Blackburn with Darwen - Community Centres

Volunteering in Community centres is extremely rewarding as you will meet people from all walks of life and will be able to make a positive difference to their lives.

The community centre volunteers are extremely passionate about their centre and its activities and we are looking for more passionate people to help.

Supported by the Blackburn with Darwen Assets Team, community centres are run entirely by volunteers and each volunteer has a unique set of skills which are important to the overall management of the centre. Volunteers play a crucial part in helping to ensure that community centres remain open for residents to access facilities locally.

All roles will provide valuable experience and opportunities to access training.

The role of a volunteer cook is to prepare and cook meals for the local residents of the community, community groups and the nursery which is a building within the centre itself. The nursery meals are set to a tight time schedule; these meals have two set times per day. The lunches are served from 12 noon.

Days: Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri 9am – 2pm.

Venue: Greenfields Community Centre, Green lane, Blackburn. BB2 4SR

You will be supported by a team of volunteers to ensure a safe and clean kitchen environment. The cooking of the food from a set menu will be required for the nursery. You must have sound knowledge to be able to cater for children with allergies and of preparing healthy meals.

We also have a rolling menu that you can follow for the regular community groups and local residents that come into the centre, however if you would like to try out your culinary skills then you can make up your own menu if you wish to do so.

Please note that a DBS check is required for this role.

TASKS:

• To cook and prepare meals for the community and the nursery, taking into consideration needs of children who have special dietary requirements / allergies.
• Ensure all food hygiene procedures are followed, i.e. cooking temperatures of the food.
• Ensure food is stored correctly
• Help to prepare shopping lists to restock food and ingredients
• Liaise with the facilities support volunteer with regards to restocking of food and kitchen supplies

• Log volunteering hours via an on-line computer system

  REQUIRED QUALITIES:

• To be flexible and to get on with a variety of people from all walks of life.
• Enthusiastic and Motivated
• Understanding of Food Hygiene and Health and Safety
• Good organisational skills to support and maintain an effective and often busy kitchen environment
• A commitment to providing good customer care

• Good communication skills to be able to liaise with the facilities support volunteer, nursery, centre users/customers and other volunteers

  TRAINING:

  Training will be provided where necessary and may be in the form of peer support, distance learning or trainer led. A food hygiene qualification is required for this role. If you have previously held this qualification, refresher training will be provided.