Volunteeering Stories
How and Why Get Involved? Some volunteers tell their story.
Tools for Solidarity are a charitable organisation actively working for a more equitable distribution of power and resources in the world, forging links of support and understanding betwen people in the industrial and developing countiries.
They clean, mend, sharpen and oil any of the tool they have been donated and then send them to young apprentices and crafts people who have the skills but are without the nessary tools to practice their trade in their own villages. With the help of tools for solidiarity people in the developing world can become more self reliant.
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Jacob McCauley, 18 years old -Currently Studying A-Levels at St. Patrick’s Grammar School Downpatrick.
I'm currently volunteering at a sport and recreation club for vulnerable adults, here in Downpatrick. Every Thursday I would head down for a few hours and lend a hand. There is a wide range of activities from 5-aside football, to arts and crafts, pool and air hockey. I look forward to the club just as much as any of the members, as it's like any other social club with plenty of craic and carry-on. I talk to the members and see how they’re getting doing and what there up to, as well engage in some serious 5-aside football.
My volunteering may be lots of fun, yet my time spent volunteering has helped develop me as a person. I have developed many skills such as communication and responsibility as well as learning the importance of empathy when dealing with a sensitive person. My soccer skills have also come along nicely! Experience in volunteering proves very attractive to employers also, as it says a great deal about your personality and your values. I have recently had interviews with Liverpool and Aberdeen Universities, and the universities were highly impressed with my history of volunteering. It showed my motivation to gain experience in care work and teamwork.
I encourage anyone to give volunteering a go; it can be a small investment of your time, resulting in a great deal of benefits. Volunteering allows you to give back to your community, and pick up some of the necessary skills needed for the work place along the way.
Young volunteers teambuilding.
At the end of June a group of young volunteers took part in some teambuilding training organised by the Volunteer Centre. This was to get the group ready for summer volunteering as many were going to take part in the DDVC Summer Volunteering Programme, where young people, with and without learning disabilties, take part in action days to take on challenges given by local organisations. This can be gardening, conservation, painting and more.
The teambuilding training was a mixture of group thinking, planning ahead and generally working together to solve the problems, this was rounded up with a little archery. Everyone did well, helping each other at the different tasks, gaining confidence in skills and knowledge they didn't know they had and having a bit of fun. Deirdré won the archery competition by bursting the most balloons, closely followed by everyone else.
Some volunteers like to share their experiences with photos and stories, Danielle and Kirsty decided to use poetry describing a thunderous group action day over our 'summer'.
SUMMER SCHEME - Thursday 3rd July
We went to Crossgar
We didn’t go by car
We got a bus
This took all of us
On a journey that wasn’t so far
Down came the rain
Oh what a pain
No work was done
Instead we had lots of fun
Until the sun came out again
We spread some bark
Around the play park
Got rid of some weeds
For those were their needs
Then someone made a frightful remark
There was lightning over-head
So we all fled
We went inside
So we could hide
And ate our lunch instead
The bus arrived
We all thrived
We climbed inside
For the homeward ride
Tired but we survived!
Millennium Volunteers tell their stories, from just beginning to volunteer to someone who has completed 200 hours.
Clare Fitzsimons
16 years old, just started volunteering this summer and has decided to join the Millennium Volunteer Project. She had not been involved in volunteering before this but she has enjoyed the volunteering so far, getting to know new people, doing different activities and making new friends. Making new friends has been the best part os far, she says.
Clare has been volunteering with the Down District Volunteer Centre Summer Volunteering Scheme taking part in different action days working alongside other young people some with learning disabilities, trying out different volunteering and getting to know new people.
What does she plan to do with this; she just wants to have fun and get to know more people and gain new skills, but she thinks that the summer scheme will help her in the future as she would like to work with people with learning disabilities.
Niall O’Rourke
Niall has just finished doing GCSE’s at school, has recently completed 200 hours and received MV Award of Excellence.
Niall started volunteering with Down District Voluntary Youth Forum, a youth led project. Together, the group organised some open 
days to recruit new volunteers - Niall was involved in a lot of the publicity and fundraising for this - the Youth Forum has taken on some painting work, helping to decorate the walls of a pre-school playgroup; what was grey is now covered in sea with giant fish and other creatures swimming around and painting kennels and public areas at the Assisi Animal Sanctuary.
Niall has taken part in other volunteering; fundraising for the Assisi Animal Sanctuary and helping with a summer scheme; volunteering alongside young people with learning disabilities, thus enabling them to try out different volunteering activities.
He has been able to take advantage of a variety of training including Disability Awareness and Jump on Board Training.
What does he plan to do with his volunteering experience?
Niall is looking to go into the hospitality industry and feels that the experience of meeting lots of different people and getting to know them, socialising with them has developed his social skills and will help with his future career.
He believes that the experience from his volunteering and the Award of Excellence will help him with college and job applications, but most os all he has really enjoyed getting to meet lots of different people and the fun gained whilst volunteering.
