Why I volunteer (According to Dave)

As Hall Manager, I get to meet all sorts of wonderful people who keep our community ticking — and Dave is definitely one of them. If you’ve ever strolled past the garden and spotted someone doing battle with the weeds or muttering about vole holes, that was probably him! Dave is often to be found pottering in the garden, whether taking his turn on the fortnightly mowing rota, tidying the lawn edges (the edging has never looked so neat!), weeding the flowerbeds, or adding some new planting that he has persuaded the local garden centre to donate.

Dave and his wife Carol are the kind of people who will offer help to anyone and give up their time frequently to volunteer in our community. Essentially they are brilliant and deserve to be celebrated. So thank you, Dave, for all your hard work in the garden and helping to make it such a beautiful space for us all to enjoy. And now, here’s Dave, in his own words, sharing why he volunteers with us.

“Upon retirement, my wife Carol and I thought it would be a good idea to downsize and move to a new home with a smaller garden, as I didn’t want to spend our newly freed‑up time on gardening responsibilities.

We eventually found our new home in Stroud on the newly constructed development and moved in during July 2020, in the small window between the two Covid lockdowns.

It was great fun designing and building our much smaller garden from scratch.

After a while, I realised that my thirst for gardening had not gone the same way as employment, and I needed more to do.

As we became more involved in our new community, we heard that the village hall was freeing itself from the expensive management company that came with the new hall and surrounding gardens, and that the money could be used more efficiently.

The trustees were going to go it alone — and was anyone interested? “Yes please!” I thought.

I now have as much gardening as I need — sometimes more than I need — but I’ve met some great people along the way who I now call friends.

I thoroughly recommend it to anyone of any age. We share the work between ourselves to suit time availability and energy levels.

If you are interested in volunteering, or if you have ideas for how to use this wonderful space that we are so lucky to have, please drop Katy a line for more details.”

Contact Katy:
Email: [email protected]
Text or call: 07915 092660