HAVING had a career spanning five decades in business continuity management, it was time for her to retire. Aged 63, Marina Arthur concluded it was the time to put away her laptop. At first, the escape from work pressure was welcome. Then the novelty began to wear off. “Cupboards cleaned, washing done… I was bored.”
A chance visit to the Festivol community volunteering event in Northampton changed all that, however.
FestiVol is an annual festival held at Workbridge, the commercial and educational arm of mental health charity St Andrew’s Healthcare. The aim of the event is to showcase the benefits of volunteering across many of Northamptonshire’s charities, bringing them all together in one place.
“One of my friends had been working at St Andrew’s for a number of years and I explained how bored I was at home,” said Marina. “She suggested I do some volunteering. I came along to FestiVol and the rest is history.”
Festivol, which took place in Northampton last month, combines a carnival atmosphere with the opportunity for visitors to find out more about volunteering, particularly with local charities.
Marina started off volunteering in the Workbridge café, before she moved into volunteering at the Workbridge charity shop and at St Andrew’s Healthcare events. Remaining on the Workbridge site, she migrated to working at the garden centre next to a woodwork and ceramic workshop and a hub of thriving small business huts.
“Making cappuccinos and lattes was very different to managing spreadsheets, KPIs and steering committees, which is what I did in my primary career, but it was the perfect role for me, although the coffee making did take a while to perfect.”
Organisations highlighting their voluntary opportunities this year included St Andrew’s Healthcare, Action for Happiness, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Northamptonshire MIND, United African Association, Northampton Rotary Club, Northamptonshire Carers and The Lowdown.
St Andrew’s Healthcare already has around 400 volunteers. “People volunteer for all different reasons – to give something back, gain a new sense of purpose, to learn new skills or to boost their confidence,” said the charity’s voluntary services manager Dawn Wright.
“Volunteering is a proven way to increase your own mental health, confidence and well-being. Marina is a prime example of how volunteering can hugely benefit you.”
For Marina, volunteering has opened up a whole new chapter. “It changed my life and I got to meet so many new people. But I never thought that volunteering would lead me to a whole new career path, which included a paid position. I feel very fortunate that I now get to go to work and do a role which is meaningful to me and many others.”
It has led to new friends, having fun, working as part of a team and seeing the fruits of her and her colleagues’ labours with the patients and service users.
“Working at Workbridge is not like work to me. It is a pleasure,” Marina said. “Catching the commuter train at 05:40 five days a week was work; this is just so very, very different, I really cannot explain how it feels.
“Now I am based in the garden centre, and, although there is pressure to keep our plants looking good, especially in the hot weather and wind, it is a different kind of pressure and I love it.”
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