This is my first ever blog; possibly my last!

I have been fully retired for about five years now from a challenging and fantastic job, lots going on, interacting with many people, had a great career. Stopping working was great, but difficult. When folk asked me what I did I used to tell them what I used to do. My wife’s business was doing well, and she enjoys it so that has carried on and our son is still at college and emptying the fridge so a world tour in a campervan was out of bounds for a while. So, I thought I’d try some voluntary work, to get me out and about with some human interaction! I’d always loved Queenswood, memories of taking our son and grandchildren there as well as the dog of course and they were looking for volunteers (and still are!). So off we go, I started there nearly four years ago as a trainee in the Visitor Centre and shop. I found the first few times a little daunting, what happens when, not if, I screw up on the cash machine or somebody asks a searching question about the flora and fauna in the wood? Well like most things you get help, get through it and then know what to do or say next time. The staff and other volunteers are always very supportive and the vast majority of visitors not too scary.

After a while I started to get involved in other areas outside of the shop and in particular the DIY Team. This crew take on appropriate maintenance and small projects that need doing around the site which doesn’t involve certified works or anything too exotic…most of us are over 70! It’s a good team comprising general DIY amateurs, like myself, good with the Polyfilla plus some guys who are craftsmen with the knack of knowing how to do something most easily. I’ve learned a lot!

So, what does all this mean for me? It gets me out and about twice a week, exercise, good craic as they say. Made new friends, learnt new and rediscovered old skills, boosted my mental health. Really missed it during the lockdowns but that gave me time to work on our “growing wild” part of the garden at home, something I learnt about from the QW team; we have noticed the difference with new residents and visitors last summer.

So if you’d like to try volunteering come and have a chat to the QW team - they have a range of opportunities, indoors, outside, both! Give it a whirl, glad I did.

Contact Tricia if you like the sound of getting involved at Queenswood: p.doree@queenswoodandbodenhamlake.org