Interviewer

So it’s great to meet you today. Could I ask you your name?

 

Sian Gabari

It’s Sian Gabari.

 

Interviewer

And could I ask you which friends group you’re involved in?

 

Sian Gabari

The Ealing League of Friends.

 

Interviewer

And could I ask you your age?

 

Sian Gabari

22.

 

Interviewer

Thank you. So to start with what first inspired you to get involved with the league of friends?

 

Sian Gabari

Well, in all honesty, I didn’t know too much about what the Friends were about. I had kind of a funny way of getting involved here. So I work in fashion, nothing really to do with hospitals, or anything like that, but I’ve always volunteered, like with other charities, and FGM charities, et cetera, but my, I’m from an Indian background. So my parents were quite keen for me to go down the doctor route, which I mean, I never said “no” to, but I also, I kind of knew I wanted to work in fashion at 16. I was already really doing that. So I was meant to be doing a couple of days work experience here at Ealing, which ended up I had the opportunity to do it. She was here with a surgeon here, and it didn’t really work out. So she suggested me coming into the League of Friends instead, just because I, if I was going to work with her, I wanted to be useful.

 

Sian Gabari

I hate just not being useful to someone. So I was introduced to Ann, who’s the manager here to volunteer for two or three days, which I started at the cafe. And I really did think that it was going to be two or three days. And that was, I was going be making tea, coffees, wash up and that was going to be it. But turns out the manager lived near to my home in Buckinghamshire. So she drove me home and told me about how she started, and the whole like purpose of the café, and why it’s useful. And I was, I think I became more interested then I think the next day I made an effort more to speak to people. And obviously Sam, the surgeon who recommended me to the café, used to get her lunch there every day. <Laugh> and she’d always said it was special to her.

 

Sian Gabari

So yes, then I carried on volunteering. I became very good friends with Ann. We spent a lot of time together, and I came back whenever I had some free time, or whenever they needed someone. I knew during the summer, they were a little bit short-staffed anyway, with people going on holiday. So I did say if you ever need me, even if it’s last minute, just a text and I’ll come in. Yes, so I increased my volunteering. I volunteered quite a bit that summer. That was my summer of year 11. So I was 16 at the time, I volunteered then. And then, whenever I had time off from school, I’d always help out. Or if they needed posters, or anything I could do remotely, I’d be there. And I think I just got more and more involved, until I became a trustee. <Laugh>

 

Interviewer

Okay. So tell me a bit about that now,

 

Sian Gabari

How I became a trustee? Yes. So I ended up kind of picking up a lot of roles, but I didn’t really know existed. So I would help out on like Ann’s email, just like sorting through things, replying, doing posters, things like that. So I knew the committee, and I felt like I was often speaking to them about things and I’d come to a couple of meetings, just to discuss some events we had coming up, and marketing. I think one of the first events we had was a Silver Sunday. If you’ve heard of that? So I just wanted to see how we could get involved in that. So we did a cream tea, and advertised it in the local supermarkets, and stuff, which was lovely. We had balloons made, and it was cute. And I think I, at that point, just like being to enough meetings, and being involved, that they were kind of like, “oh, would you like to join the committee, and kind of do this properly?” And I was like, “sure.” I mean, I’d never been on a, I’d never been a trustee before, but I felt like I was useful as part of the team.

 

Interviewer

So do you think you have different skills and life experiences to some of the other trustees, for example?

 

Sian Gabari

Yes, definitely. I mean, I think when I joined, I mean for sure I was the, I was the youngest trustee there, but I think I also wasn’t from the area. I also, I mean, I’m Indian too. So I just think there was different aspects that kind of made, meant I could bring different areas to it. And obviously I worked in fashion, which might not seem that relevant, but the whole PR aspect, like writing a press release, doing posters, being able to use like different software, like Canva et cetera, really was helpful because it meant that instead of having to outsource a lot of that stuff, and spend money, you kind of had someone ready to do it there. And I think it’s just a fresh set of eyes. I think when I joined everyone else, who’d been on the committee a long time. So I just think having someone new, who’s seeing things from the outside, really helps.

Interviewer

And if a young person’s listening to this recording. Would you encourage them to think about getting involved with a committee or a League of Friends? Does it enhance their CV? Does it enhance their view of the world? What would you say to them?

 

Sian Gabari

Yes, definitely. Actually. I mean, I’ve got two younger sisters, and I remember really speaking to them about the same thing, because I felt like as much as I was talking about why I thought I was useful here, I think I learned so much from the experience and I think, I mean I would never want to get, I would never want to give it up. I think joining a committee, you learned so much from it. I think obviously it’s great for a CV. I mean, I didn’t even realise how people would take it so seriously, but I do remember even through Uni, whenever I was applying for something, people always very surprised and impressed to see that I was a young trustee. I think you learned so much from it that you don’t learn from school. And I think you are around people who are clearly, no one does it for like no reason right?

 

Sian Gabari

Anybody who I feel like who’s working with the League of Friends is somewhat a good person that you can learn from, or you can see what they care about. So yes, I actually did a talk at my school, my high school, about getting involved with charities, and trusteeship, and why I thought that that was important just to build a character, to, to do something that isn’t just school, and also put some good in the world. I feel like when you find a charity you’re passionate about, you’re going to learn so many things about yourself, and your priorities. So yes. And I’ve had friends of mine that have come into volunteer over the summer here. I think once people know me, they’ll definitely be when it’s a hand with a carnival, or some kind of event, I’ll be like, “Right, you can come with me and help out”, and everyone’s loved it.

