Be part of a winning team

Andrea - First Aid Officer and Adrienne - Volunteer Coordinator

All of the work that gets done around the club is done by volunteers, without which we wouldn't have any training, no playing, no clubhouse and no one to man\woman the clubhouse if we did have one. No youth would learn how to play and enjoy the great game that rugby is. We wouldn't have anyone to buy kit, arrange games, social occasions, do club Admin or Wiggy's Wednesday, Hargreaves Hump, Shezza's cooking or many other things we all enjoy.

We're in the great position this season in that all elected positions on the Club committee bar one (Communications Officer) are filled and we have a great management team. Now, the latest people to get involved are Andrea, who is taking on the First Aid Officer role, and Adrienne, who is taking on the Volunteer Coordinator role. GiGi and Andrea are also working on the floodlights with me for your training on the Park.

Volunteering is hugely rewarding as you get to give something back, you get club discounts, the respect of other members and you get to meet a lot of people. For those of you into networking, the club contains a huge variety of people and professions, some working in finance, some in trades, some students, unwaged and some in comedy (or maybe that's just what it seems) etc etc. The club is a also £100,000+ business, you can gain valuable experience in areas like event management, accounting\book keeping, IT, management, coaching, marketing and communications, entertainment. We are linked into community bodies on the Island, have contacts in Canary Wharf group and local businesses. If you volunteer and want to make contacts or a job, just let me know and I'll get you an introduction.  Yes, volunteering does require some time but not as much as you think. This season will be a great one for the club, will you join us and be part of the most successful team off the pitch?

First Aid - Andrea Bielska

We play a contact sport and injuries will inevitably happen. Luckily, serious injuries are surprisingly rare. Even so, we have a duty of care to each other to be able to help out a fellow player, a spectator who happens to need First Aid at or after a game or anyone else around rugby.  We have all read stories where someone who knew a little First Aid made a huge difference. For players, it can also mean the difference between missing a whole season just because no-one could help resolve an injury.

The role of the officer includes

1. Inventory management of First Aid kits

2. Arrangement of training and registration of First Aiders

3. Coordination with the manager on the day to allocated a First Aider.

Andrea isn't necessarily a First Aider herself, she's a player like many of us and needs to play. Players are the main beneficiaries of First Aid and therefore we'll be asking players (and social members) to

1. Tell us who is a First Aider already

2. Who would be willing to be trained and be available on the day

The RFU covers First Aiders for insurance so don't let that stop you. On the pitch, the main challenges are cuts, bruises, knowing when someone needs to come off etc, no need for brain surgery.  The club has applied for grants so that will also help and the courses we run are also suitable for workplace First Aid courses if you need a refresher. Naturally, if the club trains people, we expect them to make themselves available.

Hopefully, you, your playing friends or family will never need to rely on the cover Andrea and current First Aiders are helping provide!

Volunteer Co-ordinator - Adrienne Meehan

Despite what you may think or hear, many people are willing to be volunteers, they just don't know what needs to be done, no-one asks them or they cannot commit long term or are fearful that they will be left with a job or a role. This is where the role of Volunteer coordinator comes in. 

Getting things done has three main items

1. Identify what needs to be done

2. Find out who could do it and ask them

3. Coordinate any activity where required

You the members, together with the committee, will identify what needs to be done. I, other officers and members in the club for a while, can usually identify people who could help. Adrienne can then log the tasks and co-ordinate the volunteers.  

Don't worry about some things

·         you don't have time - just do what you can

·         you don't know what to do - often another member will know and can provide steps

·         you actually cannot do the task - don't worry, there will be others

I also see training and playing, being active in Social activities etc as a way of volunteering. If you turn out for training Tuesday and Thursday and play Saturday then you'll also be doing your part (but someone will still need to do the work).

Please remember, if you're not happy with something in the club, let us know by all means but also please be prepared to do something about it yourself. I hope to get around and talk to every single member to see if you can help Adrienne do a task so don't be surprised if I start buying you pints before I mention a little tiny task we need help on! Of course I'll accept a No but it might cost you a pint and I'll be back again with something different another time. I've also asked committee members to recruit a Tight 5 or circle of 5 who could help them in their tasks. If we do this, we'll cover the whole club and you'll only have to do one task for the whole season.

At the moment, we do need some

• ·       bar volunteers
• ·        someone to manage transport
• ·         assistance with merchandising
• ·         representatives for community meetings

We'd like to  open the bar after training Tuesday and Thursday but only if we can get a volunteer and also enough members are interested to make it worthwhile. I see one of the reasons the Women made such progress last year was because they were able to join in Wiggy's Wednesdays, without the girls there would be no night, they were able to meet each other as a team but without Wiggy, Shezza, Paul, Ryan, Gareth and all other bar staff, there would be no night.

We'll get a list of things the club needs to do so we can improve playing, social etc and put this on the web site\Facebook. If you can help, please contact Adrienne directly or via volunteer@millwallrugby.com or come to me. Sorry for the long blog (I have to fill Flex's program somehow!). Again yes, volunteering does require some time but not as much as you think and its benefits outweigh the work.

This season will be a great one for the club, will you join us and be part of the most successful team off the pitch?

Tim

Chairman

Millwall Rugby Club

75 Manchester Road - London - E14 3DN

+44 7795 436715 chairman@millwallrugby.com - www.millwallrugby.com