Elders Programme – Chair Dance | Contact Club | Heart of Battersea Film Project Volunteer
This is part of our monthly Volunteer Spotlight series, celebrating the people who give their time and heart to KLS.
This month, meet Nonkuthalo – a local resident and stay-at-home mum who started with our Elders team. Over the past year she’s supported three different projects: chair dance, Contact Club, and the KLS film project documenting our 100-year history. In her own words:
I’ve been helping in the Thursday morning chair exercise class – setting up the chairs, bringing out the exercise bands, and being there for anyone who needed a hand. It’s a lovely group of women, funny and always full of stories.
There’s this running joke about the disappearing clock. One week it’s on the wall, the next it’s gone, then it’s back again. Everyone comments on it every time. It’s such a small thing, but it always makes people laugh.
Through that group, I met another volunteer who suggested we join the KLS film project. I didn’t know what to expect, but it ended up being one of the best things I’ve done. We interviewed people from all over the organisation. Usually you just come to your session, see the same people, and go home. But suddenly I saw how many different parts make up KLS. It’s a much bigger story than you realise from the outside.
One of my favourite interviews was with Jenny, a youth worker from the 90s. She told us wild stories about working with young people in a really tough part of Battersea. She was fearless. For her, it was always about what more she could do. It made me think: we don’t always realise how powerful that kind of commitment can be.
Back in the Elders class, it’s the people who made the biggest impression. I didn’t know what to expect when I first signed up. I live nearby and had walked past KLS many times, but had no idea what went on inside. After the 100-year anniversary street party, I thought, I need to get involved. Once I stepped through the door, it felt like a whole new world had opened up.
I also helped out at Contact Club. We did a mini Olympics with the Elders last summer and it was hilarious. I thought volunteering would just fill the time while my kids were at school – but I got so much more out of it than I expected.
Before I started volunteering, I’d been a full-time mum for seven years. We moved to the UK just over two years ago, and my whole life was looking after the kids. But hearing the Elders talk about everything they’ve done made me realise – I still have time to do amazing things. Their perspective changed something in me.
They’d say things like, “Why wouldn’t you try it? You’re young, you’ve got time.” And I’d think, maybe I’m not that young, maybe I can’t. But to them, it’s a no-brainer. “Of course you can. You’ll be great.” I’ve since started a business. I’m doing more than I thought I could. It’s changed how I see myself. And how I think about other mums too – we spend so much time thinking about what’s next for our kids, but not for us.
If you’re just starting as a volunteer, I’d say: be open. Let it become what it’s meant to be. I had no idea how much it would change my life, but it has. You don’t know what you’ll get from it. And you don’t always know what you’ll give.
Sometimes people think they’ve got nothing to offer. But you just have to show up. Everyone has something to give.