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Volunteer Network News
Your latest news and updates from the Volunteering & Public Engagement Team
If you've got a volunteering story to share, please get in touch.
Welcome to February's Volunteer Network News
Hello and welcome to your February edition of VNN, the first newsletter of 2025.
The snowdrops and daffodils are shooting up, so we hope that means spring and brighter days are on the way.
This edition brings news of our new Volunteer Hub, changes to our support group network and, of course, your photos.
Happy reading!
Helen, Rachel, Lorna, and Maddy
Your ROS VPE team.
Next steps 2030: A message from our Chief Executive, Craig Jones
As we approach our 40th anniversary in 2026, the ROS is in a strong position.
Our Breaking the Silence strategy, launched in 2021, has achieved strong momentum against our aims of inspiring prevention amongst people at high risk of fractures, influencing care by changing the NHS, modernising and extending the reach of our support services, and improving our impact in deprived communities.
In 2024, we won a commitment from all political parties to make Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) universal by 2030, so people can access preventative medication after their first broken bone. In February 2025, the Government formally confirmed their commitment to universal FLS roll out across England by 2030. When implemented, this will prevent 74,000 fractures over the subsequent five years, saving over 8,000 lives.
As a result, we are now making some small changes to make the most of the new, once-in-a-generation opportunities in front of us to close the treatment gap faced by people with osteoporosis. This includes streamlining our central functional services and governance structures.
One change will be the Volunteering and Public Engagement team now being structured within the Services and Influencing Directorate, so we can achieve closer working between colleagues embedding lived experience into our work and our peer support services. However, to reassure you, the team and their remit hasn’t changed. As volunteers, the changes we are making won’t affect your day-to-day volunteering.
Alongside this, our Lead Volunteer Advocates (LVAs) and Community Advocate Network (CAN) will be further strengthened and developed into a Lived Experience Community, and this will integrate and replace the current Members and Volunteers Committee.
In order to focus our attention on Fracture Liaison Services to give them the best chance of success, we will also be changing some of the support and training we currently offer to healthcare professionals moving forwards.
To see our ROS organisation structure, please visit the new ROS Volunteer Hub (more details below). A copy of our organisation chart is available for volunteers to see at any time. The transition to these new arrangements will be at the end of February and the organisation structure will be updated as soon as these are completed.
You said, we did together: Our responses to the volunteer survey
Your new ROS Volunteer Hub
We’re very excited to announce the launch of your new ROS Volunteer Hub. The hub is a new online space which has been created following the feedback you gave us in the volunteer survey, and after additional engagement with our volunteering communities.
You told us you’d like a single place where you could access the resources, guidance, and supporting documents to help with your volunteering roles. You also said it would be helpful if this resource was available all the time, so you could find what you needed when the VPE team were busy or over the weekend. But most importantly, it had to be easy to access.
Whether you’re looking for a risk assessment template or how to order ROS leaflets, want to read our Safeguarding Policy or download an expenses claim form, you can find this in the new Volunteer Hub. Like the ROS website, the Hub is there 24/7, so you can find the support you need at any time of the day or night.
You should have received your email invitation giving you access, so take some time to explore the hub and see what’s there.
Our new video shows you how things work and what to expect - watch it here: ROS Volunteer Hub welcome and demonstration video
This is an ever-changing resource, and we’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions. Let us know what you think, how easy it is to find what you need, or if there’s anything you’d us like to add.
An update on the Support Group Recommendations Project
Our volunteer survey also provided us with feedback on how our support group volunteers are finding their roles and the issues they’ve faced. As a result of this, we set up the Support Group Recommendations Project and a series of further engagements with our support group volunteers to see how best we can support them going forward.
One thing we learnt was that our volunteers, and people looking for a support group, found the different models of groups and names difficult to understand. People were unsure of the difference between a CAMEO group and a support group and found it hard to find their nearest support group meeting.
In response to this, we’ve renamed all groups as 'support groups'. This won’t mean any changes to the way groups operate, but in calling all groups ‘support groups’, we hope to streamline the network.
To help people find their nearest support group, we have asked some groups to consider renaming themselves to include the name of the biggest town or city where they meet. Some of our groups have 'and District' in their name, which causes confusion as people aren’t sure what areas the district covers or whereabouts in this area a group actually meets.
In making a change to the name - e.g., from Bath and District Support Group to Bath Support Group - this will make it clearer for everyone to see where a group gets together.
Anyone is welcome to attend any support group meeting, whether it's online or face to face. You don’t have to live in the town or city where the group is based or even come from the local area. And you don’t need to belong to just one group or attend your local group, either – you can attend meetings all over the UK if you choose to.
To help you find a support group and see where else groups meet, we have created a map of all active and upcoming support groups, which is on the support group page of the ROS website here: Osteoporosis support groups
Stay in touch
Once someone has found a group to attend, we've made it easier for them to stay in touch and sign up to the group mailing list with an online version of the ‘stay in touch’ form. This lets people sign up straight from the ROS website and saves the need for them to contact us to be added to the mailing list. Have a look at the 'stay in touch' page here: Stay in touch
Since we started adding the stay in touch link to support group pages in January, 169 people have used the link to sign up to a support group mailing list.
We will still have paper copies of the stay in touch forms, and can still manually add people to your mailing lists, but we hope the new online form will make it easier for people to join a list and reduce admin for you.
A big thank you to Lucy, our Communications Volunteer, for all her work in adding the links to the group pages.
Sheffield Support Group celebrate best turnout so far!
