Herts Inclusive Theatre is joining Communities 1st, helping to protect and build on 25 years of inclusive theatre and creative work across Hertfordshire.

HIT describes itself as “a stage for everyone”. For its participants that has meant much more than performing: it has meant friendship, confidence, creativity, a safe place to be themselves and somewhere they feel they belong.

Through our Volunteer Centre, we regularly meet people who are interested in giving something back but have never considered becoming a trustee.

I first became a trustee more than 20 years ago, in my 30s, which at the time was considered quite young for the role. Since then I have been a trustee of a wide range of organisations, from small local charities through to national ones. I spent five or six years as Vice Chair of a national organisation and ten years as Chair of Governors at a primary school. Today I am a trustee of VSSN, the Voluntary Sector Studies Network.