A flasher meets his match: how "Volunteers" was born.

I'm often asked where I get the inspiration for my plays. My answer is... everywhere! I hear something: a news item, or a story somebody tells me over coffee, and I think, “there's a play in there.”

Or, at least, an episode within a play.

One sunny Saturday afternoon a few years back, I was sharing a cup of tea with some ladies I know. They worked together in a local charity shop and boy, did they have some stories to tell! Don't let anybody ever tell you volunteering in a shop that sells donated goods is predictable, or boring.

I came away from that coffee morning with so much material, I could have written four or five plays. The trouble was deciding which of the stories to include in the action, and how to make them all into a coherent whole.

The second part of that conundrum was solved when I read a newspaper article about a boardroom struggle at a very big charity. The new generation of executives was trying to update the organisation – not necessarily a bad thing but, in this case, they had thrown the baby out with the bathwater, and it had been a disaster. This made it newsworthy, and planted an idea in the fertile soil of my imagination. “Volunteers” was born.

Then came the part when I sifted through the stories I had heard on that Saturday morning. I ummed and ahhed over several, But some were always going to make the cut. Such as the one about the flasher who tried to shock the wrong elderly lady…and probably never had the courage to show himself in public again!

The picture shows the cast of "Volunteers" at Meeching Amateur Dramatics in 2024.

In “Volunteers,” Brenda runs a charity shop with the slightly addled Prue, and the sight impaired Denny. But there are changes in the charity, and John Turk is keen on a new image, along with younger staff. Brenda has to cope with customers, a community service offender, and the new regime.

I dedicate the play to the real life Brendas, Prues, and Dennys of this world. They are wonderful people. All power to them.

To learn more, or see the script, click here.