STAFF in Harrogate Borough Council's sports development team are turning into professional matchmakers.  Not the in the romantic way, although they have spent the summer months courting.

 

They have been seeking out partners in the community who may be prepared to become involved in a new project being developed by North Yorkshire Sport called Volunteering North Yorkshire.  The scheme is aimed purely at offering sports clubs improved ways of accessing their own band of gold a bank of volunteers that they can call on to help them out when the going gets tough.

 

So whether your bowling club is falling off because your volunteers are going down like nine pins.  Or whether your son's football team can't find strategists, coaches or someone who will write match reports, Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire Sport would like to invite you to their take on a speed dating event.

 

Councillor Pat Jones, Cabinet Member for Culture, explains:  "We have been training a large pool of volunteers over the past few months.  And now we are hosting an event at Harrogate Hockey Club on 9 November where we aim to match them up with clubs that are desperate for volunteers and we will be training them on how to involve volunteers in their club's work.  Many clubs find that it is just three or four people who are doing all the hard work.  And it is also a shame when you see clubs that have been running for years, fold because help falls away as lifestyles change, or people get jobs which take them away from the area."

 

"So this will be the perfect opportunity for clubs to get more people involved, to spread the workload and build on the great work they are already doing." 

 

The project has been especially developed for 2005, which is the Year of the Volunteer, but it is hoped that it will carry on and that the pool of valuable volunteers can be added to in future years.

 

The free 'speed dating' event is being held on Wednesday, 9 November between 6.00 pm and 9.30 pm at the Harrogate Hockey Club.  There will be drinks, a finger buffet, lots of information about the role of a Club Volunteer Co-ordinator and the opportunity to join a Sport England Workshop worth £22.

 

If you would like to book a place, contact Rebecca Skinner on 01423 556782 or email Rebecca.skinner@harrogate.gov.uk

 

NOTE TO EDITORS:  North Yorkshire Sport is the umbrella organisation within North Yorkshire County with membership coming for local authorities, schools and the sporting world's national governing bodies.