Tea party host

  • VO94315
  • Home-based volunteering


Description

Our tea party hosts are a vital part of the Re-engage team.

Tea parties provide a lifeline of friendship for our older people, and the regular, warm, friendly chats and companionship provide a vital link with the outside world from which they have become isolated. Re-engage needs enthusiastic volunteers to work as tea party hosts.

This is a flexible, voluntary role that can easily be fitted in around your own lifestyle and availability. As a volunteer host you will run a local Re-engage tea party one to two times a year. You will host a group of four to 12 people (which includes drivers, the group coordinator as well as older guests) in either your home or a community venue. The tea parties will last around two hours and will usually take place on a Sunday afternoon. You must be comfortable socialising with people and providing guests and other volunteers with refreshments.

Welcoming a group of older guests and volunteer drivers into your home or to the community venue.

Providing and serving refreshments for your group – usually food and drinks for afternoon tea.

Liaising with your group coordinator to ensure dietary requirements and the older guests' needs are met prior to the tea party.

Informing the group coordinator of any safeguarding concerns or issues you might have.

Following all guidance in your host training modules to ensure that the tea parties are enjoyable, appropriate, and in line with our charitable aims.

Organisation aims and objectives

Contact the Elderly is the only UK charity solely dedicated to tackling loneliness and social isolation among older people. We do this by organising monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups of older people (aged 75+) who live alone, and volunteers within their local community, offering a regular and vital friendship link every month. Each older person is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and taken to a volunteer host’s home for afternoon tea. The group is warmly welcomed by a different host each month, but the drivers remain the same which means that over the months and years, acquaintances turn into friends and loneliness is replaced by companionship. Our tea parties are a real lifeline of friendship for our older guests who have little or no contact with family or friends. They bring people of all ages together, develop fulfilling friendships and support networks, and give everyone involved something to look forward to each month.

Frequency and commitment details

Around 2 hours one or two Sundays a year

Restrictions

Experience required: You will need one reference and to complete an ID check for this role.
Minimum age: 18