A volunteering journey across the decades
Mike has been volunteering with us for almost 40 years, but will be stepping down next spring. He reflects on the changes he’s seen and why he’d do it all again.
In July this year I celebrated a ‘significant’ birthday – I hit seventy. But I’m not the only one to become a septuagenarian (seventy-year-old) this year. The MS Society also celebrates its seventieth birthday this month. It seems the MS Society and I have grown up together!
How it all began
I joined the MS Society in 1984 when my wife was first diagnosed with MS. Within a few years I started volunteering with the Chorley Group when we moved there. By 1989 I was asked if I’d take on the role of Group Coordinator. I’ve been in a coordinating role ever since! In those days there was no volunteer support locally and the MS Society’s main office was run with just a handful of staff. But during the 90s it became clear the organisation had to become more high-profile nationally and offer more support locally.
This coincided with my wife’s continued progressive MS, so in 1999 I decided to give up my career as a college lecturer to become her carer. This gave me the opportunity to become more involved in volunteering nationally.
I was elected as a trustee of the MS Society — a post I held for seven years. It was very exciting to be at the ‘top table’ at a time when the MS Society was making great strategic strides.
I think the pinnacle of my time as a trustee was when I raised my hand to vote to spend a million pounds on the MS nurses initiative. The MS Society decided to support the recruitment and training of dedicated MS nurses to work alongside neurologists. The hope was that, once they were embedded and the money ran out, their posts would then be taken on board by the NHS. This is exactly what happened. So the MS nurses who now work in the NHS might not be there without the MS Society.
Changing with the times
Back in my local group in Chorley, we were expanding the range of services we offered. Traditionally the MS Society and its local groups only funded therapies that were medically proven. We were convinced that a cure was just around the corner. But as time went on and a cure was (and still remains) elusive, we realised that offering alternative therapies also helped people to manage their MS. We also started giving much greater emphasis to social events and reducing the isolation that disability brings. So the support offered by groups has adapted over the years.
Moving on
Around five years ago, I left Chorley to join the Preston Group, who needed a Group Coordinator. Like Chorley, they’re a group of talented and dedicated volunteers who have responded well to change.
More recently, I was recruited to the Community Networks Advisory Panel (CNAP) of the MS Society, which I co-chair. The panel takes a strategic overview of the work of local groups and advises on future planning.
Counting back over the years, I’ve now seen six different Chief Executives and Chairs of the MS Society. I’ve volunteered for the MS Society for over half of my life — and for over half the life of the organisation.
While the essence of what we do for people affected by MS has remained, the nature of volunteering has changed beyond recognition. Since I joined, the changes in the MS Society have reflected the changes taking place in wider society — more scrutiny, more accountability, and more justification for everything we undertake.
There are still plenty of volunteers who are in it for the long haul. But today’s demands on people’s time mean that some now prefer to dip in and out by volunteering for one-off events. It’s another change that the MS Society plans to respond to, by offering more ‘light touch’ opportunities.
A much fuller and more rewarding life
If I had my time all over again, would I volunteer for the MS Society? Of course I would! I’ve seen the smiles on the faces of people we’ve supported. I’ve met so many people that I now call friends — staff, volunteers and those who use our services. Were it not for the MS Society I wouldn’t have walked Wainwright’s Coast to Coast. Or run the London, New York and Amsterdam marathons. Or spent a summer swimming 50 miles to celebrate the Chorley Group’s fiftieth anniversary. But volunteering isn’t purely altruistic. I’ve certainly taken out more than I’ve put in and lived a much fuller and more rewarding life as a result.
Last Christmas my wife passed away after almost forty years with MS. The new freedom that I have is her gift to me. At seventy, I’m now setting a new course in my life and the MS Society too is constantly adapting.
So from us two seventy-year-olds, we wish you all the very best for the future. When we’re both one hundred, maybe I’ll be asked to write another blog...watch this space!
