Hello I am Ruby Gatehouse and I am the new intern at Dot Dot Dot!

I am not a novice when it comes to volunteering but I am when it comes to property guardianship so I’ve had a lot to learn during my first week with Dot Dot Dot. It has been a pretty intense but interesting week. I was just really struck by the amazing variety of projects guardians were involved in and the range of volunteering they were undertaking especially alongside work commitments and their social lives.

The unique thing about Dot Dot Dot, and one of the main reasons I applied to do an internship here, was all the fantastic community volunteering that was being undertaken by guardians, and the importance of this volunteering to not only the local community but also to the volunteers.

I think that if you are new to London, volunteering is a great way to get to know an area, meet people and help the local community. When I volunteered for six months with the Global Xchange programme I spent three months volunteering in Plymouth, a part of the country I had never visited before. At first everything was quite daunting and new, but by the end of the three months it felt like a second home, mainly due to the people I had met and the friends I had made through volunteering at a local community centre.

I will be the first point of contact for all potential guardians. If you have any questions or concerns about your application I am your go-to person or the ‘guardian guru’ as I like to call myself :).