Wilma's Volunteering Story

Wilma is 72 and started volunteering with shmu a few years ago. A resident of Heathryfold for the last 50 years, she was part of the local park group and was interested in why the community was often left out of funding for projects which were aimed at neighbouring communities.

She contacted Laura at shmu to talk about getting involved in the Middlefield Mirror community magazine (which now also covers Heathryfold) and the rest, as they say, is history! 

Wilma said: "Retiring was a daunting prospect and I thought ‘people won’t listen to me’ but different volunteering opportunities came along at the right time and I realised that people would listen to me.”  

She added: “It’s been a huge learning curve and I have learned a lot of things about myself. It has been wonderful and has spurred me on in my writing. It’s a bonus that what I write might mean something to somebody else as it means something to me. 

“Writing is a great thing. I would recommend it to anyone: it doesn’t matter what you write, just write it. It’s therapy for the soul. Volunteering does that for me, and it allows you to see things from other people’s point of view.  

“Volunteering opens up a lot of opportunities in ways you wouldn’t believe, and it gives you the confidence to challenge people. It’s given me confidence to believe in myself more. I think that contributing to the magazine is about the power of the press which is a big thing we have in this country.  

“Volunteering is my release for stress. We all have something to say and I think you should say it as someone out there will think it’s good. You’re more important than you think are.” 

Keep an eye out for more volunteering stories - we will be sharing these throughout Volunteers' Week and beyond.

If you would like to read previous editions of the community magazines click here.

Please note, this photo of Wilma and her sister was taken before social distancing guidelines were put in place.