Volunteers’ Week – Lester Parry

This week, we are celebrating Brendoncare’s fantastic team of volunteers for Volunteers’ Week. Their support and help is invaluable to ensure that our community clubs run smoothly, and also enhancing activities in our care homes. Lester Parry is one of our care home volunteers who is a regular visitor at Brendoncare Meadway.

June 5, 2025

Since he began volunteering there more than nine years ago, Lester Parry has become a familiar friendly face at Meadway.

But that’s not where Lester’s volunteering journey started.

Between 2004 and 2015, Lester volunteered in the Chaplaincy department of Winchester Hospital (RHCH).

After many years of supporting patients, Lester wanted to do something less tiring and emotionally demanding, but still using his experience of chaplaincy, so he joined Brendoncare in 2016.

Lester said: “It has worked out just as I intended when I left chaplaincy.”

Other interests keeping Lester busy include amateur dramatics. In 2004, he joined the Methodist Drama Group and remained a member until it folded in 2021 due to the pandemic.

We asked Lester what motivates him to continue volunteering with Brendoncare after all these years:

“The main reason I continue to turn up each week at Meadway is because residents seem to enjoy my visits.”

We asked Lester what advice he would give to someone interested in volunteering with Brendoncare: “I would say – Give it a try and keep an open mind.”