The Dock Volunteer (or Dockus Volunteeris to give the full technical title) is a very interesting species with many notable features.

As a species, they are incredibly varied.  Some of them prefer to serve coffee and chat to customers all the livelong day.  Some of them actually prefer to get stuck into the dishes and see a groaning-full table of dirty crockery as the kind of challenge they were born to face.  Some of them pray, some of them chat, some of them are artistic, some of them are practical, some of them commit to a regular time slot, some of them pop up when needed.  In many ways, their kalaidascopic variety is their strength.

Members of the species do of course have some things in common.  They are all very nice people. They are all in love with this strange haphazard semi-accidental explosion of life, grace and creativity we call The Dock.  They have all been through a very informal but very important application process, involving a chat (to make sure they’re not an axe-murderer) and some training on how to make a perfect cuppa.

And they all appreciate being thanked from time to time – so maybe the next time you encounter a member of the species, you could just mention that they’re doing a phenomenal job.  That was certainly the message when they all gathered recently for a Volunteer Treats Day of afternoon tea, photo booth fun and big-screen movies:

Another distinguishing feature is the way that they care for each other – as evidenced by the recent appearance of this bring-and-share box of treats and goodies for volunteers who have missed breakfast or forgotten their lunch…

But maybe the most important thing to know about the Dockus Volunteeris is that you could become a member of the species yourself.   In fact the existing members of the species would be delighted if you joined them.

As a rule, they all seem to have a whale of a time being part of the life of The Dock, meeting new people, learning new skills, and building community together in the Titanic Quarter.  So there’s no need to remain a member of the species of Non-Dock-Volunteer (or Boredus Sadus SittingOnTheSofaNotDoingMuchis to give the technical term) if you would like to join this particular tribe instead… just click here if you’re interested!