A Volunteer's Story -
MAGNUS BARELEGS VIKING FESTIVAL - A Volunteer Marshall's Story
by Patrick Rice
DELAMONT COUNTRY PARK MAY 13 2006
10am: Arrive at designated base point for briefing and guidelines.
10. 20am: High visibility jackets designated to all volunteers. Radio transmitters/ receivers given to pre- designated volunteers.
10.30am: Anita (our co-ordinator) gives us a tour of grounds and outline of duties.
11am: I proceed to my designated area.
11. 15am: Meet and chat to Order of Malta Ambulance Service.
11.30am-1.15pm: Along with Chris and another volunteer, who’s name I can’t remember help direct members of the public to stalls and events. And also direct stall/ event runners to some free set up places.
1.15pm-2pm: Patrolled Viking Village.
2pm-2.20pm: Lunch
2.30pm: Viking Long Boats approach lower shore in preparation for attack on Viking Village.
3pm: Public start to filter away from vantage point overlooking shore.
3.10pm: Along with nine other volunteers I start to usher public between inner and outer barriers
For safety reasons the public had to be at least 18 -20 yards from siege re-enactment. For the amount of children there I have to say they were very behaved and getting into the spirit of the festival, shouting and yelling at the actors.
3.30pm: after the siege there was plenty of time for the public to view /take photos of the Viking Village.
3.40pm: several children aged between 6 years and 11 years old were chosen to take part in a Viking Battle.
It was safe to say the children won, after several Vikings had been given slight concussion by several dozen flying apples. It was so enjoyed, even by the children from behind the barriers, who seemed to quickly gather up stray apples and proceed to pelt the Vikings from every angle. The poor actors had no idea what was going on!!!
4.10pm: Volunteers were strategically placed along the burial procession route.
4.35pm: Vikings burial procession passes my post with one mourner seeming distraught but quickly proclaiming “the beggar owed me money” which I thought was a good comedic touch. This was followed by eruption of laughter.
5pm: Viking burial boat set alight, after several minutes, the mast tumbled to the ground, giving a load oooooooohhhhh.
5.15pm: Myself, along with another volunteer were asked to help in the clean up. Considering the size of the crowd there was very minimal litter.
5.40pm: De-brief back at base. Anita pleased at work done, only one minor injury, 3 year old, nettle sting, pain eased by docken leaf. Thanks us all and hopes to see you us again next year.
6.30pm: Arrive back in Downpatrick.
I would recommend stewarding to anyone. I know I would do it again!
VOLUNTEER PROFILE - Charlene Conway
Age 18
Favourite Food; Lasagne 
(really; everything!)
Hobbies; Yoga, playing guitar
Pets; dog called Homer
Favourite TV programme; The Simpsons.
Favourite Group; Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Volunteer Role; assistant at youth club and assistant with the DDVC summer scheme volunteering programme
Best Volunteering Experience; Charlene enjoyed the summer scheme, she thought it was fun working as part of a team and also she was able to try out different environmental tasks.
Millennium Volunteer Project; as a Millennium Volunteer Charlene gained a certificate for completing 100 hours of volunteering and recently was invited to Stormont with other MV’s to receive her Award of Excellence, for completing 200 hours of volunteering.
Volunteer Role.
Charlene is a Millennium Volunteer and has been volunteering for the last year and a half. She volunteers at a local youth club helping organise activities for the members—aged 7 and upwards—including art and craft as well as playing games, and having fun. She has enjoyed this experience and thinks it has given her the confidence to stand up and talk in front of people and to lead activities.
In our summer scheme Charlene worked as part of a group of young people, some with additional support needs, taking part in different tasks from building a hand rail to improve disabled access to cutting down meadow grass.
Volunteering at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway
Andy Cooke, a volunteer for 20 years with the Railway Society, has been interested in trains and railways since childhood. Unable to follow a career in the railway, Andy looked elsewhere for a challenge and a way to see the world, and so joined the army at 15. However, steam and preservation were in his blood and when he heard about the restoration work being carried out in Downpatrick he joined as a volunteer.
Andy now volunteers four days (five in summer) a week . He is in charge of the infrastructure of the railway, and maintenance of buildings. He also has responsibility for three of the four stations, lines and maintaining the track and fences to keep out cattle and walkers.
Volunteering options are many and varied in the Railway and they’re always looking for new people to join their community to wash, paint, for roles such as sign writing, brass work, porter, guard to the heavy work of working on the lines or driving the trains... and of course women are just as welcome as men!
There is training available to volunteers, including customer care and health & safety, but you can give it a go first, another volunteer will go along with you to supervise. As Andy says “it’s very rewarding to see old trains run safely on a lovely day and you know you’ve put the track down and made it happen.” If you are interested in following in Andy’s footsteps, contact Down District Volunteer Centre.
