Volunteer Spotlight

To mark Trustees’ Week on 6-10 November, we asked Professor Hanif, who sits on our Board of Trustees, about his experience

Lee was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 7. He’s recently become one of our Live Well Champions in Wales.

Phoebe was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two weeks before her 10th birthday. She’s now studying for a degree in Forensic Science at university, and is one of our Young Leader volunteers on the Our Lives, Our Choices, Our Voices youth programme.

Sid is a Specialist Diabetes Dietitian working in Salford. He recently volunteered with Diabetes UK for the first time, at one of our Type 1 Family Weekender events.

When Sue was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, she knew nothing about the condition. So she started volunteering to learn more, and now has a variety of roles sharing her knowledge with others.

Jackie started volunteering when he was looking for some support for his own diabetes in 2014. He now supports many other people through his various voluntary roles.

Carole is one of our speaker volunteers, and secretary of the Hammersmith and Fulham local group.

Parveen started volunteering to give something back to her community. She is now a lay member on one of our Diabetes Research Steering Groups.

Jenny has volunteered at our Type 1 Family Weekenders and Summer Camps for over 20 years. She tells us why the events are so important to her.

To celebrate Trustees' Week, we asked our Chair of the Board of Trustees, Carol Homden, some questions about her experience a year into her role.

Amina is an event volunteer with us and takes every opportunity she can to hold an information stand in her community and raise awareness of diabetes.

Jamie volunteers with our youth project in Scotland. In this Q&A, he tells us about why he got involved, his experience as a youth volunteer, and what he's learned along the way.

John was inspired to volunteer after he retired, wanting to help others affected by diabetes. We spoke to John to find out more about the innovative work he's doing to raise awareness of diabetes in his community.

Nicola is the lead volunteer of our support group in Neath. She set the group up in 2021 and is looking forward to seeing how far it can go to support people living with diabetes in the area.

David is the lead volunteer for our online type 1 adults support group, ‘The Funambulists’ which was formed in December 2020. 

Rumit started volunteering with us in 2008. He overcame his fears to become a Speaker Volunteer, and has also fundraised, helped at events, in our office and is treasurer of his local group in Barnet.

Alan decided to apply to be an Events Volunteer after his son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years ago. Since then, he’s learnt a great deal about the condition and gone on to raise awareness to help others.

To celebrate Student Volunteering Week, we sat down with our volunteer Helen Liebhaber, who has set up a type 1 support group at Bristol UWE.

Carol is a Befriending Volunteer with our Carmarthen Befriending Circle. She has been giving virtual exercise classes and is working with her local council for Voluntary Services to run sessions for people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Our Friday Lunch Peer Support Group was set up in June 2020 in response to the pandemic. Since then, the group of six volunteers from across Scotland have met online every Friday to support each other through the ups and downs of living with diabetes.

To celebrate Trustees’ Week, we sat down with Sir Peter Dixon, the Chair of our Board of Trustees, to ask him some questions about the important role of trustees within the organisation and his reflections on his time as Chair of the Board.

Tony has been supporting communities across Manchester for over 40 years. For Tony it’s about making connections to help people and communities to thrive.

When Jonathan retired as a GP in 2015, he wanted to volunteer to give back and for a sense of purpose after his working life had come to an end. As a Volunteer Befriender, he provides a listening ear and supports other people living with type 2 diabetes.

Nathan is a Speaker Volunteer from the East Midlands. He tells us his story of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 25, learning about his condition and Diabetes UK, and going on to volunteer and share his experience with others.

Lis has volunteered for us for an incredible 20 years and counting as a passionate speaker, campaigner, research volunteer and service champion.

Chippenham & District have been running online meetings every two weeks since April 2020. The hardworking committee arrange talks for the group and also run peer support meetings for people living with diabetes.

Dawn is a Speaker Volunteer from Nottingham. She first started volunteering for us in 2017 and is giving online awareness talks in the run up to Ramadan this year.

Emma's one of our guest instructors on our 10 week ‘Get Moving’ programme, supporting people with diabetes to start moving more. To celebrate National Workouts and Wellbeing Week, we spoke to Emma to find out more about her role.

