Hospice Volunteers recognised during National Volunteers Week 2025

• 30 May 2025

From 2-8 June 2025, National Volunteers Week is an opportunity to come together to celebrate and thank the very special 600 plus volunteers who support Arthur Rank Hospice Charity.

Volunteers at the Charity are integral to keeping services free for people in Cambridgeshire living with an advanced serious illness or other life-limiting condition and those who need end of life care.

Our amazing and generous volunteers donate their time in a wide variety of roles across the Charity. For example; at the Inpatient Unit, in our Living Well Service, in reception, the garden and our Bistro at the Hospice in Cambridge, at the Alan Hudson Centre in Wisbech, at our nine retail opportunities across Cambridgeshire and at our flagship and community events. People like George Jeffery who volunteers to serve afternoon Tea in the Inpatient Unit, Jean Donnellan who volunteers in the Inpatient Unit and our shops, Anna Elliott who also supports the Alan Hudson Centre, and Muriel who volunteers by delivering a Laughter Session at Arthur’s Shed are just some of the examples of how our volunteers support patients and their families.

Hannah Touhey, Voluntary Services Manager shared what this week means to her:

“Arthur Rank Hospice Charity is incredibly privileged to be supported by so many wonderful volunteers. It reflects the outstanding care we provide, that we have so many people come forward to offer their time. What I love most about the service here is the way in which volunteers are truly considered part of the team. Staff remember birthdays, know who has just become a grandparent or who is about to graduate; they make the time, as they would for colleagues, to get to know them.

Similarly, in the Voluntary Services department, we take great pride in providing a flexible and tailored volunteering experience which makes the most of the volunteers’ expertise, interests and motivations. It’s not uncommon to bring someone in for one role and have them leave with another following their interview, we don’t simply assign roles, we matchmake!

Two of our volunteers kindly shared their experience volunteering with the Charity:

George, Inpatient Unit Afternoon Tea Volunteer

My name is George, I usually work as a software engineer, but I am primarily a lover of music!

You may have heard me playing the piano in the Bistro, if so I sincerely apologise! Although, I think recently, with thanks to the Charity, volunteering is becoming my new passion.

When I began volunteering, I looked up ‘hospice volunteering’ in the area and found Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. It sounded great, so I went for it!

I was drawn to this particular role because I really wanted to be involved directly with the patients but have no formal caring experience, so I thought serving tea sounded perfect.

One of my favourite aspects of the role is how nice it is to be able to offer some comfort to the patients and their visitors. I also love hearing everybody’s stories.

Volunteering for the Charity has been an even more enriching experience than I had imagined. If you’re considering volunteering, I know you may be nervous, but just go for it! It’s such a wonderful thing to do. You will be so happy you did it!

Jean, In patient Unit and Retail Volunteer

My name is Jean and I volunteer in the Great Shelford Charity Shop and the Inpatient Unit. I watched the ‘new’ Hospice being built, and I’ve been volunteering there now for eight years.

My husband and I retired early and went to live in France for a few years. On our return to Cambridge, I looked for a volunteering role as I wanted to do something worthwhile. We live close to the Arthur Rank Hospice and I watched it being built, so it seemed the obvious place to look for a role.

I was offered an opportunity on the Inpatient Unit, serving breakfast to the patients. I loved it, and witnessed first hand the wonderful care patients were given, by such dedicated and caring staff. I enjoyed meeting the patients and talking to them as well as their families and felt a very small part of an amazing team of staff.

I had no personal experiences of a Hospice before, just what I was observing, although I had some nursing experience.

But one year ago, my husband was admitted to the Inpatient Unit, and now I was on the other side – a relative not a volunteer.

He was cared for so beautifully, and the support that I and the rest of the family were given by everyone was simply outstanding.

It was an extraordinary experience, one that none of us will ever forget, and one of the reasons why I now want to try and repay the love that we were all shown by continuing to volunteer for the Charity.

I didn’t feel ready to return to the Inpatient Unit after my husband died, so after a few months I was offered a retail role in the hospice charity shop in Great Shelford.

It’s quite a small shop in the heart of the village, but it is so busy and bustling, and very popular with the locals, so you see many of the same faces’ week after week.

There are two volunteers on a shift, along with one of the two lovely managers. It’s such a nice place to work, and there is lots to do: re-stocking the rapidly emptying shelves, meeting people all the time, accepting lots of donations and selling a huge variety of clothes and Bric-a-Brac. There are wonderful bargains to be found, and all the proceeds go towards enabling patients and their families to receive the wonderful care the Charity provides. What could be more satisfying?!

I have recently returned to my role on the Inpatient Unit and continue to work in the Charity Shop. They are two completely different roles but are both enormously satisfying.

The Arthur Rank Hospice volunteers are made to feel so appreciated and are supported in their roles all the way along. There is no doubt that we gain as much personally from our volunteering as we give.

Hannah concluded by adding a personal message to our volunteers:

“This week is an opportunity to pause and take time to really show our appreciation for our volunteers who allow us to make every moment count for those we support. From your own homes, to the Hospice in Cambridge, at our Alan Hudson Centre, in our retail spaces or out in the community, you all make such a difference, thank you.”

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If you would like to volunteer for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity please see our current vacancies here.