SPREAD THE LOVE
Love Island’s Faye Winter gets emotional as she meets hero volunteers for The Sun’s Helping Hands Xmas appeal
LOVE ISLANDER Faye Winter swapped her heels and party dress for an apron as she mucked in to help at a lunch club for our Helping Hands at Christmas campaign.
After her day alongside Royal Voluntary Service volunteers — with her adorable pup Bonnie — she said: “It’s been incredible. I’ll be back to help whenever I can.
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“Volunteering is amazing and I really hope others sign up. It doesn’t require money, just some of your time.”
This year more than ever, clubs like this one in Yateley, Hants will be a lifeline to the elderly and vulnerable as they struggle to heat their homes and afford food and other essentials.
For our Christmas campaign we are asking YOU to with time and/or money — however little of each you can spare at this tough time. At the bottom of the page is how to help.
Royal Voluntary Service is one of the UK’s biggest volunteering charities, supporting the NHS and thousands of vulnerable people.
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As well as helping at lunch and social clubs, there are other volunteer jobs, from driving a person to and from hospital, and making companionship phone calls, to helping with a hospital trolley.
Or give money — £6 a month will pay the costs of a volunteer for a year.
Helping out at a club is a fantastic way to cheer up people who may be lonely, perhaps after a partner died and their children have long since left home.
Faye, 27, joined eight volunteers at the weekly Yateley club, founded in 1985, to feed 25 diners. For some, it is the only time they get out.
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It is not her first volunteering, as she has fostered guide dogs for five years, and she soon dived in along-side coordinator Margaret Claydon and fellow volunteers Lesley Freeman, Wendy Brown, Sylvia Gillibrand, Susan Thompson, Patricia Peek and Louise Hazel.
The club started off with frozen meals but Margaret and her team decided its users deserved better and decided to cook from scratch.
When The Sun visited it was a roast-pork dinner with all the trimmings.
Faye was quickly a hit, despite her pooch trying to steal the limelight by pulling crackers with some of the men.
Chatting with one man, who told her about his trips to the US, Faye amused his pals by nicknaming him “Las Vegas”.
She then called pre-dinner bingo numbers — and quipped that she preferred her new pals there to her old Love Island villa mates.
She said: “I’m staying right here, thanks, you lot have more manners”
Margaret, who has volunteered with Royal Voluntary Service since 1986, told Faye: “The ladies working at this club are just wonderful.
“I look forward to it and it’s lovely bringing something extra to people’s lives. They bring joy into mine.”
Volunteer-run bus
But Margaret and her merry band do need more helpers.
She said: “Please don’t be put off, for any reason. Doing something like this is a pleasure, not just for the users.”
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Sue, 75, who has been a volunteer for a decade, said of her co-helpers: “It’s lovely to have these ladies in my life. You get so much out of it.”
Many of the club’s users live alone and are thrilled to get out — while also getting out of washing up.
While some live in the complex where the club is, others travel in from the local area, on volunteer-run bus service Yelabus.
Joan, in her eighties, who takes the bus with neighbour Angela, said: “It’s wonderful, we get treated like princes and princesses. I feel embarrassed as many of us are in our seventies and eighties, like the volunteers, but I can’t do what they can.”
“I’ve been coming on and off for three years and after the pandemic found it really hard to get out of my home. But coming here was the thing to get me over that.
“I look forward to it. Not being able to come during Covid was hard. I missed being able to chat, and set the world to rights.”
Fellow club-goer Eileen said: “It can get lonely because my children have their own lives and I can’t expect them to phone all the time.
“I come here and have a chance to talk. I’ve made friends over really lovely food.”
Reflecting on her visit, which included tea and cake, Faye said: “The volunteers are amazing. I’ve seen the incredible food.
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“They put in so much work and you see how much everyone appreciates it. I’ve loved my day, and calling bingo.”
- To give your time or donate money go to
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Donate time
THERE are a wide range of volunteering jobs available, including making a companionship call, serving hot meals at our lunch clubs to someone who would not otherwise eat, delivering practical help to those recovering from illness and working on hospital wards or at vaccination sites.
If there is not a suitable role in your local area, you might want to sign up as an Emergency Response Volunteer.
You will be contacted when new vital roles are introduced, to support communities and the NHS over winter.
Visit the website: now, to find out about jobs in your area and follow the instructions on how to sign up.
Donate money
IF you can’t volunteer you can donate money to help cover the costs of recruiting and training volunteers. Just £6 a month covers the cost of a volunteer for a year.
To donate, visit the website above or text HANDS to 70507 to give £5*
*You will be charged £5, plus one message at your standard network rate. Royal Voluntary Service will receive 100 per cent. If you wish to discuss this mobile payment, call 020 3282 7863. Registered charity number 1015988 (England and Wales) & SC038924 (Scotland).
By texting HANDS to 70507 you are agreeing to us contacting you by SMS about fundraising and to tell you more about our work. To give £5 without receiving further contact by SMS, text HANDSNO to 70507.
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