David Williamson volunteers at Edinburgh Headway as a Management Committee Member and Fundraiser.

“I’ve been volunteering with Headway since late 2002. I got involved because I knew Bill Bryden, the Director of Headway, and heard that there was an opportunity to get involved.”

What does your volunteering involve?

 “I’m on the committee. I do a number of things, when Edinburgh Headway had to register with the Care Commission (because it’s a support organisation), I helped prepare all the initial documentation. My main role on the committee though is fundraising, most of the fundraising is not as you might expect it to be – it’s not about going out shaking collecting cans - but largely looking at obtaining funding from the lottery fund, this involved completing a rather lengthy application form, and luckily it was successful. As a result, we are now able to fund a new project which aims to publicise Headway to those that have been directly affected by a head injury, and their families, so that we can encourage them to make use of the facilities. I was also involved in the recruitment of a new staff member for the project, and was on the interview panel. ”

“My volunteering at Headway makes use of my background in finance and personnel, I don’t really work directly with people using Headway’s facilities, but I support its administration”

“I also wanted to do something different from my work, I already had experience of being a treasurer, so I didn’t want to do that, I was looking for something a bit different, a new challenge.”

“What you find is that lots of different things are thrown at you to try and deal with, and you just have to make the most of it. You’re part of a team of volunteers – the Chief Executive is also a volunteer – she works fulltime but doesn’t get paid, so does her husband who’s also a director – all the directors are volunteers. Most of the people here are all volunteers, there are very few paid staff, that’s what makes it quite interesting – and a challenge!”

“I do a couple of days a week, sometimes more, sometimes less – it just depends what’s on. When I was working on the funding application, I did quite a lot of work at home, then I had to come into the office to speak to people, get referees to sign the form and so on. Then there was the recruitment of new staff to organise; we had to draw-up adverts for the Scotsman, review the adverts, look at the costs, do the interviews, weed out those that we didn’t want to interview etc. and that was all quite time consuming.”

I’d had a reasonably successful career and I know it’s in old cliché, but I wanted to put something back. During my career as an accountant I’d been involved in auditing lots of charities, so I had an understanding of the sector, and the stresses and strains of running a charity, and some of the issues, such as the need to raise funds”

In David’s own words – what do you enjoy about volunteering?

“I enjoy volunteering here because it’s good fun, and there’s a good atmosphere, despite the fact that a lot of people have had significant injuries; some are in wheelchairs, some can’t speak properly, they may have emotional and behavioural problems, yet they can still laugh. It’s a positive environment, despite the fact that the people have had accidents which have changed their lifes, changed their family’s life as well.”

“I admire the volunteers who work directly with people who have suffered a head injury, and their families, especially Jean, who has been volunteering since 1982, when she started it, because her son had Jean Bryden had a brain injury as the result of an accident.”

“I enjoy it. It gives you a challenge. It’s always worthwhile when something’s successful, like our application to the Community Fund. One of the previous applications I’d done, I spent a lot of time on, went to lots of meetings and so on, and we were turned down, that was very disappointing. But the most recent application I worked on was the biggest one we’ve done, it was my baby as it were, it took a lot of time and effort, but it worked! And we’ve now appointed the right person to take the project forward, which is also very pleasing as well. And that person will make a real difference to people with head injuries and their families”  

How could others get involved?

 “Anyone looking to get involved in volunteering for Headway could get involved in a number of ways, for example, assisting with a range of physical, social and educational activities for people with head injuries. There are also opportunities to get involved by joining the committee, which is especially keen to recruit younger people – who are currently under-represented on the committee.”

In one word how do you sum up your volunteering experience?

“Very Enjoyable”

 David was interviewed for Volunteer Stories – Case Studies Project on 26/08/04 by Lara Celini