Welcome to May's Volunteer Network News

May has been a busy and exciting month so far, with celebrations for the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen, and the launch of our new exercise for bone health films. You can find all 11 films over on our blog, featuring weight-bearing impact and muscle-strengthening exercises.

And there’s more to look forward to with Volunteers’ Week coming up on 1-7 June. It will be a great opportunity to get together and celebrate your incredible volunteering efforts over the past year. Please do join our volunteers’ virtual sessions, taking place during the week - we’d love to see you! And there will be plenty of time for a natter and network.

Thank you to all our volunteers who‘ve been involved in the recently launched VPE roadmap development ‘Pillars’ working groups. The two working groups have been tasked with reviewing the materials, policies and documents that sit behind the Volunteering & Public Engagement Team (VPE) team, as we now move forward with a central model of support for all our volunteers.

In other news, as many of you will now be aware, sadly Susan Greenhalgh has now left the ROS but goes on to enjoy her retirement of gardening, travelling and adventure. We wish her all the best.

We’re currently in the process of recruiting a new person to the team and we’ll update you on this as soon as we can.

Helen and Fiona, VPE team.

A round up of recent celebrations

It’s been wonderful to have been able to invite you to some very special events over the past month, most notably the Coronation celebrations. Five volunteers and their guests won ballot tickets to the concert at Windsor Castle and to attend the grandstand celebrations outside Buckingham Palace.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather and the concert had a fantastic celebratory atmosphere. It was wonderful to enjoy such a special evening together. Helen

It was a great privilege, to witness the Coronation with our volunteers. Fiona

ROS Volunteers and staff celebrating together at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle

Healthcare professional volunteer, Emma, and her guest at the Queen Mary Memorial Grandstand at the Coronation

Healthcare professional volunteer, Zaki and his wife, Ghaniah

Red Arrows flying over Buckingham Palace

Jan, one of our Lead Volunteer Advocates (LVAs) and Valerie, one of our individual volunteers were invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace before the Coronation as a thank you for their significant volunteering contributions.

Jan said:

The tea was delicious. I really enjoyed meeting so many people. The gardens were fantastic. We were so lucky with the weather, such a nice day and a great honour.

Volunteers' Week

Volunteers are at the heart of the ROS, so we’re delighted to have a dedicated opportunity during Volunteers’ Week every year to celebrate and recognise your amazing achievements. Thank you for the passion and energy you give so generously to the ROS.

Taking place on 1-7 June, this year’s theme is ‘celebrate and inspire.’

Building on the success of our previous ‘Coffee and Connect’ online sessions for Volunteers’ Week, we’ve decided to run them again, focusing the theme of this year’s sessions on ’celebrating our volunteers’.

Each ‘celebrating our volunteers’ session will include:

• An update from a ROS member of staff on an area of our work
• An opportunity to celebrate the vital role volunteers have played in the charity’s development over the past year
• An opportunity to meet our volunteers and encourage networking, with the second half of the session dedicated to a ‘natter and network’

We invite you to join all the sessions that interest you. The sessions are free and will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams.

To view the full programme and book your place on the sessions, visit the Eventbrite page.

(The ‘click here’ link will take you to the relevant Eventbrite page. Click on it to book your place on the session).

Celebrate with us:

To further celebrate your incredible efforts, we’d love you to take a photo or record a video of yourself, highlighting what you do in your ROS Volunteer role, and send them into us.

We’ll share these on our social media during Volunteers’ Week to showcase the variety of activities our volunteers take part in for the ROS across the UK.

• Support groups: can you provide a photo of your local support group meeting? Or a short video of everyone waving at your meeting?
• Clinical volunteers: can you provide a short video introducing yourself and what you do for the ROS? Or a photo of you volunteering taken by a friend or colleague?
• Lead Volunteer Advocates: Can you provide a short video or photo at an engagement, event or meeting?

In whatever capacity you volunteer for the ROS, we'd love to see photos and videos of the activities you've been involved in recently!

Please ensure you have the permission of everyone in the video or photo to share it publicly on social media before sending to us.

Please keep videos to a maximum of one minute. We’ve put together some tips to help you record your video.

How to: take a video with your phone for social media

1. First, find a good location
• Opt for a quiet spot with plenty of natural light. Try to avoid overhead lighting and opt for natural light from a window instead. Standing in front of a plain wall is ideal

2. Place the phone in a portrait and stable place
• Place the phone in an upright, vertical position. Make sure the angle of the phone is directly facing you and stand as centrally as possible. Try to look at the lens of the camera if you can when talking
• Use your phone’s main camera by opening the camera app on your mobile (don’t use ‘selfie’ mode)

3. Prepare what you’re going to say
• It can be helpful to note down some bullet points to help structure the video and keep the messages focused. For example:

• Say hello and introduce yourself
• Briefly explain your role as an ROS volunteer and why you enjoy it
• End by encouraging others to volunteer

4. Have a practice run to check the quality of sound
• Keep background noise to an absolute minimum as this can be distracting
• Speak as clearly as possible
• Keep it simple and relaxed and speak as naturally as you can

5. Record your video
• Keep the video to a maximum of one minute
• Save it and email it to us

ROS volunteers help secure Scottish FLS audit

As a result of a key ROS campaign, we’re delighted that the Scottish Government has agreed to fund a public audit of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) in Scotland. Despite having 100% FLS coverage on paper here, we’ve been concerned that the lack of a public audit has masked serious gaps in performance, resulting in missed opportunities to prevent fractures.

