Talecatching is looking for volunteers!

Do you like hearing other people’s stories? Do you think that you could help people to develop and write their stories for thousands of others to read? Would you like to be involved in sharing your experience and skills with others who have had fewer opportunities than you have? Do you have an evening or afternoon free each week?

Talecatching is an innovative and exciting volunteering opportunity launching this autumn in the North East London Borough of Haringey. Developed by award winning website www.ABCtales.com in partnership with Collage Arts and with funding from Arts Council England, Talecatching is looking for volunteers with an interest in creative writing and helping others to develop. Together with other volunteers, they will become creative mentors, helping and encouraging people who are having problems or finding life difficult to write about themselves and their world, and to share this writing with the world via the internet.

Talecatching believes that once a person finds their voice, no one will ever have to speak for them and that personal experience is a powerful factor in bringing about change. Volunteers involved in Talecatching will help people to explore expressing themselves through creative writing and to find new ways of representing themselves so that they can find solutions to the problems in their lives.

Talecatching is an excellent opportunity for people who would like to be involved in community arts or would like to be more involved in the community in which they live. High quality training will involve mentor training, internet skills and training in leading creative writing exercises. Volunteers will be supported at all times by a fully trained arts professional.

Groups lined up for Talecatching include non-professional carers of people with long-term illness and disability, refugees and people experiencing the effects of social exclusion and poverty.

For further details, a chat or an application pack, contact Mark Brown either by email at markbrown@abctales.com or on 020 7209 2607 during office hours.