Breage Field Committee Event and Garden Volunteers

Breage Field committee are a small group of volunteers working with the Parish Council to keep Breage Field (recreation ground in the middle of the village) an enjoyable, safe, functioning and inclusive space for all in the area. The field is owed by the Parish Council but run by the Committee. We speak on behalf of the community and without the Committee the link between community and Council is lost. Long term this would result a lack of funding for the Park and possibly a decision by the council to put it to other uses. We help maintain the grounds, fundraise (for things like benches, play equipment and maintenance) and run events for the community.  We are currently undergoing an ambitious project to source funding and co-ordinate substantial works to resolve the drainage problems in the Park so it can be enjoyed year-round.

We need help with:

• Committee members – people who can join the committee and help ‘steer the ship’ on an ongoing basis. The Committee decide how to fundraise, where to spend funds and what events we will run. There are formal roles (such as Treasurer, Chair and Secretary) and a need for people to just be committee members, helping to make decisions, take actions and get things done.
• Gardeners – in the hope to start a gardening group we’d like anyone interested in doing any level and amount of gardening to get in touch, no experience necessary as we have a ‘lead gardener’ willing to supervise and coach volunteers. Gardening clubs will be ad hoc (weather and availability dependent).
• Event organisers and volunteers – people to help deliver our event schedule, which provides fun for the community and funding for the Field (please see details below)

Event Organisers & volunteers

We have established a light programme of activities / events in the park. The purpose of the activities are to provide recreational activities and entertainment bringing the local community together, and fundraise for the field to support ongoing maintenance and improvement works.  

Our events have historically received great attendance and feedback, even when we get predictably bad Cornish weather! We are struggling to continue to run the events due to lack of volunteers to help us in the planning, delivery and tidy up of each event. We are approaching organisations in the hope that we may be able to find some additional support. This could be ad hoc, on a ‘per event’ basis or an ongoing relationship.

Each event is a stand-alone event. The types of roles that need doing vary depending on the event requirements. In general there is a need to do:

Preparatory work:

• Agree and communicate the scope of works with the Field Committee, outlining the size / scale and activities for each event
• Promote the event by creating posters and placing around the village, creating and maintaining a Facebook event attached to our Facebook page and any other relevant promotional activities
• Liaise with suppliers and volunteers to ensure everything will be ready on the day e.g. sourcing of marquee and having enough volunteers to erect a marquee in the morning (often kindly supplied by the church), finding volunteer cake bakers / sandwich makers, sourcing stall / activity volunteers (in the past these have included crafting, raffles, book sale, cake sale, games etc), sourcing materials for stalls / activities, toilet facilities (often kindly donated by South West Loos) etc
• Complete a risk assessment

On the day:

• Co-ordinating volunteers on the day to ensure smooth running of all activities
• Being a volunteer on the day! Taking on an activity to host or stall to run

Post event

• Clearing up after an event to return the field to a usable state free of any rubbish and returning anything to their owners (e.g. the marquee)
• Thanking volunteers / suppliers for their contribution

Our Event Schedule:

• February - Half term activity e.g. willow weaving workshop
• March/April - Easter Eggstravaganza inc cake sales, raffle, children’s activities / games, treasure hunts, petting lambs, seed bomb making and flower bed laying, crafting etc
• May - Option to do something at bank holidays
• July/August -Weekly summer holiday coffee & cake mornings. Summer holiday activity days (e.g. sports days, treasure hunts, crafting, teen yoga, art class etc)
• October - Half Term activity e.g. Bird Box making
• December - Christmas activity e.g. Christmas tree decorations for the Village