Meet our Volunteer, Marian

Hi Marian. Tell us a little about yourself:

I  started volunteering on my retirement, I had completed 41 years of full time employment with the same company.  My volunteering has been mostly in the Care in the Community sector and sporting events. I was a car driver at World/International sporting events  which included the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Olympic Games both held in Manchester.

Why did you start volunteering at Healthwatch Salford?

My Care in the Community volunteering started in 2001 and a couple of years later being a member of a group called ‘Links’ which closed when Healthwatch came into being. A year before Healthwatch was born,  I was invited to be a member of a group called ‘ The Healthwatch Shadow Board’ our role was to decide how Healthwatch Salford would work, its rules, how it would be organised and what work it would do, in other words setting up the new organisation. Once Healthwatch started I became one of its first members.

What activities have you been involved in at Healthwatch Salford?

My volunteering work has been varied but the work I found most interesting and rewarding was being a member of a small group of professionals from Salford Primary Care and Salford NHS vetting and interviewing applicants for grants who had to prove to us that the money would improve local projects within Salford similar to the television show Dragons Den.  Not all applicants were successful. During lockdown my volunteering has been solely by email and Zoom.