Friday is the day I get most time to visit businesses, schools, organisations and people in my constituency. Monday to Thursday I usually have to be in London and busy with Parliamentary work and the weekend is usually spent attending constituency events and with campaigns.

Last Friday, therefore, gave me a chance to visit the Thanet Animal Group Pet Rescue Centre. What a great place it turned out to be! Tidy, efficient, friendly and a ‘foster home’ to rabbits, budgies, cats, guinea pigs and even chipmunks while they are waiting to be found new homes.

The Pet Rescue shelter is, of course, a charity and it is run by volunteers. And my visit reminded me once again how important volunteers are to our community.

People who give their time freely to a good cause are real heroes and we should celebrate them and what they do. Whether it is rescuing animals or doing shopping for older people, driving folk to the hospital or doing odd jobs, cleaning our beaches or befriending someone who is lonely, these are tasks that make our lives and our community better.

Many of us these days move away from where we were brought up and so sometimes our ageing parents will miss us and the help we can offer them. So why not help someone else’s mum or dad, here in the community you live in now, and then maybe someone will return the favour to your own mum and dad wherever they are?

If you want to volunteer to help out doing something to help older people call 01843 590935. Or if you would like to help the TAG Pet Rescue Centre the number is 01843 822931.

Volunteering is not the only way you can help make the world a better place but it is one way, and a very good way at that. So if you have some time on your hands, why not try it?