We have four small roles. None of them need a CV. None of them need a DBS check (the trustees handle the household visits). All of them need a degree of parish patience.
We are a charity of seven trustees and a small handful of helpers. Most of our work is done by the trustees themselves, but four jobs sit comfortably with parish volunteers — people who live nearby, or have ties, and can give a small amount of regular time. If one of the four sounds like you, the form at the foot of this page is the way to get in touch.
Please do not feel you need a strong charity-volunteering CV. Our most valuable helpers, over the years, have been parishioners who simply knew where the lanes go.
Help us address envelopes, seal them, and walk a small loop of the village delivering them. We sit at the back table of the village hall on the second Thursday of December from about 18.00. Tea is provided. Lead trustee · David Maurice Gallivan (Chair).
One short visit a month, on a rota the trustees keep, to a recipient who has said they would welcome the company. Tea, conversation, perhaps a small grocery errand. No assessment. No paperwork. Lead trustee · Jeanette Davidson.
Liaise with the coal merchant in Settle on our behalf, confirm the small February deliveries, and write the printed slips that go with each bag. Useful for someone who keeps a tidy spreadsheet. Lead trustee · Michael Carr.
Help us write, fold and post the once-a-year JOHN WILLIAM FOSTER dispatch. Done in a single afternoon in late May around the parish-hall kitchen table. Lead trustee · David Alexander Morphet.
You do not need to live in Horton-in-Ribblesdale to volunteer — Selside, Helwith Bridge, Settle, Stainforth and the surrounding hamlets are all close enough. You will need a way to get to the parish hall, and a willingness to be out in Yorkshire weather for the dole-day rounds. We will not call you to do anything you have not agreed to in advance.
The trustees handle every actual household visit themselves; volunteers are not asked to call on a recipient alone unless they are already known in that household. We take care with this. We are the people who would have to apologise if it went wrong.
We will write back within five working days from our JOHN WILLIAM FOSTER office in the parish.
