Ann’s Story

25 years of volunteering with Rennie Grove Peace!

Ann has been volunteering with the charity since 1999. She explains:  

“In 1999 I had been retired from my secretarial career for a few years and was looking for a volunteer role that would allow me to spend my time well and give something back in my local community. I read in a local newspaper that Grove House was looking for volunteers so I got in touch. I took a role on reception and volunteered there every other week.  

“I really enjoyed the role and the fact that I was contributing to the good work that hospices do. I enjoyed the interaction with patients and staff and liked to see what a difference some of the treatments and therapies made to people. For example, someone might be coming for bereavement counselling and I could see a difference in them between when they started the course and when they finished it.  

“In 2002 I heard that the charity was opening a new shop in Fleetville and needed volunteers so I signed up to do that, too. I’ve been volunteering there ever since.  

“I volunteer one morning per week and work on the till. I love the interaction with customers and have quite a few regulars who I catch up with when I’m volunteering in the shop.  

“Customers often want to chat about their experience of the care provided by the charity. They always speak so highly of their experiences.  

“I had a customer recently whose husband had died after being cared for by Rennie Grove Peace. She was donating his clothes and each time she came in to donate some more, we would have a little chat about him and the care he had received from Rennie Grove Peace.  

“There have been lots of changes during the time I’ve been volunteering. Covid caused big changes. Many of the volunteers and customers I knew before the pandemic haven’t returned to the shop since. I had a pause in volunteering during the pandemic but when the shop reopened with precautions, I came back to volunteering. I felt safe because the till had screens around it and we all wore masks and kept our distance.”