Pop tycoon launches city volunteer service

22 May 2009

COVENTRY born Pop mogul Pete Waterman will this Wednesday (27 May, 2009) open a new West Midlands service for adults over 50, to improve their well being.

The songwriter behind some of the most famous disco pop tunes of the 80s and 90s – including Dead or Alives’s "You Spin Me Round" - is giving up his time to launch a new project that has been awarded a grant for £202,245 from the Big Lottery Fund to improve the lives of older people across the city of Coventry.

The grant was awarded to CSV (Community Service Volunteers) for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme (RSVP) which is setting up the new project in Coventry (Methodist Central Hall, Warwick Lane). The project will create new volunteering opportunities for older people, reduce feelings of isolation and improve health and well-being.

The new funding will mean more adults over 50 years old can get involved in volunteering projects such as community allotments, garden schemes and organised walks. Those who are less active can get involved with activities such as knitting items for local hospitals.

Project Manager Lesley Hawkins said: “Imagine a world where you want to make a difference but don’t know how to. Our new over 50s service is all about supporting each other in the community to volunteer. We know how much energy people in Coventry have to help others and with this new investment we hope there will be even more.”

The project will work under the principle of CSV’s non-rejection policy, where nobody who wants to volunteer will be turned away.

Ahead of the launch, the songwriter, producer and TV presenter, Pete Waterman said: “As an over 50s person myself who cares about his home city I’m really excited to be involved in the new RSVP volunteer service. The project will be unique in that it has been designed to motivate and engage new volunteers to do small things together to make a big difference.”

The new project office at Coventry Methodist Central Hall (Warwick Lane), Coventry will open on Wednesday 27 May 2009 at 11am.  Guests will be arriving from 10.30am. Members of the public are welcome.

John Taylor, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the West Midlands, said: “The new retired and senior volunteer project will offer better chances in life for hundreds of people in the region and ultimately work to create stronger communities.”

To interview Pete Waterman contact
Victoria Silver (CSV Press Office)
020 7812 0038 / 07866 757 389

Ends

Notes to editors

1) CSV (Community Service Volunteers) is the UK’s leading volunteer charity and creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their community through volunteering, training and community action.  Each year 164,000 people give 4.1 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV.  www.csv.org.uk

2) RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme) is the only UK wide organsation that offers the opportunity to everyone over the age of 50 to volunteer. Over the last twenty years volunteers have helped more than 150,000 children to read, knitted more than 250,000 teddies for traumatised children and 70,000 garments for premature babies as well as befriending 1,000 isolated older people. www.csv.rsvp.org.uk

3) To contact the Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888 or www.biglotteryfund.org.uk