Supervisor Judith Voyle has worked in the same charity shop for 30 years. She talks to Chris Binding about why the job sand her team are such an important part of her life.

PEOPLE often say I have a “heart as big as a frying pan.”

I put that down to my mother, who brought us up in a Christian home and showered us with love and security.

I was born in 1953 and brought up in a prefab in a small village in Gelligaer, Hengoed, in the upper Rhymney Valley.

I lived with mum, dad and my big brother Alwyn, who was twelve years older than me, but when I was seven my dad died.

It was a the result of a mining accident that he had many years before I was born, in Bargoed Colliery.

Although My mother didn’t have a lot of money, she had to work and bring us up as a single mother, which she did with great pride.

You can have all the money in the world but if you haven’t got that love you have nothing.

After studying at Ystrad Mynach College I went to work for a solicitors in Cardiff, which is where I met my husband David, in a typical office romance.

We married in 1975 and I worked at Caerphilly Borough Council until 1980, when my first son Matthew was born.

I finished work and had my second son Rhys in 1982, and with the help of my mother I was able to return to work in 1985.

I saw an advert in the local paper for a shop supervisor for Barnardos in Bargoed for 16 hours a week, and luckily I got the job.

I never imagined I would be working at the same shop 30 years on.

When I look back and think of all the changes throughout the years it has been a wonderful journey, and sometimes a difficult one.

But one thing that has not changed is the love and respect I have for all the volunteers who have worked with me.

Although there have been sad times when I have lost a lot of people, it is the memories of fun, characters and the happy times that always stick in my mind.

Apart from when I had my youngest son Huw in 1997 I have never taken any time off from the shop in 30 years.

When I first started there were about 22 volunteers running the shop with me and instead of a till we had a drawer with loose change and notes.

Rose, who passed away three years ago, was an incredible character and always put her foot in it with the customers.

Auntie May was special too, she was 90-year-old and my store detective, because she was frail and I didn’t like to say she couldn’t come into work anymore.

The shop is in an area of economic hardship but it continues to amaze me that it is these people who continue to support us by donating and visiting every day.

Barnardos has also given me the best opportunities ever, allowing me to represent Bargoed through the Chamber of Trade, of which I became president.

I was then approached to join the Police Consultative Panel for the town and victim support as a volunteer, counselling victims of crime and murder.

My life was pretty busy but I loved it, as I had taken off the blinkers and could see what was going on in our communities.

I noticed at the time young people were getting involved in drugs and had nowhere to go, so I started village activities and became chairwoman of the group Cascaid, which I’m still involved in.

We got a building for the youth and organised carnivals for 12 years, including the Father Christmas Parade.

The Santa parade still goes on every year, although I am getting a little old now to be Mother Christmas.

Although we fundraise through retail we also attend outside events, dressing up as bears and having fun to raise that extra income.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of money raised over 30 years.

My ambition would be to have a day seeing Wales at the Six Nations Championship with a bucket going around. That would be wonderful.

I have also had the privilege of chatting to Prince Charles, attending the Queen’s garden party and meeting Princess Diana three times.

On one occasion when I was presented to Diana her I told her “we could do with some good quality clothes” at the Bargoed shop and a few months after I met her she started auctioning her dresses off for charities.

She was an amazing patron of Barnardos and reinforced the basis and values of our charity – in that we should believe in everyone and work hard with them so they meet their full potential.

Although Barnardos is a business, as managers, those values are something we carry out in our daily lives rather than just reading it off a poster.

This month I organised a ceremony to celebrate 30 years of the shop and invited the mayor of Caerphilly because I wanted my volunteers to be acknowledged for what they have achieved.

I thought Councillor Leon Gardiner was attending to celebrate our volunteers but in front of everyone he said: “I have come here to thank you.”

It was a real surprise as I really thought he was coming to see the work that the shop was doing.

Regardless of awards and ceremonies, I think Thomas John Barnardo would be so proud of us all within Barnardos today.

We have the same problem he did in Victorian England, such as homelessness, poverty and disability, but we are all striving to do our best to help children and young families.

I’m 62 now and I feel very lucky and privileged to have the family I have got and the people I work with, and I genuinely mean that.

My husband of 40 years David has always supported me in all the mad things I have done and I now have three grown sons and two beautiful grandchildren – five-year-old Emily and three-month old Ioan.

My volunteers are like a second family to me and, although we’re not a posh shop, everybody who comes here says we have an atmosphere and a soul.

Barnardos' values are respecting the unique worth of every person, encouraging them people to fulfil their potential, working with hope and exercising responsible stewardship.

I really believe in these values personally and that is why I love the job I do so much.

It is why I get up every morning to work with the best team in the world, to try and make a difference.