Knutsford Hosts is the town-wide community volunteering scheme..

The idea for the Hosts came from the London 2012 ‘Gamesmakers’ who received universal praise for the way in which they made the event such a success and the fact that locally, people clamoured to volunteer for the Knutsford leg of the Olympic Torch relay.

These were stand-out examples of community volunteering, which gave Sarah Flannery the idea of seeing if that energy could be harnessed by creating a whole team of trained community volunteers to represent Knutsford and become an invaluable community resource for all kinds of events like the Royal May Day, Christmas Weekend, the Artisan Market, the RHS Tatton flower show, Knutsford Promenades, Knutsford in Bloom bulb-planting and community clear-ups – even the M6 Knutsford services!

“Community volunteering is good for the community and the individuals involved, and can have a big social impact. Usually, though, programmes are organisation-specific. The innovation behind the Knutsford Hosts is that it is town-wide, and attracts people new to volunteering.”

Sarah Flannery