Interviewer

Could I start by asking your name?

Sue Francis:

Yes. I’m Sue Francis.

Interviewer:

Thank you, Sue. And which friends’ group are we talking about today?

Sue Francis:

We are talking about Ellesmere League of Friends.

Interviewer:

Thank you. And could I ask how old you are?

Sue Francis:

Yes. I’m am 81.

Interviewer:

Thank you. So, what first got you involved in volunteering?

Sue Francis:

It’s a long, sad story. I lost my husband in 2002 and you’re just sort of carried along. I was actually in the cemetery this one day and this lady came to me, a local lady and, “hello, how are you?” “Yes, fine, thank you.” And she invited me to join the League of Friends Group in Ellesmere, and that’s what I did. That was two years after I’d lost my husband, so that would be 2004.

Interviewer:

And had you done volunteering before that in your life, or was this a new adventure?

Sue Francis:

I had done a little, I worked at Ellesmere College as college housekeeper, and I am involved also with The Severn Hospice Support Group in Ellesmere, and we do fundraising for Severn Hospice as well. So that was part of my life. Well, still is actually.

Interviewer:

So there we are in 2004, you’re standing in a cemetery, and somebody says to you, would you like to join the League of Friends? What did you think you were joining?

Sue Francis:

I knew that we had a very good nursing home in Ellesmere, and I joined as part of that League of Friends committee who run the nursing home, and everything just transpired from there. In time I was involved with the charity shop, which in those days ran to support the nursing home in Ellesmere.

Interviewer:

So, most people will associate League of Friends with hospitals? Nursing homes are slightly different, I suppose, in people’s mind. So, and a lot of nursing home provision is sort of private now. So how does your nursing home run? How big is it? What’s it like?

Sue Francis:

It was an eight bedded nursing home, and basically run by a trust. We own that building. The League of Friends own that building, and the other part was actually rented to another group and then just out of the blue, it wasn’t viable, and the nursing home closed down. But the building still belongs to us, The League of Friends. After that, we were still able to keep the shop running and now all our money goes into supporting different groups in Ellesmere. So, any of the local groups, they can write a letter to the trust, and we will give donations.

Interviewer:

Okay. So, you’ve become almost like a funder, a grant making trust almost, haven’t you, in your current iteration? And you still run the charity shop though?

Sue Francis:

Yes, we still run the charity shop very, very successfully.

Interviewer:

Do you have paid staff in the charity shop or is it all volunteers?

Sue Francis:

No, it is all volunteers. Every member is a volunteer, and it takes four volunteers a day to run that shop.

Interviewer:

And are you open Monday to Friday?

Sue Francis:

We are open six days a week. Monday to Saturday, nine o’clock to four. And we are very, very popular. We have customers from all over, holiday makers get to know us all. The donations we have are quite overwhelming. People are so kind with all the donations that they give to us.

Interviewer:

Sounds fantastic. So, in 20 years, the organisation that you almost started volunteering for, which used to run a care home, that’s changed?

Sue Francis:

That has changed completely. Yes. It obviously wasn’t feasible for the nursing home to carry on.

Interviewer:

They can’t make enough money out of eight beds realistically. But what made you stay volunteering, if you felt like what you were supporting changed, and what made you stay involved?

Sue Francis:

I feel the League of Friends need me, but I need the League of Friends as much as that. It helps me tremendously to have this in my diary, and to get up, and go and do what I’m doing. That shop is absolutely wonderful. The camaraderie from all the volunteers and the customers that you meet as well.

Interviewer:

I’m going to ask a personal question. How many days a week are you there?

Sue Francis:

Well, I actually do two days a week, but I also go in other days because so many people are responsible for sorting. So, all the donations come in, we have to sort them, price them, put them on the shop floor, and that takes a lot of work. So, I can actually go in maybe four times a week.

Interviewer:

You obviously enjoy it. One of the things about volunteering for me is that it’s not about what you do, but it’s the relationships that you create through your volunteering. And that could be other volunteers, it could be customers that come in regularly?

Sue Francis:

Yes, yes. It’s the whole concept of it, the actual volunteers that you are volunteering with and the customers, they are absolutely wonderful and they seem to appreciate us so much and we allow dogs into our shop. I’ve got to say this because we welcome dogs in as well. It makes the whole day good.

Interviewer:

Surprised you don’t serve them free coffee at the same time?

Sue Francis:

They’d love us to. The shop isn’t big enough

Interviewer:

But it sounds fantastic. So, do you have any favourite memory of anything, anybody, or any activity that you’ve done as part of this?

Sue Francis:

Well, we actually celebrated 50 years last year for the League of Friends charity shop, and that went down extremely well. And we know the people appreciate the League of Friends so much. Our prices are so competitive.

Interviewer:

I’m interested, what does the 50-year celebration look like?

Sue Francis:

We had a celebration cake, and invited the Mayor. So, the Mayor came along and cut the cake for us, and we invited customers to have a drink of champagne, and a piece of cake that afternoon.

Interviewer:

How fantastic. So, the difference between those people who are listening who come from a big town is the Mayor would never come to cut a cake for one charity shop. It just wouldn’t happen, and it shows the difference of living in a small community with all those relationships and how important they are.

Sue Francis:

Yes, yes. I think that’s why we are such a good community, because all the customers, they just appreciate what we are doing, and what we’re giving back to the town as well.

Interviewer:

How do you get enough stock?

Sue Francis:

That is no problem.

Interviewer:

Oh really?

Sue Francis:

No problem at all. People are so generous with all the donations. In fact, it can be quite overwhelming, but we manage it.

Interviewer:

Thank you. It’s been absolutely fantastic and thank you for sharing your story.

Sue Francis:

Well, thank you for coming and letting me share it with you.