Voluntary Action South West Surrey

The Artventure Trust enables people with learning difficulties,physical & mental disabilities to explore the visual arts.  We aim to help vunerable people integrate into the community.  Working alongside practising artists & others with a variety of skills & experience, we combine to give a flexible & fun approach to the creative process.

We are one Parish with welcoming and inclusive Churches.
Our vision is for the growth of God's Kingdom so we aim to:

  Grow in Spiritual Maturity
  Grow in Numbers
  Grow Younger
  Grow in Community Engagement 

Our purpose

To be a force for good by transforming lives through exceptional home from home care for children with all disabilities and their families.

Our Vision

Our doors will always be open to families in need throughout the South East, by being a much loved and supported charity.

Our Values

Our aim at Cherry Trees is to offer the opportunity to children with learning and physical disabilities, most of which are severe, to enhance their quality of life by providing a safe, home-like environment whilst also providing their parents with a meaningful break.

Dyscover is a charity providing long-term support and opportunities to people with aphasia and their families. Daily sessions are led by professional speech and language therapists and are designed to help people to adjust to living with aphasia. We help our members to develop strategies for communicating, maximise abilities and provide help and support for partners, carers and other family members.

Founded in 2008, Farnham Community Farm—formerly known as Farnham Local Food—is a community-run project powered by volunteer support. Our mission is to provide fresh, locally grown vegetables, produced to organic standards, for people in and around the Farnham area. We also offer volunteering opportunities in a peaceful, welcoming environment.

Here’s what we’re proud of:

• We welcome volunteers of all ages and abilities—whether you’re coming as an individual, with support to learn new skills, or simply to enjoy the calm, open space of the farm.

• We host schools, youth groups (including Cubs, Brownies, and Rainbows), and participants completing Duke of Edinburgh or school volunteering programmes.

• No regular commitment is required—just join us when it suits you. For your first visit, please let us know by emailing: volunteering@farnhamcommunityfarm.com

Our vegetables are as fresh as it gets. Picked the very same day they’re collected, they travel virtually no food miles, helping preserve nutrients often lost in supermarket produce that’s been transported long distances. It’s better for you—and better for the planet.

As with all community projects we always need more help in all areas of our scheme.  If you think FCF is something you may enjoy being part of then come along and see us. All ages, all abilities, everyone is welcome.  We hope to see you there.

Herons Wey Campsite is owned by Girlguiding Surrey West and managed by volunteers.  The campsite and residential facilities welcome members of Girlguiding, the Trefoil Guild, Scouting, uniformed organisations, charitable groups, and other youth organisations including Schools/Educational and Duke of Edinburgh groups for overnight/residential stays and day bookings. 

Girlguiding is the largest organisation for girls and young women in the UK.  The aim is to sustain and promote a stimulating and enjoyable programme of activities.  These will help girls and young women develop their potential and enable them to play an active role in their community.

The Green Hub Project for Teens is a local community project serving Surrey & Hampshire and surrounding areas. It supports young people (10-18) facing social, emotional and mental health challenges, along with their families and carers. In addition, Green Hub works to promote awareness and understanding of mental health and emotional wellbeing for young people in the broader community.

Green Hub’s purpose is to achieve positive, measurable outcomes for teen mental health, including self-love, active lifestyles, social interaction and inclusion, as well as the development and application of a range of learned skills. Green Hub achieves this through its Teen Garden  social prescribing programme, talks and support groups within the local community, along with sharing useful information via the website.

To enhance the lives of all those we come into contact with.

Do you love gardening? Do you like helping those in your community? Then we have the perfect project for you!

We are looking for volunteers to help those in their local community, who are not able to upkeep their gardens. We are aiming to start the project in Merrow during the Springtime. This is a pilot project and in the future, we would love for it to be rolled out across all the wards of Guildford.

Who are we?

We are a group of a dozen residents in the Guildford area with a passion for growing food and gardening in a sustainable and self-renewing way. The seed bank was set up to involve more local people in seed-saving for using in the next growing season. Each autumn, after the growing season we will pool and share our seed to get more people growing.

Guildford Seed Bank was formed in 2021, and this winter, we announced our arrival with a fantastic community seed swap event, attended by over 150 people. 

We are hoping to bring together people of all ages who are interested in growing their own food (or flowers) and strengthening biodiversity. We also need people to help with social media, and also tending to the Seed Bank beds up at Rosamund Community Garden, where we are growing various crops for seed this year, and of course help with fundraising ideas.

To make a difference

About us

The halow project is a growing community-based charity, situated in Guildford, Surrey. We support young people, aged 16+, with a learning disability on their journey into adult life.

