How our volunteers supported vaccination efforts across North London

11 October 2021

As part of the nationwide vaccination programme, the StoneX stadium, home to the Saracens Rugby Club in Barnet, was transformed into a large vaccination centre serving communities across North London.

The vaccination centre was run by the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, with Royal Free Charity volunteers’ support through greeting and registering people, and marshalling car parks.

We spoke to one of our volunteers, Chandu on his experience volunteering at the stadium.

“I had not been able to volunteer in the start of the pandemic, as we could not go into the hospital. But when the volunteer role at the vaccination centre came up, I really wanted to do it. I live locally to the StoneX stadium so it was a chance to volunteer within my local community and do a really fulfilling role.

“It was great to be able to make people feel at ease when coming in for their vaccination. Often people were apprehensive, and we were able to be a friendly face and guide them through the process. After the lockdown it was also wonderful to have that one-to-one personal interaction with people again.”

In just 5 months, almost 90,000 vaccines were given at the StoneX stadium. The centre received an overwhelming amount of praise and our volunteers played a huge part in achieving this.

Find out more about our volunteering programme here.