Friends of Victoria Square
Ffrindiau Sgwâr Fictoria

All these roles are Non-Committee. See OUR MEMBERS for information as to who is holding each Key Role overseeing these.

Work Party

Work Parties (a.k.a. On-site Action Days) are a staple of our group. These are the volunteers who turn up when needed to do either general or specific tasks at the site. From general Care of the Square to sorting our specific project elements, as well as fetching and carrying and assisting where needed. Any member can volunteer where they can (and you MUST be a member to do so).

 

Work Parties can meet at any time, though usually try and restrict themselves to no more than once a week/every two weeks, unless there are specific tasks that need doing, or can only be done by certain members or at certain times. Usual meeting times are Saturday Mornings 10-12, unless bad weather dictates otherwise. To find out when the next Work Party Action Day is, keep an eye on our Facebook Feed.

 

Work parties are overseen by the:

Work Party Coordinator

This is the person responsible for organising and overseeing any on-site Site Action Days, where members come together to do maintenance on our project elements.

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Gardening Team

The Gardening Team (a.k.a. The Gardening Group) are the volunteers responsible for looking after all the horticultural plants that we add to The Square. This includes not only those in the Community Garden, but also those planted on the Log Piles & Stumperies, as well as the wildflower areas. The Gardening Team is overseen by its Head Gardener, who coordinates with the team directly for schedules, crop proposals etc. Anyone can join The Gardening Team. You don't need much (or any) experience in gardening, especially if you are looking to learn. Though any knowledge and experience you can bring may be useful to them.

 

If you are looking to join The Gardening Team please speak to the Head Gardner, who will take you through the process and expectations.

Note:, while The Community Garden, Log Piles & Stumperies & Wildflower areas are considered separate projects, they come under the care of The Gardening Team as it is easier for them to coordinate 

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Project Teams & Leaders

We have many Projects, and not all of them have physical elements (such as our Hibernacula and Bog Garden). Some include things like Tree Monitoring, Conservation Surveys, Data recording and more. Because we are a varied group in what we do, we can create whatever projects we like surrounding our work. some projects may come and go, while others ma become permanent, ongoing features.

Project Leaders tend to come about in two ways. Either from a need, or from an idea someone has had, and we've told them yes, that's a great one, so you can take the lead in planning it. Depending on the project, a Project Leader may need to be experianced, knowing what they're doing (and what they may need to comply with too).

Anyone could become a Project Leader, and any member could volunteer to join a Project coordination Team to help get it running to success.

If you are interested in joining an existing project, speak to the committee or its Team Leader. If you wish to propose a project, speak to the committee.

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Community Engagement

This is something we hope ALL members will take on as a role (however we understand if anyone does not wish to, for whatever reason). Community Engagement is a key part of what we do. It is a Public facing role that ranges from going out and promoting our organisation further afield, to simply talking to anyone passing by in The Square who has noticed what we're doing and shown an interest.

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It can be fun, easy and enjoyable task, though we understand not everyone feels suited towards it. Don't Worry, we have some members who are very experienced in this sort of thing (or just enjoy a good chat with someone), so they can step in if available. And, if you yourself are looking to try out this sort of thing, practice it and gain some very useful experience, they'll be happy to help you to improve your abilities (which can be very useful for many professional jobs)

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Public Event Planning & Coordinating

As we move forward, out of recent restrictions and we look to get back to engaging more with the Local Community, we need to start thinking about ways we can do this. One of them is of course holding Public Events (as opposed to Member's Only Events). We'll need to be looking at what types of events we can hold, preferably utilising the wonderful space of The Square that we have available.

For that we'll need people to head up organising and coordinating these projects, as well as assisting in their creation... and of course volunteers to help run them.

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Planning such events (and knowing what is needed and possible) does take a some experience, though helping out in other ways won't need so much. If you are interested in taking on this sort of thing please speak to the Committee. This is a flexible role that can be filled per event, though a consistent overseer would be useful. Currently we have no 'Chief Public Event Coordinator.' that is not a committee member stepping in to fill this need.

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Of course for every event we hold we will need...

Public Event Volunteers

We will need to staff our public events in some way. Volunteering to help out as a general assistant to running them would help us a lot. You probably won't need any experience, and can be 'trained' what to do beforehand.

To get involved in a Public Event, speak to whoever is coordinating it for how you could help.

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Members Event Planning & Coordinating

These are like Public Events, but only members are invited/permitted. While these technically do cover the organisation of some of the other activities covered here (such as Work Parties and Planning Meetings (which are usually organised by the lead members for those areas), it is also seen as a separate activity and role itself.

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Member Events can include things like arranging a talk from a visiting expert, to simply organising a fun get-together.

Speak to The Committee if you wish to suggest any such events.

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Promotion & Marketing Coordinator

What's the most important thing about our group? Getting it recognised. While we already do this in several ways (and have several existing members... including committee... fulfilling these roles

This role can be taken on by more than one person. It works in coordination The Committee and Web Management Team to ensure all details are correct and made available to the public by all means possible. They will also work with any Offline Media Content Generators.

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Fundraising Coordinator

Fundraising is something we as a group aren't really doing at a more local level, mainly as we've had some rather generous grants from some large organisations. However, these grants won't last forever, and do also limit us as to what we are allowed to spend their budget on (no benches from them, sorry). So we need to start looking at ways to Fundraise for ourselves.

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We will be looking for both ideas, and people to run them. Whether that's finding ways to generate money, or coordinating the receiving of it.

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Because we are part of The Penarth Civic Society,* all fundraising has to go via them under their charity number. But that doesn't stop us from raising the funds ourselves.

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Cross-Community Engagement Liaison

There are many other Community groups, organisations, schools etc. out there in Penarth (and even beyond), and we are looking to connect with as many as possible who might find doing so a benefit for both parties. Many of our members do also have a membership of another group etc., so are already giving us a Cross-Community Connection. However, they many not be the contact point for that group.

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C-CELs are those who can help make those connections. It doesn't matter which side of the equation the majority of their time is devoted to (e.g. a school board governor, youth group leader), or if they are not affiliated with anyone else, being a member of us but working as a liaison to another group will allow us all to create a plan where our work can be shared with them.

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If you have connections with another group and think it might be possible to get them involved with us, speak to The Committee. (You don't have to be a member either to do this)

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Web Management (Website & Online Social Media)

In order to help promote our work, and ensure our members (and everyone else we can) are up-to-date on it, we have several online presences. This includes our website (have you seen it yet?), Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. With options to expand further should we feel it necessary.

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The Web Management Team is also responsible for linking The Group to The Community in a digital fashion. Whether that's simply by Liking another group/organisation's Facebook Page (and ensuring they receive the appropriate tags and shout outs when we've worked with them), to emailing other group's web managers asking for cross-site links. 

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At the moment a small handful of volunteers, (led by our Web Manager), are busy building up our online areas, resources and connections to ensure they meet a good standard of display and information. If you can bring anything to this activity, please speak to him.

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Offline Media Content Generation (Generators)

This is everything from photographs and videos etc. taken of our work, to producing flyers and other promotional materials for the group.

This is a pretty flexible role that anyone can get involved with. Whether you're a keen photographer, or simply an enthusiastic amateur, you could still help create the many media materials we might need.

The OMCGs work with The Web Manager & Promotion & Marketing Coordinators when they need work doing. Though that doesn't mean that they can't also generate their own content for our use, and bring their own ideas to the table as to what could be done (e.g. making a promo-video or Facebook Story).

Speak to the Web Manager for more about what can be done with this role.