This year Volunteers Week is celebrating it's 26th year of recognising,rewarding and recruiting volunteers. Community organisations across Wales are holding a series of special activities next week (1–7 June) to recognise the efforts of the country’s thousands of volunteers. Celebration teas, ‘volunteering speed dating’ and the presentation of national awards will be among the events marking Volunteers’ Week. The annual festivities are designed to thank the people who give up their time to help others - and inspire those who don’t to get involved.

If you are thinking about volunteering, Volunteers Week is the perfect time to find out more. Below are some of the events happening around Wales during this years volunteers week. For more events you can visit our events page or contact your local youth volunteering advisor to find out what’s happening in your area.

Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) will be holding its annual Volunteer of the Year Awards ceremony on Thursday 10 June. This year the awards are supported by CCLA Management Ltd.

A total of 16 winners in the five nomination categories of individuals, young people (under 25 years), groups, ‘green’ volunteers and trustees will be presented with their awards at Cardiff Castle.

Elsewhere in Wales, Gwynedd Volunteer Centre has a full diary of activities. A travelling information stall will be visiting different locations, raising awareness of the volunteering opportunities available across the county.

The stall will be at Bangor Town Clock from 10.30am-2pm on Wednesday 2 June; Mantell Gwynedd’s new offices in Caernarfon from 10.30am-2.30pm on Friday 5 June; Blaenau Ffestiniog Library from 10am-1pm on Monday 7 June; Pwllheli Market from 9am-12.30pm on Wednesday 9 June; and the Tywyn Co-op store from 10am-1pm on Thursday 10 June.

The Volunteer Centre is also holding a celebration tea at Portmeirion on Monday, 7 June. The event will take place in Hercules Hall at 3pm.

Throughout the week, a selection of photographs portraying volunteering in Gwynedd and entered in a competition organised by the Volunteer Centre will be displayed at Mantell Gwynedd’s offices.

In South Wales, meanwhile, Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO) has organised a day of volunteering at the Tarragan site in Bargoed on Friday 4 June, where GAVO staff, volunteers and students from Ystrad Mynach College we will be planting shrubs and flowers.

An unusual way of introducing people to volunteering will be GAVO’s ‘volunteering speed dating’ session on Thursday 3 June at Ebbw Vale Comprehensive School from 11am-3.30pm. A drop-in session for people who cannot get there during the day will be held between 4-6pm.

One of the most popular choices for saying thank you is to present volunteers with a certificate recognising their contribution and dedication to volunteering. Bilingual Volunteers’ Week certificates are available from WCVA free of charge. To place your order please contact Nigel Davies on 029 2043 6594 or ndavies@wcva.org.uk.

Bookings are now being taken for WCVA’s volunteering conference, Volunteers in Focus, taking place at Galeri, Caernarfon on 15 September.

The event aims to raise the profile of volunteers within their organisations, promote good practice in volunteer management, provide up to date information on relevant volunteering issues

Plaid Cymru Honorary President Dafydd Wigley is to deliver the opening address, while Richard Andrews, Managing Director of learning and organisational development consultancy Corporate Instinct, will discuss Timebanking. Workshops will explore practical topics in more detail and a young people’s panel will be invited to appraise a selection of volunteering opportunities provided by those attending the conference.