Volunteering

Leamington Food and Drink Festival, September 2018

Sometimes I seriously wonder whether my choice of activities is driven by the need to provide stories for this blog. But I'm pretty sure I would keep trying new things anyway, blog or no blog.

Today the big story is the Leamington Food and Drink Festival, which is an annual highlight for me. Long ago it featured the 'Taste Trail' which allowed you to go to selected food retailers around town for a taste of what they offered. Now it stays exclusively within the Pump Room Gardens, which this year is undergoing remodelling including the renewal of paths and the refurbishment of the bandstand. This meant there was less room for stalls, so there were about 20 fewer exhibitors this year.

A couple of weeks before the event I started seeing adverts encouraging people to volunteer. Usually I invite people to visit me when the festival is on, but this year Lola II and Mr M decided to go camping instead and I hadn't invited anyone else, so I didn't have any reason not to volunteer. The event is run by BID Leamington, an organisation promoting the interests of Leamington businesses through the formation of a Business Improvement District in 2008. I arrived at the Information Tent ready to serve in whatever capacity was required.

Thankfully I wasn't allocated to litter picking or toilet cleaning. A new initiative this year was set up to encourage public transport and relieve pressure on town parking: people who had come by train could present their ticket and receive a free soft drink, beer or wine in return. I had to record it all in a book, and hand out soft drink cans and vouchers for beer or wine which had to be exchanged at one of the outlets in the field. It went quite well - obviously a trainload of people tended to arrive at the same time, but the queues weren't too long. Sunday was much quieter for the train ticket exchange because there were fewer trains running, but the event as a whole seemed busier on Sunday.

The BID Leamington staff and volunteers were friendly and welcoming, and I had some quite interesting discussions with the Director about various local businesses (including the shop which has just been fined £10,000 for making illegal health claims about their raw juices), and the reasons behind the turnover of businesses in a couple of town locations. The two afternoons I spent with the team were positive volunteering experiences, and I'd be happy to join them again next year if they will have me.