Are you interested in volunteering with a Charity set up to improve the lives of people with arthritis, within an 8-mile radius of central Reading? This is the chance to join a new, small team of Trustees as we develop our new strategy.

We’ve just recruited 3 new Trustees, including an experienced and qualified Treasurer, a person with lived experience and a Digital Trustee who is about to design a website and communications strategy.

We’ve held our first away day, and begun identifying future priorities for Arthros, based on what we’ve learned through talking and listening to people.

Now we’re looking for a Chair, and a Trustee with clinical experience of arthritis, gained in a role as a physio, nurse or other health profession. Once we have a full team of Trustees, the founder members will take a step back.

People of all ages can experience arthritis, and it comes in many forms affecting one in six people in the UK. Arthros was set up by a nurse in the Rheumatology ward of Battle Hospital. Working alongside Rheumatology consultants, she had firsthand experience of the impact of arthritis and wanted to do something to help. So, in 1990 she founded Arthros, a registered charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. Arthros has been able to provide practical and financial support for primarily working-age people whose lives have been significantly affected by arthritis. Now our new strategic plan will take into account the changing world in which we are living.

Arthros is a small charity, currently with no employed staff, so our Trustees are critical. Trustees play a very important role in making sure the charity is run in the interests of the people it’s there to support. Through working with two freelance consultants, we’ve been listening to people with arthritis, and those that care for them, to understand how we can improve the way we support people.

Would you like to be part of that change? Can you help us to develop our new strategy and vision?

“Arthros have made an immense impact on my life. Arthros have given me that confidence that I can do anything” – grant beneficiary who Arthros helped access university.

Don’t look for our website, we don’t have one, yet. What we have is secure funding through investments, which means we are going to be able to help people for the foreseeable future.

This is a great opportunity to be part of an organisation that wants to improve the quality of life for people with arthritis. You will meet new people, work as part of a team and know you are making a difference. We will provide induction and training, starting with some creative thinking space at a face-to-face meeting in Reading in January, with current and new Trustees. You will need to be able to commit to around 4 hours a month and we will hold meetings online and face to face in Reading.

For more information, please check our volunteering opportunities uploaded to the RVA website or contact Julie Close by emailing julieclose340@gmail.com.