As part of a year-long drive to attract more volunteers, a special open day will be held at the Stag Community Arts Centre on Saturday June 23. The campaign, titled Volunteers 12, intends to celebrate and inform about the volunteers who are the life blood of the Stag  

Duke of Edinburgh entrants. Students looking to build work experience. Adults who want to see shows for free, expand their social lives or add to their CV. Parents whose kids are on stage. Older people with time on their hands who aren’t ready to slow down. They all volunteer at the Stag. Could you?

More than 25,000 people visit the Stag Community Arts Centre every month. They come to the cinema, they come to the theatre, and they come to the community events which take place throughout the year at the Stag.

But did you know that the Stag is a charity and operates on a not-for-profit basis? Many people do not realise it, but many of the friendly staff that they encounter when they visit the Stag are actually volunteers.

Volunteers are the life blood of the Stag. Without volunteers, the lights would go off, the doors would close, and the building would fall empty. Theatre, cinema and the perfect facilities to house valuable community events would simply disappear from Sevenoaks. It’s that simple.

“Volunteers at the Stag are more than just visitors who help out,” says Andrew Eyre, General Manager at the Stag. “Our volunteers are intimately connected to the Stag. They are an integral part of the team alongside the paid staff and are often the first point of customer contact with our visitors. Our volunteers enjoy a great sense of camaraderie, knowledge that they are keeping alive an institution treasured in Sevenoaks, and a sense of belonging. They are the glue that holds the Stag together, the team which keeps it running, and the face of the organisation. Put simply, the volunteers put the community into the Stag.” 

Volunteering needn’t be a big task. Volunteers work as little or often as it suits them. Very often, volunteers sign up to work at shows, films or events they otherwise would have bought tickets to see – and of they then get in free.  

Volunteers donated 6,485 hours to the Stag last year. Put another way, each volunteer donated just 3.5 hours per month. Could you donate some time? You’ll learn new skills, gain valuable work experience, meet all sorts of new people and add an impressive organisation to your CV. You’ll be fully trained and supported along every step of your career as a volunteer at the Stag.

“Many people don’t realise that volunteers run the Stag,” explain the Stag’s volunteer coordinators, Marian O’Boyle and Mary Scott. “But once people get involved, they come to love the social aspect of volunteering. It’s fun, there are all sorts of people to meet, and you can learn new skills or put your existing skill set to great use, whatever your age.”

“The Volunteers 12 campaign has been designed to mimic classic movies which reflect the history of the Stag, while focusing specifically on the mission at hand: more volunteers in 2012,” comments Ross Ringham, Marketing Manager at the Stag.

A new leaflet, which includes case studies of existing volunteers, has been created as part of the campaign and is available free of charge from the Stag.