An hour is the whole ask.
No rota to sign and no minimum term. Pick a slot that suits your week, turn up, and go home knowing exactly what your hour did.
See this week's hours- 01
Pick an hour
Browse what groups near you need this week by street, day and how long you have got.
- 02
Meet your crew
Your group lead texts the door code, what to wear and who puts the kettle on.
- 03
Show up
Do the hour. Stay longer if you like, or skip a week without anyone chasing you.
This week's open hours
214 hours are waiting across 38 groups this week. Here are six that still need hands; the full list filters by street, day and how long you have.
See all 214 hours-
Govan
Food
Pack Saturday bags at the larder
- When
- Sat 10:00
- Length
- 1 hour
- Places
- 6 left
-
Partick
Reading
Read with a P3 pupil after school
- When
- Tue 15:30
- Length
- 1 hour
- Places
- 3 left
-
Kelvinbridge
River
Litter pick the Kelvin walkway
- When
- Sun 09:00
- Length
- 1.5 hours
- Places
- 12 left
-
Dennistoun
Repairs
Fix bikes and kettles at repair night
- When
- Thu 18:30
- Length
- 2 hours
- Places
- 4 left
-
Shawlands
Company
Pour tea for older neighbours
- When
- Wed 14:00
- Length
- 1 hour
- Places
- 5 left
-
Springburn
Gardens
Weed the raised beds before the frost
- When
- Sat 11:00
- Length
- 1 hour
- Places
- 8 left
Six ways to spend an hour
Every group on Spare Hour works on one of six things the city keeps asking for. Pick the one that sounds like you, or try them all in a month.
-
Food
Larders, community fridges and Saturday lunches.
-
Gardens
Raised beds, orchards and green corners of the estates.
-
Reading
After-school reading and English over coffee.
-
Company
Tea tables, phone calls and walks with older neighbours.
-
Repairs
Repair nights for bikes, kettles, lamps and jackets.
-
River
Clean-ups along the Clyde, the Kelvin and the canal.
One Saturday at the Govan larder
Eight neighbours, two and a half hours, 140 bags. This is what a morning of spare hours looks like from the inside.
-
09:40
Keys, kettle, crates
The wholesaler drops eleven crates at the side door. Whoever arrives first puts the kettle on.
-
10:00
The crew arrives
Eight people, four of them new. Everyone has a job and a name badge within five minutes.
-
10:20
Sorting what came in
Soft fruit first, tins last. Anything past its best goes to the soup pot.
-
10:45
Bags packed, names on
140 bags, each with a name and a note about allergies, lined up by the door.
-
11:30
Lunch for whoever stayed
The soup pot feeds the crew and anyone who came in out of the rain.
-
12:10
The rest goes up the road
Leftovers walk two streets to the community fridge, and the keys go back to Margaret.
Why they keep coming back
I moved here at sixty-three and knew nobody. Now I know who takes two sugars, who is learning English and who can fix a radio.
I give one Tuesday hour. The P3 I read with now corrects how I pronounce the dinosaurs.
Fixing a kettle takes twenty minutes. The rest of the evening is the best conversation in Dennistoun.
Thirty neighbourhoods, one network
Every name below has a group with hours open this week. Its colour shows what most of them need, and the small number how many hours are waiting.
- Govan12 h
- Partick9 h
- Dennistoun7 h
- Shawlands11 h
- Springburn8 h
- Maryhill10 h
- Pollokshields6 h
- Calton5 h
- Gorbals9 h
- Finnieston4 h
- Hillhead6 h
- Woodlands5 h
- Garnethill3 h
- Possilpark14 h
- Ruchill4 h
- Govanhill13 h
- Strathbungo3 h
- Cathcart5 h
- Castlemilk12 h
- Drumchapel10 h
- Knightswood6 h
- Scotstoun4 h
- Whiteinch7 h
- Yoker2 h
- Anniesland5 h
- Easterhouse15 h
- Shettleston8 h
- Parkhead6 h
- Bridgeton9 h
- Royston4 h
Run a community group? Post an hour in five minutes.
Tell us what needs doing, when and for how long. We send people who have said yes to exactly that, and we follow up so they come back.
Free for every group
Registered charities, tenants' associations and three neighbours with a shed all post for free.
Checks done for you
Where your work needs a PVG check, we arrange and pay for it before the first hour.
One named contact
Morag, Dev or Shona answers your calls, not a ticketing system.
Can't spare an hour? Spare a fiver.
Spare Hour runs on £180,000 a year, about £4 for every hour our volunteers give. Your gift keeps groups stocked and the matching free.
-
£5
Tea and biscuits for a whole tea table afternoon
-
£10
Gloves and a litter picker for a new river volunteer
-
£25
A shelf of new books for an after-school reading club
Questions before your first hour
Anything else, ask us on 0141 000 0000. A person answers.
Do I need any experience?
No. Every group explains the job at the door, and most hours are things you already do at home: sorting, reading, pouring, weeding.
What if I can only come once?
Then come once. About a third of our volunteers give one hour a month or less, and groups plan their rotas around that.
Is there an age limit?
From 16 on your own, from 12 with an adult who signs up too. Reading in schools is for over-18s only.
Do I need a PVG check?
Only for hours with children or vulnerable adults. We arrange and pay for it, and it usually takes about two weeks.
Can my workplace come as a team?
Yes. Teams of up to twelve can take over a larder shift or a garden day. Write to us a month ahead.
Where does my money go?
82p of every pound pays for matching, checks and group supplies. The rest keeps the lights on at the office.
Start with one hour
Tell us where you live and when you are free. Every Monday we send the open hours near you, and you pick one or none.
- Drop in
- 1 Example Street, Glasgow G1 0ZZ
- Wednesdays, 12:00 to 14:00