An on-line ‘time-capsule’ showing how people from many different backgrounds volunteer to give their time has now gone live. (21st February 2007).
It’s the culmination of CSV’s Volunteer Britain, an archive of films that started to be produced by individuals during the Year of the Volunteer and into 2006 following additional funding from the Big Lottery Fund.
The Volunteer Britain archive provides a snapshot of the work of some of the UK’s 26 million volunteers. The broadcast quality short films, videos and digital stories are now viewable at: www.csv.org.uk/volunteerbritain
The archive not only features stories of volunteers’, but also includes stories from the people who benefit from volunteering who talk about how their lives have been changed.
From the prisoner who is using volunteering to create a new life upon his release, to the British volunteer filmmaker who journeyed to Africa to bring back the stories of people living with AIDS and their carers, all are available as individual stories or as special packages tailored to English, Scottish and Welsh audiences.
The films, which are at times inspirational, emotional and even humorous takes on everyday life, can be used as educational material for universities and training schemes, motivational materials for charities or even by schools as part of their citizenship education. Shorter films, stories and clips will also be available to broadcasters wishing to make their own volunteering features, whilst longer items are available on CD and DVD.
Damian Radcliffe, National Broadcast and Development Manager at CSV, said: “26 million people in the UK volunteer in some way. Volunteer Britain gives these volunteers a voice and the archive is our way of ensuring those voices are not lost and can still be heard by future generations.”
If you want to find out more about the archive then you can contact a member of the CSV broadcast team via the CSV switchboard on 020 7643 1300.
Alternatively you can log onto www.csv.org.uk/volunteerbritain to read about our competition winners and view some of the stories for yourself.
Further press information: Jason Tanner / Paul Donohoe, CSV Press Office on 020 7812 0038 / 0037.
Notes for editors:
-Volunteer Britain was supported by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.
-Volunteer Britain supported the Year of the Volunteer 2005.
- CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Last year 227,000 people gave 5 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. CSV trains 12,705 people of all ages. www.csv.org.uk