VN&V Summer 2014
Daphne Clarke, children’s centre volunteer,
High Wycombe
I help with a Young Parents Group for mums under 21 on
Wednesday mornings. My main role is making lunch – I’m no
great cook but I do things like stir fry, pasta and jacket potatoes.
I also help look after the children and talk to the parents.
I’ve been volunteering for about two and a half years. I’d recently
finished work and was thinking of what I could do next. I saw
the poster asking for help in a children’s centre and it seemed
perfect as I had previously worked at Family Centres and
enjoyed that kind of work.
When I was at the Hazelmere Centre, we got invited to John Bercow’s (speaker of the house of
commons) children’s Christmas party which he puts on every year. We all took a coach to the
House of Commons which was very exciting!
It’s important to be flexible, so you can fit in with what’s going on. And you have to be reliable.
Ronald Wilson-Hunter, volunteer mentor at
Growing Up, Dundee
Growing Up is part of Dundee Family Support Team and provides
horticultural employment skills for young people with learning
disabilities. Joining Barnardo’s has been one of my better decisions!
The two days I spend each week in the company of employees,
volunteers and young people is amazing, exhausting and good fun.
Time passes so quickly when I am with the team.
We all learn from each day’s experiences and, for myself, I have
a growing appreciation of the many different ways the group can
learn and develop.
It is heartening to join in with them as they grow in confidence
and their ability to handle horticultural and work-related tasks.
As a bonus I am learning a lot more about gardening.
Hazel Coull, Retail volunteer, Perth
I first started volunteering in Barnardo’s shops in 1981. Before
then I helped sell Christmas cards for the charity. I have over
33 years of service