Mr. Gary Dunne:

I am happy to speak about the volunteering aspect. We have two volunteering staff and more than 150 volunteers. I was reading again the history of the centre on the way over in preparation for today, and we published The Scatteringin 2004, which was our 50th anniversary. It reminded me that we have this beautiful premises because of the voluntary work of Irish predecessors and ancestors in London.

The centre was set up by the church and volunteers. They bought one little bit first and voluntary Irish labour built the place. Volunteering has always been a key part of the centre. We have 150 volunteers today. I started in the centre as a volunteer six years ago. Our volunteers do everything from befriending, which as the name suggests includes going out to visit older Irish people in London, to running Facebook pages to pouring tea at tea dances, to doing box office at the London Irish comedy festival. There has always been, and it is very much the case these days, a strong culture of the community supporting the community.

Only last week I inducted seven new young Irish arts volunteers. They are young Irish people in their mid to late 20s who have signed up specifically to be arts volunteers. There is an interesting motivation there when one asks people why they are volunteering. Interestingly, for them it is about belonging. They are in London and they are fully integrated into London life but they get a sense of belonging, connection and groundedness from having an organic link with their roots.

We have done quite well in retaining volunteers. Our two volunteer staff seem to manage them really well. We have a big summer event and a big winter event and there is a lovely energy around the whole project. That is what I have to say about volunteering.