Maxine Turkington of CamRead

If you want to make a difference and get to know people in your community, volunteering can bring tangible benefits to everyone involved. Holly Willis spoke to some inspirational people at Cambridge charity CamRead to find out more.

CamRead Volunteers

When it comes to making a real difference in your neighbourhood, there are a number of East Anglian charities doing excellent work, often self-funded. High profile global charities do a fantastic job but can sometimes dominate the headlines to such an extent that we forget the small local organisations that offer lifelines to many in their communities.

Set up in 1981, CamRead is a charity that provides invaluable support, free of charge, to blind people in Cambridge. Volunteers visit partially-sighted and blind people in their homes to read to them, help with correspondence, or just have a chinwag. Some volunteers give their time to make voice recordings of local interest books and articles which people can then listen to on CD.

If your life changes, change your life

Maxine Turkington is both a volunteer and a user of CamRead, at 79 years-old she is a motivational speaker who lives in Cambridge and contributes to the charity’s audio magazine CamMag with a regular column called Tips For VIPs (visually impaired people).

‘I am registered blind, says Maxine, I’ve had Stargardt’s disease since I was in my 40s and it really doesn’t bother me. I just forget about things like driving and reading – I like to walk and we have plenty of buses here anyway, I get through more books now by listening to them on CD than I did before I lost my sight, plus I can listen while I’m doing other things like ironing. My motto is “if your life changes, change your life.”

Maxine’s tips range from advice on how to apply make-up, to cooking. She has produced a cookery book for visually impaired people and is working on a second book about making the most of life and increasing self-confidence whatever your situation.

‘I encourage people to try things they think they can’t do but when they have a go they realise they can,’ says Maxine. ‘Some partially-sighted people are nervous about cooking because well-meaning friends or relatives have put them off, worried they might burn or cut themselves, so I give tips on using knives and cooking equipment safely. If you cook a meal you can invite neighbours over to enjoy it with you, which builds a social live as well as confidence.’

Fellow volunteer at CamRead, Sally Notts, says that since volunteers are carefully matched with those they visit, bringing like-minded people together, friendships often develop.

‘Visits are more about a two-way conversation and exchange of ideas that both people enjoy,’ says Sally.

Lorraine Valenzuela, CamRead’s Recording Service Co-ordinator, agrees that CamRead and its magazine CamMag help Cambridgeshire people stay connected with events and people in their community. Lorraine has good eyesight herself but members of her family do not, so she understands the effect loss of sight can have on a whole family. As well as organising volunteers, Lorraine works with local authors and contributors.

‘I organised a Grow Old Disgracefully theme this year,’ says Lorraine, ‘Jenny Joseph made a recording for us of her wonderful poem, Warning - When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple. Peter Searby has also made recordings for us of his book, Cambridge At War, and next year we are planning to have an exclusive from a Milton publisher of a book not yet available in print.’

CamRead is self-funded and relies on volunteers not only for visits and voice recordings, but to help out with office administration, fundraising and the technical side of recording an audio magazine. Even if you don’t want to get involved in home visits or making voice recordings in your own home, why not come up with a fundraising event? You can volunteer for as little as an hour a week and your time will make a real difference as the whole organisation is kept going by a board of unpaid trustees, part-time employees and volunteers.

How to take part

CamRead is always keen to hear from people interested in helping out, but what skills is CamRead looking for?

Are you good with people, not daunted by chatting to someone you’ve just met and happy to converse on a range of topics?

Can you spare an hour or more a week?

Do you have a clear speaking voice? You don’t have to speak like Joanna Lumley but some voices sound clearer than others when recorded.

CamRead, 167 Green End Road, CB4 1RW, camread.org.uk, 01223 424220

Are you involved with a Cambridgeshire charity? We want to hear about it! Drop us an email at agenda@archant.co.uk