The young people we work with want the opportunity to:

• Build relationships
• Become part of the community
• Find meaningful employment
• Have a home of their own

We believe that the young people we support have the right to be part of and respected in their communities and are entitled to a life they choose in ways which best suit them. halow is committed to developing creative opportunities and removing social barriers.

Pewley Down is a Local Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Guildford Borough Council. Pewley Down is chalk grassland, renowned for its unusual flowers, and the butterflies which depend on these. Pewley Down Volunteers have been conserving the Down for wildlife for over twenty years.

Volunteers work under the guidance of Pewley Down Volunteers Group Leaders.

We meet on the first Saturday of every month throughout the year, at 10am by the Pewley Hill entrance to the Down. Work parties go on until 2pm. Drinks & biscuits are provided. Volunteers should wear strong boots as the ground is uneven, with lots of rabbit holes. Participation by Duke of Edinburgh Award Candidates is encouraged. The main work is to keep the scrub under control, using saws, rakes and loppers. We also monitor plants and insects on site.

 We are a registered charity created by a dedicated team of volunteers whose main purpose is to support and raise funds to assist ex-service personnel immediately when they find themselves in times of difficulty.  This is done by holding various events and the generous donations and goodwill of supporters. We run a memorial woodland which is lovingly tended to by our Founder and Chair, Paul ‘The Hat’ Cooling, and a team of volunteers. It is used by ex-soldiers, sailors and airmen and their families as a place of reflection and by local community groups and organisations like the cubs, scouts and schoolchildren to get closer to nature.

Receive a warm welcome at Rosamund Guildford Community Garden, where a vibrant community of volunteers comes together. Our mission is to create a nurturing natural space, inviting both novice and passionate gardeners to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors and wildlife.

We grow produce in tune with nature, using no-dig methods, slow natural enrichment and non-mechanisation. The Garden has many environmental features including a Roundhouse crafted through traditional methods, a pond fed by rainwater, two polytunnels, beds for growing, wildlife havens and a diverse orchard with a variety of trees. 

We run regular sessions at the garden on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons between 2.30 and 4.30pm. We also have monthly Big Job Sundays for large projects or tasks that require a big group. If you’d like to come and join in one of our sessions, just drop us an email to check it’s going ahead. To become a member of the garden we ask for a nominal sign-up fee of £20 for the year, and you will be added to our garden chat and google group, as well as having free access to the garden outside of the group sessions. It’s best to try out a couple of taster days before committing to becoming a member, to make sure it’s right for you.

We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you at the garden.

The Surrey Hills Society is an independent charity formed 15 years ago.  It promotes the positive enjoyment and care of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is in the course of being rebranded as one of the UK’s National Landscapes. We encourage those who live, work in, or visit the area to explore and learn about the special qualities and distinctiveness of the area.  The Society also uses its extensive network to actively promote the conservation and enjoyment of the Surrey Hills.

In June 2019 the Society was presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service which is the highest award for volunteer groups to recognise outstanding work done in their communities and is the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary organisations.

Our mission is summarised by four words: Conserve, Inspire, Educate and Enjoy.

For further information visit our website.

The Spike Heritage Centre is one of the few buildings remaining from Guildford's Workhouse in the Poor Law era, which housed the forgotten classes of Victorian England.  The Vagrants and Casual Ward, known as The Spike was built in 1906 to house vagrants and low paid workers.  After the Poor Laws ended in 1929, it continued as a night hostel until the mid 1960s. The NHS took over the site becoming St Lukes Hospital, operational until the mid 1990s when the new Royal Surrey hospital was opened.  The majority of the workhouse site was redeveloped, but due to the efforts of local campaigners, the Casual Ward was saved and remains as a historic building with lots of stories to tell. Individual visitors and groups are welcome to explore this unique building with guides providing the insight about how the poor were treated in a bygone age. 

The Therapy Garden is a registered charity based in Normandy Village, consisting of one acre of community garden which is managed by a team of horticulturalists, staff and volunteers to provide gardening and horticulture therapy to the more vulnerable members of society. We provide practical horticulture therapy to adults and young people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and physical disabilities.

Our ‘Green School’, enables young people aged 11-16 with learning difficulties such as autism, Down’s Syndrome and Asperger’s to achieve a City & Guilds qualification “Skills for Working Life: Horticulture” in a safe and structured environment. Students are referred to us and funded by mainstream and specialist schools in Surrey and Hampshire and many have gone on to achieve a college place or ongoing employment.

The Therapy Garden is currently days for other groups in the local community such as brain injury and stroke victims and Dementia sufferers and we are able to plan bespoke activities that are tailored to individual client needs.

Whitmore Vale Housing Association offers services to people with learning disabilities and we work alongside them to achieve the most out of their life. Through supported living and residential care we can meet a wide range of needs, supporting people with a mild learning disability, to those who have profound and complex disabilities.