I have been volunteering with Mencap since October 2016 – I started at only 15 years old. I can honestly that making the decision to join Keynsham Mencap has been life changing and was the BEST decision I ever made.

I first heard about Keynsham Mencap when Laura held a presentation in my Health and Social Care class to speak about volunteering opportunities. I had not had any prior experience of supporting individuals with a learning disability, but it was definitely an avenue I wanted to explore.I was so nervous about signing myself up as a volunteer with Keynsham Mencap BUT I am so glad that I made the decision to do it.

I initially chose to volunteer because I was interested in supporting children with learning disabilities and I wanted to do something that would make a difference in someone else’s life. I shortly realised that volunteering with Keynsham Mencap was making a huge difference in my life also.

 I initially started volunteering at Keynsham Juniors on a Thursday evening which I absolutely loved – so much so I signed up to volunteer at Club25 and Keynsham Juniors on a Tuesday as well – this was soon followed by me joining the Go Explore volunteer team.

Volunteering for Mencap 3 nights a week, across 4 clubs, just was not enough! I soon became a regular volunteer on day trips, evenings out and annual holidays.

Being a regular volunteer across several clubs enabled me to see the impact Mencap has on our members – from children as young as 5 years old right the way into their adulthood.

I wanted to do more to help the charity as much as possible, so I decided to organise several fundraising events throughout the years – fetes, coffee mornings, raffles, quiz nights and more! I started off with very little experience of fundraising at my very first event (I had only done a sponsored silence and sponsored run prior to this) but organising these events became my hobby.

Seeing the Keynsham Mencap community come together to raise money for our amazing charity was one of the best feelings.

At the age of 20, I was promoted to the Deputy Play Leader of SENSations (formerly known as Keynsham Juniors). I absolutely LOVED this job – I would always say to everyone that ‘my dream job is to work for Mencap full time’.

At 22 years old I was then promoted to Play Leader of SENSations and I also became the Deputy Club Leader of Go Explore. Due to other work commitments I unfortunately had to stop both jobs but shortly after the opportunity to become the Club Leader of Club25 arouse and I successfully got this role.

Fast forward to 24 years old, I am now the Deputy Manager, Events Co-ordinator, and Club25 Leader for Keynsham Mencap – all 3 of my jobs put together means that I am now working for Mencap full time!

On my volunteer application form back in 2016 I was asked why I wanted to become a Keynsham Mencap volunteer – my response was ‘One job route I want to go down is working with children with a disability’. 9 years later I am now doing my dream job working for this amazing charity and supporting children and adults with a learning disability.

I am lucky enough to still also be able to occasionally volunteer at some of our clubs and to regularly volunteer on day trips and holidays!

My journey to where I am now has not been easy – I am open in saying that I have previously struggled with my mental health BUT one of the reasons I am where I am today is because of Mencap.

The love, support, and kindness from members, volunteers and staff unbelievable – I cannot thank my Mencap family enough for supporting me to get to where I am today.

Keynsham Mencap changed my life – it gave me a purpose.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Laura by emailing laura@keynshammencap.org.uk or phoning 01179 865659, or you can apply online by completing our online volunteer application form.

We would love to hear from you!