No stopping Allan from helping out

Allan Goodall’s volunteering diary is always full.

He works with Alwyndor’s home maintenance team on Mondays and Tuesdays, and he volunteers as a Justice of the Peace (JP) on Wednesdays and once a month in Stirling on a Saturday.

Once a month on Fridays and Saturdays, he’s at the Glenelg Library in his capacity as a JP and on Thursday mornings, he and his wife Polly help out at Minda in the plant shed.

And while he’s been volunteering with Holdfast Bay for about 15 years, he’s been involved in other volunteering roles for double that amount of time.

“I’ve been volunteering for 30-odd years, on and off in different areas and my wife was the main reason behind it,” said Allan about Polly who is also an active volunteer in the community.

“She started volunteering and just one day, out of the blue, they needed a hand with something and she asked me to help out.

“So I thought why not – and it just blossomed from there.”

In the past, Allan has also volunteered with the Tour Down Under bike race, Tennis SA and Brighton Jetty Sculptures event.

Although he’s busy with his regular weekly volunteering roles, he will still find time to help out with odd jobs if and when he’s asked, including the Bunnings weekend barbecues that many community groups use as a way of fundraising.

“It’s good. I enjoy getting out in the fresh air and sunshine and you get to meet all sorts of people," he said of his volunteering activities.

Allan especially enjoys “winding people up” and sharing a joke.

“A lot of the times, these elderly people are on their own and I try and wind them up and they love it – they get a joke out of it and we have a laugh,” Allan said.

“It’s fun, as I say meeting different people, talking to different people and winding people up… just a bit of banter, everyone loves it.

“It’s no good going through life being serious.”

Click on the link below to find out how you can join Holdfast Bay’s team of volunteers.