Passing the baton

Yesterday, I attended the AGM of Volunteer Centre Lewisham. I'd seen a message asking anyone interested in finding out what's happening with plans to bring back into use the former Victorian bathhouse (and latterly gymnastics centre) in Ladywell. Since Volunteer Centre Lewisham is one of the four parties working towards restoring the Grade II listed Ladywell Playtower and turning it into a community hub, it made sense to combine the meetings.

I've never volunteered in Lewisham, despite living here most of my adult life, and was surprised to learn that the organisation estimates that borough residents contributed a combined number of volunteer hours last year equivalent to £32 million. That's an incredible amount of goodwill and time devoted to caring, training, administration and thoughtfulness on behalf of other people. There are currently 900 volunteering opportunities in the area.

This summer, volunteering rightly became the focus of a lot of news stories and features thanks to those who gave up their summer holidays and their salaries to act as Games Makers and Ambassadors during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The cheerful army of volunteers "made the Games", according to many.

What also became clear is just how much those volunteers relished their weeks of involvement with the Olympics. They got at least as much from the experience as they put in. I certainly did.

As one of those lucky enough to have been chosen as a Team London Ambassador, I felt even more closely associated with the Games than the millions of sports fans glued to their TV sets and attending the events. Ask anyone who's chatted to me over the past three months. I've barely talked about anything else other than the Olympics and how much I've loved being a part of it.

Volunteering for the world's biggest sporting event wasn't exactly a hardship. We were given plenty of training, encouragement and support along the way by others who were themselves volunteers and who had stepped up to the mark to ensure what we brought to the Games was of value. Their invisible role was far more representative of what volunteering is like on a day to day level. Some of the training was delivered better than other parts, just as some of the locations at which the training days were held were more enticing than others. But in every case it was about people passing on knowledge, skills and experience - and the recipients soaking it up.

It's this experience that is intended to be the Olympic legacy. Volunteering is seen as a key indicator of how successful the London 2012 Games will be judged to have been and is something that the Games volunteers have been asked to comment on and actively promote.

Team London Ambassadors been offered the chance to complete Heart Start training, for example, so that in an emergency we could confidently use a defibrillator. Once trained, many of us will be taking that skill into our local communities and training more people in how to use this life-saving equipment.

One of the reasons I went to the Volunteer Centre meeting last night was to find out what's happening locally on the volunteering front.

Coming back to the Olympic legacy plans, there's already been a weekend of local sport intended to entice those inspired by our sporting heroes and heroines to take up a new activity in their area. The nationwide Join In project in August was a great start.

Last weekend, at our local track, I observed girls of all ages being given their first ever javelin lesson, while a assembly of teenage boys and a girl of around 10 were shown how to crouch for a sprint start and run 100 and 200 metres.

It's not just about sport, though. The volunteering spirit is about sharing the skills you have in whatever field you specialise - or simply lending a hand, as per the Brownie motto, to make things happen.

As well as a thank-you from the Mayor's office for being part of the pink and purple London 2012 welcoming committee, we got an email yesterday checking our address details so we can be sent a commemorative baton. That baton, of course, is more than just a keepsake. It's a symbol of what we, as volunteers, can pass on.