Volunteers Daphne and Charles awarded a short break in recognition of their voluntary work in Bournemouth for over 20 years

Daphne and her husband Charles are in their 80s and they have been helping the local community through volunteering for over 20 years. Following Help & Care’s nomination, the couple has been awarded a short break by Room to Reward.

Room to Reward is a national charity that offers complimentary short breaks to ‘hidden heroes’ within registered charities. The aim of Room to Reward is to recognise and reward the commitment, hard work and selflessness of volunteers and frontline staff. Registered charities can submit an online nomination and if approved, the nominee will be able to book a room at a participating hotel for a maximum of two nights.

Daphne and Charles were nominated by Help & Care due to the long time they have been volunteering and their willingness to go the extra mile to help other people.

Nisa, Volunteer Coordinator at Help & Care, said: “As a couple, they are very endearing in nature and have been extremely committed to their role as Telephone Support Volunteers. For example, they even came into the office one Christmas Eve to ring those being befriended.”

Throughout their lives, Daphne and Charles have carried out different roles at Help & Care, including driving people with mobility problems to essential appointments or visiting older and isolated people at home. When Charles suffered a heart attack eight years ago, they decided that going out and about was not safe anymore and joined the Telephone Befriending Support Scheme. In their current role, Daphne and Charles come to Help & Care on a fortnightly basis to call isolated, lonely, and sometimes housebound people.

The award was presented on Tuesday 7th of November by Adrian Dawson, Chair of Trustees at Help & Care.

Adrian said: “Room to Reward is a wonderful scheme to recognise the outstanding work that volunteers do to help their communities. I am glad Daphne and Charles’ nomination went through, they’ve done an amazing work at Help & Care and other charities in Bournemouth. They deserve a respite break.”

Daphne said, “We started volunteering because we wanted to help people and make a real difference to their lives, especially to those who are lonely and housebound. We didn’t expect anything for our voluntary work. It was a great surprise when we were told we had been awarded a break in a hotel. We look forward to it now”.

Acceditation logos