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8 June 2022
Practicalities of being a magistrate

Between 1 and 7 June we celebrated the invaluable contribution of volunteers to society, raised awareness of how our members support the delivery of fair and timely justice for their communities, and thanked them for their tremendous work.

Every year, people across the UK come together from 1 to 7 June for Volunteers’ Week to celebrate the invaluable contribution of volunteers to society and to thank them for their tremendous work.

This year is the 38th such celebration. We decided to take the opportunity to raise awareness of how our members support the delivery of fair and timely justice for their communities and to encourage others to follow in their footsteps. We also wanted to ensure that our members know how much we appreciate all that they do for the magistracy and the Magistrates’ Association (MA), and that they are making the most of their membership.

To this end, among other activities, we:

  • Ran a social media campaign that showcased our members’ motivations for applying to the magistracy and signposted interested individuals to further information about the role, the application process and how the MA can support them in their journey. This included a couple of videos of members, which can be viewed here and here.
  • Blogged about the ways in which our members give back to their communities by volunteering as magistrates.
  • Publicly and privately thanked our members for being the cornerstone of the justice system of England and Wales.
  • Encouraged our members to log into (or register for an account for) the member section of our website to access a wealth of member-only content and events, including this list of five handy resources to check out during Volunteers’ Week.

While weeks like this are excellent occasions to pause to acknowledge all that ordinary people do for their communities, every day we strive to grow public understanding of the vital work that magistrates undertake voluntarily and to ensure that our members feel valued and supported.