THE Volunteer Centre in Farnham has moved out of its offices in Farnham library and transferred operations to the Volunteer Centre in Guildford.

The cost-saving move, which came into effect on June 22, will mean that there is no longer a permanent office for people to find out about volunteering in Waverley.

Although information and help with finding volunteer roles across the borough is still available online, by phone and in person from the Guildford office.

Volunteer Centres help match people who want to volunteer find roles with organisations that need volunteers to help deliver their services.

Carol Dunnett, chief officer of Voluntary Action South West Surrey which operates the Volunteer Centre, said: “It’s a great shame that we aren’t able to keep a physical presence in Farnham but although we haven’t had any cuts to our funding neither have we had any increases so in real terms our income is falling.

“We have taken the decision that it is better to put resources into having the people to run the service rather than premises to run it from.

“We are still very much committed to helping both people in Waverley who want to volunteer to find roles and to helping charities in Waverley to find volunteers.

“People can contact us by phone, email or by dropping into our Guildford Centre. All our available volunteer roles are advertised on our website and people can apply online.

“We also run a supported volunteer scheme called ‘Welcome to Volunteering’ for people who need a little bit of extra help finding and sustaining volunteer roles and our W2V project officer is always happy to go out and meet people wherever they live.

“We do intend to have a rolling outreach programme to promote volunteering across Waverley, and will be making sure information about volunteering is available across the whole borough. not just in Farnham.”

To contact the Volunteer Centre, call 01483 565456, email [email protected], drop in at 39 Castle Street, Guildford GU1 3UQ, or visit the website www.voluntaryaction

sws.org.uk.