Volunteer news

The annual celebration and recognition of our fantastic volunteer workforce is on Monday 1st June. Our BBQ event at the hospice will also be an evening of celebrating volunteers who have achieved long service awards. If you have not registered yet, please do- we need to know numbers for catering and room capacity!

Please register by 23rd May so that we can confirm numbers for catering purposes.

If you have received an invitation in the post to receive your long service award, please respond as soon as possible so that we can ensure you receive your badge on the day. We just need you to confirm by 23rd May via email at volunteers@loros.co.uk.

The much-loved Twilight Walk is back for its sixteenth year, bringing hundreds of supporters together to sparkle for someone special and make the night glow for LOROS Hospice. 

On Saturday 20th June, walkers will set off from De Montfort University for an evening brighter than ever before, brought to life by this year’s Glitter and Glow theme. 

Kim Blount, Events Officer at LOROS, said: “There’s always a magical atmosphere at the Twilight Walk. It’s incredible to see so many people coming together to walk in memory of loved ones or simply to soak up the feel-good atmosphere. It truly is meaningful and uplifting.” 

“We really wanted to build on everything people love about the Twilight Walk. With an event village lined with entertainment, food and drink, and glitter stations, we want everyone to feel part of something special before they set off on the 10k route.” 

Last year, Paris Granger and her dad completed the Twilight Walk in memory of her mum. 

Paris said: “At the start I felt upset, but as we were walking round, I knew she’d be proud of what we were doing and she’d be happy that we were taking part. I enjoyed it but it was a mix of emotions. I felt like Mum gave me the strength to do it.” 

“I would tell anyone who’s unsure of taking part in the Twilight Walk to go for it. Even if you feel apprehensive, you experience such a warm feeling, and everyone is there for similar reasons. It’s just like a little family even though you don’t know everyone.” 

To fully embrace the theme, participants are encouraged to wear the official Twilight Walk t‑shirt and customise it with the name of someone special or a message of love. Sparkle, LED accessories, colour and shimmer are all very much encouraged. 

Everyone is welcome to take part – from friends and family to groups walking in memory – whether or not their loved one was cared for at LOROS.  

Events like the Twilight Walk are essential, helping LOROS continue providing specialist care for patients and families across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. With the support of Dryad as the headline sponsor and together with the local community, we hope to build on the £106,000 raised by Twilight Walkers in 2025. 

Calling all volunteers

If you would like to be a route marshal, part of the event crew setting up and packing down or just a cheerer on for the day- please get in touch by emailing eventvolunteers@loros.co.uk

The university is partnering with LOROS Hospice to offer the Making a Difference from Campus to Community module. Students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have begun their volunteering module at LOROS. They will be able to volunteer in their community while earning credits for their course in a new kind of learning experience.

The pilot module will be offered to students on DMU’s Business Management Studies course, and will see them spending time at LOROS. We currently have students supporting HR, Marketing, Fundraising and Volunteering.

Sarah Thomson, Principal Partnership Officer at DMU, said the new partnership offered a model for helping students make a difference in the community.

She said: “DMU students have always been keen volunteers but making the time to go out there and help when you have so much on academically has always been a challenge.

“So, this module is a way to create volunteering opportunities tailor-made to a particular course and then reward students with credit towards their degrees for getting involved. They benefit, the charity benefits and Leicester benefits.

The intention, if the pilot is successful, is to develop more volunteering modules in different courses, creating bespoke opportunities which enhance the skills and experience students are learning on each course.

The volunteering module marks the beginning of a new two-year partnership with LOROS, and will see DMU become the charity’s official volunteer partner.

Rayhana Brydson, Volunteering Manager at LOROS said: “We are incredibly excited to be working with DMU on this innovative volunteering partnership. LOROS has great connections with local colleges and universities and in recent years we have seen a rise in students wanted to give back to their local communities by volunteering with us.

"We are passionate about creating exciting opportunities for students where they can enrich their academic studies with real experience and be rewarded for their time with credits towards their course - we hope they choose to return once they've completed their modules and the value of volunteering has a lasting impact.

The modules will come to an end in June and we look forward to the students joining us for Volunteers’ Week BBQ where you can have a chat with them about how they got on and what they enjoyed and learned working at LOROS.

