Voluntary Action Rotherham

Voluntary Action Rotherham (VAR) has appointed Margaret Oldfield as Chair of its Board of Trustees.

Margaret is a popular stalwart of the town’s charity sector, having helped start a number of charitable organisations and advise at Board level for others. As well as developing relationship counselling service RELATE in the town, Margaret has been Chairman of Rotherham Health Authority and more recently has just retired as Chairman of Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, a position she held for nine years. A former Chair of Governors at Wickersley School and Sports College, Margaret also worked with South Yorkshire Police in establishing Rotherham Domestic Violence Forum, which she headed for many years and has been a member of the Home Office Victims Advisory Panel

Welcoming Margaret to the Board, VAR Chief Executive Janet Wheatley said, “This is a time of great difficulty for many community and voluntary groups, with funding and income desperately hard to come by despite an increasing need for their services. Margaret’s knowledge and experience will be a great asset at VAR as we do our level best to support local groups so that they in turn can continue to do their best for local people and communities in Rotherham.”

23^rd December 2011

We are calling on the Government to affirm its commitment to volunteering by making portable Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks free to volunteers.

Did you know that charities need trustees? Many of you will have skills that would support a local organisation and becoming a trustee is a great way to give something back, often only taking up a couple of hours per month. Why not get in touch to see if we can match your skills with a local organisation needing support

On Thursday 1^st December Rotherham Volunteer Centre welcomed back 12 organisations who it has supported to recruit volunteers in recent months.  Representatives from a diverse range of voluntary and public sector organisations including Rotherham Hospice, Winthrop Park and Yorkshire Ambulance Service were in attendance to gain a ‘behind the scenes’ insight into how the Volunteer Centre supports organisations and groups to find and retain volunteers.