Why is your volunteering role the best? – gallery

Down's Syndrome Association, Belfast, on their annual weekend away.
Photograph: RichardMcCullough/GuardianWitness

Betty, 82, has been popping into the offices of the NSPCC and ChildLine in Glasgow, once a week for the last 18 years. In that time, she's helped out with a variety of different tasks and activities, from supporting us at events, to delivering outreach talks to women's guilds, and lending a helping hand with the day-to-day office administration. "I'd always helped out with Cubs and Brownies, and enjoy working with children and young people," says Betty. "So when I retired in 1995, I decided to look for a volunteer role. I saw a programme with Esther Rantzen where she talked about ChildLine and it sounded ideal. So I got in touch with my local office, and that was that. I've never looked back."
Photograph: NSPCCScotland/GuardianWitness

Brixton Splash volunteers get their first taste of outdoor events work.
Photograph: ID010224/GuardianWitness

GuardianWitness contributor, TheArmenian, runs monthly tea parties for lonely older people – part of a network of volunteers for the charity Contact the Elderly. "It's fun, rewarding and just a couple of hours a month makes a huge difference. The conversations between the generations are fantastic and the chance for a chat means so much to older people who live on their own, who might not otherwise get the chance to go out," says TheArmenian.
Photograph: TheArmenian/GuardianWitness

Volunteering at one of London's busiest city farms, bringing a slice of rural life to urban dwellers.
Photograph: ID7939061/GuardianWitness

Julian Ashley was a volunteer stewarding for Oxfam at this year's 100k trailtrekker, as part of the full support package team. This was Julian's first year as a volunteer steward for Oxfam, and first ever stewarding experience and festival. The role was to support teams who didn't have their own support, by sorting their bags at each checkpoint. They had a few drivers to transport the bags to each checkpoint in the 100k walk and had volunteers making sure walkers got them back. "I love this role because it's an amazing experience to be able to support the teams. We made sure they're okay and encouraged them to keep going, it's a great feeling that you helped them along the way. I loved my first volunteering stewarding experience with Oxfam and I will be doing it more next year," Julian says.
Photograph: Julz Ashley/GuardianWitness

Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) volunteers spend their weekends and holidays helping to restore the derelict canals of England and Wales. WRG, its history and the canals that mark their legacy, show everyone what can, and will be, achieved by volunteers. WRG's "nothing is impossible" attitude is what makes WRG and its volunteers so special.
Photograph: shinty1983/GuardianWitness

Ann-Marie is a dedicated volunteer nurse and ambassador for Orbis and the Flying Eye Hospital, a mobile sight-saving teaching hospital, with an operating theatre and lecture theatre onboard. For over a decade she has used her annual leave to travel with the unique aircraft and to local hospital programmes across the globe, helping to treat some of the 90% of the world’s blind living in developing countries. She provides training to local nurses to better treat eye conditions in their community. The enthusiastic volunteer is booked in for a further three programmes later this year, bringing her total to 29. She says: “You just find a way to communicate, sometimes you don’t have to say anything at all. Nurses all over the world know what is right for the patient. It is like a sixth sense. I've seen how many doors of opportunities eye care gives whole families and generations and I'm addicted. I can’t not go. And I will volunteer for as long as I can.”
Photograph: natasha_lee86/GuardianWitness