Volunteering & work experience

Volunteers are essential to what we do. Their time, skills, care and compassion make our services what they are.

Volunteering is also a pathway to work experience and we can offer work experience opportunities in a supportive and encouraging environment. You can gain hands-on skills, develop your confidence and ability to work with others and build your CV.  

Volunteer in Swindon

Why do we need volunteers?

“Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it throughout life without someone else’s help” Heather French Henry. 

Without the contribution of volunteers across our services, it would be impossible to fulfil our mission, provide the range of activities and support we do, and create the sense of belonging and support our service users so appreciate!

Volunteering opportunities

Whether you have green fingers or simply want to be part of what we do, there are many volunteering opportunities available. Do take a look!

TWIGS Community Gardens
Board Member

We have a range of different volunteering opportunities at TWIGS, from baking cakes on our open days, to just lending an extra pair of hands! Whether you’re interested in one of these, or doing something else entirely, please complete our volunteering application form (linked below) and one of our team will come back to you.

Mental health referrals

If you feel that participating in the therapeutic activities at TWIGS could be beneficial to your mental health (or the mental health of someone you know), then please view our referral page. 

Are you passionate about supporting mental health and making a lasting impact? The Recovery Tree Charity is seeking dedicated individuals to join our small team of trustees. If you share our commitment and would like to help shape the future of our charity please complete our application form (linked to below). 

Complete our application form to become a volunteer

If you’d like to volunteer, please complete our online application form. Alternatively, you can download it and send the completed form to us via email, or you can drop it in to us at TWIGS.

Online application form Download form
A volunteer at TWIGS

Anonymous
TWIGS garden visitor

“TWIGS to me is the most beautiful garden in Swindon! Stunning, inspiring and uplifting.”

Chris
TWIGS service user

“I’ve started to gain confidence and feel better. Attending TWIGS has been a major part of this, to the point that I felt ready to start a small part-time job, and to my astonishmentI got the job on my first try! I dearly love coming to TWIGS and it has been such a wonderful help to me.”

Adam Rose
New College Foundation Learning Lecturer and Job Coach

"The environment within Olive Tree Cafe was perfect for our students and the feedback from staff was supportive and encouraging. The team dynamic and bond within Olive Tree was so strong and despite the students being new, they were welcomed in from the get-go."

Phyllida Richards
Olive Tree Cafe Manager

“Here’s why we do this. Recently, one of our volunteers came in for coffee with a friend. The next day she was volunteering, and told me that as she was driving home at the end of the day she had a glimpse of ‘what a sense of belonging might feel like’ – she had never had that growing up, or in her work life… although she had provided that for many others.”

Anonymous
Olive Tree Cafe service user

“I wake up on Mondays and know my life is a lot happier and healthier, knowing that I am spending my time giving, and getting back so much. My life would be empty without it!”

Corner logo image

Volunteer for us

If you’d like to volunteer, please complete our online application form. Alternatively, you can download it and send the completed form to us via email, or you can drop it in to us at The Olive Tree Cafe or TWIGS.

Online application form Download form

The Recovery Tree Charity,
Manor Garden Centre,
Swindon,
SN2 2QJ

01793 523 294
Have a question about volunteering?

Send us your enquiry and a member of our team will respond as soon as possible.

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