Returning to volunteering

 In my opinion, I used to be quite an avid volunteer; I began volunteering at a local youth group when I was about 14 and doing my bronze Duke of Edinburgh. After finishing my GCSEs, I moved on to volunteering at a local Barnardo's charity shop, and eventually at a primary school which was sort of partnered with my sixth form. These were brilliant experiences, though I knew that these were things which were taking up time which I could use to be revising for my A-Levels or relaxing from revising for my A-Levels. I do think this was the best decision to make, but I really miss being able to help out places.

Thankfully, this week I was finally able to return to volunteering. Whilst I won't be returning to the primary school, not only are it the summer holidays, but I don't think a university schedule would be repetitive enough to commit to a specific classroom or time - and it's no longer exactly ideal to commute to. I have started a new volunteering experience though; this week, I signed up for my first ever beach clean!

For some reason, since towards the end of my A-Level exam season, I had a sort of craving for doing a beach clean, so when my college emailed me (well, not just me, I think everyone in my sixth form) a list of Durham Wildlife Trust volunteer events in the summer, which is where I saw there were three beach cleans happening in my town. Which I was majorly chuffed about. I signed up for all of them, with the first one being for this week and the next two being two days in a row for Marine Week, which is something I am excited to post about. 

I'll be honest when I say that when I woke up on the morning on the beach clean, I was kind of dreading it. I think it was because of the new experience and having to speak with unfamiliar people, as well as having to commit two hours to something (so far this summer I really haven't done much, so this was the most I had done for a while). I do find that I tend to feel anxious to the point of feeling ill when I know where I'm going is likely going to be entirely unfamiliar - this used to happen before every driving lesson, despite how lovely my instructor was. But I always pulled through and did them anyway, which I can applaud myself for, but I wish that it didn't happen at all in the first place.

Anywho, I had a parcel to drop off before heading there, so I decided to leave an hour early to account for any mishaps that could happen - such as the traffic going 5mph down my street with a queue of twenty cars behind it. Lucky me. Despite all of this, and struggling to park near the post office, and originally parking in the wrong car park for the beach clean, and struggling to park in a nearly empty car park, I still got there about half an hour early. Which was ideal, as so was everyone else! Everyone who was there (fellow volunteers and Durham Wildlife Trust members) was so welcoming and kind, which made everything so much easier for me.

The beach clean itself was actually really fun. I didn't really speak to anyone during the actual beach clean as we kind of separated out to ensure we covered as much of the beach as possible. It was actually much more fun - and much more physically challenging - than I thought. Despite only picking up smaller pieces of rubbish, I hadn't expected it to get so heavy as fast as it did! My arms aren't as strong as I'd like them to be, but I've been trying to consistently lift weights 3x a week to strengthen them (and my legs), so hopefully this has helped as a workout, as well as being a bit of cardio too (it was an extremely difficult access beach). Despite it being so hot and physically strenuous, I really enjoyed it! Obviously, it was so sad to see so much rubbish dumped on the gorgeous beach, but it felt rewarding to pick it all up and ensure that local wildlife are more protected. The most common rubbish I found was tangled fishing line and torn parts of carrier bags. The most random thing I found was an empty takeaway Tupperware box. We ended up getting a team photo - which I haven't seen yet, though I probably look a mess - and we collected 20 bags! It was an amazing achievement, and I really look forward to doing two more (thankfully easier beach cleans) next week. I hope it also eventually helps me find the confidence to do my own one, as it was actually quite relaxing to just walk in silence and pick things up.

My next volunteering venture is that I've finally returned to Barnardo's! I've been really excited as I like the manager - she's so nice - and it's nothing too difficult, but still rewarding and varying each time. I have opted to do two 2-hour shifts per week until I (hopefully) start my degree, after which I'll probably have to shorten it to one 2-hour shift a week. I like how I'm able to pick and choose whichever shift I like. It makes it so easy to fit it around my life, rather than committing to one shift, which I sometimes have to cancel. I hope returning to volunteering (and maybe eventually extending my shift hours) will make the shift into university easier, as it's not as though I spent my whole summer holidays being a loser.

My first day back wasn't incredibly hectic, though there was thankfully a lot to keep me busy. I was tasked with doing my favourite job: coding items. For some context, at least at my charity shop (not sure if it is the same for all charity shops), the price tags on the items have three "date" and "week" boxes. The shop I volunteer at only uses the date boxes, and the 'most recent' one is when that item is due to be taken off the shelves. Each item is on the shop floor for two weeks from the date it was sorted (if that makes sense?). Since we get so many bags and a lack of volunteers, it normally takes a few days or even weeks to get a chance to actually go through that bag. A little side note, I could be wrong in saying this, but I think if an item is close to the date of being off of the shelves, they're more lenient at attempts for people to haggle (I have seen a man try to haggle £5 shoes, I'm sure the managers/tillworkers will have no problem if you try to haggle in all honesty). Anywho, my favourite job within the charity shop is being able to go through a whole section of the shop and take items off the shelf which are at or past their 'expiry' date. This is an important part of the process as it not only allows for space for newer items, but it also gives us a chance to try to sell these items again, but at a lower price. Quite often, the items taken off go to a sort of hub, where charity shops which are low on a certain item (e.g. men's trousers) can be sent a bag from another shop to make up for the lack of stock. That previous statement could be wrong, but that's how I remember the manager telling me what happened last year.

It was a really good time; the two hours actually went over really quickly, and it was a great way to spend my day, as it gave me a reason to actually get out of bed! I can't wait to go again next week - I haven't had a chance to do my second shift this week, as I've moved it to tomorrow (Saturday), just for this week, since I have something to do this Friday. I hope this shows why I love volunteering there; the flexibility is so helpful.