How long have you been volunteering?

Nearly 9 months.

What do you do?

T: I’m chief pot wash! I like having something physical to do. It’s nice and simple but still busy. Last week was especially busy – I didn’t stop for two hours.

N: I’ve done a bit of everything, but I enjoy the tea and coffee station because it allows me to chat with people whilst they’re making their drinks.

T: If it’s a quiet Friday, Nikki will go out from the kitchen and sit down and have a chat with people.

N: I’m very happy to go round and talk. I know some of them from Life Recovery groups, where we used to volunteer.

Why did you want to volunteer here?

N: We both work 35 hours a week. I’m a Housekeeper in the NHS.

T: And I work in a Greengrocers. Our shifts mean we have free days in the week. We are active members in our church and we’re hands on with family, but we have a slot in our week to volunteer. We’re people who like being busy, getting our hands dirty and getting involved.

N: We lead a bible study and that’s all very good, but we thought ‘what are we actually doing?’

T: How are we contributing to society in a way that isn’t compulsory?

N: We discussed what we could do, and it came back to volunteering at inHope.

T: We know inHope. My Dad used to volunteer time to help with IT and my brother works here. I also worked with Stuart (Life Recovery) a few years ago when he helped me at a particular time in my life. We’ve been involved in Life Recovery groups and our church is a partner of inHope, so it’s always been on our radar.

Are there any particular service users that stick out to you?

N: A regular who comes in every day. I always talk with him. It’s when people get to know my name and I get to know their name that I can get more personal. There’s a lady today who said she’s moving into a safe house tonight. Through my life experience I can empathise with her, because 20 years ago I was in a safe house, so I felt I could talk with her because I knew about that.

Why do you keep coming back?

N: Driving here today, I felt really happy. I really enjoy it and the time goes really quickly. I look forward to coming in every Friday.

T: As volunteers we feel really appreciated by Andy, Lee, Mick and the other employees. They treat us really well. They’re grateful we’re here. We always leave in a light-hearted state and feel good about what we’ve just done.

N: The staff and other volunteers are really friendly and we all work together. It’s great to be part of the Friday team!

What would you say to someone who’s thinking of volunteering?

N: I would really encourage people to do it.

T: I would say come down! There’s a good atmosphere and it’s a positive place to be. Andy always says, ‘I love seeing you two’ and we say, ‘thank you’ and he says, ‘it’s because I know it’s Friday!’ I’d say be wary of Andy’s jokes! He gets you when you’re least expecting it! The humour here is great though, we usually have a bit of a laugh. It’s like meeting up with mates and having a good time.

How would you sum up your overall experience?

N: I feel like we’ve got to know a lot more people. We’ve been out socially with Andy a couple of times, which was lovely. We have more friends and we’re meeting more people because of volunteering here.

Find out more about volunteering at inHope and what roles are available here.