HEATHER ROBINSON

When did you first volunteer for Manchester Pride?
This is my first year and hopefully not my last!

What type of volunteering have you done previously?
I’ve been a Guide leader for 6 years, I’ve just started as a Beaver leader (no jokes please!) and I’ve done loads of stuff with cancer type charities including the Teenage Cancer Trust, ClicSargent and Christie Hospital.

Your best experience whilst volunteering for Manchester Pride?
So far probably just being useful and feeling needed again…getting a fax with my name on it! I’m a sad lonely person! ;-) I think the big weekend will be an amazing experience, just experiencing the amazing diversity that this wonderful city has to offer.

How did you hear about Manchester Pride?
I saw the plea for volunteers in Manchester Evening News, Pride was something I had kind of just outside my conciousness for a while, having had friends that loved it in previous years but had never been myself. I looked at the website and the rest as they say is history!

How has volunteering benefited your personal development?
Well, the volunteering I have done so far with Guides and other places has meant that I am introduced to a lot of people from different backgrounds, people from Tom Jones to 5 year old Rainbow Guides via 80 year old Jewish women and Roger Daltrey!

How has volunteering benefited your professional development?
I hope to get some much needed experience and to also learn what kind of work I actually want to do! I also think volunteering with Manchester Pride will give me some transferable skills that I can use in fulfilling my parents’ dreams and finally getting a ‘proper job’!

Would you recommend volunteering for Manchester Pride?
If you like being around cool people, having life changing experiences and wearing jeans in an office then yes!!!

Best Pride moment?
You mean apart from the fax addressed to me? How can it get any better?!?! Probably talking to lots of people from different backgrounds who are so positive about Pride and everything that it stands for. I’m really looking forward to the Big Weekend and seeing what I have been working on come to life.