About Gig Buddies
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At Gig Buddies we support adults with learning disabilities and (or) Autism who live in the Bradford district to have an amazing social life!
We support our buddies in various ways, ideally, we'll match our buddies (people we support) with one of our amazing volunteers. Connecting through shared interests our paired buddies, go out once or twice a month to enjoy whatever their “Gig” may be.
We have 2/3 socials each month to meet up as a group & have a great time going to a variety of events together!
We are all about supporting each other, sharing our passions and building lasting friendships!
Social get-togethers at Gig Buddies
As well as matching pairs of buddies and volunteers we also organise regular socials in Bradford like gig nights, coffee mornings, meals out and bowling. Through these group socials you can meet other like-minded people and make new friends.
Volunteering at Gig Buddies
"Everyone is friendly, professional and reliable. I love hanging out with everyone. It’s been nice to get to know Bradford as I’m not from here originally and learn loads of new skills. I like the fact we’re a small family and if we need any help or support we can get in touch"
- Vicky, a Gig Buddies volunteer
We’re always looking for new buddies and volunteers
Let us know if you are interested in being part of Gig Buddies either as a buddy or a volunteer or for additional information, please email our Gig Buddies coordinator, Andy Warren or telephone him on 07970 962 652
Volunteering in your community is your chance to make a difference locally to the lives of people with a learning disability. With Gig Buddies you can connect with someone who shares similar interests while supporting them to get out and enjoy a full and varied social life.
Mencap will provide volunteers with:
- the opportunity to go to great events and meet new people.
- the opportunity to support someone with a learning disability to live a life like anyone else and make choices about how you spend social time together.
- expenses reimbursed up to £10 a month.
- Induction training
- friendly ongoing support, mentoring and guidance from a local coordinator.
Yes - all Gig Buddies volunteers go through an induction training programme.
This generally takes a few hours and covers areas such as:
- an introduction to learning disability
- communication
- safeguarding
- 'what to do if' scenarios.
All volunteers must complete an Enhanced DBS check and we also ask for two references.
We also recommend that new pairs of buddies come to a social for their first gig together, we're on hand to provide any support too.
If you become a buddy, you will benefit from:
- being supported to try new things
- going out in the evening and feeling safe
- getting to know new people
- making new friends.
Gig Buddies is aimed at people with a mild to moderate learning disability, particularly those who get little or no funded support as there is a risk that this group of people will be most at risk from social isolation.
We typically aim to engage people aged 18-35. This is because we want to reduce loneliness for the next generation of people with a learning disability and support them to have lasting friendships and connections.
The Gig Buddies coordinator meets everyone who gets involved in the scheme (buddies and volunteers) and will conduct an initial interview.
This enables them to make an informed decision about who to match with who.
The buddy and volunteer will then be introduced to each other at a matching meeting led by the coordinator.
It's totally fine if a pairing doesn't work out.
We believe it is important to ensure that the person with a learning disability is in control of who their buddy is.
If it doesn't work out we'll offer support to see if there's something we can do to resolve the relationship, but on the rare occasions it doesn't work at all, we'll support you to find a new buddy.
Anything at all! We encourage people to say what their interest is. That could be playing or watching sport, walking, or going to the theatre.
Whatever your interest, we'll aim to find a match!
The support provided by our Gig Buddies service is free, funded by Bradford Metropolitan District Council. However, we expect participants to pay for tickets to events and other activities, and travel costs.
We do reimburse volunteer expenses - up to £10 a month.
Mencap’s Gig Buddies service is part of a wider Gig Buddies scheme funded by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Age UK deliver a similar service to older residents living in Bradford as part of the scheme.
Our Gig Buddies service benefits from training, peer support and resources from the charity, Stay Up Late who created the Gig Buddies project model on which the service is based.
The Gig Buddies project began from a campaign in 2006 to fight for the rights of people with learning disabilities to “stay up late” and not be restricted by support worker shifts.
In 2013 Stay Up Late started Gig Buddies as a practical solution to this, matching volunteers and people with learning disabilities who shared interests around music to go to gigs together.
Stay Up Late now share the Gig Buddies project model with like-minded organisations around the UK and even in Sydney, Australia.
The project has evolved over the years and now matches people to be "buddied" for a range of activities, not just gigs and music.
Our Gig Buddies service looks to support volunteers and their buddies to access whatever activities and events they are interested in at whichever times suit them best.
Mencap currently only has funding to deliver this service in Bradford.
However, there are other Gig Buddies projects around the UK.
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