To tie in with Volunteers' Week (1-7 June) Greenwich & Bexley Cottage Hospice has today announced a fresh call for volunteers to join its Carers Befriending Service and Telephone Fundraising Team.

The Hospice is recruiting a team of 30 volunteers to befriend carers of people near the end of life in their homes and three Telephone Fundraisers to explain to people what the Hospice is about and how they can support it.

The volunteer befriender will visit at home, usually once a week for a few hours. They will help the carer by sitting with the patient while the carer takes a break or by providing information about other support services, at other times they may join in an outing or liaise with other services. The main aim is to be a friend-in-need, at a time of practical and emotional turmoil.

The pilot befriending project is funded by Pfizer and is being run in conjunction with Marie Curie Cancer Care to assess the need for and impact of this type of support.

Talking about both of these projects, Barbara Oakes Volunteers Manager at the Hospice said: "Fundraising and retail volunteers help us raise the money we need directly, while other volunteers (such as gardeners, counsellors, therapists and receptionists) help run services we would otherwise have to find even more money to cover. It all adds up to volunteers having an enormous impact on the services that the Hospice offers. Our volunteers are valued members of the Hospice team; they make a big difference to the quality of life of people who have a life-limiting illness."

If you have time and enthusiasm, skills or experience to offer, please call the Volunteers Department on 020 8320 5812, email: barbaraoakes@gbch.org.uk or see the website: http://www.cottagehospice.org.uk/volunteers.html