The Friends cannot meet their fundraising aims without the support of a dedicated team of parents and supporters, giving practical help in volunteering time and energy to their activities. Consequently, the Friends would be very grateful for any parents willing to step forward to volunteer their help in the following roles.
Tuck Shop Supply Coordinator
In this role, you will have responsibility for keeping the tuck shop replenished with stock on a regular basis and ensuring that no stock held is past their use-by dates. It means keeping an eye on stock levels and sell-by dates (Jill found that by leaving her mobile number in the tuck shop float tin, tuck shop helpers would let her know what was running out)! It will mean a few trips to the supermarket over the term and arranging for the stock to be brought to and stored at rehearsals.
Please note that this role is different to the regular calls for help with running the tuck shop at rehearsal, for which we aim to encourage all parents to volunteer for a session when they are able. All expenses incurred in purchasing stock are of course reimbursed by the Treasurer.
Dresses Coordinator
The Friends own the blue concert dresses used by the County Youth Orchestra. The main responsibilities are either at the beginning or the end of the school year.
Each September / October (around the time of the second and third rehearsals of term) the dress coordinator:
- arranges for existing members to swap their dresses if they need a different size, and update records with new sizes and dress numbers.
- issues the new members with a dress, collects their contributions and updates the records accordingly.
- arranges for the tuck shop to sell ties for the boys in HCYO + string ensemble. (Source new ties if necessary).After the final concert of the year, or the tour, the dress coordinator will:
- Collect the leavers’ dresses, clean them and check them for any damage / repair. You do nothave to do the repair yourself, we can find someone else to do them.
- Update the records and follow up anybody who has not given their dress back.Where repairs and adjustments are needed, you do not have to do the repair yourself, as the Friends has a contact that can be used, so dressmaking skills are certainly not essential, so please don’t be put off if you are not handy with a needle and thread! During the rest of the year, there is very occasionally someone who needs to swap sizes or extras needed for Bryanston, but it is an easy job which is not over demanding!
Busking Coordinator
This entails contacting our busking venues early in the year, to book slots at a few venues across the county for the festive busking season. The Friends has a number of established contacts and is happy for new opportunities to be sought. During the Autumn term, the busking coordinator puts out communications to orchestra members and parents, arranges Sign Up lists for the orchestra, liaises with the venues to ensure the arrangements are in order and manages the dedicated busking email account. For each event there is also coordination needed for collections buckets and orchestra banners and always help available.
Fundraising Coordinators
Over the years, the Friends have built relationships with several supporters warm to our cause and willing to support us through the award of grants and sponsorship. In this role, we ask that you continue to maintain connection with, and lead on the submission of grant applications through the Hampshire County Councillors grant scheme, as well as other charitable trusts and foundations that support us. The committee is very happy to consider new opportunities and approaches and has a wide range of material to share, to support you in this role.
Ideally, we would look to see if two people can join us in this essential role, given its importance to achieving our aims.
We will be happy to arrange a full handover over the summer term and are always there for questions and support. More information on the available roles is provided below. If you would like to have an informal chat about any of these roles, please don’t hesitate to contact the Chair, Isobel Garside, by email at friends.of.hcyo@gmail.com to arrange a time to speak.
February 2020