Interviewer    

Good afternoon. Could I ask you your name?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Faith Humphries.  

  

Interviewer   

And which Friends group are we talking about today?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Mansfield and Sutton.  

  

Interviewer   

And could I ask your age?  

  

Faith Humphries   

It’s very old, 78.  

  

Interviewer   

Looking good. So could I ask what first got you involved in Friends groups?  

  

Faith Humphries   

I used to go to one of the local hospitals for appointments, and that sort of thing. And one day I said to them in the Tea bar, “Can anybody join this?” And they said, “Yes they can.” And so I thought, well, I’d, I’d had a shop, previously finished with that, and thought I’ll try the League of Friends in Mansfield.  

  

Interviewer   

And how long ago was that?  

  

Faith Humphries   

About 30 years ago.  

  

Interviewer   

So you were very young, as compared to the average volunteer?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes, I was, yes.  

Interviewer   

So you arrived young, fresh faced, enthusiastic to go and work in the coffee shop. What did they get you to do?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Served behind the bar of the, tea bar, and then somebody asked me if I would look after the goods that were inside. And so I used to order the goods, and make sure that they were all stacked up, and I sort of went from there to the main office. A friend of mine said, “Come to the meeting, the meeting’s very good. You’ll like everybody.” Well, I didn’t really like everybody, but I did go and carried on there. And so it really started from just starting at The Tea Bar.  

  

Interviewer   

So they got you involved in the committee?  

  

Faith Humphries   

That’s right, yes.  

 

Interviewer   

So you got involved in the committee? Yes. And I imagine that the committees were very structured, and traditional?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes, they were. We had the Chairman, we had the Treasurer, we had a Solicitor that was helped us as well. And then the rest of us, we just did things, whether it it be in a shop, whether it was helping people. But the rest of us just sort of went to a meeting, once a month.  

  

Interviewer   

Okay. And so the League of Friends definitely had a shop. Did you do anything else as well as a group?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Well, we did have events. Not, not, I, I wasn’t involved at the beginning, but as I sort of stayed with the League, they did have fashion shows. We had lunches, which got a lot of money in. And it was just nice because the majority of them were very nice people. You, do get the odd exceptions. It was nice. It was nice, somewhere for me to go, once a month, really. And then from there I started to help, in the stalls, that they did in the hospitals, and enjoyed that tremendously, because I do like selling.  

  

Interviewer   

So their stalls were in like the hospital reception, or something like that?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes, yes. They…sort of, we had to go and start to put the tables out, put everything on the stores and it, it’s all donated. Donated things, and people would come up and buy it, sometimes we had to barter with them a little bit, but the majority of them were really nice.  

  

Interviewer   

And this was probably pre when things like charity shops had really taken hold in our communities?   

  

  

  

Faith Humphries:  

Oh yes.   

  

  

  

Interviewer:  

So this was a place where people could come, and get things that perhaps they wouldn’t otherwise be able to have?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes, that’s right. And I mean with, there’s been a charity, we didn’t charge a lot of money for things because they’d, all the things that were in, on the stalls, had been donated. So, we’d not got to buy them.  

  

Interviewer   

And so you raised all this money, and what happened with the money?  

Faith Humphries   

Well, all the money that we raised went through the Committee, and the hospital put in requests for what they needed in the hospital. And in a… on the Committee, we all decided whether that was right, or not. A lot of it was for machinery as well.   

  

Interviewer   

So this would be the sort of thing in the good old days, or I don’t know, like blood pressure monitors or something that, that?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes, that’s, we did buy some big equipment as well that, you know, the consultant from the hospital came and told us all about what he wanted, and we sort of raised enough money to buy some quite big things.  

  

Interviewer   

So it was, it, it was really the community coming together.  

  

Faith Humphries   

Oh yes.  

  

Interviewer   

And really creating a hospital, and health service, that you as a community wanted to have in use.  

  

Faith Humphries   

That’s right. Yes. And people that went through the hospital realised that, of that us, as League of Friends, would be there every month as said. And, so they came and had a look what we’d got and, basically bought stuff, you know, which, which was really good. We got, we got some quite nice people. Some of them wanted peculiar things, but we didn’t sort of… manage to do that sort of thing.  

  

Interviewer   

So did you have any favorite memories of being involved?  

 

Faith Humphries   

Yes, one of the particular was when this man came up to me and it, and I was still behind the stall and he said to me, “Can I have this here?” And I said, “Oh yes, yes, I’ll just come around, and get it for you.” And I said, “It’s a lovely little dog, isn’t it?” It was a, a China dog. And he said, “No, I didn’t say that. I just said to you, this is nice here. I don’t want to buy it. But it is nice, isn’t it?”, I said, “Oh, Thank you very much. Sorry.”  

  

Interviewer   

So the other thing I think about with you is that you are very good with people. You always have been very good with people, and you are good at organising social events. So the first time I ever came across you, I think was probably in London, and I think at that point you’d become the Regional Chair for the Midlands?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes.  

  

Interviewer   

Yes. So how did they drag you into that?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Well, it was just that they needed a Regional Chair. Somebody was leaving and so I was asked if I wanted to do it. And I was a little bit bothered at first, thinking, “Well, you know, I’ve not done anything like this before.” But I did, I did start it. And I really, really enjoyed organising meetings at different places. Meals, we used to go out, I organised meals and charged people for them. And this all brought an income into the, to the League and all that sort of thing. It, I just really enjoyed that, and I’ve never done it before, but I thought, I thought, “Well, it’s something that I’ve not done.” And so it really was, it really was nice.  

  

Interviewer   

And you were very good at it!  

  

Faith Humphries   

Well, hopefully.  

  

Interviewer   

But, Well, it, it’s interesting because I, I think that one of the things is that Leagues of Friends bring people together with different skills, and you all contribute what you can do.  

  

Faith Humphries   

That’s right. Yes.  

  

Interviewer   

And that’s what’s made it work. So do you think there’s still a need for people to volunteer in our society?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Today? Oh, definitely, definitely, yes. Does it matter how old you are or how young you are? Really it and if you, if you sort of volunteer, you meet other people that similar to you and that just, it just makes things more pleasant. And you know, you feel that you’ve done a good job at the end.  

  

Interviewer   

Excellent. Now you knew I was coming to see you today. Was there anything that you thought, I must tell them this when they arrive, that you haven’t had the chance to say yet?  

  

Faith Humphries   

Yes. Yes. I’ve been, I’ve been to quite a few events in London that were sort of organised by Head Office and really enjoyed them. Felt that my little bit, the League of Friends was doing something right. I said, so, you know, I, I really enjoyed that. And of course since I’ve retired from doing that, I don’t get those things now, but everything changes, everything in its time.  

  

Interviewer   

Absolutely. And, and I definitely think that what we are seeing is a world where things are changing rapidly. When I first came into this job, some of the volunteering opportunities that are available today weren’t even available. Things weren’t even thought of, you know, you know, things like, I don’t know, Volunteer Blood Bikers who’d ever had thought of a volunteer blood biker. And there’s, if people have got an interest, whatever they’re interested in, yes, there is probably a volunteering opportunity aligned to that interest that people can do. Yes. So thank you ever so much. It’s been lovely to talk to you. I definitely think you are one of the, the sorts of people, in my experience that communities are built around, because you’re somebody who cares and you’re somebody who has interests, and you are somebody who frankly gets up and does something about it. So thank you ever so much.  

  

Faith Humphries   

Thank you, David.