EVENT VOLUNTEERS
The Outdoor Swimming Society has won the reputation for running the friendliest, best-organised swims in the UK and we couldn’t do it without you.
Each year, over 200 people sign up to support our events as part of the OSS Team. This army of enthusiastic, passionate, and dedicated volunteers are involved from start to finish at each event, from getting the site ready for swimmers to packing it all away again at the end of the weekend.
In between, our volunteers are helping the swimmers to register, looking after their bags and ensuring they are in the right place at the right time, serving them snacks on the water and hot chocolate at the finish, keeping cars moving and buses running, helping cold swimmers warm up and keeping the hot tub fires burning. And lots more besides.
Each event is run by a small team of OSS Event staff, supported by our event volunteers. These volunteers are a mixture of swimmers, supporters, charity volunteers, and locals. Every role is critical to the smooth-running of the event and we are extremely grateful to all our volunteers, whether they are helping out at their first event or have been with us for many years; whether they are there for one day or three; whether they are volunteering for the whole event or splitting their time between volunteering and swimming.
But it’s not just us who are thankful for our great volunteering team; your efforts make a world of difference to our swimmers too.
“Amazing event. Thank you OSS and the army of volunteers and lifeguards.”
“Again a fantastic event run by Kate and her amazing team of patient and upbeat volunteers.”
The days can be long and hard, but also fun. As well as the enthusiastic thanks of our swimmers, OSS Team members also receive a t-shirt, light meals, a discount on a future swim, and early bird access to the following year’s events.
We realise you will want more information about what is involved in joining the OSS Team at an event, and we have prepared volunteer factsheets for each of our events. Please be aware that we will be updating aspects of the events to ensure that they remain Covid-19 secure and, as such, some of the information in these factsheets may change. Full volunteer briefings are provided before every event to ensure you have all of the information relevant to you and your role.
If you would like the inside scoop on what it’s like to be a volunteer at one of our events, Mike Porteous, OSS contributor and one of our 2019 volunteers, has written about his experience of volunteering at the 10th anniversary Dart 10k.
If you would like to join the OSS Team to volunteer at any or all of this year’s events, you can sign up for a volunteering place by selecting the (free) volunteer ticket available on each of our event pages.
If you have any questions about volunteering at an event, please get in touch with Jon, the OSS Volunteer Manager, on hello@outdoorswimmingsociety.com.
We look forward to working with you.
Graham Wynne
Vivienne Rickman-Poole
Graham Wynne
Graham Wynne