Frank Roberts: My Volunteering Life

Frank Roberts was our speaker at this month's meeting and he entertained us with stories from his very active life as a military man and a very busy volunteer.

Frank is a Yorkshireman, born in Leeds, but he came down south and has been a staunch supporter of Swanage Railway since the early 1980s. He has been heavily involved in the development of the railway and set up the Swanage Army Link. 

Frank spent more than 20 years in the British Army, in areas as diverse as Jamaica, Norway, Germany, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, eventually rising to the rank of Sargent Major. Some of his tales make your hair stand on end, but there were interesting and enjoyable times too during a very successful career.

Following his time in the army, Frank has worked for South West Trains, including time in the Wessex control room and, of course, he has worked as project manager for the re-linking of the heritage line back to the main line at Wareham.

Frank's not relaxing however. His work with the Swanage Railway continues, now as a trustee, and the vision is still to be able to run a regular service to Wareham and beyond in the future. He carried the Olympic Torch in Swanage in 2012 and is involved with the local celebrations of the 80th Anniversary of D Day. He is also involved with Litter Free Purbeck, aiming to keep our beautiful area clean, and Durlston Country Park. 

Most recently Frank has become involved with Heros Haven at the country park, helping to reintegrate disabled people back into the community, and the Swanage & Purbeck Development Trust. And if that wasn't enough, he is a trained officer with the British Transport Police working out of Waterloo!

On behalf of the group, President Chris thanked Frank for a thoroughly fascinating and inspiring talk.