Former schoolteacher Carol Ward started volunteering at our shop in Leigh on Bradshawgate in 1989 a few months after the shop opened.
She now volunteers two mornings a week at the shop sorting out donated bedding and curtains. Carol is based on the first floor of the shop, where she and a small group of volunteers sort out and price donated items.
“Some of my friends had been involved in the opening of the shop and got me involved,” she said. “We all belonged to the same church and had been friends for quite some time, living close to one another – a very warm, comfortable group. Sadly, I am the only one left. But, through volunteering at the shop, I have come into contact with people whose paths I would never have normally crossed.
“I’m on my own at home so I enjoy the companionship here, I like meeting people.
“I am now every good friends with Natasha – a tall, elegant, striking young lady originally from Belarus. Our point of contact was the shop. We enjoy working together and some might say it’s an unusual friendship. If you were introduced to a group of people you would never think to put us together – we don’t look like we would naturally be friends. This is what volunteering at the shop can do – it can enrich our lives in unexpected ways.”