Join us for this rare opportunity to visit the beautiful gardens of Winslow Hall, in aid of Florence Nightingale Hospice
Join us for a special fundraising performance of Annie at Wycombe Swan Theatre on Saturday 2nd November. With a matinee
A very special anniversary is happening in our Wendover branch this year as Patrick, one of our PAT testers, celebrates volunteering with us for an impressive ten years.
Two years into his volunteering journey with us, he decided to change his role to be Wendover’s new PAT tester as the former person who filled that role decided to leave. Having no prior knowledge or experience of how to perform a PAT test, he needed to become qualified which was performed in a set of online tests.
PAT test stands for ‘Portable Appliance Testing’, and it is a short examination of electrical items to make sure they are safe for general use; meaning that they won’t give off electrical shocks and that they won’t overheat and potentially cause fires. It is an essential part of any checking process when we receive electrical items. When you purchase any of our electronics, you can be rest assured that they have passed the PAT test and that they are safe to use.
With the change of role also came a change of volunteering location, you can now find Patrick in the backrooms of Wendover’s shop, where he oversees all the electronics which come through the doors as generous donations. When we asked him what he enjoyed about volunteering he said;
Patrick decided to volunteer with us after his wife passed away from cancer. During her treatment, she would visit Stoke Mandeville Hospital to receive chemotherapy and also stayed at the hospital when she had pneumonia. Florence Nightingale Hospice supported Patrick and his wife when she was receiving home-based care. Patrick wanted to volunteer with us to show his appreciation for our support. We can’t thank him enough for the time and effort that he has given us over the past ten years.
As you can imagine, eight years’ worth of PAT testing for the charity has meant that Patrick has handled and overseen a lot of electrical equipment for us. When we asked him about the sort of items he’s seen he replied; “A lot of lamps! They are a good seller for us, and we tend to receive a good amount of them through donations. There are also a lot more brand-new items than you’d probably expect. They’re still in their cellophane and original packaging, but of course, these need to be PAT tested as well. You’d be surprised how many new items don’t actually pass the test.”
The last question we asked Patrick was ‘what would you say to someone thinking about volunteering with us?’ He replied;
Patrick saw a need for the charity and jumped at the chance to help and allow ‘normal’ operations to continue without having to find a new PAT tester. He showed initiative and was kind enough to take the time to learn a new role that would benefit the charity. We are very thankful to have Patrick on board and he plays a very important role which allows us to sell electrical products at our Wendover shop with peace of mind, knowing that they are safe to display and sell to our supporters.
Patrick, from all of us at the Florence Nightingale Hospice, thank you.
PAT testing is a unique role within the volunteering section of our charity, and we are on the lookout for some more people who would like to PAT Test for us. If you would like to find out more about PAT testing, please talk to us!
Florence Nightingale
Hospice Charity.
Registered Charity
No. 1119499.
The Hospice
The Charity
Fundraising
The Hospice
The Charity
Fundraising
