Volunteer Roles

This information provides you with basic information about the voluntary work at Overgate Hospice and may  help you decide which area(s) you are interested in, although there are not always vacancies in all these areas.  Please phone the Volunteer Co-ordinator, Colleen Brown for up to date information on areas where we need volunteers.

Volunteer Co-Ordinator

Overgate Hospice, 30, Hullen Edge Road, Elland  HX5 OQY.

01422 379151

Volunteers help our housekeeping team on the Inpatient Unit one morning a week or fortnight from 10.00 – 12.30.  Duties include helping to keep our flower/plant displays looking well and healthy, some light cleaning and assisting with laundry duties  (nothing heavy!)

Volunteers are needed to help with basic kitchen work.  You will be required to attend an in-house basic food hygiene session.  The commitment would be one session a week or fortnight and sessions are as follows:- 

10.00 – 1.00p.m.  or  5.00-7.00p.m.  Monday to Sunday – you choose the day and time to suit you.

Our Complementary Therapy team uses qualified and insured therapists to help with aromatherapy, massage and reflexology.

Overgate currently runs a Day Hospice on four days per week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m, with Thursday being a therapeutic support day.

We have several volunteers each day helping out in our Day Hospice, talking to patients, making them tea, helping with general activities, etc.  We also try to offer a wide range of activities for our patients and if you would be interested in offering either creative or therapeutic activities or services i.e. art and craft therapy, please ask for further details.

We require careful drivers to bring our patients to Day Hospice and take them home again (Upper age limit of 70yrs.)

Fundraising Events
Volunteers are required to help with fundraising; this could be flag days, stalls at garden parties etc. calendar distribution, Xmas cards sales or rattling collection tins at organised events.

Fundraising Driving
If you don’t feel like ‘being in the front line’ there are several ways in which you can help in fundraising e.g. if you were happy to use your car occasionally to help, then we have posters and information leaflets that need distributing around your local area and in public buildings etc.  (Mileage expenses are paid)

Fundraising Administration
In fundraising, we require volunteers to help on a regular basis and also for one-off events like the garden party, sponsored and annual events.

Volunteers help maintain our gardens, especially our vegetable and herb garden and the pots and tubs on the terrace. (Mainly during the summer)

Volunteers help by undertaking general maintenance.

Receptionists work on a rota (one shift per week) during weekdays, weekends or evenings. Good interpersonal and telephone skills are essential.  The reception desk is the first port of call for most people visiting the hospice, therefore a warm and welcoming manner is required.  Rota times are :   9.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.,   1.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.,   5.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.  Seven days a week.

We currently have nine shops;  Hebden Bridge, King Cross, Brighouse, Ovenden, Sowerby Bridge and Elland, Todmorden, Halifax and our Furniture Shop in Brighouse.   We require people to help in the shops with  sorting out donated bags of items,  pricing up, steaming, displaying and selling.

If you have use of a car and can spare a half or full day weekly/fortnightly then we need drivers to collect donated goods from peoples' homes around Calderdale and deliver to our shops.  (Mileage expenses will be paid)

If you are a qualified counsellor (or student in your final year of HND) then occasionally we have spaces on the team to offer counselling –both bereavement and pre-bereavement.

Volunteers serve afternoon teas to our in-patients and their relatives every afternoon.  The times for this are approximately 2.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.  You will be required to attend an in-house basic food hygiene session.

Groups meet in Brighouse, Elland, Sowerby Bridge & Todmorden on a regular basis.  They are a vital part of Overgate's fundraising and organise events in their own areas, as well as supporting Overgate's main events.

To attend wedding fayres in the Calderdale area and promote the hopsice grounds for photographs.

Also to attend on the day of the wedding to assist the bride and groom (and their photographer) and to liaise with hospice staff.