The charity Friends of the Elderly celebrated Volunteers Week (1-7 June), and all that its volunteers in the Woking area do to support its work with older people, by treating them to a ‘thank you’ high tea at the Bradbury Centre (Lavender Road) on Tuesday 6 June.

Volunteers were served with sandwiches, fruit and cakes, and were presented with certificates and ‘thank you’ chocolates (in the shape of bottles of champagne). There was a hamper raffle, and also attending were Friends of the Elderly staff and some of the local older people the charity works with.

Friends of the Elderly’s Community Partnerships Manager Sally McLachlan said: “Volunteers’ Week is an excellent opportunity for organisations to come together and collectively thank all the wonderful people who give up their time to support others.

Here at Friends of the Elderly, our volunteers are integral to delivering our free to access services and complementing the care services we offer, which can be a lifeline to older people who have become lonely or isolated. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them. Volunteers Week is one week dedicated to celebrating volunteers, but we know how important it is to thank our supporters all year round and make sure they feel part of our dedicated staff team.”

The Bradbury Centre is home to Triangle Day Care Woking and Triangle Home Care Woking, part of the Friends of the Elderly Group, which offer a range of services to older people.

It is also the centre of operations for Visiting Friends, the volunteer home visiting service operating in the Surrey area. Visiting Friends steps in when an older person’s family and friends are not around. Volunteers pop by regularly to visit them, taking time to listen to them and share life’s ups and downs.

In the Woking area, Friends of the Elderly also offers residential care for older people at its Bernard Sunley care home (College Road, Maybury, Woking). 

Hannah, 14, and Emily, 13, are volunteers at Bernard Sunley. They began visiting residents weekly as part of working towards her Duke of Edinburgh bronze award, but after completing the required number of volunteering hours, they have continued to visit. 

Hannah says: “I enjoy volunteering with the residents at Bernard Sunley because it makes me feel happy to see that from taking an hour out of my time I can improve the lives of others and make them happier.”

Emily says: “It's just an hour of my time a week, but it makes a big difference, both to the older people and to me. I've learned a lot from them”.
 
Interested in volunteering opportunities with Friends of the Elderly?  To find out more, call us on 0330 332 1110 or email hello@fote.org.uk  

Article supplied by Deborah Hyde