"I’ve always been a part of the Red Cross.”
Seventy-six-year-old Barbara first joined the British Red Cross as a Cadet when she was 11 years-old.
Sixty-five years later, she is still volunteering in the same area of North Wales and has just been recognised for her service with a British Empire Medal.
Asked what that little girl would have thought if she’d been told she’d still be volunteering in her mid-seventies, Barbara chuckles.
“I don’t think she’d have believed it! It was just something we did as teenagers. I never thought I’d still be doing it 60 years later!”
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Cadet life in the 1960s
In the 1960s, Cadets like Barbara went to weekly meetings to learn skills like first aid, home nursing, childcare and healthy eating.
As the only child of parents who ran a petrol station in the small town of Buckley, the afterschool sessions were perfect, keeping her busy, productive and happy while her mum and dad worked.
“I found it rewarding and I thought it was a useful thing to do. We used to have parades, so we had to learn to march which was quite fun.” The girls wore a navy skirt, white shirt, a black tie and a beret.
“I felt chuffed with how smart I felt when I put it on,” she remembers, fondly.
At weekends they entered first aid and nursing competitions at local festivals like National Eisteddfod and Urdd. They were tested on things like their hospital bed corners, how to look after bedbound patients, and bandaging and sling techniques.
“Our team were quite lucky and won a few – we were a very active group.”
Becoming an adult volunteer in her 20s
At 18, Barbara went to teacher training college, taking the only significant break from volunteering she’s had in her life. Four years later she was back in Buckley and joined our adult group, attending evening meetings and providing first aid at local events like carnivals and theatre productions.
As the years passed, volunteering remained a central part of Barbara’s life. “You go through the inevitable – you get married, you have a family – but I still carried on. My children joined me at one point when they were about 11 as I was helping to run the cadet group. For them it was either: ‘Stop at home or join me!’”
When her children gave up as teenagers, Barbara continued, and the activities she was involved in evolved.
She became an Emergency Response Volunteer, called into action for everything from anti-trafficking work to flood and fire response, and also becoming a highly-respected first aid trainer.
Supporting survivors of trafficking
Barbara’s role in our anti-trafficking service saw her as part of a team of volunteers supporting survivors in the immediate aftermath of rescue by police.
“These people were not in a safe place,” she explains. “For want of a better word, their lodgings were raided. We manned the rest centres they were taken to, looking after them and feeding them until the authorities sorted out somewhere for them to go on to.”
It was brave work, requiring kindness, courage and sensitivity. “To start with I found it a bit unnerving, but we were very well looked after. They never advertised what we were doing which was necessary to keep everyone safe.”
Flood response and first aid training
In 2012 Barbara helped run our rest centre in St Asaph after more than 500 people were evacuated from their homes when the River Elwy burst its banks.
Handing out dry clothes, as well as warm food and drinks, volunteers like Barbara were there to offer words of comfort and support.
“It was anything we could do. A lot of people came out just in the clothes they were standing up in – we would speak to them and point them in the right direction.”
Like almost all of our volunteers, Barbara wants to emphasise how much she gains from the experience.
“I always felt it was a two-way thing. I get out of it as much as I am giving. It’s rewarding. It sounds smug but it’s not intended to be like that. I just enjoy it! There is always teamwork and camaraderie. It was never a one-person job. We never do things on our own.”
Volunteering as a two-way exchange
After six and half decades, volunteering is such a part of Barbara’s life and identity, she has rarely stopped to think about why she does it. It’s a form of selfless service that seems to come without question.
“It’s just a lifestyle to me I suppose. I’ve always been a part of the Red Cross – I’ve never really thought about why I do it. I committed myself to volunteer, so I do it and I try my best.”
The world has changed dramatically since Barbara was being judged on her hospital bed corners, but her commitment to the Red Cross has never wavered, and nor has her belief in human kindness.
“You hear such a lot of bad things in the press about the way people behave, but there is a lot of good that goes on. Lots of people are very, very helpful. If there is a major incident, people rally around and help each other.”
For Barbara, the Red Cross continues to symbolise care and compassion – both at home in the UK and around the world.
“There is a lot of history – going back to when Red Cross parcels were sent out to the soldiers on the battlefields. People see the Red Cross and they expect things to happen. They expect help.”
With volunteers like Barbara amongst us, we will keep being able to help – building strong, resilient communities and ready to respond to emergencies – whenever and wherever it is needed most.
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