Volunteer Trustee - Swindon & North Wiltshire Deaf Children's Society

What will you be doing?

Exciting opportunity to become a trustee for the Swindon & North Wiltshire Deaf Children’s Society (DCS) The Swindon & North Wiltshire Deaf Children’s Society is looking for new trustees to enable its continuation. We have a strong committee who will continue to be involved in the day-to-day running of the charity, but we are keen to find some additional trustees to help us pursue our aims. This is an unpaid voluntary role. We are a registered charity which has been running since 1993. As a local group we aim to provide a fun and informal way for deaf children and their families within Swindon & North Wiltshire to meet each other through running events. This allows a support network to be formed between parents of deaf children and gives the children the opportunity to socialise with other deaf children. We also aim to promote deaf awareness within the local community, advance the education of deaf children, and provide support and information as required to deaf children and their families. The Swindon & North Wiltshire DCS is an affiliated local group of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and is part of a wider network of NDCS local groups throughout the UK. Any new trustees will therefore be able to seek guidance from the NDCS or from other local groups on any issues that arise.  This is an unpaid voluntary role; the time commitment involves attending around 4 committee meetings and 1 Annual General Meeting a year. The meetings are in the evenings and held in Swindon (we have a BSL interpreter when needed). The committee manages roles flexibly so that people can make things work alongside busy lives. We think we make a real difference to the lives of deaf children & young people in Swindon & North Wiltshire and we would welcome you joining us on the next steps of our journey. Please get in touch if you think this might be for you…… We would be very happy to discuss the role with anyone interested please get in touch.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for a Trustee who can help lead our charity, they will need to have

Great communication and collaboration skills Leadership skills and able to work through influence Deaf awareness (or a willingness to learn) as we work with deaf families and use BSL interpreters frequently Good organisational and management skills to co-ordinate volunteers and ensure governance requirements are followed Awareness of good governance principles in relation to running a charity Ability to advocate and speak in public to promote the charity Financial awareness in relation to maintaining a charity with a small turnover (we fundraise in order to continue to function) Experience of working as a local charity trustee or committee member previously

What difference will you make?

As a local group we aim to provide a fun and informal way for deaf children and their families within Swindon & North Wiltshire to meet each other through running events, such as our recent Christmas pantomime and soft play events. This allows a support network to be formed between parents of deaf children and gives the children the opportunity to socialise with other deaf children. We also aim to promote deaf awareness within the local community, advance the education of deaf children, and provide support and information as required to deaf children and their families. As a trustee you will lead our charity and help make a real different to children and families.  Here are a couple of quotes from a recent initiative to put deaf resources into schools to raise deaf awareness locally Pre-school parent: “We are so delighted and grateful for receiving the goodie bag from SNWDCS and Swindon Hearing Support Team. My son absolutely loves his teddy with hearing aids!  The information pack was very helpful and the books are brilliant. My son enjoys me reading them to him and we have shared the books with his grandparents too who said what lovely books they are. Mum of Year 5 member: “We had the assembly for the book bag at our school today. My son spoke in front of year 5 about how his deafness affects him and his cochlear implants plus talked about the books and how to communicate with him to get his attention. Very proud mum here!”