John Jordan - taking on a number of volunteering roles.
Downpatrick is like home to me, and has been in the past. I spent eight happy years teaching in the Red High in the eighties and can still regard some of my colleagues there as friends whom I see fairly regularly. I departed Downpatrick in 1988 and headed for Nigeria in North-West Africa. Other employments of a varied nature followed from '92 until my return home to Downpatrick in 2006.
The thought on my mind then was to find something completely different from any previous undertaking. Wandering down St. Patrick's Avenue I spotted a sign that read "Volunteer Bureau" - as it was then. That title was good enough to encourage me to enter and meet the busy staff, Antje Otto and co-workers. After some chat and examination of a long list of available options I finally decided on three activities - Habitat for Humanity, Tools for Solidarity and Befriending.
I joined the workforce on the building site at Model Farm where I was quickly introduced and set to work by taskmasters Danny and Rab! They were the driving force and were ably assisted by other very committed members of the team. I decided on one day per week, Wednesday. One never knew what task you were going to be involved on any particular day - using a pickaxe to dig a trench; attaching skirting boards to walls (where else?); fixing roof tiles in place- that involved transferring loads of tiles from ground level to the scaffolding; filling in holes in interior walls with plaster; attaching locks to windows, etc.
No allowances were made for "climate change"!!! Tea breaks and lunch breaks were tolerated. The leaders weren't averse to letting you know if the job wasn'tup to scratch - and rightly so.
An interesting aspect of the work was meeting many different people from all walks of life. Groups of ladies abandoned their offices in Belfast, etc. and spent the day on site doing all kinds of services, irrespective of weather conditions. Sometimes it might be a group of "oldies" like myself applying their skills to the needed tasks.
All-in-all it was a really worthwhile experience, to be wholeheartedly encouraged.
On Tuesdays I ventured to a large room, part of the old Southwell School across from the Museum. This is the location where Stephen Wood and other long-term co-workers spent, and continue to spend, many long hours reconditioning tools of all kinds and Singer sewing machines. One would need to be a bit of an expert to dissemble a sewing machine, clean and oil it - maybe replace a part - then reassemble it! Stephen and his few "professionals" could do it. The variety of tasks was as endless as the variety of tools - all hand tools. It seems the sad relection is that many people unwittingly throw out their old tools and replace with electric gadgets. There is a home for old, good quality, tools; and there is a use for such. Nearly all the results of the hard work end up in Zimbabwe where people can use them to set up their own enterprises and thus earn a living.
The work aint easy! Removing all vestiges of rust from tools; sharpening where appropriate; oiling/greasing to prevent rusting again; etc., etc. One of the problems can be "space" for storage. Another aspect of the job - more volunteers required. As in all good voluntary work, second-rate is not good enough - a high standard of finish is expected. Tools may be any or all of the following: wood chisels of all kinds; hammers; saws; drills; punches; planes; hacksaws; screwdrives; wrenches; etc., etc. Again, the workforce would usually consist of three or four young people- male and female- from different countries. A chance to learn a new skill and satisfaction in the completion (with a little help from Stephen) of the task.
Being "vetted" by the police and accepted by the social services was a requirement to become a"Befriender". And so it happened. One evening a week, for a few hours, was given over to visiting and "entertaining" (or being entertained by ) the new friend. It was a whole new experience to me and richly rewarding - not in any financial sense! On one of my first visits I was challenged: "What would you do" he said,"if I just sat here and said nothing?" I think my reply cemented the friendship. "I would do exactly the same". He was a good chatter and was mobile - in fine evenings we could go for walks. Watching an occasional DVD or listening to his favourite music, helped add new subjects to the conversation. Important to add that he never neglected the hospitable cup of tea! He has since moved to another country, so the occasional phone call continues the link.
Colleen O'Hanlon; Millennium Volunteer
I began volunteering in 2006. Beforehand, I was often bored and found it hard to fill my free time. I thought by volunteering I could meet new people and help others.
Since I started volunteering, I have participated in many volunteering opportunities including bag packs, street collections and fundraising activities for numerous charities.
Two main volunteering opportunities that I have taken part in include the Volunteer Centre’s Summer volunteering scheme and with an organisation called CAPPA. CAPPA is a summer scheme for children with autism, their parents and siblings. At both schemes I gave support and acted as a team member. At CAPPA, I supervised the children and encouraged them to play fairly with each other.
I also volunteer one day a week at Knockevin Special School, after schools club. Here, I assist the children with art work, cooking and playing games.
In my opinion, the best, most enjoyable aspect of being a volunteer is seeing people happy and appreciative as a result of the work I participated in. I also like meeting and helping new people with learning new skills. My least favourite parts of volunteering are when we are faced with difficulties and have to think how to overcome them.
I find volunteering very rewarding. Not only do I get to help others but I have also received certificates for doing 50 hours and 100 hours of volunteer work.
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