More men turn to volunteering
VOLUNTEERING, which was at one time dominated by women, is now attracting more men.
According to the Charity Retail Association, a quarter of men will consider working in a charity shop.
Richard Stevens, 60 and retired, has been working for the Oxfam shop in the High Street for two years.
He said: "It's rewarding and fulfilling. I also like meeting the public."
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He has lived in Linden Chase, Sevenoaks, for 40 years and now gives his time for free after working in the City as a financial director for 19 years.
Of the 50 volunteers at the shop, there are two male teenagers helping out on Saturdays working towards a Duke of Edinburgh Award. Hospice in the Weald also has "Saturday boys" working towards the same end.
Along the road at the Quit charity shop, manager Adrian Chapman, 45, has four fellow male volunteers working with him.
Ten have come to him looking for hours to work in the last year.
Mr Chapman, from Hillingdon Rise, devotes as much time to volunteering as possible and joined Quit when it opened in September.
"I'd just rather be doing something than nothing," he said.
The British Heart Foundation says its Kent stores boast twice as many male volunteers as they did six years ago.
There are three in the Sevenoaks branch, including manager Lyn McGregor's 66-year-old husband Alex – who helps out with "the heavy work".
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