I’m currently the chair of FOPP. I became a director in 2016 and took over as chair when Hilary left in January 2018. I volunteer in male Education, supporting an ESOL class. I really enjoy this role working with a great teacher and meeting lots of people from many countries. I also do a few shifts in our Tea Bar. I love the the variety these two roles give and I find meeting different people very stimulating and interesting.
I’ve had quite a varied working life including working in a laboratory at a submarine cable factory and working at a Holiday Inn hotel. However, after going back to college at the ripe old age of 35 to do a geography degree, my career took a very definite turn. I became a local government employee working for Peterborough City Council and then Cambridge City Council in waste management, otherwise known as rubbish! In fact, the main aim was to reduce rubbish and increase recycling and reuse.
Since retiring, I have been very pleased to be involved with FOPP. Strangely, prisons featured in my early life as about 50 years ago my grandmother used to be a prison visitor! She used to leave my sister and me in the car when she went in to visit – I wonder if my mum ever knew about us being abandoned in some Aylesbury car park! I also do some volunteering for Age UK, visiting an older person and helping to provide a little support to enable them to stay in their own home. Every Christmas time I make Christmas tags out of old Christmas cards (the recycler within!) and sell them to raise money for Crisis, the charity supporting homeless people. Thanks to lots of FOPP volunteers for their support with this.
