What is King Charles’ Big Help Out? A look at what Princess Anne is doing and which celebs are involved

Whether you are using this bank holiday weekend to get together with friends and family for a street party, watch the TV or have a well-deserved lie in, there will be pomp and ceremony all over the country for King Charles’ coronation.

Following the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and the coronation concert including the likes of Lionel Richie, Take That and Katy Perry, the new monarch is urging people to give back to their local communities as part of the Big Help Out scheme.

Created to pay tribute to the King’s decades of public service by 1500 charities such as RSPCA, RNLI, British Red Cross and the Samaritans to name a few, the day is designed to inspire people to try volunteering for the first time, with the hope to create a new generation of volunteers.

The venture is supported by Buckingham Palace and is set to run throughout the day on 8 May, with opportunities near you made available on an app. Charities involved will open up their doors for taster sessions with the Scouts holding ‘pop-up’ opportunities for volunteers to make fires and climb.

Scouts chief executive Matt Hyde told The Telegraph that, “This is more than about one day...This is about a legacy of volunteering in this country.  It aligns so much with what the royal households are passionate about and the causes that they have supported themselves by giving their own time up for so many years.”

Which royals are taking part?

Despite paying tribute to the years of public service carried out by the royal family, members of the Firm are said to take part with Princess Anne and her husband attending a County Civic Service at Gloucester Cathedral.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are joining proceedings too by visiting a puppy training class on Monday, run by the Guide Dogs Training Centre in Reading, as the Duchess is a patron of the charity.

Any celebrity volunteers?

Speaking of puppies, Love Island’s Faye Winter, who is also a volunteer for Guide Dogs, will be throwing her hat in the ring for Big Help Out.

From the Love Island villa to the Dragon’s Den, Deborah Meaden said: “I know a good idea when I see it and the Big Help Out is one. That’s why everyone is joining in,” while Paralympian Ellie Simmonds highlighted the importance of volunteering to our ‘national story’.

Alongside the 1500 charities who have come together to support the Big Help Out, Bear Grylls has been a key player in organising the venture. 

The TV adventurer echoed that of Ellie Simmonds’ sentiments saying that volunteering had been a central part of British life from helping evacuees in World War 2 to coming together in local communities mid-pandemic. 

The hope for the Big Day Out is that it will start a new age of volunteering as King Charles looks to rebrand under his reign.