Pete in Banbridge: ‘Volunteering is an opportunity to mix with other people’

Having worked in retail and in recycling, Pete was between jobs when a friend suggested he might like to volunteer for Blythswood. That was in 2011. Fifteen years later, he still volunteers in Blythswood’s shop in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, now giving four days a week to the organisation.

“Mostly I serve at the till,” Pete says. “And I deal with donated goods, move furniture and help in different ways.”

Apart from Blythswood, Pete’s interests include rugby (you’ll not find him in the shop on Saturdays) and motorbike racing, sometimes travelling as far afield as Duns in the Scottish borders to marshal at motocross events.

So why does he give so much time as a charity shop volunteer? “It’s an opportunity to mix with other people,” he says. “I really enjoy it. There are four volunteers in the Banbridge shop and I get on with everybody.”

To find out how you can volunteer for Blythswood, email volunteer@blythswood.org or call 01349 830777 (Scotland) or 028 9334 9859 (Northern Ireland).