The Blue Rinse Club members are Annie Clayton, club admin and volunteer manager for Alzheimer’s Support and my oldest, dearest friend and younger ‘sister’, Sara Hickman. We chose the name because our combined ages = 117 years! and back in the day, a ‘blue rinse’ was a common hair colour choice for ladies of a certain age.

We will also be joined by our partners, Robert and Steve; friends Jane, Dickie, Breena and Pattie. And of course, the most important member of our team, Dexter the Doberman (the handsome chap headlining this page), who is coming along to make sure we do this properly.

As the charity’s volunteer manager, I have first-hand knowledge of how essential our volunteers are to the charity’s work. We have a dedicated volunteer team who work tirelessly to help provide our award-winning* service to people living with dementia, and their family carers in Wiltshire.

The common misconception is that because these wonderful people give their time for free then by extension, supporting our volunteers is also without cost.

That sadly is not the case.

All aspects of our volunteer programme from recruitment right the way through to placement costs the charity a certain percentage of its resources. For instance, having the capacity to offer reimbursement for mileage/travel expenses helps us to ensure our volunteer programme is more open to a wider variety of people, especially in a rural county like Wiltshire. Or, purchasing a card and flowers to celebrate someone’s birthday. Small things but they go a long way in showing how much we appreciate and value our volunteer team.

So, I persuaded Sara, et al to come join me on this walk, helping raise some funds to contribute to our budget for volunteer expenses.

Thanks so much for visiting our page, we are so grateful for your support. Every pound helps so please give what you can to help us hit our target! Thank you!  Annie Clayton