Volunteers are crucial to the sport and physical activity sector, making grassroots activities possible and contributing significantly to the sector’s overall value. They play vital roles in coaching, event organisation, fundraising, and more, supporting everything from local clubs to major events.
In this Club Digest we will look at ways to recruit and engage new volunteers, how you can reward existing volunteers for their invaluable time and how you can volunteer at our upcoming National competitions.
BF would like to thank all of the volunteers for their continued support at clubs, events, regions, Home Nations and all aspects that help fencing grow.
If you have a positive story to share of a volunteer in your club, please complete this short form to let us know and we could feature them for Volunteers’ Week 2025.
Community sports clubs and groups often entirely rely on a team of committed volunteers.
With seven out of ten clubs and groups reporting a shortage of volunteers, it’s important to encourage and support new people to give their time. Ensuring new people feel welcome and successfully integrating them into your team of existing volunteers can sometimes feel like a challenge.
Buddle have come up with a mixture of ways to attract different groups of people and how you can use these at different times of the year to improve your success of finding new volunteers.
Follow the link here to find new ways of recruiting and retaining volunteers that best suit the needs of your clubs/events.
Why not create a profile for your club on the UK’s national volunteer database, Do-It? Here, you can recruit volunteers from all walks of life.
It only takes a few minutes to create a profile that stands out and attracts the volunteers you need to keep your club fit for the future. All you need to do is sign up, create your club profile and head to ‘How to get started.’
Volunteers’ Week is an annual UK-wide campaign held from the first Monday in June to celebrate and recognise the contributions of volunteers.
The campaign highlights the diversity and unity of volunteer work across the UK, providing organisations and communities a platform to thank current and past volunteers for their contribution.
This year’s celebration runs from Monday 2nd – Sunday 8th June.
Fencing Specific Awards
The annual British Fencing Community Awards recognise the best of our clubs, coaches, fencers, and volunteers and their contribution to fencing.
The British Fencing Honours nomination system focuses entirely on the membership with all nominations coming directly from current members.
National Awards
The best and most impactful clubs, people, and projects from across community sport and recreation are celebrated in these National Awards.
BF recently held the 2025 British Senior Championships, Para Fencing Championships and British Youth Championships. These events could not have run as smoothly without the invaluable contribution made by the volunteers.
We offer a variety of roles, including DT Team, Floor Team, Piste Side Assistants, Accreditation Team, Check-In/Help Desk, Media Team and Armoury.
British Open Championships: 5th-6th July 2025 –
Contact [email protected]
British Cadet and Junior Championships: 13th-14th September 2025 – Contact [email protected]
The BF Honours Committee invites BF members to nominate individuals for the BF Honours awards. Nominations are closing soon, on the 30th May 2025.
To nominate, click here.
Please note, you must be at least 18 years of age to make a nomination.
The Terms of Reference for the Honours Committee can be found here.
Please check that your nominee has not already been awarded a BF Honour. See the list of previous winners from the main webpage here.
The first BF event of 2025 was held on the 26th-27th April at the EIS Sheffield.
The weekend saw the top ranked fencers compete for the title of British Senior Champion and British Para Fencing Champion in their respective weapon and category. Fencers also competed in the team events on Sunday 27th April.
D/E/U fencers took part in the GB Cup on April 27th.
To see the results from the Championship weekend, follow the link here.
This year’s British Youth Championships welcomed over 1200 young athletes to compete in EIS Sheffield, our biggest turn-out yet!
38 pistes were laid out across the athletics track and netball courts in the arena to cater for a wide range of young athletes. The tournament had U12, U14, U16 and U18 fencers competing across all three weapons.
Each day consisted of eight finals, with the top eight fencers in each category being congratulated in individual award ceremonies.
To see a regional breakdown of the top eight in each age and weapon, follow the link here.
Have you got any vacancies you need advertised?
We publish vacancies on behalf of BF partners and BF-affiliated clubs seeking BF-registered coaches.
If you would like a vacancy published, please fill out this form: Job Postings for British Fencing.
The vacancy will be published on our website and our social media platforms. To see current/past vacancies, follow the link here.
Save the date for this year’s BF Learning Week, which will be taking place on the 18th-22nd August.
Tell us what you want to hear about by clicking the link here.
Team Manager, Coaching, SafeGuard and Welfare, Referee, Armoury courses and more.
To see all upcoming courses BF have to offer, follow the link here.
What you need to know about the upcoming Wheelchair Fencing Pathway Camp.
Pat Aiyenuro, President of British Fencing (BF), organised a workshop for the newly-established Equality and Diversity Commission of the European Fencing Confederation (EFC).
BF held the second Fencing For Change event at the Leon Paul Centre, attended by 30 young people with ASD from schools across London.
British Fencing (BF) is recruiting a Talent Pathway Coordinator, who will play a key role in supporting talented athletes within BF’s GBR Pathway.
