Ready Friends

Your invitation to a special evening for volunteers in Reading!

Reading volunteers and service coordinators who help local people reduce loneliness and social isolation are warmly invited to a free evening event at The Crowne Plaza on 1 November from 5.30 to 9pm, starting with a buffet meal.

Please help us get this invitation out to volunteer befrienders, buddies or community drivers or volunteers who help out at a social or a lunch club. Or maybe they host a chatty table in a cafe or help with gardening or crafting sessions. Whatever they do to take action on loneliness and social isolation as a volunteer – they are very welcome to join us as our guest to:

Celebrate and highlight the fantastic contribution of Reading’s volunteers in reducing loneliness and social isolation.
Hear from fellow volunteers and the people they support, about the range of exciting activities people are involved in.
Learn from each other about the practical experience of being a friendship volunteer.

The event will help raise awareness in Reading of the benefits of friendship volunteering and support local groups to recruit new volunteers. We will be filming at the event, including interviewing volunteers, for a forthcoming promotional film that all community groups can use in recruitment campaigns.

Click on this link for the invitation for you to send to your volunteers.
Please note that tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and each organisation has been allocated 3 tickets for volunteers and 1 for a staff member who coordinates their activity. Book soon!
If any volunteers are unable to book online, please would you use this link to book their ticket for them.

Befriending Forum September 2019

Another great afternoon packed with networking, information, training and good news from across the sector! Click here for the PowerPoint presentation: Befriending Foum 26 09 19 presentation v1 Click here for the full report. Report from Sept 2019 Befriending Forum

a presentation by the national organisation Befriending Networks
hearing local funders’ perspectives
a data visualisation workshop –
reimagining impact and developing good practice

Our quarterly Befriending Forums are for anyone from local communities, groups and organisations interested in helping reduce loneliness and social isolation in Reading. If you would like to get advance notice, please email Rhiannon to sign up to Ready Friends mailings.

You can read the full Befriending Forum report for February 2019 here and for May 2019 here

The next Befriending Forum will be on 5 December from 12.30pm.

New! Ready Friends Toolkit.

Ready Friends, in partnership with Reading Neighbourhoods Network, have launched a new toolkit for anyone interested in taking action on loneliness and social isolation. Click here for access to the online toolkit where you can also download an 8-page booklet to share.

Social Isolation and Loneliness in Reading: Full Report

Throughout March and April 2017, 437 people filled out a questionnaire so we could understand more about loneliness and social isolation in Reading. The report will help to inform local organisations how they can respond to these issues.

The survey has highlighted who is most likely to be experiencing loneliness and social isolation, how it impacts on different groups of people, what barriers they face to being more socially active and what they would like to be doing if those barriers could be overcome.

Read the full report here