Volunteering Role of the Month - Fun Palace Volunteer!

Each month we highlight a volunteering role and tell you a little more about it, with the help of one of our current volunteers!

This month's role is Fun Palace Volunteer. Our Community Maker Sophie tells us more:

In October 2021 I volunteered at Worksop’s Fun Palace, where I spent my day surrounded by curious young minds taking part in a ‘Code-a-Pillar’ activity. My role was to welcome children and their accompanying adults to the activity, tell them a bit about it and how it worked, and then encourage them to take part. There was a wide range of children attending so it was really fun to make the activity a bit more challenging for the older ones – by the end of the day we had created complicated courses for them to attempt. It was really fun to see them all learning basic coding concepts and critical thinking skills without even realising that’s what they were doing!

Whilst volunteering at the Fun Palace, I got the chance to have a look around and see all the other activities taking place – things like badge making, stop motion animation, spin pictures…there was so much going on! It was great to see so many people getting stuck in and enjoying themselves. I went home covered in badges that I’d made! There was also live music and I enjoyed a delicious cake at Worksop Library’s café. It was a busy day with over 1800 people attending, but it was so much fun and I can’t wait to volunteer again this year.

It’s such a fun role because you get to try out all the activities yourself and there’s such a buzzing atmosphere!

In writing this I have already used the word ‘fun’ 4 times to describe my role, but it is really the best word to sum up my day! Fun Palaces are made by local people for their own communities, and volunteering during this weekend of celebration is a great way to give something to the community whilst enjoying yourself, meeting new people, and developing new skills.