Today Jim visited Waterbeach Brownies at Girlguiding Cambridgeshire East’s residential and camping centre – The Jarman Centre - in Newmarket as part of a flexible volunteering initiative.

Jim was fulfilling a pledge he and fellow ministers made to volunteer for one hour with a charity, under a recent White Paper on Giving.  The initiative was based on Girlguiding UK’s 12 Hour Challenge which enables everyone to give their time, no matter how busy they are. This can be anything from sharing a skill with a group to helping out at a large event.

Jim took a tour around the Jarman Centre which has recently undergone a massive transformation, including improved access for visitors with special needs and a landscaped sensory garden. The next stage of the project at the centre, which is open to guiding and non-guiding groups throughout the year, is to install some accessible camp showers.  Volunteers are now crossing their fingers that they will receive funding from the NatWest Community Force scheme. The decision to award the grant is down to the general public, and voting opens later this month online.

After the tour Jim met with the Waterbeach Brownies, who were staying on holiday for the weekend. He talked to the girls about government and his work at the House of Commons. 

Jim said, ‘One of the key strands of the Big Society is the encouragement of social action with people giving their time, effort, even money, to causes around them, with the Government fostering and supporting a new culture of voluntarism and philanthropy. Life is busy, and it always seems to be getting busier, however, with schemes like the 12-Hour Challenge people don’t have to commit hours of time.  I thoroughly enjoyed the hour I spent volunteering with Girlguiding UK - the Brownies were full of questions! I hope others take up the volunteering challenge too.’

Sheila Betts, volunteer chair of the centre's management committee, said: ‘It was a fantastic opportunity for our local MP to see the facilities and activities we have on offer at the Jarman Centre and the Brownies from Waterbeach who he met were very keen to find out about Jim's work in Parliament and even asked for his autograph!’