Our team of Service Co-ordinators organise the rotas for the various services that Friends Volunteers deliver in the hospital. They are key links between the trustees, hospital managers and our 200 volunteers.
Bob Tooze
Chair of the Service Co-ordinator meetings
Hospital Admin and Mealtime Companion Service Co-ordinator
I am a retired manager for an electrical engineering company and have been a Friends of St Cross Hospital volunteer for 5 years.
The Hospital Admin volunteers carry out duties that are many and varied in numerous departments throughout the hospital, with tasks ranging from handling paperwork and manning telephones to running errands and undertaking patient surveys, plus much more.
Mealtime Companions volunteer in the three inpatient wards, serving food to mainly elderly patients, encouraging them to eat, and assisting them when required.
Alan Turner
Deputy Chair of the Service Co-ordinator meetings
Meet and Greet Services Co-ordinator
Volunteering since August 2020
The Services are well received by patients/visitors and staff. Volunteers are based at the main entrances to the hospital at the start of the patient/visitor journey. By welcoming people into the hospital with a smile, volunteers aim to give a good first impression before using their knowledge to provide appropriate reassurance and assistance and, if required, a friendly escort to correct destinations on the site. Importantly, the volunteers work in partnership with reception, clinical, and other staff to enhance the overall service provided.
Jane Edgeoch
Bingo Service Co-otdinator
The Bingo Volunteer Team at Hospital St Cross is more than just a group of helpers — we’re a small community of friendly faces who enjoy bringing moments of joy to patients each week. Our bingo sessions create opportunities for laughter, light-hearted competition, and genuine connection in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. Whether we’re setting up the games, chatting with patients, or finding the perfect bingo prizes, we ensure everyone feels included and able to take part.
For us, volunteering is about more than running a game; it’s about offering companionship, kindness, and a sense of normality when patients need it most. Every smile, shared joke, and enthusiastic “Bingo!” reminds us why we do what we do — to make a real, heartfelt difference in someone’s day.
Pauline Masterman
Books Sales team co-ordinator
I have been volunteering for the Friends of St Cross for over 10 years. I started assisting with admin work and then took over as Co-Ordinator for the Second Hand Books and Jigsaws Sales with a small team to help me.
Though not a large money spinner, all the proceeds go towards purchasing equipment for the hospital.
It is good volunteering for an organisation that appreciates your help.
Jane Guthrie
Database Admin
I am a Volunteer Administrator supporting the Service Co-ordinators by maintaining the Friends’ database. This includes the inputting of volunteer attendances from the weekly signing-in sheets, producing monthly attendance reports and ensuring the volunteer records are up-to-date.
I have been a volunteer for five years and am also part of the Phlebotomy Meet & Greet Team.
Marie Guyett
Holding Hands in theatre and Meet and Greet X-Ray Service Co-ordinator
I joined in February 2019 as a Meet and Greet volunteer in the Out Patients Department working one day per week, during Covid I continued to volunteer and sewed PPE garments daily. Since then, I've had various other roles such as serving in the tea bar, helping with the Ward Trolley service, and maintaining the garden troughs outside the Diabetic clinic as necessary and packing envelopes in the Bowel screening unit.
I was also the Service Co-ordinator in the Maple Unit for its startup and had several weekly shifts there. These days I support the library once per month, and I'm currently Service Co-ordinator for the x-ray department and do a weekly shift there, I am also the coordinator for Holding Hands in the theatre for cataract operations, again on a weekly basis.
In addition to giving guidance to volunteers for my departments I have also given induction talks for the new volunteers.
Lizzy Howes
Maple Unit Service Co-ordinator
I joined the volunteers after retiring from teaching, wanting to make a worthwhile contribution within the NHS, where I had received such wonderful care some years ago.
The Maple unit delivers chemotherapy treatment as well as blood transfusions and other blood services. As volunteers, our main tasks are to prepare drinks and lunches for patients, chatting with them and listening to them, above all with a caring and supportive manner. We also try to do the same for anyone who is accompanying a patient having treatment. It is extremely rewarding, and we are made to feel very welcome by the Maple Unit clinical team.
Collette O’Connor
Patient Visiting and Keep Active Service Co-ordinator
Patient Visiting is a service run by volunteers, who kindly give their time to offer support and connection to people who are in hospital, this is often a very difficult time for patients and we endeavour to bring a positive experience to brighten their day.
It’s a good experience for volunteers too, who advise us that they feel that they make a real difference and really enjoy the time they give to the service.
Alison Chmpken-Woods
Phlebotomy Meet and Greet Service Co-ordinator
I worked for the Health Service for 46 years and qualified as a nurse in 1976. During my career In the Health Service, I predominantly worked across Critical Care and Theatres in a variety of roles both clinical and managerial within the public and private sectors.
I have worked across a number of large NHS Trusts across the country, predominantly in the south of England.
In the year 2000 I worked on a number of national projects including Access, Booking and Choice, Cancelled Operations, Surgical Care/Anaesthetic Practitioners, Priority Treatment lists with a focus on service delivery.
Since retirement in 2012, I was employed to review services across a number of Trusts in London and the south of England. I was also the Chair of Trustees for a charity for older people within Thame in South Oxfordshire and set up a dementia café in 2021.
I moved to Dunchurch in 2025 to be closer to family and earlier this year I joined the volunteers at St. Cross on Meet and Greet. I was made very welcome by the team of volunteers at St. Cross and it is evident by the comments from patients that St. Cross is a service that is held in high regard by everyone. I am pleased that I am able to contribute to the service.
I have also become a trustee for the Hoskyn Centre in Rugby.
Michael Borg
Receipts & Distribution Service Co-ordinator
I was born in the Black Country and spent the first 40 years of my life in that area. My career was in banking and as a Finance Director in a large firm of solicitors in Warwickshire. It was my banking job that saw me move to Rugby in 1992 when I was appointed as a local business manager and have remained here since.
I have been retired for 8 years and spend a little of that time as a volunteer in the Receipts and Distributions Office.
I joined the Friends of St Cross about 5 years ago as I was keen to undertake some form of voluntary work. Being in Receipts and Distribution is probably less high profile than some of the other volunteer groups within the hospital, but nonetheless, I still feel that I am making a valuable contribution to the running of the hospital.
Elizabeth Burnett
Tea Bar & Ward Trolley Services Co-ordinator
We are two teams who work closely together as we share the same base and stock. Therefore, it it’s important that we all get on and support each other.
The Tea Bar team provide hot and cold drinks and a variety of sweet and savoury snacks for patients and visitors. They ably assist those who require help and are happy to chat or listen to patients and their relatives.
The Ward Trolley service provides cold drinks and a variety of snacks. They visit every department in the hospital and are welcomed by patients, visitors and staff.
Annette Turner
Volunteer Recruitment Administrator
I am a retired Civil Servant and joined the Friends Team about 2 years ago, mainly doing Meet and Greet Volunteering.
I also took on the role of Volunteer Administrator for the Friends almost 1 year ago.
I love crafting and am part of a crafting group who make blankets for the patients and cards to sell in the Tea Bar.