Volunteer with us as a Mystery Shopper
Location: Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle-under-Lyme
When: Volunteering takes place in January
Time commitment: Three venue visits, two focus group sessions and up to three 15-minute check-ins with Together Active
Flexibility: Venue visits can take place on different days and at times that work for you
Expenses: Venue entry and travel expenses will be covered by Together Active.
Could you help us make local leisure centres more welcoming and accessible for everyone?
We’re Together Active, a charity working across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent to make it easier for people to be active in ways that fit their lives.
A big part of our work is understanding the barriers that can make it harder for some people to be active, and using those experiences to influence change. That means listening to communities, understanding what gets in the way and working with partners to help make local spaces and services more welcoming and accessible.
Having local leisure facilities available doesn’t automatically mean everyone feels able to use them. If we want more people to feel confident accessing these spaces, we need to understand what the experience is really like for those who aren’t currently walking through the door.
That’s where our Mystery Shopper Volunteers come in. We’re looking for people who don’t currently use leisure centres to help us understand what those spaces feel like through fresh eyes, and what could make them easier to use in the future.
About the Role
As a Mystery Shopper Volunteer, you’ll visit local leisure centres in Stoke-on-Trent and/or Newcastle-under-Lyme and share your honest experience of what it feels like to use those spaces.
You’ll visit three different venues at different days and times, giving feedback on what stood out to you, what worked well, what didn’t and how the experience made you feel. You’ll also record your feedback using a short reporting template and have the opportunity to talk through your experience in focus groups or one-to-one conversations with us.
This role is particularly for people who would like to use leisure centres but currently don’t, whether that’s because of confidence, accessibility, previous experiences or other barriers. We want to hear directly from people whose voices can help us better understand what needs to change.
You don’t need any previous volunteering experience or specialist knowledge. What matters most is that you’re willing to share your perspective openly and help us build a clearer picture of how local leisure spaces are experienced.
We’d love to hear from you if you:
- Are interested in making a difference to local leisure services
- Are observant, curious and willing to share honest feedback
- Want to use your lived experience to help shape a broader understanding of leisure services
- Would like to use leisure centres but currently experience barriers that make that difficult
- Identify as a woman or girl, or experience health inequalities, particularly relating to liver disease or diabetes
- Are comfortable taking part in a small number of venue visits, check-ins and feedback sessions
As a volunteer, you’ll have the opportunity to have a say in changes you’d like to see, take part in training, meet other local volunteers through a buddy scheme and have your venue entry and travel expenses covered.
If you’ve ever felt that leisure centres weren’t quite for you, but you’d like to help shape how they could work better for people in your community, we’d love to hear from you.
How to apply
Please download and complete the application form and equality monitoring form.
We will not accept CVs or cover letters.
Your completed application should be returned to hr@togetheractive.org