Lunch club minibus driver role specific training
Training 1: an introduction to your role (4 minute read)
Thank you for giving your time to volunteer as a minibus driver with Re-engage. Your contribution is vital in ensuring that our older people can attend weekly lunch clubs and we are grateful for your support.
How does the lunch club work?
Once a week, on a Wednesday, older people are either collected by the lunch club minibus or make their own way to the lunch club venue - The United Free Church, Crosby Rd N, Waterloo, Liverpool L22 0LQ - where they join the rest of the lunch club and share a meal and companionship.
The older people who attend lunch clubs, are served a meal, and use their time together to chat and to get to know each other.
Your role as a lunch club minibus driver is to liaise with the lunch club coordinator and take older people to and from the lunch club.
We operate a rota system for lunch club minibus drivers so the lunch club coordinator will ask you to let them know the dates when you will be available to drive the minibus.
Good to know
Older people come from all backgrounds and walks of life and so do our volunteers. We are an inclusive organisation and will consider every older person application we receive, even if it doesn’t quite meet our criteria. As a general rule however, older people are:
- Aged 65 and over.
- Lonely, isolated or in need of companionship.
Getting started as a lunch club minibus driver
Once you apply to become a lunch club minibus driver, we’ll contact the lunch club coordinators to ask them if they have a space. If a space is available, one of the Re-engage team will arrange an informal telephone interview with you to ensure that you meet all the requirements.
We’re looking for lunch club minibus drivers who:
- Have previous experience of driving a similar vehicle.
- Are aged 25 years or over, and under 70.
- Hold a valid D1 classification on their driving licence.
- Have completed a MIDAS and manual handling training course prior to driving or operating the tail lift.
- Are able to run safety checks and complete records at the beginning of each journey.
The next step is to take up references and complete an ID check. These checks can sometimes take a little while, but they are crucial to ensuring the safety of our older guests and volunteers.
Once your checks are complete and you’ve read through all the online training, the team at Re-engage will contact the lunch club coordinators to let them know that you’re ready to start volunteering with us.
Volunteer roles and responsibilities
Re-engage only has one lunch club and approximately 26 older people attend it each week. However, the lunch club can vary in size depending on how many older people are able to attend.
Lunch clubs are every Wednesday. This helps older people and volunteers to easily remember when the lunch clubs take place. Timings for the lunch club should always stay the same too, from 12pm to 2.30pm.
As well as a lunch minibus driver, each lunch club will also include lunch club volunteers and a lunch club coordinator.
When it’s your turn to drive the minibus you’ll:
- Use the minibus to drive older people to the lunch club venue, on a Wednesday, and return them home again after the event.
- Stay at the lunch club to help with conversation and serve refreshments.
- Liaise with the lunch club coordinator to confirm which older people you will pick up.
- Inform the lunch club coordinator of any safeguarding concerns or issues you might have.
- Follow all guidance in your lunch club minibus driver training modules.