Introduction: Friends Ageing Better (FAB) is a community of older people who share what is happening in the city, while building relationships with like-minded people, who live locally and benefit from discounts from local businesses and venues. Friends Ageing Better is recruiting friendly hosts to support their regular catch-up cafés in their local area. We are currently looking for a volunteer to host our cafes in Withywood, Avonmouth, Fishponds. We are also looking for a volunteer to support our LGBT+ Café in St Werburghs and our Tech Cafe in Horfield/Bishopston. We are looking to expand this project to other areas of Bristol.

About Age UK Bristol: At Age UK Bristol we help make sure that everyone in Bristol can love later life. We do this by supporting and empowering older people, helping other organisations to work together, and championing the interests of older people in the city.

Our organisational objectives are to:

• Provide top-quality services and support to all older people in Bristol.
• Lead and enable collaboration between other organisations working with older people in Bristol
• Influence public spending and policies in a way that benefits older people in the city
• Promote positive attitudes to ageing in Bristol

We do this by:

• Providing quality information
• Delivering quality services
• Involving older people
• Giving older people a voice
• Working in partnership
• Maintaining an effective organisation

Volunteers are important and valued members of the team at Age UK Bristol. We will do our best to make your volunteer experience enjoyable and rewarding.

What is Friends Ageing Better?

Friends Ageing Better is a community of older people, who share what is happening in the city while building relationships with like-minded people, who live locally and benefit from discounts from local businesses and venues.

Working with Bristol Ageing Better and its partners, Age UK Bristol is creating this network of older people building on from all the great things already happening across the city.

Purpose of the Catch-up Café Host Volunteer

Friends Ageing Better is recruiting friendly hosts to support their regular catch-up cafés in their local area. Catch-up cafes run regularly across Bristol, as a host you can support one of our existing cafes as part of our volunteer team or work with the FAB team to start one in your local community. Hosts will support the cafes in pairs or alongside a member of staff.

This is a varied role and can involve:

• Welcoming new older people joining the catch-up café
• Promoting your local catch-up café in your area
• Keeping sign-up sheets for attendees at cafes
• Promoting FAB membership card scheme
• Providing information about events and activities happening in the local area with the support of the FAB team
• Adhering to all Age UK Bristol policies and procedures, such as Confidentiality, Health and Safety and Equal Opportunities.
• Attending training sessions and volunteer meetings as appropriate.

The qualities and skills required for this role are

• Welcoming and friendly disposition
• Good communication skills
• Good knowledge of your local area not essential but desirable
• IT literacy is not essential but desirable
• An understanding of the needs of older people

Hours and location:

We currently a number of FAB Café Host roles available at different FAB Cafés in the city, as follows:  

• Mondays, 2.30pm - 4.30pm at Avonmouth Community Centre
• Tuesdays, 11am - 1pm at the Withywood Centre, Bishopsworth
• Tuesdays, 3pm - 5pm at Boston Tea Party, Bishopston (focused on improving digital skills)
• Thursdays, 10am - 12noon at St. Werburgh's Community Centre (LGBTQ+ Cafe)
• Fridays, 2pm - 4pm at Brunel Care in Fishponds

Training 

We offer induction training and other relevant training opportunities to enable you to fulfil this volunteer role.

Expenses

Age UK Bristol will pay reasonable travel expenses. We can provide transportation to the café and back, and we will cover your expenditure at the café within reason.  

Further Information

For further information, please contact;

Silvia Jimenez Cruz – FAB Communications

E-mail: silviajc@ageukbristol.org.uk

Phone: 0117 440 43 01