What we do

About with Friends’ mission is to give people with learning disabilities the opportunities they are entitled to and to live the life that they deserve. We are made up of permanent and part-time staff, volunteers and valued supporters. We offer support, activities, guidance and care. When they become part of our ‘family’ they have opportunities to develop lasting friendships; engage in fun and active social activities; get involved in the community; have the chance to try new experiences; learn new skills both for life and work; but above all feel a valued part of society while enjoying life to the full.

We started from a kitchen table and have grown to a large organisation at the heart of the community in Cromer. We’re proud of this achievement, but we couldn’t have done it without the unstinting support of volunteers, trustees, our staff and of course our wonderful members!

Volunteer with us

Our volunteers enable us to do the great work that we do and we’re always looking for enthusiastic new people to join our team. To become a volunteer, you’ll need to be over the age of 18 (or 16 with a parent or guardian’s permission), have an open mind and a willingness to treat everyone equally and fairly.

It doesn’t cost you anything to volunteer, and any authorised out-of-pocket expenses will be fully reimbursed. We’ll supply you with a full induction and free training, all we ask if for a satisfactory DBS check and two independent references. It’s up to you how much time you give; maybe a few hours here and there, or we can set you up with a regular weekly routine.

If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Su Lee on 01263 515230 or email us.

Find out more about how you can get involved with the work we do on our website.

Everyone’s skill sets are different, so we’ve got a number of areas in which you can volunteer. Of course, you’re able to volunteer in more than one area; we’ve broken our volunteering roles down so you can choose the best fit for you.

• Community Café Volunteering: Our Community Café opened in 2014 and sits on Tucker Street in Cromer. It’s run by our members who are supported by staff and volunteers. We provide meals, snacks and drinks to members of the public and volunteers will be assisting members in various aspects of café work (till work, serving and food preparation).
• Catering Volunteering: Our catering team form part of our Work Skills service. Volunteers will need to be patient and understand basic catering tasks. Our catering team carry out varying tasks including catering for our lunch clubs, buffets, weddings, our café in Cromer and much more.
• Gardening Volunteering: A lot of our members are keen gardeners, so it makes sense to incorporate it into our Work Skills service. Our Gardening Team Volunteers will assist members in various garden tasks: mowing, weeding, pruning and laying paving slabs to name a few.
• Work Skills Volunteering: Our Work Skills programme offers our members the chance to learn in real working environments. Work Skills runs from 9-4, Monday – Friday and each member must be accompanied while they work.
• Driver Volunteering: In order to give our members the most diverse experience possible, we aim to travel as often as possible. This means driving our members to and from activities, lunches and work during term times and holidays. We have two large minibuses and driver volunteers should be over 21 , having held a full UK driving license for two years. We’ll give you training on how to drive the bus and how to operate the wheelchair lift and security fastenings.
• Fundraising Volunteering: We couldn’t be the organisation that we are today without the fantastic fundraising efforts of the local community. We are always grateful for your kind offers and contributions; visit our fundraising page to see who’s helped!
• Social Activities Volunteering: Our Social Activities run weeknights and weekends and include a number of holidays throughout the year. From bowling to swimming, meals out to discos and holidays in England and abroad, our social activities calendar is always full and in need of volunteers.

Find out more

If you would like to know more about the work we do, opportunities available or how you can get involved, then please visit our website and follow us here on icanbea.