Almost 100 Haringey residents pledged to donate their time to the borough’s charities last Friday.

Haringey Volunteers’ Fayre, held at Bruce Castle Museum, was organised by Haringey Association of Voluntary and Community Organisations (Havco) and aimed to encourage more people to volunteer with charities.

More than 20 organisations hosted stalls on the day, with many of them delighted at the number of people they had recruited.

Ashraf Choudhury, Volunteer Development Officer for Age UK Haringey, said: "Today everybody stopped at our stall, and we can expect at least 50 per cent of those to go on to volunteer for us."

Havco, which works to promote charities and voluntary organisations in Haringey, said that volunteering was not just about giving, as volunteers could benefit from their experiences.

Joanne Patel, volunteer centre manager at HAVCO, said: “As well as that nice warm feeling inside, people can gain so much from volunteering: it’s a great way to feel more involved in your community, meet new people, build up confidence, have fun, learn new skills, boost your CV and even improve your wellbeing.”

Babette, who visited the fair while on a sabbatical from work, said that she wanted to use the IT skills she had developed in her job to help the community.

Bobbie Mills, a recent UCL graduate currently volunteering with Havco, said that the day had gone very well.

She said: “There were lots of people there who’d never volunteered before, but they were really happy and said they were definitely going to follow up on the things they’d signed up for.

“People of all backgrounds were turning up and getting into volunteering. The beautiful weather definitely helped.”