Bedford Borough Council thanks all volunteers

This Volunteers' Week, Bedford Borough Council is celebrating the selfless acts of kindness that have made a huge difference to the residents of Bedford Borough over the years.

Every year, volunteers come forward in their thousands to help the council, their fellow residents and the local community.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, our volunteer teams have played a huge part in supporting the COVID-19 effort, including most recently helping with the surge testing currently taking place in Bedford Borough, by handing out test kits at the Collect and Drop off sites and supporting to get messages out in the community.

Our volunteers have also given their time in local parks and open spaces, at events, in their local community, as well as at the Council's cultural venues including at The Higgins Bedford, our local libraries, the Bedford Corn Exchange and at the Bedfordshire Archive and Records Service.

To celebrate the week, The Higgins Bedford is holding a free taster session for their volunteers on 'Art and Mindfulness' on Monday 7 June, from 10.30am until 12 noon via Zoom, in collaboration with Mindfulness expert, Nicola Smith. The relaxing session will include an introduction to mindfulness with a focus on paintings, followed by a Q&A session.

Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson said, "The last 18 months has been a period of immense challenge for everyone, not least the council. Without our amazing volunteers I'm not sure where we would be. From assisting with our COVID-19 efforts to working alongside officers their contribution is enormous. They help us to keep our parks beautiful and local communities clean, help us to run wonderful events, support our local museum and art gallery, our theatre, our local libraries, and our county-wide Records and Archives Service and I thank every single one of them for helping make Bedford Borough a better place to live, work and visit."

If you would be interested in volunteering in local parks and open spaces, contact volunteering@bedford.gov.uk. If you would like to volunteer at a cultural venue, please email Gemma at gemma.hutton@bedford.gov.uk, or to volunteer at Bedfordshire Archives and Records Services email archive@bedford.gov.uk.