West Berkshire Volunteer Centre AGM

Last night I attended the West Berkshire Volunteer Centre AGM at the Town Hall. It was good to see so many familiar faces there. I was the Town Council rep on the board of trustees for a couple of years, so know quite a bit about this very worthwhile organisation.

We heard about the increase in the number of volunteers since the previous year, - many of these through corporate volunteering, which is heartening. The good work with Shopmobility goes from strength to strength, but they plan a publicity drive on the Handybus as it could be used more.

Following the usual reports from the chair and director, we had an entertaining presentation on the volunteer rapid response scheme from an enthusiastic ambulanceman called Ian. He used the dignatories on the top table to demonstrate the bits of kit given to trained volunteers to save the lives of heart attack victims. The volunteer centre have already found 30 volunteers to be trained to do this very valuable work, but need many more. The aim is to have a committed group of volunteers in each village of West Berkshire, who can be the first on the scene for anyone who has a heart attack in their community - every minute after an attack is so valuable that this voluntary work can literally save lives.