GIVING BACK AT Christmastime

For 25 years, Vera Roebuck has been volunteering at her local charity shop

- MISHAAL KHAN

Sitting behind the counter, Vera Roebuck looks around the shop and smiles. The decorations are up, the festive songs are playing and her colleagues are in the back sorting donations. As usual for this time of year, it feels wonderfully Christmassy in the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) charity shop in Surrey, where Vera, 94, has volunteered for nearly 25 years.

‘Working at the shop is particularly special over Christmas,’ Vera says. ‘Everyone is in good spirits and it’s nice to see people buying gifts, and by now, I know a lot of familiar faces. It’s lovely, feeling like I’m playing my part and giving back to the community.’

When Vera’s husband of 50 years, Peter, 71, died suddenly of a heart attack in the summer of 1996, Vera needed to find ways to keep busy and make the most of life, now she was on her own. Her two sons, David, now 73, and Stephen, 68, were grown up with families of their own.

‘For a few months, I grieved at home, channelling my energy into looking after the house and garden,’ Vera remembers. But one afternoon in March 1997, as Vera wandered down the high street in town, she spotted a sign in the window of her local QEF charity shop. ‘They were looking for volunteers, and I didn’t know the first thing about what they were after, but I thought, “why not?”’ she says. ‘I popped in and met the manager, who gave me an application form. I was thrilled to be given the position and devoted one day a week to volunteering at the shop.’