We are committed to developing solutions that can be delivered through effective voluntary action and partnership working. We work with the belief that all members of the community will have both support needs of their own and the capacity to support others at various times in their lives – in some cases simultaneously. 

It is The Bureau’s mission to identify and link together community needs and solutions to enable people to live independently and improve the quality of life for local communities.

Types of Services:

Over the last 20 years, The Bureau has grown and evolved, in line with the changing needs and wants of local people. We have moved on from being 'just' a Volunteer Centre and now offer a range of different services including:

WELLBEING SERVICES

• Car Scheme – our volunteers drivers support those who experience barriers to  attend medical appointments or wellbeing activities.
• Time Out – our social group activities help elderly or disabled people to get out of the house, do their shopping, meet friends, and socialise.
• Call Companions
• Befriending – we work with lonely or socially isolated people within the community  with our volunteer befrienders acting as "a good neighbour” by visiting someone in their home and giving them some regular company/companionship and working to personal goals.
• Peer Support Groups – we run a number of regular and ad hoc peer-support  activities such as ourWalk and Talk group with gentle staff-guided walks around local parks with small numbers of other like-minded individuals.
• Thursday Club – offers weekly volunteer-led social connection activities for those  living with dementia and peer support group for their carers.
• Sight Loss Support – provides tailored practical and emotional support to those  experiencing visual impaired in the community.

PRE-EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

• Life Skills – offers those furthest away from being ready, or able to enter the job  market, support to help them identify and build on their existing strengths; as well as assisting them to identify the life and work skills they need to improve the quality of their lives.
• Building Better Opportunities (BBO) Toward Work – bespoke, personalised and  tailored solutions to support an individual's vital steps towards personal progression and employment. 
• CV Workshops – universal support with CVs and covering letters via 1-1 guidance  from our coordinator.

COMMUNITY NAVIGATION & DEVELOPMENT

• Community Navigation – our social prescribing service is there to help members of  the community to be able to self-manage any number of social, personal and physical wellbeing issues by connecting them to the right services, offering a listening ear and supporting them to set realistic and achievable goals to improve their health and wellbeing. ​
• Community Development - Closely aligned to our social prescribing work is our  asset-based community development, supporting existing groups or those with ideas to create activities to improve people mental and physical health and wellbeing. 

VOLUNTEERING

As part of our role as Volunteer Centre are also carry out 6 core functions being:

• Volunteer brokerage 
• Marketing volunteering
• Good practice development
• Develop volunteering opportunities
• Policy response and campaigning
• Strategic development of volunteering

PARTNERSHIP WORKING

• Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership – We provide Social  Prescribing and Asset based community development expertise to the Partnership’s People and Communities Team.
• Move More Glossop – We host a partnership of community, sports, health, and  council organisations working to encouraging people across Glossop to get involved, start moving more and share ways to fit activity into everyday life.
• Glossopdale Visual Impaired People (VIP) – We work closely with this  independent self-help group aiming to connect people together who are experiencing sight loss across Glossopdale.
• Glossopdale Newsdisk – We work closely with this independent weekly talking  newspaper service to keep visually impaired people and those who cannot physically manage to hold and read a newspaper in touch with local news and community information via a weekly free CD.

We also offer a variety of practical services and resources to support local organisations that involve volunteers, including a meeting room available for hire.

16.2 FTE paid staff.200 organisations as contacts.