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 Voluntary Services Co-ordinator for up to date information on areas where we need volunteers.

Voluntary Services Co-Ordinator

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

01422 379151

Volunteers needed from 10.30 – 12.00 one day per week or fortnight to help our housekeeping team on the In-patient Unit.  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 undertake training and obtain a Food Hygiene Certificate which Overgate will arrange for you.  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 from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.

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.)

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. 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)

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

Hairdressing is offered to patients attending Day Hospice each week, as well as to patients on the ward.  If you have skills with hairdressing (not necessarily a qualification) you would like to share, please ask for more details.

Help is required for general maintenance. If you have D.I.Y skills or have worked in a trade such as decorating, building, etc.

Receptionists are needed to 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 eight shops;  Hebden Bridge, King Cross, Brighouse, Ovenden, Sowerby Bridge and Elland, Todmorden and Halifax. 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 people’s 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.

We require volunteers who would be willing to befriend and support patients and their families in  their own home.  Full training and support will be given to these volunteers. You would provide a listening ear, once a week or once a fortnight for a couple of hours or so, to one of our patients who lives at home and has a life-limiting illness. This is NOT counselling but volunteers should be able to listen, chat and empathise.

Volunteers are required to serve afternoon teas to our in-patients and their relatives every afternoon and we require two people to do this each day.  The times for this are approximately 2.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.  You will require a basic food hygiene certificate which Overgate will arrange and pay for.