Discussion Table: Vision for Volunteering
Questions that will be discussed:
- Roles for volunteers and volunteers for roles – is it best to have defined roles or a more generic approach?
- Benefits and challenges of having volunteers – your experience
- Making volunteering accessible to all – your tips and experience
Biography
Florence came from France over 30 years ago – originally to teach French but went on to doing an MSc in Information Studies at Strathclyde University. There she learned the basic principles of research and evaluation, acquired 3 letters after her name and best of all 3 letters before her name as she met her husband, Andrew. She worked for Scottish Enterprise and gained most of her funding and evaluation experience when working for Hall Aitken – a funding and evaluation consultancy – for 15 years.
She has been working as Evaluation Coordinator at Glasgow Science Centre for over 10 years, evaluating GSC’s projects and programmes as well as carrying out visitor studies. She developed an interest in volunteer management ‘by chance’ as a friend offered to volunteer for GSC and Florence realised the benefits of having volunteers for science centres. For her, it’s very much a question of ‘give and take’ as Florence is keen on volunteers feeling happy in their roles and benefiting more than just a line on their CV. Florence is particularly keen on making volunteering accessible to young people and people with ASN, maybe as Lucy – Florence’s second of three children - has Down’s syndrome and has acquired most of her work experience through volunteering.
In her spare time, Florence volunteers for the Beatson Cancer Charity and the No.1 Befriending Agency, ‘simply because I thrive on communicating and helping people and it’s good to experience what it feels like to be a volunteer’. She also enjoys ballet, swimming and cooking.