It’s Volunteers Week 2019 and we asked some of our most regular party go-ers what motivates them to be involved in the Cocktails project. Thank you all for sharing your stories and for your commitment and dedication to Cocktails! Every single volunteer is important to us. We hope these stories will inspire you and if you are interested in volunteering with us check out our Volunteering section here.
Charlotte tells us about her time on the Cocktails project:”
I started volunteering about a year and a half ago as a friend at work asked a few of us if we were interested in coming along to the Cocktails in Care Homes induction. I thought it would be a great idea as I know how lonely old people can get and had thought of doing something like this for a while. ‘Cocktails’ sounded like a fun way to make a difference.
My first party was with friends from work at Peckham and we all had a very lively time chatting and dancing. I was pleased to find, however, that there is a local care home (Westport) near where I live, and that’s now my regular spot.
I love my visits to Westport and have made friends with the residents, carers and volunteers. I’m a talker not a dancer (I leave that to the younger volunteers) and we always have some very interesting chats, mostly about the residents past lives and all the things that they have done. One of my new friends lived in New York and has an encyclopedic knowledge of films and music; another was in the merchant navy and travelled all over the world. Some of the residents didn’t get further than the east end but it’s great hearing all the old stories about my local area.
I’m cat mad and there are two cats at Westport: Ginger the house cat and Ziggy who is owned by a married couple and who lives on the third floor. I particularly love hearing about how the cats are and comparing cat stories with my new friends. Usually this is combined with me losing massively in a game of Connect 4 with one of Ziggy’s owners!”
Thank you Charlotte! We couldn’t do it without you!