WOYWW Week 841: Starting a New Job

Good Morning WOYWWers, Followers, Everyone,

Shameful, I know, but despite Silver giving me the eye, there's nothing on my desk this morning. Well, no actual scrapbooking is going on but there is a massive pile of paper, stickers and part done work to the side. It's been toooooo darned hot! Until yesterday, that is, when it rained and the temperature dropped to a much more comfortable level and that brings me to the new job. 

A few months ago I was approached by the Volunteer Development Coordinator for the charities, Unity/Carers Gateway here in Ayrshire, asking would I be, based on my experience as a carer for my late husband, interested in becoming a volunteer myself. Of course, because of that very experience, I agreed. Since then I've completed various online training modules and attended the Carers Gateway Conference North Ayrshire, posted about in this previous post, in preparation. All this prep has led to me being made welcome at the offices in Irvine and taken through the official induction yesterday. Now a volunteer peer mentor, I will be involved in supporting unpaid carers here in the area of the Three Towns where I'm based. 

I could bore you with the facts and figures about the huge number of unpaid carers in the UK, but I won't.  Instead, I will just say that what I learned from my own experience is that for carers to keep caring, they need to care for themselves too, and to enable to do that might mean they need support from others just as I did. Unity/Carers Gateway is an organisation dedicated to supporting the many carers and their families. When things were at their hardest for me, the kind support I was shown by a visiting support worker from the Gateway was invaluable. 

That's not to say I'm going to be too busy for scrapbooking. Now that I've finished with the alterations to my clothes, the sewing machine has been found a new home elsewhere, and I'm able to get on with scrapping again. That's what that pile of stuff on my desk is all about. First, I need to persuade Silver to find somewhere else to cosy up. 

Nearly an impossible hope, Here she is snoozing in the basket used to store small paper scraps.

That's me, you'll be relieved to know, for this week. I'll leave you with this photo taken at the weekend on a trip to Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond just because it's so beautiful to look at. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth