Ian Price, 58, chairs the trustees of Swindon Carers Centre, which has just awarded care ambassador status to Moredon Primary School for supporting young carers. Ian also chairs the trustees of related group Swindon Friends of Young Carers. He lives in Old Town and is married to Nicole, a teacher. The couple have two grown-up daughters.

BY any standard Ian Price has a successful career, writes BARRIE HUDSON.

He spent 26 years with Allied Dunbar and Zurich and is now a divisional director with St James’s Place Wealth Management in Cirencester.

His voluntary roles involve helping some of the 19,500 carers in Swindon who look after loved ones.

They range from children aged under 10 who look after ill parents to elderly people who look after their ill adult children.

Ian is originally from Kettering in Northamptonshire. His coming to Swindon at 16 was connected to another arrival in the town.

“My dad worked for Nationwide. He was one of the people who helped to set up Nationwide in Swindon. We came down here and our first house was in Fairlawn.”

At Swindon College in North Star, Ian failed A-levels in history, law and economics, switched to an ONC in business studies and never looked back.

At the suggestion that a hectic business career might seem an unusual credential for someone so deeply involved in volunteering, Ian smiles and evokes the ancient Chinese philosophical belief that opposites often complement and nurture one another.

“I have what I call a yin-yang world. I work very hard in the business world, which, because St James’s Place are very supportive, allows me to volunteer in the non-profit world.”

Like many people who volunteer, he is modest about his work, preferring to highlight the cause he serves instead.

“There are 19,500 carers in Swindon. One of the hardest jobs I ever did was last year. I took two days off and visited carers in their homes in Swindon. It was the most humbling experience I ever had because I had preconceived ideas that the carers very quickly showed me were wrong.”

He had assumed, for example, that caring for a loved one with dementia would consist of a routine. He learned otherwise from a woman who looked after her ailing mother.

“If she wanted to go to bed at five o’clock at night, they went to bed at five o’clock at night. If she wanted to get up at two o’clock in the morning they got up at two o’clock in the morning.”

He also met younger carers.

“It put my life in total perspective. We all think we have problems or that our lives are difficult, but if you’re a 14-year-old young lady and you are the main person looking after a mother and children, that’s a hell of a responsibility to have.”

Ian’s early career brought him into contact with the ideas of Joel Joffe, the lawyer and human rights campaigner who co-founded Hambro Life, the company which would come to be known as Allied Dunbar. Lord Joffe also helped to pioneer the concept of corporate giving, both in resources and time.

Staff such as Ian were always encouraged to take part in community projects and Ian took part in many, but it was when he turned 40 that he began volunteering in earnest.

Before becoming involved with Swindon Carers Centre about a decade ago, he had already been a trustee of the Foyer, a Samaritan and chairman of the Samaritans Committee.

“I realised aged 40 that I had done better than I’d anticipated in my business career, and it was time now to give back. That might sound a bit twee but I do mean it.

“None of us know what cards we’re going to be dealt, in any walk of life. You never know what’s around the corner, be it the health of yourself or your loved ones, your parents and everything else like that.

“As a community we have to help. We can’t just walk on the other side of the street. I don’t think that’s possible in my world.

"I am lucky enough to be married, have kids, a nice job.

“To me, I’ve achieved everything I want to in lots of ways, but there’s so much more to do.”

His choice of charities to devote his time to has been anything but random.

“I’m a fanatical believer in putting something back into the local community. Swindon is where my children were born and where my wife works. I actually love living in Swindon.

“I travel the country for my job. I go everywhere, but there’s nothing better than coming back down the road where I live and turning into my house.

“To me, when you’re thinking about any way of giving back it has to hit your buttons. They’re your buttons and nobody else’s. I’m a great believer in people, be they young or old, because believe it or not I was one and I will be the other.

“It’s always good to strive for something – I’m a great believer in setting goals – but if you get to where you want to go and at that point you give something back, what a benefit to society.

“It’s taught me so much about life. People get to a fork in the road and sometimes they just take the wrong turning.

“There are a lot of preconceived ideas about people, but sometimes when you actually meet and talk to them you realise they just took a wrong turning at the wrong time.”

Ian has also found – another example of yin-yang – that working in the voluntary sector improves some of his business skills.

“I think people don’t realise the real benefit to them not only of helping the community but also helping themselves grow and develop,” he said.

“We all get wrapped up in our little world, but we’ve got more skills than anybody ever realises and we can use those skills in a different environment. I find it immensely pleasurable to do.”