Irene and Kay from the Sheffield Support Group tell us about the group’s great start to 2025:
“Having recently celebrated the 2nd birthday of the Sheffield Support Group, we are delighted to report it continues to grow and be well supported by its members.
“Despite the miserable January weather and the usual seasonal bugs, we were very pleased to welcome 23 people to our latest meeting, our best-ever turnout! Within that number we had six new members, which is very encouraging.
“We have built up a good working relationship with our local Metabolic Bone Clinic, since we started the group, and they have attended several of our meetings previously.
“We were delighted to welcome back Dr Marian Schini, senior consultant at the clinic along with her colleague Dr Margaret Paggiosi from Sheffield University, who joined us remotely. They gave us an insight into some of the research projects they are currently working on.
“Margaret talked to us about a self FRAX project, part-funded by the ROS.
“Marian gave us an overview of a very exciting trans-Atlantic collaborative project, called SABRE. This is looking at ways to get new osteoporosis drugs from development to approval with shorter timescales and considerably less cost. She then kindly spent time on a Q&A session with our group, which was very well received.
“The challenge now is to make sure we can 'follow that' and keep our sessions lively and engaging as we plan this year's programme. With ideas and suggestions from our growing numbers, we're sure we will!”
Congratulations to Kay and Irene for their best-ever attendance in January and thank you for all their hard work with the support group.
If you would like to share an update of your group or volunteering activities in the next issue of VNN, please get in touch.
Burton-upon-Trent Support Group
After their venue closed last summer, Burton-upon-Trent Support Group took the time to think about what to do next. A few members of the group decided it was time to retire from volunteering, but Hazel was keen to continue the group in some way.
After recruiting a group of new volunteers, Hazel and the new-look Burton-upon-Trent Support Group held their first CAMEO meeting in a shopping centre café on 7 February. The meeting was a great success with 12 people coming along for coffee and chat, and they have arranged a second meeting for March.
We wish Hazel and the new Burton-upon-Trent Support Group well for their second meeting, and hope the new group continues to go from strength to strength.
Hazel said: “It’s been so exciting getting the group up and running. We had a fabulous time, and people were networking together too. It was so lovely that people said thank you for setting this up, and that they really needed the support.”
Better Bones Luton
Our new Luton Osteoporosis Support Group is off to a great start, with 19 members attending our second meeting. The session featured an exercise demonstration and tailored advice from a local personal trainer, complemented by tea and cake!
The new group helps to foster a sense of community for those living with osteoporosis in Luton, with members exchanging tips and strategies for living well with the condition.
Looking ahead, our next session in March will feature nurses from the Luton and Dunstable Rheumatology team, who will discuss various medications used to treat osteoporosis. We hope this session will enhance understanding of treatment options.
Change to the VPE Team
In VPE team news, we’re sad to announce that Lorna Brooks, our Volunteering and Public Engagement Officer, will be leaving the ROS on Friday 7 March. We are all going to miss her - Lorna has been the friendly face of our team for over two years but we wish her all the very best in her new role.
Lorna says: “It’s been fantastic to work with you all over the past two years or so, but over this time I have realised remote working is not for me and am returning to a more community-based role. I will be staying in the charity sector and continuing working with volunteers, joining a local animal rescue centre as their new Volunteer and Community Coordinator.
I wanted to say thank you for the warm welcome, the friendly chats, and the support you have all given me. It’s been great to work with such a dedicated and inspiring group of volunteers. I will miss you and being a part of the ROS but shall follow news of FLS and other updates from afar. My last day with the charity is Friday 7 March so please do catch me to say goodbye before then.”
We are recruiting a replacement for Lorna and hope to have them in place as soon as possible. Lorna will be able to help with your day-to-day support until she leaves in March. After this, Rachel and Helen will be covering the Volunteer Engagement team email in the short-term, so please use this for all your usual enquiries once Lorna has moved on.
We know everyone will join us in wishing Lorna all the best in her new role. If you’d like to include a message or sign the leaving card, we have created one from you all as volunteers. Please follow this link to leave a message on Lorna’s Leaving Card before 6 March.
ROS risk checker reaches 440,000 people and counting!
We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has shared our free, online risk checker so far – you’ve helped more than 440,000 people to check their risk and take positive action for their bone health. But we’re not stopping there!
Our goal is to help 1 million people check their bone health risk by the end of 2026. Please share the link with friends and family, at support group meetings, and on your social media feeds to help us in our mission to see No More Broken Bones. No More Broken Lives.
It takes just 3 minutes to check your risk at theros.org.uk/risk-checker
Plant a flower for a loved one
This Valentine's month, honour someone you love, or have loved and lost, in a meaningful way. Join us by planting a flower in our virtual community garden, alongside others who are also celebrating their cherished ones. In return, we’ll send you a packet of seeds to plant as a tribute to the special people in your life. Let’s come together to create a beautiful, lasting tribute to love and remembrance.
Leave your dedication in our Community Garden.
Taking medicine for osteoporosis?
Sign up now to be one of the first to use our new BoneMed Online service, offering tailored information to support your treatment journey: Register your interest
Your photos
Southampton had 32 people join them to hear from Elaine Dennison , Consultant Rheumatologist at University Hospital Southampton. The group’s best attendance since the COVID pandemic!
Sheffield Support Group's Christmas lunch.
Rehana and Suzanne attended a health fair in Birmingham.
New volunteer Dulcie held a Better Bones Coffee Morning, raising an amazing £80!
Thank you for reading VNN.
If you’ve got a story to share or would like to see something featured, please get in touch.
