornings from 11.00am to 1.00pm. As a volunteer at one of these sessions you may be expected to:

• Undertake basic checks to ensure that the cycles are roadworthy
• Assist riders in selecting the right cycle for them and help to adjust the cycle to suit them
• Collect and receipt payments for rides and take future bookings
• Deal with any problems which riders may have either with the cycles or whilst riding in the park
• Sometimes volunteers are needed to ride with our members in the park
• Look after the cycles and their security

We also organise group rides when a residential home or a daycare scheme will bring a group of riders to use the bikes. These are often on weekdays, and volunteers are needed to help supervise these sessions and to ride along with the group in the Park.

Help with inductions

All new riders are given an induction to familiarise them with the cycle which they will use and to show them the routes through the park. We have a standard induction procedure which is operated by our more experienced volunteers.

Help with events and fundraising

We usually hold an open day at the start of each season, and a number of other special events take place during the year. We are always glad of more help on these occasions. We may also from time to time attend other organised events in order to promote the scheme and its objectives. If you believe that organising events or helping with a stand is your forte, then please let us know! And like so many voluntary schemes we may need help with fundraising from time to time.

Help with administration

There are a number of administrative tasks associated with running the scheme - membership, bookings, accounts, volunteer organising, cycle maintenance, publicity etc. - plus regular management committee meetings and the production of an occasional newsletter. If you feel that you may be able to help us with any of these administrative tasks, then we would love to hear from you, whether or not you feel able to help with any of the other volunteer tasks.

Becoming a Volunteer

Before choosing to volunteer for Companion Cycling we would recommend that you come and visit us during one of our regular sessions on a Saturday or Sunday morning. If you are interested in volunteering for Companion Cycling and would like to arrange to come and find out more about us then please click here to send us an email.

Once you have visited us, should you decide you wish to volunteer then you will need to complete a volunteer registration form. You can download a copy of the form by clicking here - when the form has loaded click on the print icon at the top left of the form window or fill in the form online and email it to volunteers@companioncycling.org.uk.

Volunteer References

If you have been asked to supply a reference for one of our volunteers then you can download a volunteer reference form (Microsoft Word document) here.

Click here if you need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view the registration form.