We were delighted with the varied responses received from our recent knolling project with volunteers. Sally Seddon, our Volunteer Engagement Manager, invited our UK-wide network to create a photographic display from the comfort of their own home and email through the results.
Sally said: “To mark Shared Interest’s 30th anniversary, we asked volunteers to create a birds-eye view of selected items, which represent what Shared Interest means to them.
“As well as being an eye-catching way to present their items, volunteers also showed us which elements of the organisation have inspired them most. We wanted to share these thoughts by planning a display at our member events this year. With these events currently being postponed, we will share a selection here on our website for people to enjoy.”
Ambassador, Kathryn Haigh from Carnforth (near Lancaster) told us the following about her curation of items for the knolling project: “Mine is a display of Shared Interest resources through the years. At the centre is my Shared Interest bag, which I often take on travel to meetings, with a few Shared Interest brochures. I have had some interesting conversations with people on the train!
“I worked as a volunteer for eight months in Kenya when I was 18, and I met many people who were growing coffee or tea, and so I feel I have a personal connection with the people and communities that Shared Interest works with. My husband and I were able to put some money into Shared Interest. We still had a very old brochure from those early days, as well as our opening statement from 1993. Although you do not have to be an investor to volunteer with Shared Interest, that commitment for me is critical for my involvement as a volunteer. I have been a volunteer for just over two years, but an investor for 27.
“Of course, any day of volunteering isn’t complete without a cup of tea or coffee, and the little notebook is filled with ideas of organisations, and contacts from people I talk with.
I have also included a selection of the resources I use to show how the organisation changes lives across the world. My favourite is the brochure ‘Imagine if you could invest in a fairer world’. It says a lot in very few words.
I probably heard about Shared Interest from an insert in a magazine of a development charity perhaps - I can’t remember, but if it had not been for that first introduction to the organisation, then I probably wouldn’t be here as a volunteer today.”
