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Volunteers Week – Supporting our Rumney Hub Club

In our final feature for Volunteers Week, we focus on the volunteering journey of Tony Lawrence, who supports our weekly sessions held at the Rumney Hub Club in Cardiff. 

Tony was introduced to Sporting Memories by an old school friend, having moved back to Cardiff three years ago after previously spending several years at school in the Welsh capital as a child. Tony started his conversation with us by explaining his pathway into the Club.

“My friend supported the Club as a volunteer alongside Jane Clemence from the council who ran the group, but she retired a couple of months ago and they knew she was coming up to retirement. So, they were looking for new volunteers and they asked if I’d be interested - I said I’d go along and give it a try!

“There’s my friend from school and there’s another chap who has been volunteering even longer. So, in many ways I am the new boy, but it has been a smooth process and very easy to follow what they do.”

Tony’s experience so far

We asked Tony what the Club is like from his perspective having initially been a member for a short period of time.

“It’s a much livelier group than I expected! Some of the knowledge that people have is phenomenal and they put me to shame. There are members answering questions I haven’t got a clue about.

“There’s a lot of banter and joking and back and forth. We’ve had a couple of new people start and that’s quite interesting because you can see people not really knowing what to expect.

“You can’t come out of one of those sessions and be grumpy or in a bad mood because you just spent two hours basically laughing and being with people who want to chat and have fun.”

Getting out as much you put in

When we spoke to Tony, he highlighted some of the qualities that are important to have when supporting a Sporting Memories session, which can be transferred to any volunteering role.

“I think you get as much out as you put in – and with volunteering you probably get out more than you put in. It can be extremely rewarding.

“You know that you’re helping people, also without realising, you’re also helping the volunteers as well. It gets me out of bed on a Wednesday morning and I know I’m going to have a good morning – which puts me in great spirits.

With that in mind we ask Tony for his thoughts on whether he would encourage others to support Sporting Memories, be it at the Rumney Hub or elsewhere across Britain.

“I’d thoroughly recommend it (volunteering) - it’s a good thing to do. People may be put off by being the fact we’re called Sporting Memories – but it’s so much more than that.

“It’s about just sort of developing those bonds, really, either through sport or not, with people who are there every week. That initial connection can be through sport, but from my experience it ultimately leads to a lot further than that, allowing us all to feel part of a special group.”

The Rumney Hub Club runs every Wednesday between 10am to 12pm. If you would like to find out more about joining, contact Rob Baker via rob.baker@sportingmemories.uk