Our Lead Volunteer Advocates (LVAs) in Scotland, along with the Bone Interest Group of Scotland (BIGoS) worked with us in April 2022 to make the case for the audit. Since then, we’ve been engaging with the Scottish Government to secure the funding for the audit to be set up. The funding for year one is now in place, with all funding agreements in Scotland subject to an annual review.
With the audit in place, we should begin to see improvements in the quality of care, leading to a reduction of fractures amongst Scottish patients.

One of our LVAs in Scotland who took part, said:

This is great news! An audit is the first step towards Scotland regaining its place as one of the leaders in osteoporosis diagnosis and care. All patients stand to benefit from the opportunities created by the audit to improve services across the whole country.

Read the full news story to find out more.

Write to your local MP and help us end the FLS postcode lottery

Our Policy and Public Affairs team are looking for volunteers in the following UK Parliamentary constituencies to write to your local MP to request a virtual meeting about the provision of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) in your local area, and across England. FLS are the gold standard for systematically identifying, accessing, and treating anyone who breaks a bone after age 50.

• South West Surrey
• Salisbury
• Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
• Louth and Horncastle
• Arundel and South Downs
• South Suffolk
• Grantham and Stamford
• Sedgefield
• Totnes

MPs of these constituencies are particularly relevant to the current ROS campaign to secure increased funding for FLS in England.

By writing to your MP, you’ll be helping us lobby for increased funding for FLS across England, helping end the current postcode lottery.

To check your UK Parliament constituency, visit the Constituencies page on the UK Parliament website.

If you live in one of the above constituencies and are happy to help or would like to discuss it with the team, please email james.dobson@theros.org.uk or call 01761 473102. They can also provide support if a virtual meeting is arranged.

New template letters

If you live in a different constituency and are also keen to write to your MP or elected official, we’ve created template letters for England, Scotland and Wales, which you can use as a guide. You can find them on our Lobbying your MP or other elected official page. We’ll be sharing a template for Northern Ireland very soon.

Bone Matters

In the latest Bone Matters’ session, Professor Stuart Ralston discusses the role of family history and genetics in increasing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Prof. Ralston is joined by ROS volunteer, Janet Boyd, who shares her personal family history story. This session is now available to watch on the Bone Matters’ page.

Coming up at the end of May, we explore the benefits of exercise for bone health, whatever your situation. And in June, Dr Stephen Tuck discusses osteoporosis in men, and we hear some real-life experiences of osteoporosis and fractures.

A quick reminder that you can tie into these themed online sessions by inviting a local speaker to your support group meeting or holding a peer support session as a follow up. You can also use the Bone Matters’ topics as discussion topics for your Come and Meet Each Other (CAMEO) meetings. These are our informal get-togethers, arranged alongside our more formal support groups. CAMEO meetings are a great way to connect with other people living with osteoporosis.

ARMA Health Inequalities patient survey

Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) is conducting the first ever national inquiry into musculoskeletal (MSK) Health inequalities to explore and highlight the issues and make recommendations for improvement. For a variety of reasons, some people find it harder than others to get treatment for osteoporosis and other MSK conditions. ARMA is keen to find out why and invites you to share your lived experience.

Complete the survey.

Awareness raising in the regions

Many of our support groups and individual volunteers have been busy raising awareness in their local communities.
Christine, one of our individual volunteers, attended the Basingstoke Disability Awareness Day in April, handing out leaflets in her local shopping mall, which has an average daily footfall of 15,000 people. Are there any opportunities near you where you could have a display stand?

Last summer, the Exeter Support Group attended the Christow Show and handed out lots of information about osteoporosis, encouraging people to complete our online risk checker. They recently received a cheque for £1,000 from the show’s organisers.

If you’re interested in attending a local awareness event, please let us know so we can feature it in future editions of VNN. We can also support you with the planning. To order any leaflets you may need, visit our Osteoporosis fact sheets and booklets page and look for ‘resources for support groups’.

St Paul's Cathedral Carol Concert 2023

This December, we’re partnering with diabetes charity, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ltd (JDRF), to host a carol concert at the magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral to raise vital funds for both charities. You’ll enjoy an hour of festive readings narrated by some well-known faces, carols supported by the choir, and special musical performances in the stunning surroundings of the Cathedral.

We hope you and your family and friends can join us for this very special carol concert on Tuesday 19 December.

St Paul’s Cathedral is a sizeable venue with over 2000 seats and we want to fill them all! Can you help us sell tickets by spreading the word?

You can now register your interest ahead of tickets going on sale on the St Paul's Cathedral Carol Concert 2023 page.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for reading VNN.

If you’ve got a story to share or would like to see something featured, please get in touch.

volunteerengagement@theros.org.uk