A CHIPPENHAM volunteer who has clocked up almost 400 hours volunteering at Barnardo's is supporting a national campaign to encourage others to donate their time to help others.

69-year-old Barbara Cooper has worked at the Barnardo's store in Pewsham for over 3 years, sorting the stock and serving customers. Now, ahead of National Volunteers week (June 1 to June 7), she hopes to inspire more people to lend a hand.

Ms Cooper wanted to keep busy after retiring from offices at Stonegate in Lacock where she worked for 20 years.

She said: "She said: “I wanted to give something back to the community. I can’t give much money but I can give my time, so when I saw a recruitment poster in the Barnardo’s shop window I decided to apply.

“Now I work for just one afternoon each week and I love it. I do whatever needs doing, from sorting the stock and pricing the items to filling the shelves and serving the customers.

“I particularly like going through the bags of donations because we receive all sorts of unusual items - we were given several pieces of valuable memorabilia from the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, and we also received a beautifully-decorated teapot which was worth more than £200.

“I really enjoy my time here. All of the volunteers are really nice and we always have such a good laugh.

“I’ve made lots of new friends among the team and we often go out for meals together. I’d definitely recommend volunteering.”

Barnardo’s area business manager Emma King said: “Barbara is so friendly and polite and gets on well with all of the customers.

“All of our volunteers are amazing but we’d love to welcome even more people to support us.

“It’s a great way to spend a few hours each week, while also providing a more positive future for the UK’s vulnerable and disadvantaged children.”

The Banardo's store is open Monday - Saturday, 9am-5pm and welcomes donations of good-quality clothes, books, toys, games, accessories and bric-a-brac.

The charity also has volunteer vacancies at its store in Wine Street, Devizes. For more information, please call: 01380 721247.