TODAY we profile Jane Haynes, who has been involved with Faringdon Area Project for five years. The organisation identifies community needs and finds ways to address them.

Jane Haynes, 54, was given Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action’s volunteer award for her work as secretary and events organiser, arranging ante-natal classes, editing leaflets and managing finances.

She said: “I was born in Faringdon and have lived in and around the town all of my life, so to be recognised by the town is a huge honour and I feel very proud of the work that I have done.”

She is married to Mark and the couple have two daughters.

* How did you become involved with the charity?

“When Faringdon Area Project was looking for a new secretary, chairman Daphne Saunders approached Nick Elwell, the president of Faringdon Chamber of Commerce, for help.

“He suggested I should be asked to help out. Faringdon Area Project and the Chamber of Commerce worked together on revisiting its 2001 healthcheck, where the main stakeholders in the town got together to find out what we want from the town.

“Faringdon was one of the first towns in the country to do this. Focus on Faringdon was set up by the chamber to deliver the healthcheck projects and I was involved in the consultation.”

* How long have you been involved with it?

“Since 2007.”

* What does the charity mean to you?

“Faringdon Area Project is a group of people from all parts of the community and I have been privileged to be able to help the town I love become a better place for everyone to live.”

* How has it made a difference to your life?

“I made more friends through being involved in the project. I always felt a part of the community because I was born in Faringdon but it has felt nice to give something back.

“Volunteering for the Faringdon Project has opened my eyes to what we have here.”

* What do you do for a living and how does volunteering affect it?

“I work for Nick Elwell at Bordengate Insurance and because of his involvement in the community he has made it very easy for me to complete my work for Faringdon Area Project.

“I have been able to allocate a large amount of my time to the various projects and events.

“Faringdon Area Project has hosted two Action For Market Towns Awards Days and I have been given the necessary time to work with the AMT team to organise the days.”

* Happiest moment of volunteering?

“One of the projects from the original healthcheck was to build a skate park in Faringdon. I am very happy to say that this project is just about to be completed, with building starting in the next couple of weeks.”

* Saddest moment of volunteering?

“The worst thing for Faringdon is the fact funding has been cut to a lot of the projects now. We are going to have to look harder for funding.

“I have had a pretty positive experience with Faringdon Area Project.”