Volunteers share adventure and 'someone to talk to'

Volunteers from around the South West have been sharing their stories for Volunteers' Week.

Nearly 60% of people in Devon and Cornwall volunteered at least once last year, according to a recent government survey.

Anita Dowman volunteers for Shallowford Farm, in Dartmoor, which gives some of the "most disadvantaged" young people from inner cities a flavour of life on a working farm.

And former fire fighter Earl Hinsley-Self said his role as a discharge lounge volunteer at Torbay Hospital gave him a sense of purpose after retirement.

Ms Dowman said many of the young people she takes to the countryside "haven't even been out of London".

"So it can be quite daunting - the first thing they notice is the smell," she said.

Days start early, feeding and mucking out pigs before breakfast ahead of a day packed with activities such as hiking, climbing trees and lambing - depending on the time of year.

Once the youngsters get over the initial "shock" of smells, spiders and seeing animals, "you start seeing the amazement in them", said Ms Dowman.

Ms Dowman grew up in London and first visited the farm in 1992 as a child on a camping trip, staying in "old army tents".

Her mother was on one of the farm's first trips in 1977, she said, and her son and grandmother had also been to the farm - making four generations of visitors.

"Dartmoor is one of my favourite places in the world and I love sharing this experience with the children," she said.

When Earl Hinsley-Self was unable to work after recovering from lung cancer, he signed up to a volunteering open day at the local hospital.

"I was completely sold on it", he said, "as it meant being part of a team... and putting something back into the community".

Mr Hinsley-Self now s people who are being discharged from hospital.

"It just puts people's mind at rest, that they've got someone to talk to," he said.

He said he enjoyed meeting "new people every day" and made "the best" cup of teas.

Mr Hinsley-Self is one of more than 400 volunteers at the hospital, with others doing everything from to pet therapy and presenting hospital radio.

Nick Payne, from Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust, said the trust was "extremely fortunate" for its team of volunteers.

The hospital put on a cream tea to thank them earlier this week, he said.

The trust said more than 4,000 patients had "some form of social interaction" with volunteers - such as playing board games, talking or being read to - between October 2024 and March 2025.

About 1,666 patients were given food or drink by volunteers in that time, while more than 11,000 notes had been delivered by volunteers, the trust said.

Mandy Rolleston and Sharon Bamford both volunteer at Cornwall Playhouse in Truro, Cornwall.

Mrs Rolleston said there was a "great sense of community" among theatre's more than 200 volunteers, who check tickets and help audience have a "fantastic experience".

Ms Rolleston said volunteers come from all walks of life, with lawyers, medical professionals, business owners and "a lot of heistresses".

Mrs Bamford previously worked in the building in the 1990s, when it was the Hall for Cornwall and helped set up the old venue's volunteer program, when it was "a pasty and a pint to run the bar".

"I still get very emotional, [the hall] still means a lot to me."

Alex Laidlaw, front of house manager, said the team of volunteers were "massively important" and helped the theatre to run.

Mr Laidlaw said "about 50%" of the volunteers still worked or studied elsewhere.

Ms Rolleston said she would "absolutely" recommend volunteering to anyone.

"You get so much from it - the community, the , the stimulation," she said.

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