Volunteering

Parracombe is blessed by the willingness of so many parishioners to give so much of their time voluntarily. There are a huge number of ways in which people can get involved and help to make our village such a great place to live. What follows is just a small insight into how you might consider volunteering.

Parracombe Community Trust:

This organisation was set up by the Parish Council with a view to maintaining and improving the physical, social and economic infrastructure within the parish. It is run entirely by volunteers, including the seven Directors who make up the management team. There are currently five sub-committees focused on the key areas of (i) the Village Hall, (ii) the Community Shop, (iii) the Affordable Housing Development, (iv) Events, and (v) Finance.

Any and all of these committees would welcome new volunteers to bolster their efforts, but perhaps the most obvious place to begin volunteering is at the shop. Although the shop does employ three part-time managers, it relies heavily on some 40 volunteers from within the community to staff the shop and undertake the many behind-the-scenes jobs. If you would like to know more, why not pop into the shop and talk with one of the volunteers working a shift?

General Work Parties:

Throughout the year, there are a myriad work parties including strimming churchyards, clearing leaves, clearing drains, village tidy-ups, maintaining the multi-use-games-area (tennis court), etc. These are fairly ad hoc, but watch out for notices on the “Parracombe Community News” group on Facebook or the various WhatsApp groups that exist. Everyone is welcome and the old maxim of “many hands making light work” applies.

Heddon for Nature:

This initiative aims to support and improve the biodiversity of the local area. It relies entirely on volunteers for tasks such as clearance of invasive species, restoration of habitats, and care of the community owned land in the parish. New volunteers will always be welcomed.