HRH The Duchess of Cornwall visits the Royal Voluntary Service and Second Time Around, Banbury

HRH visited Banbury, a town which has committed to becoming ‘Age Friendly’, through the investment of better transport, health facilities and social activities.   

HRH’s first stop was to the Cornhill Centre in Banbury, to visit the Royal Voluntary Service.  The Royal Voluntary Service is one of the largest volunteering organisations in the country to date, inspiring and enabling over 3 million people to give their time to help others to meet the needs of the day, and HRH is President.  Met by Tim Stevenson, HRH met the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Banbury, the Town Clerk and Mace Bearers before having the opportunity to meet members of the public who had gathered to greet her.  The Mayor of Banbury presented the CEO of the Royal Voluntary Service to HRH at the entrance to the Cornhill Centre before proceeding indoors.  HRH met the Directors of Volunteering and Services and the Centre Manager, as well as Centre staff.

During the visit, The Duchess met the Centre’s youngest volunteers, 7 year-old Amelia and 5 year-old Bobby who have been volunteering with their mother at the Centre for two years. Her Royal Highness later joined one of the centre’s volunteer-run activities, an international dance class. The dance class is held every week and includes line dancing, folk and circle dances.  On average 25 people attend the class which aims to encourage older people to stay active and socialise at least once a week.  More than 80 volunteers help out at the Centre which, as well as dance classes, provides art and craft activities.

Before leaving the Cornhill Centre, HRH was introduced to Bee Myson, Banbury as an Age Friendly Town (BAFT) Co-ordinator and Tim Tarby-Donald, BAFT “Friendly Bench” and garden co-ordinator.  Both gave HRH an overview of the work being done and planned before showing HRH the area where the garden project will take place.

HRH then visited Second Time Around, a furniture store and tearoom, which provides training and volunteering opportunities to promote work, social inclusion and independence for adults with learning disabilities. Second Time Around has a strong ethos on the environment and promotes the reuse of furniture by offering a commissioning service where customers can choose how their items are restored.

Accompanied by Tim Stevenson, HRH met Nathan Wallis, the Project Manager who gave an introduction to Second Time Around.  Following a tour of the various shop units and stalls, HRH met an apprentice who was restoring furniture in the workshop.