00:00:03 Okay, my name is Diane, and at the moment I’m a stay at home mum, and as well as that I am actually a mentor for the Prince’s Trust. My husband and I decided that when I had the children I would give up work. He works long hours, he travels, and we thought it was not fair if both of us were away from home at the time. Yes, I am very proud of being a stay at home mum. I think nowadays sometimes if you say that, you’re almost seen as a second citizen, but I think to help the kids and to nurture them is something that I’m very proud of. Personally, I think that’s one of the most important jobs that you can have.
00:00:48 My parents… My father was a buyer for C & A and my mother was a stay at home mum until I l left to go to university, and then she went back out to work again. They have been inspirational to me because they’ve always been supportive, and I think that’s what I’ve been very fortunate that people around me who have supported me and encouraged me, and I think that’s why partly I wanted to volunteer with the Prince’s Trust because lots of these kids don’t have people who support them, they are on their own, and I think if I can give them support then that’s what I want to do.
00:01:27 School was something I didn’t particularly enjoy but it was a means to an end. What I did enjoy was I got some qualifications, got my A levels, and then I went to university, and I enjoyed that because it was more studying on your own. You had to think for yourself, and I really enjoyed that. I did a degree in English and drama. I had thought at the time that I wanted to teach drama, but when I got there and saw all my other friends who were doing teaching degrees, I decided that that was not the career path that I wanted to go to. But I enjoyed my three years, I made a lot of friends, and I learnt a lot.
00:02:02 University helped challenge me more. It stretched me more, and it gave me confidence at a time when I thought ‘yes, I can do this.’ It really did make me question what I’d been doing before and it was a very worthwhile experience.
00:02:18 I got into HR straight from university and did general HR, and then I left and got a job in graduate recruitment, and realised that actually I enjoyed recruitment work. There again, it’s probably very cliché to say I enjoyed meeting people but it was meeting people, making decisions based on what the person said to you, and what the person was actually saying to you, and it was the decision-making of the recruitment experience that I enjoyed the most.
00:02:58 I don’t think there was a particular turning point that made me decide that the Prince’s Trust was right. I had been thinking about some time about doing volunteer work. I’d looked on various websites, I’d looked at various organisations, and it just so happened that the day I’d gone onto the Prince’s Trust there was a vacancy in my area. Call it coincidence, call it whatever, I don’t know, but I just knew then that was the one for me.
00:00:33 Family motivate me, friends motivate me, community motivates me. I think that’s a big part, and I think sometimes that can be overlooked in life. Because we’re all so busy nowadays, I think sometimes we tend to forget the important things in life. To me, family and community are very important.
00:03:55 End
Diane Hall
Diane Hall
Okay, my name is Diane, and at the moment I’m a stay at home mum, and as well as that I am actually a mentor for the Prince’s Trust. My husband and I decided that when I had the children I would give up work. He works long hours, he travels, and we thought it was not fair if both of us were away from home at the time. Yes, I am very proud of being a stay at home mum. I think nowadays sometimes if you say that, you’re almost seen as a second citizen, but I think to help the kids and to nurture them is something that I’m very proud of. Personally, I think that’s one of the most important jobs that you can have.
My parents… My father was a buyer for C & A and my mother was a stay at home mum until I l left to go to university, and then she went back out to work again. They have been inspirational to me because they’ve always been supportive, and I think that’s what I’ve been very fortunate that people around me who have supported me and encouraged me, and I think that’s why partly I wanted to volunteer with the Prince’s Trust because lots of these kids don’t have people who support them, they are on their own, and I think if I can give them support then that’s what I want to do.
School was something I didn’t particularly enjoy but it was a means to an end. What I did enjoy was I got some qualifications, got my A levels, and then I went to university, and I enjoyed that because it was more studying on your own. You had to think for yourself, and I really enjoyed that. I did a degree in English and drama. I had thought at the time that I wanted to teach drama, but when I got there and saw all my other friends who were doing teaching degrees, I decided that that was not the career path that I wanted to go to. But I enjoyed my three years, I made a lot of friends, and I learnt a lot.
University helped challenge me more. It stretched me more, and it gave me confidence at a time when I thought ‘yes, I can do this.’ It really did make me question what I’d been doing before and it was a very worthwhile experience.
I got into HR straight from university and did general HR, and then I left and got a job in graduate recruitment, and realised that actually I enjoyed recruitment work. There again, it’s probably very cliché to say I enjoyed meeting people but it was meeting people, making decisions based on what the person said to you, and what the person was actually saying to you, and it was the decision-making of the recruitment experience that I enjoyed the most.
I don’t think there was a particular turning point that made me decide that the Prince’s Trust was right. I had been thinking about some time about doing volunteer work. I’d looked on various websites, I’d looked at various organisations, and it just so happened that the day I’d gone onto the Prince’s Trust there was a vacancy in my area. Call it coincidence, call it whatever, I don’t know, but I just knew then that was the one for me.
Family motivate me, friends motivate me, community motivates me. I think that’s a big part, and I think sometimes that can be overlooked in life. Because we’re all so busy nowadays, I think sometimes we tend to forget the important things in life. To me, family and community are very important.
End
Diane Hall is a stay-at-home mum and a mentor for the Prince's Trust. She always had people who supported and encouraged her, so one reason she chose to volunteer for the Prince's Trust was that "lots of those kids don't have people who support them."
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