John Kramrisch of Salford chose his 80th birthday to finally retire as a volunteer with the Manchester Jewish Community Care’s Nicky Alliance Centre after more than 30 years’ service.
John was originally recruited by his wife, Sylvia, to be one of the ‘lads’ of the League of Jewish Women and started helping as a technician with The Northern Jewish Talking Newspaper he continued producing tapes every four to six weeks until the system was finally digitalised.
Much of John’s time at the Centre has been spent helping in the Reminiscence Room and he was responsible for acquiring many of the artefacts that are used to stimulate discussions among the members.
John has enjoyed his volunteering and has found it invigorating. He said: “I’ve got out far more than I’ve put in. Leading the members in discussion groups has never been a problem for me having spent a lifetime as a director in the freight industry travelling all over the world covering over 60 countries. Consequently choosing an interesting subject and talking for 40 to 50 minutes is easy.”
In addition to his work at the Nicky Alliance Centre John has helped as a volunteer with the Fed and the Round Table, chalking up a total of 60 years’ service to the community.
Nicky Alliance volunteer coordinator, Karen Grant, said: “John has been a fantastic volunteer who has never let us down and was always available to stand in at the last minute. He was totally dedicated and we will miss him.”
John concluded: “I decided to take things a bit more leisurely and feel free to travel more without additional commitments. But it’s not goodbye. I’ll still be on call and I’ll be happy to come in a give a talk at short notice.”
