Our volunteering stories

My father was diagnosed with dementia about five years ago. I wanted to be able to support my mum, but I found it very difficult to access information. In 2016, a volunteer came to talk to staff about dementia awareness. They spoke about the misconceptions associated with dementia, and how society needs to be more tolerant, and that really struck a chord with me. With the help of our HR department and Employee Council, the Dementia Support group was born.

Read more about Carole's experience

I began running at parkrun in 2015 and was instantly struck by the friendly, community nature of the event which made me decide to volunteer and become part of the team.  Volunteering roles range from marshalling, taking photographs, timing, handing out finish tokens, supporting the finish tunnel, scanning bar-codes, results processing and pre-and-post event set-up. Parkrun inspires people to stay healthy through running but also to become part of an active and vibrant community.

I volunteer for Shelter from the Storm, based near Kings Cross, it’s a completely free emergency night shelter providing bed, dinner and breakfast for up to 44 homeless people every night of the year. I’ve volunteered for over a year now, mostly doing the washing, chopping veg for dinner, washing up and playing pool with the guests!  

I’ve also done some fundraising for them, running the St Albans half marathon in 2015 and raising £540. As it costs SFTS £10 per guest per day to provide a warm bed, breakfast, a hot evening meal, showers and a wide range of other services, the £540 raised allowed them to run that service for one guest for 54 days.

I was selected by Breast Cancer Now and Marks and Spencer, as I'm a breast cancer survivor, to feature in a lingerie campaign for breast cancer awareness month in October 2015. The lingerie range was designed by Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and the photographer was Amanda de Cadenet. Media gurus calculated that the total number of occurrences through online hits, readership of many national papers and some glossy mags (Hello etc) in the month of October was 18 billion. 

Watch our video to find out why Jo-Anne donates her time.

I have been an active rower since I was 15 years old. I realised about four years ago that there was a gap in the coaching of the junior ladies at my club. Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club. Ever since then I have devoted considerable time to working with my fellow coaches and the club to develop girls’ rowing. The girls’ coaching is matched to what they want to achieve whether racing in local events or attempting to win National titles. My reward is seeing their enjoyment of the sport and hopefully their smiles when they perform well.