Every year people in the UK take the time to volunteer and make a huge difference to communities. National Volunteer week, from the 1st to 6th June, celebrates that work and Teamwork Trust would like to say a big thank you to all the people of Northamptonshire who regularly give their time, knowledge, and skills to benefit their service users.

As a special tribute we would like to celebrate the life of Ronnie Vickers a long term volunteer at Teamwork Trust who recently and unexpectedly passed away, aged 78.

Ronnie Vickers was born in Corby in 1944. At the age of 16 he started working at British Steel as a labourer and worked his way up to management level during his time there. It was working here that Ronnie found his passion for volunteering and was involved in a range of activities to raise money for local charities. Aged 54 he opted for redundancy and worked part time until he retired.

Upon retirement Ronnie decided to combine his love for being active, sociable, and helping others by setting up the Well Walking Group. With up to 30 members meeting every Sunday, their membership fee was donated to Lakelands Hospice and more recently the Ukrainian Appeal.

His experience as a walking leader led him to volunteer at Teamwork Trust. He took the Corby service users out every Friday, often pointing out landmarks and teaching them about wildlife while walking. Ronnie also worked hard on the garden at the Corby branch and loved dressing up as Father Christmas to give out gifts!

Margaret, his wife of 57 years, and son Chris are devastated to lose Ronnie but are focusing on celebrating his life and all his wonderful achievements. Chris describes his dad as “a lovely man who loved to help all the service users at Teamwork and particularly enjoyed their karaoke parties! My dad’s slogan was Walking to Happiness and that was what he did for so many people”.