Category: News

We’re very proud to have been rated EXCELLENT again in Quality In Befriending. 

One of only 8 organisations in the UK to achieve this. And so far we are the only organisation to achieve it twice.

The award was developed by Befriending Networks to assess “the management expertise, processes and resources to deliver a consistently high quality service. Both client and volunteers can expect to be fully prepared and supported throughout their befriending experience. ”

 The nine Practice Areas assessed by QiB are:

• client referrals, assessments and waiting lists
• volunteer recruitment, assessment and selection
• volunteer training
• matching
• reviews and ongoing support for clients and befrienders
• endings
• risk management and safety
• project resources
• monitoring & evaluation, and implementing change

We’ll be setting up camp for lovely outdoor storytelling sessions in Vogrie Country Park, for Midlothian’s Playday on Weds 5th Aug.

We’ll be there all day, you can drop by any time to hear masses of stories.

Midlothian’s Playday is not just a great day out, it’s about spreading the word about the importance of play. This year’s theme is Play more…

The Playday Play more… campaign is calling on everyone to help make sure that children and young people across the UK have the time, freedom and space to play more. Not only do children have a right to play, playing more is crucial for children’s health, well-being and happiness.

Come and chat to us if you are interested in volunteering, we’ll tell you all about the great job our volunteers do to support families.

We want our families to have more fun, so the families we work with are getting free swimming vouchers to use in Edinburgh Leisure pools.

It’s part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy to inspire lasting change in Scotland.  In partnership with the Big Lottery and Edinburgh Leisure we want to encourage as many families as possible to make splashing about for fun part of their regular routine.

www.legacy2014.scot

www.edinburghleisure.co.uk

We are very proud to have been awarded Volunteer Team of the Year Award by Volunteer Midlothian.  The award, presented by Midlothian’s Lord Lieutenant, is a tribute to all our extraordinary volunteers who give up their time to support vulnerable families. We are particularly honoured that we were chosen to receive it by the staff of Volunteer Midlothian. What a marvellous end to Volunteers Week.

Well done Team!  You really deserve it.

Individual volunteers also received much deserved Inspiring Volunteer awards

• Val Clapton for her long and dedicated service to Home Link.
• Audrey Speed for supporting multiple families and for extending her training to take on Antenatal families.
• Christine Brown, who was invited to the Lord Provost’s ceremony to receive her award for her extraordinary dedication and particulary her work with families from abroad.

Hard to believe it was sunny last week.  We spent a morning sharing simple crafting techniques with our volunteers.

The volunteers will be able to take these fun activities to the families they visit in Edinburgh and Midlothian.

Today we distributed wonderful garden kits to our volunteers.  They will take them to the families they visit to get them engaged in their gardens and local parks.  We know the three year olds are going to love their Grow Wild kits –  packets of wild flower seeds, plant markers and best of all a Bee House!

The lovely kits were free from Grow Wild  which inspires communities, friends, neighbours and individuals to transform local spaces by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.

We just can’t wait to see what comes up!