Morning everybody, I'm posting a blog on behalf of Ivy Sheryn who is the new Membership Recruitment Manager at Old Moor. She is currently looking for some 'Welcome Volunteers' to join her team.
A day being a Welcome Volunteer
I start my day at 9am when I walk into our Visitor Centre at Old Moor. Before I can start doing anything I make myself a cup of coffee as need my wakeup jolt in the mornings! Then I go to check our PDA which is just a table we use to sign up visitors to become a member. I check that it has full battery so I can use it all day long. Next, every morning we have a 15 minute catch up with everyone in that day to know all the news of what’s going on in the day. I find this really useful, as we can let visitors know any information for that day. At 9:30am the doors open, and this is where it is my time to shine. Any time a visitor walks into our centre I greet them, always with a big smile and “Welcome to Old Moor”.
We do get a lot of members who like to come in often. This is great as I get to build a relationship with them and they always give me the best info on birds. When we do have non-members come in, this is where I have to put in my work. I speak to them, get to know their interests and why they have come to visit Old Moor. Once I have found out a little bit about them I like to tell them a bit about our site and all the work which the RSPB does, which is a lot. I have to select the right information which I know might entice the visitor.
Hopefully if I have done that well, I go ahead and ask them if they are a member. I explain that if they want to sign up they will be massively helping us, not only here at our site, but helping wildlife conservation in the UK. If the visitor wants to sign up, I go ahead and grab my PDA. Signing up a new member is really easy, it’s done step by step and only takes a couple of minutes. I then give them their new membership pack, gifts and cards. Once this is all done I always thank them because just by signing up they are giving huge support to us and to the work we do.
I’m only in once a week, as that’s all the time I have to spare, but I know by just giving one day a week to helping out, I am giving so much to the RSPB and conservation. If anyone would like to join me on my mission, you can find the volunteering role by going onto the RSPB website, clicking 'get involved - volunteer -find an opportunity -search for Old Moor and then find Welcome Volunteer. All the information is on there. Please come and help us and our vision to save nature!
Please do get in touch if you are interested in joining my team.
Thank you,
Ivy Sheryn