Sian Gabari

So my sister’s been doing her DofE and she’s been volunteering here for as part of that, which she really likes doing. My best friend, She’s a geologist. So completely outside of this circle as well, when she was looking for a job, she came in here and volunteered, and she was here more days than I was. So, which was, I think, really nice, and she loved it. Yes. And she always says whenever she has time, and she’s back, she’d come again. I mean, another friend of mine, she wanted to be a doctor and she came in to volunteer with me. And when she got her place, they literally said to her that one of the standout things on her application. She, I think she ended up at Imperial was the fact that she, she knew about the league of friends and, and that she volunteered here.

Interviewer

So we’ve obviously been through quite tumultuous times in terms of what’s been gone on with COVID.

 

Sian Gabari

Yes.

 

Interviewer

How has that changed the League of Friends here and perhaps you’re volunteering?

 

Sian Gabari

So I think COVID just had a crazy impact on everyone and everything, especially in the beginning, no one really knew how long it was going to go on for, but I think being in a hospital where the majority obviously of our customers, and our income, were based on footfall in the hospital, it was really difficult, because though, because there were no visitors even before there was an actual lockdown, I think everybody was kind of distancing themselves from hospitals. We were known to be the scary place. A lot of our volunteers were older also. And I think were quite nervous about coming in, which I would say the managers probably wouldn’t put a lot of strain on them. I think they were really picking up the workload of a lot of people. And I really noticed that when I came back, I was in South Africa before the lockdown, and I came back and I helped them like, clear up.

 

Sian Gabari

They had no time really, to kind of get rid of this stock, and they didn’t, and so much went to waste. And I think that that was hard. And obviously we were shut for a long time. In the time we were shut, we kind of took the time to work on like, painting the walls, getting anything cleaned or repaired that needed to be repaired. And we started to do care packs for the hospital. So Ann and I sat at her house and kind of decided that that would be really useful, because we’d heard a lot of people needed it, with no visitors. And we had friends who were in hospital who had said the same thing. So we kind of took the time to get loads of donations from hotels, because we knew hotels would be quiet with toiletries, found an amazing supplier, who did stuff for us.

 

Sian Gabari

A lot of people donated money so that we could buy care packs. And we started arranging those for Ealing hospital just so that the friends were still there. We were still caring. We were doing something, I think doing food at that time, wasn’t going to be particularly useful, because we couldn’t be on site. And I think pizza deliveries, and delivery, kind of took over the space in that time. But it was difficult. As you mentioned, a lot of the friends cafes had had to close. I think we really struggled financially because footfall literally went to zero. Even in between when we could open up, it was just so quiet in the hospital. I think staff were just so ridiculously stressed out. They didn’t even have time to have a lunch break. So we trialed like a delivery service to different wards, and there were no visitors too. So I think…

Interviewer

So we think, so we went through a very difficult time. I’ve just seen your cafe in operation. It looks very busy and lovely. Yes. It feels like everybody is optimistic that there’s a future for the friends here. How do you see the future for the organisation?

 

Sian Gabari

I think if something is valued by the community and they’re providing, I mean they obviously raise, they raise money, and they buy things for the hospital. I think like all the Friends do do that, but also I think the Friends is really like the only option here also, for kind of fresh food. And it’s just, you are around happy people. A lot of the staff, we have a whole comment book actually, which might be worth taking a look at, which is just like a whole array of lovely things people have said about the Friends. I think people need it. They want to see a familiar face. They want to have a conversation, that’s not about work. They just want that five minutes to switch off. And they always say a cup of tea and a smile. And I think that that’s always what you are going to get with them in terms of the future. I think, I think business is building up again. I mean last week we had the highest total since COVID, which I think was really nice. We’re not back at our pre COVID times, but there’s been a lot where we’re like, is this even sustainable, because it’s just covering costs also. So it’s, it’s hard, but I think we’re definitely things are moving up. We’ll extend opening hours a little bit more as well. So yes, I think it’s, I think it’s useful. And I think when something’s useful, it always find its way back through periods like this.

 

Interviewer

Excellent, so when you were thinking about what I might ask you today, Was there anything that you felt you wanted to tell me that you haven’t had the chance to say yet?

 

Sian Gabari

I mean, I guess one of the things I could say is just how much I look up to everyone here. I mean, I think you were talking about why it’s useful for young people and I just think it’s so nice for young people to be around people who have so much more experience in life almost to guide, and you know also, just to learn from I think the whole, I don’t even know how to explain. Like Ann, for example, I think she’s such like an… in all honesty, an inspiration. Beryl, She’s a hundred, she’s such an inspiration. Yes, like her whole, her whole birthday I think was something would’ve be nice to talk about that.

 

Interviewer

Absolutely. So we are going to have, we’re going to interview Beryl and interview Ann. And so, so their interviews hopefully will complement yours. And if people are listening to your interview, you need to look out for Ann’s and Beryl’s,and click on those, and listen to those too.

 

Sian Gabari

Definitely. They’re both incredible. I mean so many, I think the management team here are amazing. All the volunteers are amazing. I remember on one of my first days I met a volunteer called Pearl, who was telling me all the things that I did wrong, but it was also, it was just, it was so needed to hear. And I think she just had so much that she wanted to share and teach, and did. And I think that that’s fab, I think that’s fabulous.

 

Interviewer

Good. Yes. Well, thank you ever so much.