Our Forth Valley T1D Families Group are a community that support each other through the ups and downs of type 1 diabetes. In November 2020, they put together packs for local children and their families newly diagnosed during the pandemic.

When Charlie's career came to an end in 2017, he applied to volunteer for Diabetes UK and has gone on fundraise for us, help at countless events and tell his personal story of being diagnosed with LADA through talks, articles and blogs.

Our wonderful Sheffield Group dates back to the 1950s and does so much for their local community. In January 2020, they organised a big event to help people living with diabetes feel confident to move more.

Catherine is one of our type 1 events volunteers, making sure that children with type 1 diabetes and their families have the best possible time on our activity weekends. She tells us her story of living with diabetes and volunteering at our events.

Spencer lives in Cornwall and has volunteered with us for eight years. He's a Community Ambassador in the South West and raises awareness of diabetes and the support Diabetes UK provides by being a voice in his local community.

Sheila celebrates her 10th anniversary of volunteering this month. In the last 10 years, she's helped to proof read countless publications for us as well as raising awareness of diabetes and running our Stevenage Local Group.

Abdul has been raising awareness of type 2 diabetes since he was diagnosed 20 years ago. As a Community Champion, he gives talks in the South Asian community and speaks about diabetes on the radio.

Bonita is a befriender in our Cumbria Befriending Circle. She draws on her personal experience of living with type 2 diabetes to support others affected by the condition in her area by phone and email.

Mistura is a Community Champion in the London borough of Brent. The start of Ramadan coincided with the coronavirus lockdown and, when a planned event was cancelled, Mistura started to give talks about diabetes online.

Sally sits on our Council of People Living with Diabetes and works as a speaker volunteer and treasurer of our Winchester and Eastleigh local group. Since the start of the lockdown, she’s been passionate about keeping her community up-to-date.

Angie is the chair of her local Southampton & District group. She also works with CCGs in her area to improve their services and talks about her experience of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

James is a lead volunteer on our type 1 events. After attending the events as a child, James was inspired to get involved in helping to run them 15 years later.

Tom is one of our longest serving volunteers in Northern Ireland. He co-chairs our research committee and also raises awareness of diabetes in his local community.

Göher has been involved with research for the last 10 years and is currently supporting research projects at the University of Oxford. She is a lay member on one of our Clinical Studies Groups and is also a part of our Grants Advisory Panel.

Metin has volunteered for us since 2012. He's supported Diabetes UK at numerous events in London and the East of England and is the lead volunteer of the Cheshunt Peer Support Group.

The North Devon group celebrates its 15 year anniversary this year. The group runs countless awareness and fundraising events in the local community together with regular activities for its many members.

The Young Adults Panel are a group of young people with Type 1 diabetes who share their thoughts and experiences with us to help shape our materials and campaigns.

The West Lothian Group are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. They have over 350 members and have launched a healthy lifestyle project in the local community.

Corinne has been volunteering for us for 7 years. In this time, she has got involved with her local support group in Milton Keynes, given countless talks and helped people to know their risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Dilys attended her first Type 1 Event with her family 26 years ago. She was inspired to volunteer and she is still helping at the events 20 years later.

Since he started volunteering in 2011, Mike has supported hundreds of people on our online support forum, given talks about his experience of having Type 1 diabetes and blogged about it too.

Since she started volunteering in 2010, Sandra has gone on to set up a network of local support groups, speak about her own experience of living with Type 1, help to improve services locally and raise awareness of diabetes in the South West.

After being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 37 years ago, Robert has since gone on to speak about his own experience and raise awareness of diabetes in Northern Ireland.

Chesterfield and North Derbyshire group celebrate 40 years together in supporting people living with diabetes in their area.

Bruce is a member of our Young Leaders Project in Scotland, and is the inventor of the T1 buddy system.

Rohit has worked with us for 5 years. He is a community champion, a member of the Type 2 research panel and volunteers at events throughout the UK. 

Read lots of amazing stories about our wonderful volunteers