I started volunteering in 1996 when I was asked by a family friend if I was able to help out a local group who were taking all the members to Disneyland Paris. I was 16 had no idea what I wanted to do in the future and had no experience of disability other then...

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...

 I was lucky enough to escape the rat race and corporate world in my 40’s and suddenly found myself in a position to pursue what I wanted to do rather than what I had to do. I have a beautiful family that support my every passion, and I found myself really drawn to...

I am going to UWE Bristol to study Paediatric Nursing next year as I love working with children! I felt that I really wanted to help make a difference in my local community and so I joined Mencap to volunteer with 11-18 year olds. I really enjoy it and would recommend...

Hi I’m Jade, and my background was absolutely nothing to do with disabled people or volunteering at all! I started off at A Levels doing English courses and eventually ended up at university doing an English degree, but soon realised that writing was more of a hobby...

I applied to volunteer with Keynsham Mencap in 2011 with the intention of gaining some experience in a health care setting before starting a degree in Occupational Therapy. The degree hasn’t happened yet, but several years later I’m still here! Once a week or so I...

It was November 2014 and I’d got to the stage in my life that I wanted to give something back and do something that made me feel good about myself. I had an interesting job but it was very corporate. Maybe it was a bit of ‘mid-life crisis’ too combined with empty nest...

As a career civil servant since I left school I had no experience of working with people with learning disabilities but I was drawn to the opportunity to make a difference and work with a diverse group of exceptional people simply by picking up a volunteer recruitment...

My older sister has Down’s syndrome so I grew up being around people with physical and learning disabilities. When I left school I wanted to do something other than college so my mum told me about Mencap and volunteering there and I have been doing it for nearly 4...