With two months to go until the Olympics hit London, here are a few essentials – about traffic, flags and branding, and opportunities to volunteer.

Traffic

It’s easy to prepare for the significant effects on our transport networks. Please read the attached traffic advice.

To support places of worship prepare for their day-to-day operations, LOCOG and TfL are holding a workshop on 12 June, 10-12 at Stratford Old Town Hall, 29 The Broadway, E15 4BQ. To reserve your space please email alan.chapman (Email: alan.chapman [at] london2012.com) by 6 June.

Bunting and flags

On a lighter note, summer’s here, it’s time to get the bunting out!

Don’t get caught out – certain words, images and logos are off-limits for your advertising. Read more here.

Exclusively for faith and community groups, LOCOG have made some lovely flags and bunting in the same brand family as the Games. £99 gets you a flag, bunting, a banner and 50 hand flags. See the pdf below for details. Just ask your archdeacon before flying the flag; I’ve done all the relevant paperwork.

London 2012 Games Community Celebration Pack

If your budget is more limited, Local Leaders has lots of pre-designed posters, bunting patterns, and everything to celebrate locally. All are free to download, and in the London 2012 brand family. And as many of us use our churchyards for hospitality, you may wish to put in some Olympic plants like this.

Don’t want to plan something yourself?

Some churches aren’t planning anything for the Olympics or Paralympics, because

1. key people are on holiday
2. the Games feel physically far away
3. other things have taken priority

If that’s you, but there are still some in your church who are keen to be a part of the Games, why not encourage them to help another church? Many churches near venues or at key locations are overwhelmed with opportunities, and would welcome teams of volunteers to lend a hand.

After last month’s request to register your events, we’ve collated everyone’s requests for volunteers and circulated them to clergy. Please ask your vicar to promote these volunteering opportunities to your congregation – the best thing would be for small teams who want to help to approach the organisers directly.

If you’re ready to register your own event, do fill in the ‘Plans for Olympics’ spreadsheet below and send it to Elizabeth (Email: elizabeth.harrison [at] london.anglican.org).

Plans for Olympics

Please feel free to get in touch (Email: elizabeth.harrison [at] london.anglican.org) with any queries, or just to ask for extra ideas and resources for your event. It’s encouraging to see so many parishes responding to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

When preparing for a big event, be that opening your church every day, or a one-off opening ceremony party, it’s easy to feel daunted by the task ahead. A well-coordinated team of staff and volunteers can make all the difference, giving flexibility and expertise to help things run smoothly.

Making it easy to volunteer

To make it easier for people to give their time to your project, start by making it clear what you’re asking of them. Work out why you want to involve volunteers – is it to widen the skills in your team, to involve a more diverse group of people, to provide extra ‘muscle’, or to do a specific role like managing the budget or setting up the technical equipment?

Work out what each role involves – making a ‘SMART’ description if possible. ‘Face-painter needed for 5-11s area from 3-5pm on 11 August’ is far easier to sign up to than ‘Sign up if you can help at the church fête’, because people can work out whether the role is a realistic fit for the skills and time they have. If they are away on holiday during your event, they may still be able to help by fundraising, baking, making decorations, or distributing publicity, so don’t discount their offers of time.

Think carefully about how you’ll manage the volunteers you’ve not worked with before, particularly if you’re looking outside your congregation for help. Consider how you’ll integrate them into an existing team, help familiarise them with your church, and how to thank them afterwards. A single point of contact who can liaise with and greet new volunteers on the day, work out where their skills would fit best, and introduce them to team leaders could help you to use their time really well.

There are lots of online resources about good practice when recruiting and managing volunteers – I’d recommend the ‘As good as they give’ workbooks from ‘Volunteer Now’. [Read more...]

This morning, I was greeted at the station by a friendly ‘Happy Easter’, and given a hot cross bun, and a leaflet about local church services during Holy Week. As I’d uncharacteristically skipped breakfast in favour of a longer lie-in, this was very welcome, and I just had time to take a quick photo before boarding my train.

For some churches, Christmas and Holy Week are the only times of year when they work with others, whether that’s in an informal local or deanery grouping, or in a Churches Together group.

We can learn quite a lot from how these groups work, to help inform our outreach plans during the Olympics and Paralympics. For example, breaking down the tasks to be done so that each church knows its responsibilities can make it easier to cooperate.

On Good Friday, dividing tasks during an ecumenical walk, so that one church ensures road safety, another provides refreshments, and another hosts a service or leads singing, can make it easier to run than if each church contributes one volunteer to each team. [Read more...]

As parishes work out the detail of their summer activities, I’ve tried to identify some obvious pitfalls, and find practical ways to help avoid them. Much of this is common sense, and not in any way intended to scare you off making plans, but to help you make them with confidence that the practicalities are in hand.    [Read more...]