AMY Ferris and Jemma Davis are not your classic volunteers.

Amy is 24 and Jemma two years older. “I’m not sure our generation is really interested in volunteering or want to do it,” said Jemma. “They would ask us why do you want to go to work for nothing? I would tell them you don’t understand what I get out of it since this is a job that I want to do. I get a lot out of volunteering.

“I think our generation will turn to Big Society and turn to volunteering when they have got nothing else to make their CV look good. Volunteering will be a way to bulk up their CV when they have been out of work.”

Amy chipped in: “Volunteering is very rewarding. You do feel like you are making a little difference.”

Both have cut their volunteering teeth at Open Door. Jemma used to work for the Swindon Advocacy Movement when she came to Open Door as part of her induction – and she stayed.

“I don’t come in as often as I used to as I have a full-time job, but I come in as often as I can,” said Jemma. “I run life skills sessions, starting off with coin recognition and basic computer skills. I felt it was quite valuable because they practised skills they didn’t know they had.

“With coin recognition, it enabled them to be more independent because a lot of them were going into a shop and handing over their purse without knowing what was in there so they could then work out how much money they had.”

Amy had been volunteering for two years at Open Door and has now secured a full-time job working as a carer. She still pops in to help, however. “I did it because there was something to smile about at the end of the day,” she said. “There’s not a lot to smile about most of the days, so it was rewarding to see the difference it was making enabling people to be more independent.”

“Volunteering helped me because ultimately I got a job. It was good for me to do it.”

Deputy manager Pat Winning admitted that Open Door needs it volunteers. They have seven paid staff and eight volunteers. “We could not survive without our volunteers,” she added. “We treat them all as staff.”

DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN

PAT WINNING cares, and she is also worried.

As deputy manager of the Open Door Centre in Gorse Hill, she looks after some of the most vulnerable people in our society, but she fears for their future.

Open Door is now in its 26th year in Swindon, working with adults who have learning disabilities, as well as mental health and physical disabilities.

The organisation relies heavily on volunteers to fulfil a mission statement which strives to make a difference in the lives of any adult with learning disabilities enabling them to achieve their highest potential.

“That is what we are all about,” explained Pat, as we skipped out of lunch preparations being taken care of by her cook, aided by South Swindon MP Robert Buckland.

“We try every activity you can possibly think of to encourage people to try different things. One of our senior support workers, Craig Hiscock, is our works champion so if anyone is showing any interest in work we try to encourage them to go forward.

“A lot of people when they first come to Open Door aren’t confident enough to work because they haven’t got the life skills or social skills to go forward.

“We run a citizen group to encourage people to become a citizen of Swindon, a citizen of the country, because quite a lot of adults with learning difficulties have expectations that it is ‘poor me’ and ‘people should do this for me’. We don’t work that way.

“We think everyone is capable of something, of some great thing. They have some latent potential which they haven’t realised yet and we’re here to find that little magic inside that helps people to go on and become confident.”

Five days a week, from Monday to Friday, 52 weeks a year, except Christmas, Open Door does just as its name suggests at the St Barnabas Church hall, off Ferndale Road.

But as the financial road has become rocky, so the future has become less certain. Open Door has a two-year contract with Swindon Council, but Pat said she is worried about plans for adults with learning disabilities to have personalised budgets so they can have their own tailored packages of care.

“Some of our people work full-time but still have a learning disability,” said Pat. “They still have problems at home or problems at work, but in future we are going to have to say you have to pay us before we can talk to you to help you with your problem, which is stupid.

“Are their choices going to be taken away? Are you only going to be able to afford somebody to support you to go to one of the sports centres for an hour and that is your money used up and you have got nothing else in your life? Are you going to have a chance to be with your friends?

“The opportunities available now are limited. I think it is very frightening what is going to happen to our members who are adults with learning difficulties. “A lot more people should be encouraged to go to work but that’s a bit of a joke at the moment because nobody can get a job and it is soul destroying if you are put at a sink and expected to wash-up year in, year out.

“Everybody wants a little bit more out of life. But because people deem those with learning difficulties have got no skills, there are no opportunities for them to do rewarding jobs.”

Despite the pessimism, Pat is adamant they will not give up. In fact, her dream is that Open Door might be in a position to take over the former Somerfield building in Gorse Hill, which would be their own.

There, members could run their own café as well as providing a centre where members would learn a far wider variety of skills to help them adapt to everyday life, such as decorating. She would also like to provide a service for older people with learning disabilities, a service Pat believes is currently neglected.

“We haven’t got a hope in hell of getting it, but it is a dream because we love the community in Gorse Hill who have been absolutely fantastic to us,” added Pat.

“The Swiss Chalet pub do a Christmas meal for us each year and the ladies at the Co-op look out for our members too if they have made a few mistakes shopping.

“The members feel safe to go out in the community here.”