Abbot’s Hospital is a local charitable almshouse providing homes to 21 households in need, within a supportive and caring environment. The almshouse, opened over 400 years ago in the Grade 1 listed historic building fronting the High Street in Guildford. It is one of the few buildings in the town that has been used continuously for its original purpose since being built and is now a very special place in the town.

We are looking for volunteers to join our great team who not only support our residents but help safeguard the building for future generations. We have a variety of opportunities available for anyone wanting to make difference to peoples lives.

If any of the opportunities below interest you, do get in touch to find out more using the application link below.

Website :  Abbot's Hospital                                                                                                                                               

The Trading Standards service exists to:

• Protect individuals, communities and businesses from harm and financial loss
• Help business to thrive by maintaining a fair trading environment
• Improve the health and wellbeing of people and communities
• Fulfil our statutory responsibilities to deliver consumer and public protection services across Buckinghamshire and Surrey

Community service is paramount in our approach to providing families with both awareness and possible solutions to all too common cancers and the problems that they can bring. 

  The awareness and detection work of Cancer Testing Services CIC is driven by a passion to find early indications of prostate cancer in men and also aims to lead to the uncovering of any other cancers, regardless of gender, that, through testing with a simple blood test, might assist in this early detection and the possibility of saving or extending life.  

We aim to learn, educate and use knowledge, to reduce death from prostate and other cancers that affect adults in the community and will reduce the impact upon the wider families that cancer complications and deaths provide. 

Reimagining the UK's first cottage hospital as a space for wellbeing, learning and heritage.

"There for parents when they need us most, because childhood can't wait"

Parents Supporting Other Parents - a simple idea that really works!

Home-Start Guildford has been supporting local families across the Guildford Borough for over 25 years. 

We're a non-judgemental organisations that helps local parents who are struggling, for any reason. Some of those reasons may include; multiple births, mental health, an abusive partner, isolation, mental or physical handicap, or the pressure that loss of employment brings to a family.

What we do

Our charity provides a preventative service that aims to support families who are struggling by offering regular volunteer support to parents with at least one child under the age of 5, usually referred to us by Health Visitors.

We provide one-to-one support for parents:
Our volunteers visit the family’s home for a couple of hours every week.  They tailor-make their support to the needs of the parents and children. Volunteers are very committed and will keep visiting until the youngest child turns five or starts school, or until the parents feel they can stand on their own two feet.  Parents and volunteers often develop a deeply trusting relationship which can lead to powerful change within the family.

We also run two family groups for referred families, one in the Pirbright Community Centre and the other in the Guildford Family Group, Hazel Avenue.

Our values

• We offer families choice
• We work in partnership - with each other, with families and with other agencies
• We work in a spirit of openness, encouragement and enjoyment
• We are flexible and responsive to the needs of families

Volunteering Opportunities 

There are several ways that you can help in a voluntary capacity:

• by supporting a family as a Home-Visiting Volunteer
• by helping at one of our Family Groups
• by joining the Trustee Board
• by becoming a Friend of Home-Start Guildford
• by supporting us as a Digital / Office Volunteer

Please see the volunteer roles listed for more detail.

Better Food, For People, Health, And Planet 

We are a new local community project dedicated to creating a better food culture. Our mission is to inspire individuals and communities to access and enjoy better quality, plant-rich food—leading to healthier, happier, more connected, and sustainable lives.

We:

• Inspire healthier, more sustainable lifestyles through the art and science of plant-based cooking.
• Connect people across cultures, ages, and backgrounds through shared food experiences.
• Empower communities with practical skills in nutrition, cooking, and mindful living.
• Celebrate diversity, sustainability, and the cultural heritage of plant-based cuisine from around the world.

Puttenham Barn is run by a small environmental charity called Project Oasis North Downs (POND).

Its mission is to provide simple inexpensive overnight accommodation in a 250 year old barn, in an environmentally responsible way.

It is aimed at walkers, cyclists & people enjoying the surrounding beautiful countryside.

The Barn has many environmental features including solar panels (on its bike shed!), rainwater harvesting & local varieties of apple trees in the garden.

We aim to open at weekends, during school holidays and on as many other nights as we can between Easter & October.

Sidney Herbert Sime (1865-1941), Sime Gallery at Worplesdon Memorial Hall GU3 3RF.

A talented illustrator, oil painter, landscapes and caricatures of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Sime Gallery is a unique collection of 800 pieces of his work. He lived from 1904-1941 in Worplesdon and after his widow Mary's death in 1949 his works were bequeathed to the trustees of Worplesdon Memorial Hall. Today, the collection is known as Sime Gallery, a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). The objective is to preserve the collection and make it available for the public to view.

Surrey Remap is the local group representing the national charity Remap (www.remap.org.uk).

The objective of this charity is to design and make custom equipment for the disabled when such equipment is not available commercially.

A visit to the website will demonstrate that this often involves quite simple devices, modifications to existing equipment, and even some quite complex projects. Remap comprises a very small head office and a countrywide network of volunteer engineers and handymen, who work from their own home workshops.

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.