The People Making Things Possible – Nikki

Milton Keynes’ Secretary, Nikki Hughes, explains more about her role and why you don’t have to be an engineer to volunteer with REMAP.

Hello there, Nikki here. I am the Secretary of the Milton Keynes branch of REMAP – a role I took on over 10 years ago. 

My husband was already an engineer volunteer and, when the previous secretary was unable to continue, he suggested I might help. I am so pleased that he did. I am not an engineer and wouldn’t have thought about joining the crew, but there are plenty of other areas where I can support the branch.

What do I do?

I started off by just taking the minutes to keep a record of what comes in and who is doing which project, but then I realised somebody has to thank people when they make a donation. Then we began to notice that we were receiving fewer referrals and needed to do more active promotion of our services in order to maintain a presence in Milton Keynes!

To cut a long story short, we now keep tabs on where we get referrals from and try to spot gaps – potential organisations or charities which would benefit from some help. I have given a couple of talks to charities (I used to be a tutor so this was something I am comfortable with). We also host a fundraising concert in our garden.

Basically, the more we talk about REMAP the better the chance of raising the profile – word of mouth works.

Why do I bother?

I have seen the difference a solution can make:

• The little boy for whom we made a walker (which carried a ventilator and oxygen bottle) styled after Thomas the Tank Engine. They came back and asked for bumpers because he was racing around the living room now!

• The lady with tears in her eyes because her husband with Parkinsons has brought her a cup of tea (in the non-spill cup holder) for the first time in 20 years!

• The OT who told us that the “Robocoat” we supplied had transformed her client’s life – he can now get outdoors whenever he wants to, whatever the weather.

REMAP makes such a huge difference to people’s lives. This is an amazing charity. You don’t have to be an engineer (although we do need them of course!).

There are lots of roles that the engineers are not very comfortable with. Nobody is put under pressure to take on more than they can cope with, however when we see an opportunity we can give it a go. Not everything works first time, but practice makes us better. We all play to our individual strengths and offer whatever support we feel we can give.

No matter how we make it work – I would stress it really IS worth the bother!

If you’re interested in making a difference, like Nikki, find out how you can get involved.