Volunteers

• Welcome to the Bridgwater Half Marathon Volunteer page. We are looking for volunteers to be part of our vital support network on race day itself as well as pre and post-race. f you are interested in joining us we would love to have you on board. Please see below for the different roles available and how to register. We will do our very best to give you a job that you want to do, however please remember that this cannot be guaranteed.
  Is there a group of you who would like to volunteer together?
  
• If you are a business team, local community group or group of friends who can offer a team of volunteers to help out either pre-race or on race day please get in touch!
  
• If you are interested in volunteering please contact Bridgwater Half Marathon via email: contact@bridgwaterhalfmarathon.co.uk or by telephoning 01278 424083 
  
• There is no ‘i’ in Team but we are glad that there is ‘u’ in our Volunteers!

If your question is not answered here, please email contact@bridgwaterhalfmarathon.co.uk or call 01278 424083.

Volunteers play a vital part at our event. Simply put, without our army of volunteers, the event would not happen!

Playing such an important part in our event, our volunteers carry out a variety of roles on the day, and before the event.

Whether it be as a local promotions volunteer, a meet and greet volunteer, a race marshal, or a finish line volunteer, all volunteers work together to make a positive impact on the experience of the participants and their families and friends to ensure it is a great day for everyone involved and the event runs smoothly.

Volunteers are vital to the success of Bridgwater Half Marathon, 5K Fun Run & our Fun Day activities.

Yes you can, and we would love to have you join us as part of the team.

If you will be 15 or younger at the time of the event, you can only volunteer if you will be accompanied on the day by a parent or guardian or, as part of a supervised youth group.

If you will be 16 or 17 at the time of the event, you will simply need to bring with you on the day a registration form with the consent section signed by a parent or guardian.

Yes definitely! We’re always looking for volunteers to help out with our marketing activity in the lead up to event day.

There is a whole range of activity you could get involved with including helping out at event launches, flyer distribution and engaging with the public in hotspot areas, as well as helping us with PR and gaining media support for the event!

You can play a pivotal role in recruiting Bridgwater Half Marathon participants, and fellow volunteers and increasing fundraising income which will go towards lifesaving cancer research.

Of course you can! You can make it a day to remember by asking your friends, family, partners and colleagues to come along with you to the event, so why not encourage them to sign up as a volunteer with you! We are always in need of more volunteers at our events, so spread the word amongst your families and friends and encourage them to come along.

If your friend or family member is unable to take part by themselves and needs assistance, then you simply need to pop along with them on the day.

Both men and women can assist someone around the course. However, you need to ensure that the friend or relative participating in the event has marked on their participant form that they are bringing someone to assist them around the course.

Yes you can and we would love to have you join us as part of the team. Please do email us at contact@bridgwaterhalfmarathon.co.uk so we know to expect you.

Bridgwater Half Marathon does allow the involvement of volunteers who have previous criminal records, at the discretion of the recruiting member of staff, providing that it is reasonable to do so.

We will not decline any applications from volunteers on the grounds of spent criminal convictions.

Volunteers with unspent or pending convictions may be declined if the relevance, nature and severity of the crimes concerned warrant that course of action.

Most of our event volunteer roles do not require you to have any specialist experience or specialist skills and we will provide all the information and training you need to fulfil your volunteer role on the day of the event.

Any skills that we’d ideally like you to have to fulfil a particular role are clearly stated in the role profiles.

However, if you feel you have a particular set of skills or knowledge that you think may be relevant and that we can utilise before the event or on the day, then please do let us know by contacting contact@bridgwaterhalfmarathon.co.uk

To fulfil the Welfare Volunteer Role at a the event, you need to have experience of working with children and you must have been CRB checked within the last 12 months and have a certificate available to show to the Event Manager.

Whatever volunteer role you choose to take on, we will give you all the information and support you need to feel comfortable in your role on the day.

All Bridgwater Half Marathon volunteers will have an Event Team Leader or Event Volunteer Manager who they can go to for help and support on the day.

Often there are also experienced volunteers around to offer advice to new members of the team.

Please wear comfortable and suitable attire to be outdoors & for the nature of the event – many of the venues are situated in parkland on grass so please wear comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting muddy (e.g. trainers / walking boots).

Please remember that the British weather is changeable so please bring a waterproof jacket / extra layers even if the weather looks fine when you leave home!

There will be limited space at the venue for left bags but unfortunately we can’t secure these areas and they will be left at your own risk – so please just bring only what you need on site and try and leave valuable items at home.

The safety of our volunteers is very important to us therefore all volunteers will be supported by an Event Team Leader or Volunteer Manager throughout the event.

A full health and safety assessment of the event site will be carried out before the event takes place and there will also be a team of first aiders and, potentially, community officers that will patrol the route to ensure everyone’s safety.

Most course marshals will have a means of communicating with our Event Managers through radios, you are encouraged to bring a mobile phone (fully charged) if you have one.

If you will be 15 or younger at the time of the event, you can only volunteer if you will be accompanied on the day by a parent or guardian or, as part of a supervised youth group.

If you will be 16 or 17 at the time of the event, you will simply need to bring with you on the day a registration form with consent section signed by a parent or guardian.

Yes it is OK to bring children along but they will be your sole responsibility at all times.

Please make sure that you tell the Event Manager before the event your intention to do this so they can assign you with an appropriate role on site!

Our event managers try their best to accommodate your volunteering preferences and will always try and place you in the role you signed up for. However, depending on the demands of the event, you may be asked to help out in another role on the day, but this will be discussed with you to ensure that you are happy with the role.

Volunteering at our event is a great experience and an atmosphere like no other.

You will not only gain the satisfaction of knowing that you are making a truly valuable contribution to the success and smooth running of the event in your area, and ultimately to the work of Cancer Research UK, but you will have the enjoyment of meeting new people within your community, the opportunity to develop key skills and you’ll receive light refreshments! We can’t do it without you!

To note, if you do have special dietary requirements, please bring your own food/snacks with you on the day.

You are free to volunteer while you are receiving benefits as long as the work you do is unpaid, and you meet the rules of your benefit. Always check with your benefits adviser before you start volunteering.

We are always seeking new faces to come on board with the committee to support the events we organise and generally manage the work of the local committee.

There are also so many other opportunities to help on an ‘ad hoc’ basis and we would be delighted to hear from you if you have an hour to spare or if you felt you wanted to become more involved.

Please contact: Secretary: Carol Fishlock

Telephone: 01278 424083

Email: keithfish01@sky.com

Website: www.cancerresearch-bridgwater.co.uk