St Christopher’s Hospice relies on people giving up their free time to continue caring for the community. DAVID MILLS finds out about its army of volunteers.

ST Christopher’s has around 700 trained volunteers who perform a variety of vital roles to keep the hospice running.

Fundraising, administration, bereavement, transport, shops and gardening are just some of the areas volunteers give up their time for.

Many of the volunteers, such as Sandy Carter and Emma Cooper, work at the hospice’s anniversary centre, where duties include serving food and drink and assisting patients, be it painting fingernails, giving them a bath or simply having a chat.

Mrs Carter, from Bromley, is in her 20th year as a volunteer at the hospice.

The 58-year-old, who volunteers for a full day each Tuesday, says when she started at the hospice in 1990 it resembled a “cottage hospital” and has grown with the needs of the community.

She said: “I volunteer to help other people. You feel you are helping out, giving something back to the community.

“As volunteers we probably get more out of the hospice than some of the patients.

“It's a way of expressing yourself and knowing there’s something better in life than getting up, going to work and earning money.

“It gives me a structure to my Tuesdays and the rest of my week my time is my own.”

Mrs Cooper has been a volunteer at St Christopher’s for just six weeks and says her first experience of someone dying at the hospice left a deep impression.

The former jeweller, aged 42, said: “I couldn't stop thinking about that for a week.

“He said he didn't have anybody in the world.

“I'm really glad I made myself talk to him.

“I felt I had a bond with him and the next week I heard he had passed away.”

Despite this the mother-of-two says she has settled in well thanks to the help of fellow volunteers.

She said: “Everybody seems to be so nice. The patients themselves are lovely.

“I expected it to be more gloomy, you think a hospice is where people go to die, it opens your eyes and you realise it's not.

“I feel on a high when I come out. I look forward to going every week. I would miss it if I did not go anymore.”

“OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE FANTASTIC”

All volunteers at St Christopher’s are interviewed and undergo a thorough training programme.

The hospice’s director of supportive care, Nigel Hartley, who oversees the volunteers, said: “We would not be able to do what we do without them.

“Our volunteers are fantastic.

“We have a lot of students doing gap years who want to train to be a doctor or nurse who want experience.

“It's no longer just an option for the retired.

“People may think being a volunteer is giving time and helping but we need to ensure our volunteers are competent and confident to do what it is we want them to do.

“Working with people at the end of their life is not always straight forward.”

The hospice is currently keen to recruit drivers to take patients to and from St Christopher’s and people to help with gardening.

For more information call Tina Byott on 020 8768 4566 or email t.byott@stchristophers.org.uk