Parking is No Problem for ‘Early Bird’ Jill

Friends volunteer Jill Hodgson knows just how to find a parking space at the hospital when putting in a shift at the foyer shop — she gets there very early.

“I am a morning person, and I set out from my home in Niton on Wednesdays so that I can start work at 7.30 am,” said Jill. “And it means that one of my first jobs at the shop is to deal with the newly delivered sandwiches. I then work on to 1 pm.”

She likes to to do her bit in the shop rather than the café, and is well used to money matters. “When I was young I used to help my dad in his grocer’s shop in Devon, and before retiring I was finance manager for an organisation on the main-land, training disabled people for the work place.”

She has a simple explanation for why she began her regular stints at the Friends’ shop. “I just wanted to give something back and be useful.”