Volunteer Voices: Robyn Knight and Danielle Roberts
Finding friends and joy through community
Invest Local has provided many benefits for the volunteers who have helped to play their part in the success of the project in their area. It has provided access to resources, the chance to have an input into improving their local area, and a space to connect with like-minded people in their community. Through helping to nurture this space for other people, many of our volunteers report having made strong friendships with their fellow volunteers, and have said time and time again how these friendships have helped them to move through personal challenges and to get the most out of the opportunities offered by the Invest Local programme.
BCT recently spoke to Robyn Knight and Danielle Roberts who volunteer with We Are Plas Madoc, a group based in Wrexham in north Wales, to hear about how they found their friendship through attending their volunteering activities.
Danielle started by explaining how she first became aware of the group on the estate: “I’ve lived in Plas Madoc all of my life and before I became a volunteer, I was a full-time mum and carer to my children. It came about because I was just looking on Facebook and seeing what was going on around the estate and came across the Invest Local page for ‘We Are Plas Madoc’. Then we came along to a couple of events with the kids and found out about all the different groups and things they were doing for the estate including The Land youth project for the kids, which my children were already attending. After that, I was asked if I would be interested in becoming a part of it as a volunteer. So, as I didn't really do anything else, I thought, why not, because my kids are in school full-time now, so, that's how I became part of it.”
Robyn added: “For me, I just popped over one day to see what was going on and saw all the things they were doing and thought this is something I’d like to help with. I think I’ve been volunteering for about 3 years now.”
After signing up to volunteer with the group, Robyn and Danielle found regular volunteering roles that they both enjoyed. This eventually led to them meeting and forging a connection that has provided them both with a valuable friendship.
Danielle expands: “I enjoy drop-in on a Thursday morning, so I’ll just be making cups of tea, chatting to people, giving any advice I can, and then helping out at the pantry as well. I also provide support when we have our fairs, by watching queues or running a stall, or just generally walking around to just make sure that everyone's ok.”
Robyn agrees: “I've been helping with the pantry, and I've enjoyed it, meeting new people, making them laugh, and just building a good space for the people on the estate to come and have a chat and a catch-up together. Also being a part of that has helped me to build my confidence as well, which I know is something that it has helped Danielle with too.”
Danielle continues: “Yes, I think we both met sometime just during COVID-19 through the group, then obviously during the pandemic we couldn’t do anything or meet up, but we all kept in touch and now we’ve just become friends through that really. It’s been a big thing for me, making friends like Robyn has helped me to overcome a lot of anxiety. I do struggle with anxiety and I think I used to struggle a lot more before being involved with this group and meeting new friends. Part of that has also been about rebuilding my sense of identity after becoming a mum; I love being a mum but often you get invited to things as a mum because it’s a play meet-up and the other mums are going along. But here – at ‘We are Plas Madoc’ – I’m just me and that’s helped me to learn just to be myself again and confident in that.
“So, it’s just nice being here and it makes you feel like you’ve achieved something for that day. Even now, sometimes I think, oh, God, I’ve got to go to a group and the anxiety kicks in a little bit… but when I push past that and I've gone to the group and talked to some people here, then once I’ve left, I feel that I have achieved something from coming along and that’s been a really big thing for me. It's having the chance to connect with people and realising that we all experience similar things and that I can help them with that too. For example, if someone comes into the Kettle Club and has been a bit down in the dumps, you have a chat with them, and then they thank you for cheering them up as they leave, then you feel like you've achieved something from being in the group. So, that has helped me come out of my shell a bit more, so now I’m much more confident.”
As Danielle and Robyn explained the positive impacts that being involved with ‘We Are Plas Madoc’ has had on their lives, the conversation was rounded off by Danielle. She described how the projects that the group runs are not only helping to support her, but her children too, and how one project in particular, The Land, has helped to build the confidence of her children and countless other children on the estate for many years. This goes to underline the group’s approach to young people and their hope that the ripple effect of these projects can be benefitted from for generations to come.
“For me and my family, the Invest Local programme has just given us so much access to new experiences. For example, my children attend The Land – which was here before ‘We Are Plas Madoc’ was set up – but because The Land has linked up with the project through its workers, that’s how I found out more about all of these things that Invest Local was doing.
“My kids have been attending The Land for a number of years – for my younger two it would be about 3 years ago that they started going – and my youngest son is disabled but they facilitate it for him so much. They make sure that it is accessible for him, which is really good because some places don’t. At first, I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to go, but they asked what he needed, and they've done it, and they go above and beyond. It’s the same with the other social groups in Invest Local, if he comes here or if we are in the community centre doing our ‘Breakfast and Brews’ in the morning, they always make sure that he's got the space that he needs there as well, which is amazing and just allows him to feel like a welcome part of our community. It’s so incredibly powerful and moving for us as a family. They do the same for all other families in the community too, we’re all welcome to come along, with our kids and feel like we have our space in the community and that’s just one of the best things to come out of the project I think.”