Volunteers from Citizens Advice Peterborough celebrated the organisation’s recent 85th birthday with tea and cake in the city centre. Set up in early September 1939, just after the start of the Second World War, dedicated volunteers have been offering vital advice and information ever since.
In the first week of September 1939, temporary advice offices were set up across the country in cafes, church halls, private homes and air-raid shelters. Back then, the service dealt with issues solely related to the conflict, including: rationing, evacuees, advice on allowances and tracing missing service personnel or Prisoners of War.
Peterborough got its first branch in 1939 too and its dedicated team of volunteers were soon dealing with 100 enquiries per week. A newspaper report from the 1940s stated, “volunteers give themselves freely because they feel the job is worth doing and brings its own reward.” Well, it’s exactly the same for our volunteers over 85 years later, although demand for our services has increased greatly over the decades. Last year broke all records, with the charity now receiving an astonishing 1500 calls per month from residents in and around Peterborough.
New volunteers are of course always welcome and desperately needed too. So, if you have an hour or two to spare each week, why not get in touch? A range of roles can be matched to your skills and availability. The lives of our service users are now undoubtedly more complex and hardship is arguably even greater than when the organisation was set up in 1939.
So, Citizens Advice Peterborough needs a new army of volunteers to help deal with increasing demand for its services. Could you help make a difference? If so, why not get in touch? A range of voluntary roles can be matched to your skills and availability.
