Voluntary Action South West Surrey

Zero Carbon Guildford is a charity set up to enable local community action to tackle the climate and ecological crisis and associated social issues.

Zero Carbon Guildford operates a Community Hub, in the centre of Guildford, to enable the community to come together to tackle these issues.  

The Hub includes a zero-waste shop, café, climate cinema and meeting/exhibition space and showcases ways local people can make changes to help Guildford's journey towards a zero-carbon future. 

Come and join our new volunteer team in Guildford.

We rescue surplus food from businesses, supermarkets and farms. This food is nutritious, in date, and safe and includes a high proportion of fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. If we did not rescue this food, it would be at risk of going to waste. Instead, we deliver it to charities, schools, food banks, community pantries and fridges and other organisations serving vulnerable people.

Our new warehouse in Guildford will provide us with increased capacity for frozen and chilled food. By opening this warehouse, we aim to increase the amount of food we can save and eventually increase the number of charities and community groups we can work with in Surrey.

Our food is a vital lifeline for vulnerable people in our community. Children and families, people on low incomes, people who have lost their jobs, the homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, the elderly and key workers all rely on our food.

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.

Guildford Environment Forum are a Surrey based charity with a 25 year long history. We work to make Guildford (and the world beyond) a more sustainable place by educating, informing, cutting energy use, reducing ecological footprints, helping wildlife and tackling climate change. We work on local government climate Change committees, and run various hands-on projects that generate action on the environment within our local community. 

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.

Hive Helpers' Mission is to:

INSPIRE care for pollinators - through beekeeping and connecting with the local community

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IMPACT positively on local habitats - through nature conservation and raising awareness

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IMPROVE mental and physical wellbeing - through mindful and empowering outdoor activities

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.

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.

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.

To tackle disadvantage, social exclusion and hardship in local communities. To reach out to families to equip them with the skills to improve their economic situation, to reduce social isolation and break the cycle of deprivation. 

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 14-19 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 organising ‘taster 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.