We love travel, we love socialising, but that is why I love my volunteering, because it reins in the frivolous side of life, because life can be too frivolous and I have to have something that I feel not religious but spiritual about. We’ve got a dog that we adore, we’ve got no children. Obviously, if he didn’t, then I wouldn’t be able to volunteer. I took early retirement from the bank, I’ve got a wonderful husband that lets me get away with everything. You do go away with them in your heart, because at the end of the day, I am only human.
If you know that a particular person likes a particular magazine, like my husband, he buys car magazines, and I’ve met gentleman patients that enjoy car magazines, and I’ll pass the car magazines on to them. So you do build relationships, you do have your favourites and they are in your heart. Once they’re feeling a little bit better, I can, like, talk to them, play games with them and make them extra drinks and just generally keep them company.Īnd it’s a befriending thing, because they are in for such a long time, you get to know the patient, you do get to know their families, and it is really lovely when they get to know your name and they know that they will see you again next Tuesday or Thursday or whatever. In a nutshell, I would say it’s to help rehabilitation. In fact, I think I’ll take you up a couple of flights of stairs, and you can hear me huffing and puffing, I’m ashamed to say! I’m like, what I call myself a Ward Volunteer – I go around the wards befriending our patients that have had, in some instances, serious surgery, and are in for a long time.
My feet are absolutely throbbing, and I’m up and down the stairs, and it definitely gets my heart rate up.
We are at Manchester Royal Infirmary on Oxford Road, Manchester. My name is Diane Butterworth, I am 58 years old and I am retired from working for 39 years one month. I’ll get the shuttle-bus into Central, once I’m walking through the corridor, head held high, shirt on display with the logo ‘Here to help’, I’ll walk down to the volunteers’ office, sign in and then go to my dedicated ward. And I always prepare my uniform the night before, which is our red shirt, black trousers, black shoes, and always make sure that I know where those are – shoes polished, and, you know, my security pass is handy. I am an early riser, so I get up, get myself ready.
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