Stories of volunteers supporting the health service since 1949
120 results
Anne moved to Basildon after her marriage, and began working at Basildon Hospital as a Ward Clerk, a job she loved, and stayed in for 14 years. She retired at 60 due to health issues, and having been staff for many years, knew about the Friends throu...
Margaret and Jean met as dinner ladies at the local school. They have been best of friends ever since. They got involved with the Bridgnorth Hospital League of Friends after leaving work. They talk about their time pushing trolleys around the wards w...
Julia Davies started her career as a nurse at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. In her 30s, she moved over to Bridgnorth Hospital as a Senior Enrolled Nurse. From there, the moved to another hospital and eventually ended up teaching at Staffs University.As ...
Michael Greenhow, Basildon Hospital and Community League of FriendsMichaels career began in electrical retail, where he managed shops for many years. Unfortunately his wife suffered a serious stroke and he became her carer for several years. It was after his wife passed away that Michael felt the need to give someth...
After numerous volunteering experiences, including with a youth organisation Sarah took on the role of Chair of the League of Friends at Glangwili Hospital. As Chair, her role involves a wide range of tasks: maintaining order during meetings, orga...
Marion Seery, St Oswalds Hospital League of FriendsMarion relocated to Staffordshire ten years ago when her husband got a new job. After bringing up her family, she went back into education to study Travel and Tourism, with the thought she might pursue a career at airport check in or customs. It w...
Linda originally became involved with the hospital following plans to close cottage hospitals in the area. Having experienced the care that the hospital provided to her close family members she realised this would be detrimental to the local communit...
Claire Bullimore, Friends of Attend ABIClaire Bullimore shares her experiences of receiving an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and finding a new purpose along with it. She talks about her time volunteering and how it has inspired her to start her own blog and write a book.Unable to return to ...
Chris was introduced to the League of Friends of Uckfield Hospital by an ex-colleague. He was encouraged to take up the role as Treasurer of the League. Chris had been in and out of hospital a few times and wanted to give something back.Chris really ...
Namrata Walia, Aphasia Re-ConnectNamrata 'Nami' Walia originally began her career as an accountant for the NHS.In this interview, Nami shares how the pivot to volunteering and working within a charity has given her great satisfaction and new knowledge about different health cond...
Rachael Talbot, Friends of Acorn LodgeRachael Talbot has been volunteering with Acorn Lodge, working with students and encouraging them to volunteer for the last 10 years.In this interview, she shares how she supports students and some examples of the wonderful things students have been ...
Riki Bill, Friends of Milliner HouseFor most of her life, Riki has been involved either with schools or with care homes. She also studied psychology for 3 years, knowing that she would end up working in the care sector. While she is now volunteering as a school reader in liter...
Arthur Phillips, League of Friends of Glangwili HospitalArthur Phillips became a member of the League of Friends of Glangwili Hospital in Wales almost by accident, when he found his Treasurer role with the group came as part of his new role as deacon in the local chapel in Carmarthen.Volunteering hadn’t...
Patrick Tasker, Friends of Amarna HousePatrick has been involved in sport since he was a boy so inevitably his early volunteering was around sports coaching for younger groups. He went on to train as a primary school teacher, and also continued his sporting volunteering as a rugby coach. ...
Bridget Foley, AttendBridget started volunteering very early on when she accompanied her Mum to Church, where they arranged flowers, handed out hymn books and mended curtains. As she got older she took on these and other tasks within the church and continued throughout h...
Stephen and Pauline Redman, Friends of Amarna HouseSteve is a Christian minister in the City of York, and his wife, Pauline, is a secondary school teacher. Steve is the Chairman of the Friends of Amarna House, and the cancer charity Candlelighters, and they have both been involved in the community fo...
Jenny Davies, The League of Friends of the Shrewsbury and Telford HospitalLiving locally and receiving superb treatment at the Hospital, Jenny felt that volunteering with the League was a good way of saying thank you for the care she received. She serves drinks and snacks to customers in the café, 3 days a week, a role...
Richard Miller, Friends of Horse FairBorn in South Wales, Richard moved to the south of England at a young age and then spent 20 years in and around the south, firstly in Sidcup and then in Lewes, East Sussex. He met his wife in 1984 while she was doing her nurse training, and after acc...
Richard Steventon, The League of Friends of the Shrewsbury and Telford HospitalRichard was born in The Potteries and spent the early part of his career working in various parts of the country before finding himself at the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital in the late 1970’s. He spent 10 years working with the Urology Team,...
Glenys Jones, The Llanelli & District League of Hospital FriendsGlenys Jones shares her journey with the Prince Philip Hospital’s League of Friends in Llanelli. Inspired by her late friend Jean Evans, she began volunteering around 2002-2003, after retiring from teaching. Glenys started participating in committe...