The annual national Volunteers’ Week takes place on 1st – 7th June 2020 and Bradford Cathedral will be marking the occasion by celebrating the hard work of all the volunteers who contribute to the life of the cathedral in areas such as hospitality, verging and education.

Over the last two weeks the team have been working closely with the 200+ strong team of volunteers to ensure they are recognised for their important contribution to the running of Bradford Cathedral, including in areas such as flower arranging, bell-ringing, welcoming and children’s activities. Each volunteer has been sent a certificate to acknowledge their achievement and have been encouraged to send back photos of themselves posing with it.

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">A video will be premiered on the cathedral’s social media every day during Volunteers’ Week at 10am, and will see volunteers talking about their roles, how they got involved and what being a volunteer means to them. Videos include Heather Choudhary on hospitality, welcoming and being part of the stitching team; Jill Foalks on singing in the choir; Catherine Warr on being a voluntary verger; Mike and Elaine de Villiers on their contributions to education and Fairtrade respectively; Jill Wright on the Friends of Bradford Cathedral; and Monica Slocombe on being a steward / sidesman.</span>

The week will conclude with a special online celebration at 1pm on Saturday 6th June for all volunteers to watch, which will include specially recorded ‘thank you’ messages from the clergy and staff at Bradford Cathedral, extra videos from volunteers, and a slideshow of selfies and photos of volunteers going about their incredible work and showing off their certificates. This video, which will stream on YouTube and Facebook, replaces the get-together which was planned for the same day and time.

Bradford Cathedral will also be supporting the city-wide efforts of the Bradford Volunteer Centre who are organising a ‘cheer for volunteers’ at 8pm on Monday 1st June and encouraging volunteers to be creative with baking and artistic ideas to highlight the efforts of volunteers across the city. More information on this can be found at https://volunteeringbradford.org/

Monica Slocombe, church warden and member of the Bradford Cathedral chapter, says:

“I want to say a really big thank you to all volunteers at Bradford Cathedral. You all do a fabulous job and always with a smile and a friendly word or two.”

The team at Bradford Cathedral have also been in touch with those volunteers not on e-mail to pass on their thanks for their hard work and the hope is to run a celebration for volunteers at a later date in the cathedral.

You can find out more about Bradford Cathedral’s plans for Volunteers’ Week 2020, and how to get involved with volunteering, at https://www.bradfordcathedral.org/support-us/get-involved/