CALLING all those single people out there to log off Facebook, give the circuit training a miss and postpone your next date with a chocolate bar. Put on your favourite outdoor gear and bag yourself a hottie by volunteering to benefit the local community, just like we did through the UK’s largest volunteering charity, CSV.

We met over a pair of shears and some trembling ivy on a sunny day in a grand, overgrown cemetery. We are both avid volunteers who have spent the last six years committing a few hours every month to help maintain some of the most beautiful open spaces in our community.

Volunteering with CSV has changed our lives - we have met the love of our lives and got married in August 2010. We don’t need to join the gym as volunteering outdoors helps us keep fit and we have made an abundance of friends who share our passion for volunteering and the environment. We love volunteering so much that we have organised our own walking club and book club and it would be lovely to think that other volunteers we have met have fallen in love too.

If our love story inspires you, CSV have volunteering opportunities to suit all ages. Whether you would like to knit scarves and gloves for the soldiers in Afghanistan, paint a classroom in the local school or spend a year supporting a disabled person live an active life!

For more information visit our website www.csv.org.uk.

RACHEL AND CHARLES PARKES CSV volunteers