Christine got involved whilst she was working at home running a sewing business. She decided that she and her younger daughter Janine, needed the company of children and people their own ages and so went along to the local mothers and toddlers group. From here she and another local woman Brenda Riley started Demesne Playgroup and from this beginning, Chris's voluntary work started to mushroom.
Like many volunteers experience, once you start to be known as someone who is reliable and committed to working in the community, you start getting roped in to other things. She then started to work with a wide range of people, working with juniors, disabled groups, demesne management committee and eventually started a womens group. “We just got involved in doing anything and everything, we were a group of women who just wanted to have fun, learn, be together and have new experiences.
We did time out for women, camping, rugby, all sorts of sports and had loads of fun. There was an equal opportunities department in Rochdale at this time and they would send us information of what was going on in the borough for women, we even had a visitor from Romania, who came and saw how we ran community projects on Langley.
It was about this time that the Langley Community Enterprise Projects started, and i was one of the people instrumental in getting local enterprise projects of the ground including, sparkles launderette, good as new, this and that and home and away furniture project. The great thing was these were run by local people and were very much needed by the local community. Lakeside training centre was also developed and alongside this, i got involved in developing the Langley children's project. This project offered a wide range of childcare services for parents and carers who both worked or either stayed at home looking after their children.
“ I am a person who wants better for the area and the people in it. I want more opportunities for my kids and others”
By getting involved in volunteering, i was able to get a professional qualification which led to my employment at Demesne. “I did a 6 week course at Sparth community centre in Rochdale called Introduction to Community Work and then more opportunities came my way and i eventually trained at Manchester University and passed as a qualified youth and community worker.
“When you've been working for as long as i have, you forget all the things that you've been involved in. I've been involved in a wide range of activities including demonstrations in London, to getting involved in the film Raining Stones, where i played Ricky Thomlinsons wife May” These life changing experiences only happened due to getting involved in the community and volunteering.
“I would encourage anyone to get involved in volunteering, you can learn so much, have fun and it helps raise your confidence”
“The achievements i am most proud of include, setting up the different groups, becoming Demesne Centre Manager, all the learning and experience i have gained along the way and getting trained at Manchester University.
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