We’re looking for:

• 3 new Committee members
• Parents Group and Book Club hosts
• Mental Health Champions
• people to help organise events and activities for Pride Month and other LGBTQIA+ awareness days throughout 2025

Volunteering’s a fantastic way to play an active part in growing and shaping your local LGBTQIA+ community and to make your voice heard. It’s also great for your own personal wellbeing through connecting with other people and looks great on your CV!

If you’re not a member already, you’ll need to join as an Association Member of LGBT+ Thamesmead to put yourself forward for most of these roles. This ensures that everyone involved abides by LGBT+ Thamesmead’s governing constitution and policies and that you’re covered by our group’s public liability insurance.

To volunteer for any of these roles or to find out more information about what’s involved, email team@lgbtthamesmead.co.uk.

New LGBT+ Thamesmead Committee roles

We have 3 new roles to fill on the main LGBT+ Thamesmead organising Committee!

1) Media and Communications Officer

To take photos and videos during events and activities, post regularly to the LGBT+ Thamesmead social media accounts, collate and send a monthly newsletter email, and to help keep the LGBT+ Thamesmead website updated with news, announcements, and blog posts or articles written by members and guest writers.

2) Membership Secretary

To receive and keep track of new or renewing Association Membership applications, assign membership numbers, collect membership dues, and to distribute membership cards to new or renewing Association Members.

3) Deputy Treasurer

To assist the Treasurer with counting up any money raised from fundraising activities, look after bookkeeping duties as needed if the Treasurer is away, on holiday or unwell, and to help the Treasurer to prepare the annual financial year end accounts report ahead of the Annual General Meeting and publication on the LGBT+ Thamesmead website.

As a member of the Committee, you’ll need to attend monthly committee meetings (usually the first Monday evening of the month where possible, except for Bank Holiday Mondays.)

If only one person applies for a role, this will be confirmed and announced at our next General Meeting in April. If more than one person puts themselves forward for a role, the successful applicant will be decided by member vote during the April meeting.

Your time in this role will last until autumn 2025 when all Committee roles open for election at our Annual General Meeting. You can then choose to stand for reelection if you’d like to continue, or step down to allow someone else to volunteer.

Activity Hosts – Parents Group and LGBTQIA+ Book Club

We’re looking for people who’d like to lead:

• an LGBTQIA+ parents group to create a friendly, informal local support network for LGBTQIA+ parents, carers and guardians in Thamesmead and the surrounding area

• an LGBTQIA+ book club, with the potential to be able to host this at Thamesmead Library in The Nest

You’ll be able to make this role your own and lead it in a way that best fits your schedule and existing commitments with as much support as you need from the main Committee. You can also share these roles with other members to lighten the load.

Mental Health Champions

We’re currently working with Greenwich Healthwatch and South London Listens to become a Be Well Champion community group.

This will give us access to resources and support to help people look after their mental health and personal wellbeing as part of a vibrant and active local LGBTQIA+ community.

As part of this, we’ll soon be looking to train Association Members who want to volunteer as Mental Health Champions. You’ll receive mentoring, invitations to networking events with other community group Mental Health Champions, and access to support and resources to help you in this role.

Pride Month Event Sub-Committee

Pride Month in June is a major event in the LGBTQIA+ community’s calendar and we want you to feel involved! Our current plans for Pride Month 2025 include:

• our Thamesmead Shantay Pride Ball on Saturday 14 June
• a Pride Picnic at Lesnes Abbey (date TBC)

We’re looking for volunteers to form a small sub-committee to work with the organising Committee to plan, budget and coordinate different activities to celebrate Pride Month, such as workshops, webinars, socials or cultural events.

Events and activities to mark important LGBTQIA+ awareness days

We’d like to hear from any members who are interested in organising an event or activity to help us collectively mark important awareness days together as a group. Examples of upcoming awareness days include:

• Transgender Day of Visibility – Monday 31 March 2025
• International Non-Binary Persons Day – Monday 14 July 2025
• International Lesbian Day – Wednesday 8 September 2025

These are community-led initiatives and all ideas and suggestions are welcome!

We’re also looking for anyone who’d like to volunteer to write a blog post or article for our website about why a particular LGBTQIA+ awareness day or topic is important and meaningful to them. You do not need to be an Association Member to contribute a blog or article!