Volunteer and change your life!

Volunteer Manager at Hounslow Allies, Barbara Regnier, shares her experience of volunteering:

I’ve worked in volunteering a long time. 

I originally came from Northern Ireland to do a qualification in management accountancy and started work in the car industry.  I wanted to run a business operationally and then I got married and had kids and that didn't happen, so I developed a whole career in the volunteering world.   

At the time, I didn't know volunteering existed. I didn't know what it meant but I got to hear of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), began volunteering for them and that changed my life! 

I loved it, and eventually my volunteering with CAB led to a whole new career. 

I've had many roles and I’ve got a lot of experience at all levels, but I would never use the word ‘expert’.  I officially retired but that didn’t stop me volunteering! I started with Hounslow Grandmentors, where more mature individuals mentor care leavers. 

I then heard about Hounslow Allies and that they matched volunteers with kids in care and needed a manager. I applied thinking they wouldn’t employ me (at my age!) but here I am three years later.  

These days I work part-time for Volunteering Matters, managing Hounslow Allies which receives funding from the Council’s Corporate Parenting Department. They have a statutory duty to offer independent visitors for children in care. Our volunteers befriend the children, often having a positive impact on their lives. I’m proud to be involved. 

I retain a passion for volunteering.  It’s something I’ve done for as long as I’ve known it was something you could do! I volunteer for Silver Line and Learning English At Home (LEAH). LEAH have recently received some funding from Hounslow Council in the role they can play in increasing access to mental health services.

My volunteering with LEAH is very simple. I teach English to someone who doesn't speak itfor about one hour a week on Zoom. That's it. 

I was very hesitant because I'm a trainer and a manager by profession, but I'm certainly not a teacher and hopeless at languages, so I made the point that I might not be able to teach English because I've never been able to learn another language! But thankfully they said if you can speak it, you can teach it. 

I'm not totally convinced that I'm going to be any good, but I'm enjoying it very much. In my experience, LEAH is an excellent organisation for volunteers – from recruitment through training and ongoing support for me in my role. 

That’s one development I’ve seen in recent years; the sheer number of new organisations coming through, and the depth and detail of their offers. They reflect the diversity of the borough and that’s obviously a good thing.  

Things are cyclical in life, and as I’ve worked my way up the ladder I’ve seen a lot of relaunches, mergers, and bold new approaches to volunteering over the years. But what has really been embedded? What has really changed? 

I'm very passionate about good volunteer management. Unfortunately, there are still some organisations that are quite poor at the recruitment, management and retention of volunteers and I think there's no excuse for that. 

One of the most important things is having a very clear, simple, uncomplicated role description not a traditional job description. We know people want to volunteer because it's fundamentally not employment. They want to do something that they don't do in their day job, and they want to have their time and skills used to make a difference, make new friends, feel useful, keep busy. 

And often I've seen role descriptions and you’d think people were applying for highly paidjobs. And even when they try to volunteer, organisations don’t get back to them! It can be off putting.

Volunteering at its core is about people getting together to help, isn't it? Often, that’s been through their own culture or religion where the concept of ‘giving back’ is core.

It’s about packaging that sentiment and looking after the people that answer the call. I’d like to think it’s that simple.

London Borough of Hounslow works with Ealing and Hounslow Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) to promote volunteering and have a number of case studies you can read online.

LEAH are currently recruiting more volunteers and you can email them for further details.