News Polina speaks at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s reception celebrating volunteering 25.05.2023

Congratulations to Polina, Year 9, who was invited to speak about her experiences volunteering at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Libraries and Archives at a special reception celebrating volunteers at Kensington Town Hall.

Polina had this to say about the event:

‘At the end of April  I was invited to attend a Thank You Volunteers reception alongside other volunteers and staff and was honoured to speak about my experience about volunteering in the Libraries of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

As a part of Bronze DofE, it is compulsory to do at least three months of Volunteering experience. We are allowed to choose to do whatever we please such as volunteering with a charity in our local community, assisting at weekly youth sports training sessions, to tutoring in a subject of our choice. I decided to volunteer at my local library although I had no prior knowledge of the system apart from visiting the library a couple of times when I was younger. I built friendships with other volunteers and worked alongside the staff at the library. Spending a couple of hours every Saturday was a liberating experience as I began to understand the shelving system, the Stay and Play sessions and how creative young minds worked. As time went on, the library became a place where I really enjoyed the Volunteering aspect of DofE instead of seeing it as a chore that was a compulsory thing to do. Even after finishing my three months, I remained there and hope to stay there for the foreseeable future.

When I attended the Thank You Volunteers reception where I was honoured to present a speech regarding my experience volunteering at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries and Archives, I met the Mayor, Councillor David Lindsay, and other important figures within the library as well as other volunteers from other libraries within the borough.

Volunteering at the libraries was an amazing experience and I certainly enjoyed it. I would highly recommend others to join.’