Volunteers' Week: Q&A with Fund Volunteer Kirky

To mark Volunteers’ Week (3-9 June), we spoke to Fund volunteer and ex-RAF serviceman Crawford Kirkhope, known as Kirky, to find out more about what his role involves and what he most enjoys about volunteering.

What does your voluntary role involve?

I am a Social and Reminiscence Group Volunteer for the Fund, at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, and have been volunteering once a month since April 2023.

My role involves driving to Duxford and supporting Fund staff to host RAF veterans who attend the Social and Reminiscence Groups. The groups are for members of the RAF Family who are socially isolated or have diagnosed and undiagnosed memory loss with the aim of enhancing their wellbeing through social contact and reminiscence.

The groups are held in a very relaxed and fluid environment where we can talk with the beneficiaries as a group or individually and help out with refreshments. My role involves listening to the beneficiaries and by doing so, I can find out about any further welfare needs an individual may have, and signpost them to additional services.

In my role, I can utilise my military background to form a bond and relate to the veterans.

Why did you decide to volunteer for the Fund?

When I retired from full time military service two years ago following a 37-year career in the RAF (I still hold a Reserve commission), the Fund had not yet developed their volunteer programme. Over the years I have volunteered for the other Service charities, coordinating the veterans’ group at Duxford and several other locations for the Royal British Legion. When the Fund took ownership of the Duxford group, I continued to help once a month.

What would you say to anyone considering a volunteer role with the Fund?

There is a lot to be gained from volunteering which will definitely provide enrichment to your own life. Additionally, it will give you an appreciation of the issues that veterans deal with later in life and the unique privilege it is to assist them. The Fund is an excellent organisation, and I have now volunteered for all the main Service charities including my role as Welfare Officer for the RAF Association who have trained me and allocated cases to me – and who work closely with the Fund.

What is your favourite thing about volunteering?

Meeting the different veterans and hearing their stories; many of them have served at the same locations as me, but perhaps 20 or 30 years earlier. It’s nice to hear how things have changed since their time, but how many core elements of Service are the still the same as they were 60 years ago.

What has been your highlight of your time in this role so far?

I think it has to be meeting a wheelchair-bound veteran with dementia, who recalled and recounted some happy wartime memories, triggered by certain exhibits at Duxford. His daughter said she had never heard that particular story before, and it was the most lucid he had been for months. It was a lovely moment.

You can find out more about our volunteering opportunities available at the Fund here.