Celebrating our teams...Phil Ramsden, Volunteer for Bay Volunteers

There are a variety of roles across BHCP and other organisations we work with in the community. Here we shine the spotlight on the people who carry out a range of roles to keep our communities healthy and supported.

Phil Ramsden has been volunteering for Bay Volunteers for two years. Bay Volunteers is a community-based service that offers support for the needs of people and communities in the Lancaster district including listening calls or walks, digital support through digital buddies, doing and delivering grocery shopping, collecting and delivering prescriptions and collecting and/or delivering post and parcels, including food parcels.

Bay Volunteers offers a variety of support seven days a week including a listening service and doing and delivering grocery shopping. It is supported by Hope Church Lancaster, Lancaster City   Council, Lancaster District  Community Hub, Lancaster District CVS, Lancaster and Bay Integrated Care Communities, Lancaster University Student Union and works in partnership with others too.

Here Phil Tells us more. 

What experience did you need to obtain your role?

I was part of a small doctors listening team for Bay Medical Group (BMG), which I had done for five years, and when COVID struck and we had more time on our hands, particularly in the first lockdown, I felt a calling to volunteer with the Bay Volunteers (then Lancaster District Support Line). We were unable to do face-to-face appointments at the doctor’s surgery but I was able to take on more telephone calls to support people.

No experience was required for the role, but for me, it did help that I had already been part of this listening team for BMG and I had previously been on a course put on by Acorn Listeners a few years before which helped too. I had spent five years as part of a small doctors' listening team for BMG before joining Bay Volunteers.

What does your role involve?

I volunteer from home and support Bay Volunteers’ listening service. It involves ringing people who are dealing with different health challenges such as loneliness,  bereavement, anxiety or other health difficulties, which were made even worse, understandably, by the scary situation that the virus gave us, and just listening to them, encouraging them. My aim was and is to put a smile on people’s faces because, for me, the glass is always half-full.

What have been the best bits and challenges of your role?

I have cried with people and heard their stories, and so I just feel personally honoured that these different people who I have supported, and who I continue to support, have confided in and shared things with me. I have found it so rewarding to support them in this way. 

There is never an easy answer and we aren't counsellors, but a listening ear can be of great benefit and  being a stranger means that they can confide in you, things that they may find difficult to discuss with relatives. Several of the people I first spoke to nearly two years ago have now died, which greatly upset me as they became like friends to me.gentleman, in particular, spoke to me for up to two hours every    Friday morning for over a year and he had lived a busy and varied life before getting terminal cancer.Nothing was off-limits and he was always grateful for our chats which went very deep. I miss our weekly chat now that he is no longer with us.

Some ladies, in particular, can tell you the same story many times but I would never cut them off, with stories of service during World War Two being particularly fascinating.service that all the volunteers of Bay Volunteers provide is well-needed. One great success story is of one gentleman I chatted with for many months, who is in a far better place and now volunteers himself, gaining great satisfaction from supporting others.

Top tips for people wanting to become a Volunteer: Show empathy for the people that you are supporting, listen well to them and encourage them.

How can I find out more? https://www.hopelancaster.co.uk/bay-volunteers/ 

A PDF version of the case study can be found here.