Voluntary work can be so enjoyable, says Fakenham columnist Jim Harding
Here’s the latest Wensum column of Fakenham-area views, written by Jim Harding...
Some voluntary positions almost become a way of life. I so enjoyed delivering weekly lunches in Fakenham as part of the Meals on Wheels service that it was sad when this vital facility was withdrawn. I got to know so many of the people who opened their doors to me, most of them elderly and home-confined. I somehow knew that a few of them might not meet others on that particular day so always tried to carry on a conversation and check their well-being.
Quite often a voluntary role has no specific job description. I thought of this in relation to my wife who has been church warden at our parish church for a number of years. It’s an important position which requires her to be ‘on duty’ for various reasons. A small selection would include assisting with baptisms, weddings and funerals, helping with Sunday services, organising the annual Christmas Tree Festival and other functions.
As our church is determined to stay open daily, there also has to be familiarity with opening and locking up procedures. I thought of this when, at a recent funeral, my wife was asked to read a poem on behalf of the deceased. It was one of my favourites entitled The Road Not Taken, written by the American poet Robert Frost. I had cherished this for years and even learnt it by heart. It’s quite short but had been a big influence on me.
All of us have to make decisions in life, some of them significant enough to alter our direction of travel as we get on with living. When a teenager I determined that I wanted to hitch-hike to Australia. It was not something in any of the minds of my peer group at the time and certainly was given a lukewarm reception by my family who probably thought I would grow out of it and settle down into some more predictable groove.
When one of my sisters got married in our home town to her long-term Australian boyfriend my plans began to take shape. The happy couple sailed away from Southampton to settle down in his home city of Sydney so I determined that would be my destination eventually. And eventually, it was. I guess I took the road not usually taken. When people asked what had made me so adventurous I struggled to come up with clear answers.
As a pre-school child I had wandered out of the front gate of our home, turned right and kept on walking as if I knew where I was going. Eventually I ended up on an old drove road called locally ‘the sheep walk’. It was there I was found by the local Bobby, picked up and placed on the crossbar of his bike and delivered back to the family. Word must have got out and in that small community, everyone seemed to know I was ‘Charlie Harding’s son. The beginnings of wanderlust? Perhaps.
On the topic of voluntary efforts, it’s been wonderful to see the lovely flower displays around the town at present. Mainly thanks to Janet Holdom, Fakenham Area Partnership continues to oversee flower baskets outside numerous shops and business premises. The war memorial in the market square is also a very attractive flower-bedecked spectacle. The flowers were supplied by locally-based Dells Nursery and Mrs Holdom expressed her thanks to retained fireman Jamie and his son Oliver for regularly watering them week by week. They look splendid.