Our pop up shop at DeMontfort University Leicester (DMU) last week was a huge success – we raised almost £1,000!

Thank you to all the amazing DMU students on the LOROS volunteering module who helped with stock and Twilight Walk sign ups. We couldn’t have done it without them.

The energy on campus was fantastic, and it was wonderful to see so many students getting involved and learning more about the work we do.

A few tables are still available for the below event taking place tomorrow (15th May)! Book your table directly by emailing the hosts Mark and Adele at lorosquiz@yahoo.com

We are pleased to say that we have started to use a new online training platform called Bluestream. Although we have only started using this online training with clinical volunteers, we will be looking to introduce this training resource across the hospice over the next few months.

If you have previously accessed your training over the online resource, e-learning for health, please spend a few moments logging in to your account and complete any training that requires you to complete a refresher. We hope to help all volunteers to use this new training resource later in the year.

Volunteers’ Q&A Sessions with Camilla Barrow, CEO

This is a chance for volunteers to learn more about LOROS and ask any questions directly with Camilla. We had a great Q&A session earlier this month at the hospice, this was led by our clinical service leads and gave a real insight into our clinical and community services. We have further opportunities for you to come in and get to know more about the hospice, we would like to hear more from you about what would like to know about LOROS and more ideas about how best to engage with you.

Please confirm your attendance by emailing Rebeccastevens@loros.co.uk

Other Volunteering opportunities

• Wellbeing hub volunteers- come and join us on the last Tuesday of every month in our Day Hospice- supporting activities with our team of volunteers

• School speakers- We are still on the look out for volunteers to help us with school assemblies talking about LOROS and our support (but aimed at young people)

• Admin volunteers- we have varying tasks in the hospice and at different levels of skill. Please get in touch if you would like to help our back office teams!

• Spiritual care volunteers- please get in touch if you have pastoral/chaplaincy experience.

We also have many Fundraising events were we could really benefit from having an extra couple of spare hands! If you can support any of these dates, please get in touch with StacyMunday@loros.co.uk

Stacy is part of the Fundraising team and has a special focus working with schools, colleges and higher education to encourage younger people to access our support and to raise awareness about LOROS.

Family fun days

Could you help to run a LOROS stall at a family fun day? The stall will be full of table top games and a tombola to attract the local community to get involved. These are fundraising events and will need two volunteers per event. All items and equipment will be provided and will need to be collected from the Hospice the day before and then returned back to the Hospice. This is a fun and engaging way to connect with the community and raise funds for LOROS. Some dates we are looking for volunteers are listed below:

Sileby Redlands Community Primary School Family Fun Day

Date – 13th June 2026

Time – 11am-3pm

Fullhurst Community College

Date – 20th June 2026

Time – 10am – 2pm

Farndon Fields Primary School Family Fun Day

Date – 27th June 2026

Time – 11am-3pm

Ash Field Academy Family Fun Day

Date – 4th July 2026

Time – 11am-3pm

Badgerbrook Primary Family Fun Day

Date – 12th September 2026

Time – 11am-3pm

Birch Wood School Family Fun Day

Date – 26th September 2026

Time – 11am-3pm

Careers day support

Could you help at a year 10 careers day? You will have the opportunity to speak with a range of students to help them prepare for an interview. You will take part in mock interviews and all information will be provided from the school closer to the date.

Rawlins Academy- LE12 8DY

Date- 25th June 2026

Time - TBC

Natfest 2026

Date: 27th June 2026
Time: 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Sileby

Natfest is a fantastic, family-run private festival held in Sileby, featuring all-day live music, great entertainment, and plenty of fun for all ages. We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help make this special event a success while supporting LOROS Hospice.

What you’ll be doing

Volunteers will help with a variety of tasks throughout the day, including:

• Helping with event set-up and pack-down

• Selling LOROS merchandise and running funfair-style games

• Selling raffle tickets

• Talking to visitors about LOROS and the work we do

• Taking tickets on the door

• Helping direct and park visitors’ cars

You don’t need to have previous experience — just a friendly attitude and a willingness to get involved. Tasks will be allocated on the day, and there will be support throughout the event.