Volunteering through the years

Research Assistant Carlo De Angelis – who returned to the Institute of Genetics and Cancer to work part-time in Hannah Long’s lab after retiring from the University alongside his previous manager Professor Bob Hill – has been involved in volunteering in one way or another for many years.

In 1996, when his son was five, Carlo started running football skills sessions for him and other children at Flora Stevenson Primary School in Comely Bank. Just a few years later, 350 children were attending the sessions, with Carlo in charge of fundraising and buying equipment.

Due to its success, the club was adopted by The Spartans FC in 2003, allowing the youngsters who had started playing as children to continue playing into adulthood.

The following section on the Spartans FC website describes the origin of the club:

Flora’s Soccer School first kicked a ball in Inverleith Park in May 1996, led by Carlo De Angelis.

Due to its popularity with local kids and the dedication of its volunteers, the club quickly developed beyond a friendly kickabout in the park with an honesty box for subs. Securing funding enabled the professionalism of the club to progress, coaches completed SFA Coaching Qualifications, equipment and match kit was purchased. Players from many schools across North Edinburgh joined the club prompting the club to change its name to Inverleith Star.

The next stage in the development of the club occurred when Craig Graham proposed that Inverleith Star become the Youth Section of Spartans FC, and in 2003 Inverleith Star became The Spartans FC Youth. The ultimate aim of the merger was to continue to improve the opportunities for children and adults playing football in North Edinburgh.

As Carlo says:

It was the perfect amalgamation for us as our children were now adults and needed somewhere to go.

His volunteering work earned him a qualification as a football coach, an award for services to the community and a meeting with Scottish former football player and manager Kenny Dalglish.

He also wrote a book about how to engage with people to get things done.

It is about how to negotiate with people and get mums and dads to buy into what you’re doing, and the characters you meet – both children and adults.

The book sold around 100 copies with the £300 profit going to football charities.

Images from: Before becoming the Youth Section… – Spartans Youth Section | Facebook

For Carlo, it depends on your age what type of volunteering you get involved in, but he recommends it for everyone.

At that point in his life, with a young son, getting involved in coaching was an obvious choice.

Years later, his son also indirectly led him to his most recent volunteering experience at The Bike Station in Edinburgh.

“Before the pandemic, I gave my son one of my bikes and it got stolen,” he says. “It was recovered a week later but it was no longer really cyclable. During the pandemic, I started buying pieces from Amazon and putting it together again. The internet takes a lot of stick but there are so many good videos on YouTube about how to do stuff, including how to fix bikes.”

After lockdown ended, he decided to put his skills to good use and volunteer at the Bike Station.

“We get lots of donations of bikes from various sources – we can get hundreds of bikes in the space of a month,” says Carlo, who holds a Gold Velotech bicycle maintenance certificate. “The medium to good ones are kept and the mechanics build them up, service them and sell them on for £100-200. We take the best parts from the others with the rest sold on for scrap.”

At my stage of life, I do it because I like learning stuff. Our mechanics are very experienced and they are more than happy to help you out. The other volunteers are of ages with me and it’s well documented how good it is for your mental health.

He adds: “I know so many people, generally boys, in their late teens and early 20s who don’t do anything because they have social anxiety issues. If only they had the wherewithal to do some volunteering, speak to people, enjoy someone having a laugh at your expense and having a laugh at their expense – you don’t learn anything sitting at home playing Minecraft.”