Calendar function upgrade on host listings
In October 2022, WWOOF transitioned to the Common WWOOF Platform V2 (CWP2), bringing with it many changes. It was built to be simpler, faster, more cost-efficient, and more mobile-friendly than our previous website. Built and managed by the Federation of WWOOF Organisations (FoWO), CWP2 brought all participating WWOOF groups onto the same online platform, allowing WWOOFers to have a universal profile and a consistent experience across countries.
We also promised that we would continue to build onto this new platform and that our the FoWO IT Team would make upgrades and improvements over time. As we make those updates, we’ll communicate those to you here.
How to use this feature
Hosts will now be able to close their calendars by days and weeks, not just by months. Hosts might make themselves unavailable to accept WWOOFers for a variety of reasons: because the they need a break, because they will be away from the farm, or something else.
WWOOFers won’t be able to make a Visit Request for any dates that the host has closed off. And dates that you close will show up as crossed-off in red on the calendar on your host profile.
Keep in mind, hosts should only use this feature to close dates for which they will not be accepting ANY WWOOFers. Hosts should not use this to close dates for which they’ve already booked WWOOFers. When the host Accepts and the WWOOFer Confirms the Visit Request, the host’s calendar will update automatically. This will display as either the dates on the calendar being crossed out in red (if you have Confirmed your maximum number of WWOOFers) or being coloured in orange (if you have Confirmed less than your maximum number of WWOOFers). These settings are based on your Availability settings.
How to update your closed dates
- Login to your account
- For a desktop computer: Click on your profile photo in the top right corner/
For a mobile device: Click on the Profile button in the bottom right corner - Click on Host Profile
- Click on Availability
Add new closed dates:
- Click on the Add Closed Dates.. button
- Add the dates for which you would like to close your calendar
- Click “Save”
To edit or delete closed calendar dates:
- Navigate to the month with the closed dates using the arrows at the top of the calendar
- Click on the closed dates on your calendar (they are crossed out in red, with a red border)
- To Edit the dates, change the dates in the date fields, then click on the Save button
- To delete the dates, click on the garbage can icon
A big thank you to Robin Young at WWOOF Canada for this wonderful explanation and images.
Members’ Gathering & AGM 2023
This year’s annual general meeting was held in Bristol at the Windmill Hill City Farm on Saturday the 28th of October and we can report that WWOOF UK is in good shape! The event was attended by a healthy mix of trustees, staff, WWOOFers, hosts and Skipper the dog.
The annual report was approved and the formalities ran smoothly. Afterwards we had a very interesting and engaging discussion around topics including how communication between WWOOFers and hosts can be improved, in particular the issue of hosts not responding to WWOOFers and that of WWOOFers sending ‘blanket emails’ to hosts and also how can WWOOF UK become more of a community?
After lunch we explored the city farm before the our guest speaker Andrea Gibbons, the network coordinator for Sustainable Food Places, gave a talk on the issues surrounding our broken food system and what having access to good food might look like. We’d like to thank Andrea for sharing her valuable experience with us.
It was great to share the day with such a diverse group of individuals committed to making positive changes in the world.
Photos from the day taken by Scarlett Penn
Keep in touch with us
We’ve created a page where you and your friends can sign-up to receive our newsletters as a way keep in touch with us. Those with an active membership will receive our newsletters automatically but we also produce a non-members’ edition to help those thinking about joining and for staying in touch even when your membership has expired.
Share this link to sign-up to our newsletter.
Last but not least….
Please send us your stories, your events, your news and help us to make our newsletter as colourful, relevant and engaging as possible. You can send your valuable contributions to: editor@wwoof.org.uk Also, as you know, social media is a great way to help promote WWOOFing and show the world what we do – if you do have the time to take some photos (or videos) and share them on your socials please use #wwoofuk and/or @wwoofuk
Many thanks for helping us create a vibrant and buzzing WWOOF community in the UK.
