I started volunteering back in 1983, when my eldest son started school and my youngest was a toddler. We had no nurseries back then and I, along with a group of mums from the little village we lived in, started a little playschool in the village of Wix.
A couple of years later, we moved to the village of Parkeston. The boys moved schools and went to Spring Meadow in Dovercourt. I started volunteering in the classrooms, helping with the reading and crafts activities, etc, then I was asked to serve on the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Friends of Spring Meadow. This I really enjoyed; we used to organise the school fetes, beetle drive nights, and any fundraising that was needed. I ended up as Chairman of the PTA for a few years, and was later invited to serve on the Board of Governors, which I did for a term of 4 years.
When my eldest son started scouting and joined the 1st /2nd Parkeston Scout group, I was invited to join the Executive Committee to help with fundraising. We formed a subcommittee, of which I was Chair, and we organised jumble sales, beetle drives, treasure hunts and more. I still remain on the Board of Trustees to date and will have clocked up 40 years of service in September 2026. During my time on the committee, I got to know the leaders of the different sections of the scout group. One of the Scout Leaders, Jacky, asked me if I would be interested in helping out with her cub pack, St Edmunds Cub Pack. Me being me – I couldn’t say no! – I offered to go along and found that I really enjoyed scouting. The children were aged between 8yr -11yrs old, and we did all sorts of things: camping, fire lighting, cooking, map reading (I’m still learning!) knots and so much more.
I took over as Akela way back in 1995 and I feel proud to say that I am still here 30 years later, still loving scouting as much today as I did back then. Things are much different now than they were back then, we were once a male-orientated organisation. Some 15 years or so ago we took our first females into scouting, and I remember I invested 2 girls down at the Redoubt Fort in Harwich, (they still remember this!) and that’s amazing. We have lots more admin nowadays, with Risk Assessments needed for every meeting, then everything transferred online in September last year, and its been a huge challenge for some of us older leaders
I do feel proud of myself sometimes, when I see the young people progress through their lives, and have gone on to become leaders themselves, some have joined the Armed Forces, work in high-powered jobs in London, work in different departments of the Police and many other jobs. Knowing that we helped mold that young person in the early stages of life by bringing them out of their shells and giving them the confidence to face different challenges must have surely helped them on their life paths.
These days, we have almost half of my cub pack (I have 24 young people in the pack) who are neurodiverse. We take on these young people and we have learnt to nurture them and give them lots of patience. To see them moving on and get to university is such a rewarding experience. My reward is when they see me in the street, and they still call me Akela, and I still get a hug and a thank you which is very emotional sometimes.
The years have passed by and I was proud and speechless (very rare for me) when last October I was presented with a Medal of Merit for Outstanding Service to Scouting and recently clocked up 30 years as an Akela. I was also a very lucky winner of the Local Pride of Tendring in 2019, and this blew me away. A wonderful evening was held in the Town hall in Clacton with all the dignitaries and our local Mayor & Mayoress and councillors. I have a wonderful team of leaders behind me, which is wonderful as I am getting on in years now and having new ideas and the enthusiasm of the younger people is a tonic.
More recently I have been volunteering with Essex Pedal Power in Harwich. I was given the role of handing out these amazing new bikes with accessories and explaining how things work. Working with the public is amazing and we meet people from all walks of life and with so many different abilities. It makes you think how lucky we are to be able to do what we do to help other people. Once again, an amazing team/group of people who work so hard in our community of Dovercourt. I also worked at the Harwich Museum for a couple of years serving in the little coffee shop, meeting people again, so I guess I am a people person.
During all my years as a volunteer, my husband, my boys, daughter-in-laws, and all my grandchildren have been wonderful and supportive. Weekends away at camp. Missing things sometimes hasn’t always been easy, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Volunteering keeps me active and my brain cells working (well, I hope it does!). Plus, with both hubby and I retired and as much as I love him it gets us away from each other for a few hours!
Read more about the transformative power of volunteering here.
