Max Hiles

Max volunteers with National Trust Castleward and has done for a couple of years since his retirement.  Max had a very interesting working life, from leaving school he worked as a furrier for Jaffa Furs in Belfast – a job which he loved and which saw him re-designing fur coats which had been in families for many years!  When the shop closed he then worked as a chauffeur until he retired – a very people focused role!

He had visited Castleward a few times and loved the location and the views so decided to make enquiries about what volunteer roles they had to offer.  He gets involved in various tasks around the house and even enjoys the hoovering!  He told us the added bonus is getting up close to the amazing artefacts.

He said:

“I love it here, the social aspect is great and I find that my volunteering is a great stress reliever – the size of the house helps with getting my steps up and I have a personal goal to beat the lift – which I can!  I would definitely recommend volunteering to everyone – it’s great fun!”