Category: Volunteer

Charity, Education, Fair trade, Podcasts, Volunteer

Meet the volunteers episode 5

rainbowturtle2002
Our delightful Paisley shop

In this episode we introduce you to two more volunteers with the organisation.

First up is Anne Scriven. Anne has been involved in fair trade for a long time, starting with her local church group in Kirkintilloch though to helping out in the Rainbow Turtle shop, various stalls and events.

We finish with Steph Mayo who started out as a community worker helping local women’s group who were interested in global issues. This lead to a meeting with Maureen Brough, a long term volunteer with Rainbow Turtle, helped Steph to get involved. Now Steph volunteers in the shop and is a trustee of the charity.

Charity, Education, Fair trade, Fair Trade Fortnight, Podcasts, Shop, Volunteer

Meet the Volunteers Episode 4

rainbowturtle2002
Our delightful shop in Gauze Street, Paisley

In episode 6 of our current series we meet 3 more volunteers from Rainbow Turtle.

First up is Kitty McEachen, an escapee from Glasgow who, to her surprise, found that Paisley wasn’t such a bad place to live in, especially when she came upon Rainbow Turtle and some of the committed volunteers, including the inspiring founder, Liz Cotton.

Next we have Duncan Macintosh, a long term supporter of fair trade, and early stall holder, who became a volunteer in the shop when he retired in 2009.

Finally we meet Marianne Sermanni, volunteer and trustee of the charity who, though her friendship with Roisin Mulholland (we spoke to Roisin in episode 2), started working in the shop in 2017.

Charity, Education, Fair trade, Fair Trade Fortnight, Podcasts, Volunteer

Meet the Volunteers Episode 3

rainbowturtle2002

In episode 5 of series 3 of our podcast we meet Elise Kelly, our creative shop manager. Elise has been in charge for about three and a half years. She joined us when we were just coming out of covid when things were tight and sales were poor. During that time Elise has transformed Rainbow Turtle shop into a bright and colourful place to come and buy fair trade products. 

After Elise we have Jonathan Barr, one of our younger volunteers, who was unemployed when he first joined and now has developed a broad set of retail skills.

Finally, we have Sarah Hurst, our newest volunteer, who combines her background in sales with her developing aptitude in social media to help promote the shop on Facebook and Instagram.

Education, Fair trade, Podcasts, Shop, Volunteer

Interviews with our volunteers

rainbowturtle2002
Our colourful Paisley shop

In this mini podcast episode, we meet long standing Rainbow Turtle volunteers: Gillian Henry, Roisin Mulholland and Maureen Brough. In it they share why fair trade is important to them and what are their favourite products that they can buy in the shop. Unsurprisingly, chocolate and coffee feature high on their lists!

Charity, Shop, Volunteer

Farewell to Fiona and Jim Rutherford

rainbowturtle2002
Left to right: Shop manager Elise Kelly with retiring volunteers Jim and Fiona Rutherford

Rainbow Turtle volunteers gathered recently to say goodbye to Fiona and Jim Rutherford. They started helping out at the shop at its beginning over 20 years ago! They are a bright friendly couple who were always welcoming to people coming in to browse or to shop.

Rainbow Turtle ceilidh 2017 with band Dlù.

They were passionate about fair trade and got involved our events. For many years they served on the board of trustees, with Jim as chairperson and Fiona as treasurer.

Volunteers’ gathering 2018

They are a talented couple both having worked many years as social workers in Inverclyde. Jim was also a beautiful singer and had organised many shows and musical events in Renfrewshire. He was probably best known as the creator of the play for the famous Renfrewshire Witch Project that remembered the Paisley witch hunt in 1697. The show was performed a number of times across Paisley town centre.

Jim and Fiona will be sorely missed, though I’m sure we’ll see them in the shop or at our events in the future.