Castle Furniture Case Study
Published: 03-03-2010
Updated: 06-05-2010
Castle Furniture is a mental health charity that amongst things, is involved in furniture recycling. With the assistance of a team of volunteers, they run a very busy service that restores and repairs old or damaged furniture and their clients include the local authority, property letting agents, individuals referred by external agencies e.g. Woman’s Aid, charities and members of the public.
Drew Mayne, Resource Coordinator explains “Our service wouldn’t survive without the help of our volunteers– the motivation to help is different for everyone but they all get something out of it. They take on all kinds of roles including drivers, support workers and board members. We even have someone who French polishes the furniture and he is currently training up one of the younger volunteers who is thoroughly enjoying learning this new skill.
Because our service relies heavily on the volunteers we try to make sure they all have a good experience. I achieved SQA level 6 in Coordinating Volunteers at Volunteer Development Scotland and with their encouragement and a subsidy from FEVA (Forum for Environment Voluntary Agencies) decided to go for the IiV (Investing in Volunteers award. Cerys Thomas from Volunteer Centre Fife was assigned as our Assessor and we found the process very useful. I was informed on 10th July that we had achieved the award. We have a very good relationship with our local Volunteer Centre where I attend Volunteer Manager Networking meetings and receive useful updates via their e Bulletins. They helped publicise our PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) service when we launched that and we picked up some business that way.
John Crawford, Volunteer, says “I originally came to Castle Furniture as part of New Deal for 13 weeks. I really enjoyed it, so when that ended I signed up to be a volunteer. I normally do the driving, making up loads and assessing furniture. Only about 1% goes to scrap and the quality is a lot better than you often find in charity shops.
“I love being a volunteer here, it gives me something to get up for in morning, there’s a real sense of camaraderie amongst the volunteers and staff and I get to be out and about meeting people.
“I have nothing but praise for the way Castle Furniture treats its volunteers. I am often thanked and appreciated for my contribution. They offer me new things to do and shortly I am taking some training to become a Buddy for someone with mental health problems.”
Drew Mayne, Resource Coordinator explains “Our service wouldn’t survive without the help of our volunteers– the motivation to help is different for everyone but they all get something out of it. They take on all kinds of roles including drivers, support workers and board members. We even have someone who French polishes the furniture and he is currently training up one of the younger volunteers who is thoroughly enjoying learning this new skill.
Because our service relies heavily on the volunteers we try to make sure they all have a good experience. I achieved SQA level 6 in Coordinating Volunteers at Volunteer Development Scotland and with their encouragement and a subsidy from FEVA (Forum for Environment Voluntary Agencies) decided to go for the IiV (Investing in Volunteers award. Cerys Thomas from Volunteer Centre Fife was assigned as our Assessor and we found the process very useful. I was informed on 10th July that we had achieved the award. We have a very good relationship with our local Volunteer Centre where I attend Volunteer Manager Networking meetings and receive useful updates via their e Bulletins. They helped publicise our PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) service when we launched that and we picked up some business that way.
John Crawford, Volunteer, says “I originally came to Castle Furniture as part of New Deal for 13 weeks. I really enjoyed it, so when that ended I signed up to be a volunteer. I normally do the driving, making up loads and assessing furniture. Only about 1% goes to scrap and the quality is a lot better than you often find in charity shops.
“I love being a volunteer here, it gives me something to get up for in morning, there’s a real sense of camaraderie amongst the volunteers and staff and I get to be out and about meeting people.
“I have nothing but praise for the way Castle Furniture treats its volunteers. I am often thanked and appreciated for my contribution. They offer me new things to do and shortly I am taking some training to become a Buddy for someone with mental health problems.”
