A year of volunteering – what next?

So here we are – a year after my journey of volunteering began.  I celebrated my 60th birthday at the end of November and so that marks the end of my Gift of Time project.

It has been such an interesting and rewarding year and I have learned many things as a result.

I have now added to the pages of this blog the final stats for the Gift of Time project.  These include the number of organisations I volunteered with and the money raised by events I took part in (not all money I raised myself. although that is included in the total).

I learnt many things over this year, and as a result there will be volunteering that I will continue to do.

The monthly litter pick will continue – I will try other ways of getting volunteers in 2020, including posters in local shops and a large poster outside our door.

I am now on the fundraising committee for Jane Scarth House in Romsey, which I enjoy very much and as a result will continue to meet people who I would not have met before this year (one of my goals).  Next year is a big anniversary for the charity and I look forward to being involved in events taking place for that.  I imagine other volunteering opportunities will come from that as well.

I shall also continue with the afternoon entertainment in the residential home which have featured twice in my blogs for GoT. The first of these can be found here and the second here

Although my musical recitals in aid of various charities have been taking place for some years before GoT, this year has made me aware of other good causes that may benefit from such fund raising and I will bear that in mind for future events.

The lunchtime recitals at our local church are something that may not have happened had it not been for GoT and has resulted in putting together another talented group of recorder players which I hope will continue to meet.  Consorte d’amici lunchtime recital- 13 hours In addition, we have formed closer connections with the church and hope to take part in more musical events with them. Indeed, John and I will be joining them for their carol service for the first time this year.

The hedgehog cream tea was a very enjoyable and relatively easy event to organise with a good result in money raised.  That is something I should be happy to repeat for another cause sometime. Hedgehog Cream Tea – 5 hours

Lastly and by no means least, I have really enjoyed the process of blogging and I intend to continue to do so, talking about the things I do now I am no longer in paid work.

As my retirement continues so will this blog where I will carry on recording what I do in retirement with the ‘gift of time’ that I now have.