Volunteer Spotlight!

At the heart of The Holly Lodge Centre’s vital work are our dedicated volunteers, without whom our very existence would be impossible.

To show our appreciation and and let you get to know these wonderful individuals, we’re launching our new ‘Volunteer Spotlight’.

First up is the fantastic Mary, one of our energetic and highly experienced education volunteers whose passion is truly infectious!

To begin, tell us about your journey with The Holly Lodge Centre.  How long have you been a volunteer and what initially drew you to us?

I have volunteered at The Holly Lodge Centre for 15+ years.  I had retired from teaching in primary schools after 40 years but soon missed the children!  I had such a lot of teaching experience and I wanted to continue, hopefully, to inspire children that learning is wonderful.

Looking back, what are some of the noticeable changes you’ve seen at the Centre since you began volunteering?

The Centre continues its splendid work with children and adults from all walks of life and all abilities.  The Centre has continued to inspire children with its imaginative workshops.  I love the fact that simple creative activities are created to explain quite complex topics, for example, pollination and how seeds are dispersed.  There are a lot more sensory activities then before which is so important for our visitors with special educational needs and disabilities.

Could you paint a picture of a typical volunteering session for us?  What kind of activities do you typically engage in?

I take part in many different activities for example, forest school – this is splendid as you have 6 sessions with the same children and so, build a rapport with them.  How could you fail to not enjoy an activity where your group builds a den and eats marshmallows and drinks hot chocolate!  The Holly Lodge Centre is everything that is good about teaching with none of the bureaucracy!

In what ways has volunteering at The Holly Lodge Centre enriched your life?

In so many ways! First, the friendships between all of us who volunteer here, we bounce ideas off each other, we use our imagination, we create things together and we centre our visitors at the heart of all we do.

What aspects of your volunteering do you find most rewarding?

You have a group of children or adults who want to be here, and as a teacher I am excited about how this group who you have for a couple of hours will learn about a particular subject using their imagination and enjoying the activities along the way.  Always so rewarding when both the teacher and their group want to come back to the Centre for more.

Are there any particular workshops/activities that resonate with you?  If so, what makes them special?

I LOVE Victorian School!  I get to act as a Victorian teacher, ever the drama queen!  I take the children on a historical journey using the methods of a bygone age.  Waving a cane around works wonders!

Share a memorable moment or highlight from your time volunteering that stands out to you.

When the nature trail was revamped, it was opened by Sir David Attenborough who went on to be one of our patrons as he was so impressed by the work we do. We had children to help demonstrate the work that we do on our trail, I was working with a group of 10 children from The Vineyard School.  In order to have the chance to be part of this day, their school had set a competition, the children had to make up a fictitious invertebrate, describe it and illustrate it,  They had done such fantastic work.  I asked Sir David Attenborough if he would mind signing their work.  He sat down with all of them, read their work, told them how amazing they were and signed their creations.  He even told one lad who had called his work ‘The Attenborough Bug’  that he would have that on one of his programmes if we ever found a real one!  Fantastic for all who took part.

If you were to inspire someone to volunteer at The Holly Lodge Centre, what would you share with them?

That I love working at The Holly Lodge Centre.  The children, staff and volunteers all inspire me and I hope that although now an old lady, my experience and enthusiasm still makes a difference to children and other peoples lives.  To be useful when older gives you a buzz!  And to be doing all this surrounded by such a beautiful landscape and saying ‘Good Morning’ to the odd rabbit cant be bad can it?  Come and join us, you will be made very welcome.