'I've spent 60 years volunteering and won't give up'

John Huggins has helped save hundreds of lives and raised more than £210,000 over 60 years of charity work. What keeps him going?

Mr Huggins, of Southwold, Suffolk, was just 13 when he started volunteering at his local sailing club before going on to juggle 70-hour weeks in his wet fish shop with duties at the town's RNLI lifeboat station.

Now he is urging others to follow his lead, saying "nearly every bit of volunteering helps somebody at the other end".

A tragic turn of events - the death in 2013 of his granddaughter Sophie, aged eight - saw him start raising money for The Brain Tumour Charity in order to provide a "legacy" and ensure her name was not forgotten.

"I have been asked the question a number of times, 'Do you sleep?'," said Mr Huggins.

"My younger daughter regularly says to me, 'Dad, you'll soon have to give something up.' But I'm not in a mind to give anything up yet."

Now 73, the divorcee spends three days a week in charge of a woodwork shop at Clinks Care Farm at Toft Monks, Norfolk.

His passion for the craft has come full circle since his teenage days repairing and maintaining the fleet at the former Southwold Youth Sailing Centre.

At the social enterprise farm, the retired fishmonger has spent five years both sharing his passion for making things and guiding people who can struggle to get into the workplace due to health and isolation issues.

But such has been the sales success of their reclaimed wood items, that a purpose-built workshop was opened for them in November.

Handmade bird boxes, chopping boards and candle holders now fill the farm shop.

Mr Huggins said volunteering at the farm gave him the "drive to want to do something" and to get up in the morning with purpose.

"The successes are when we find a place of work for people attending the farm," he said.

"It doesn't happen every day or every week, but... that's always a great moment."

Alongside this work, Mr Huggins also organises two annual events each year in tribute to his late granddaughter.

The Sophie Elin Harper Fund raises money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

He welcomes people into his garden each summer for a day of cream teas and hosts a permanent book stall outside his house.

The grandfather of four has also been busy putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming tribute band night at Southwold Arts Centre on 21 February, featuring The Counterfeit Quo.

"Losing a grandchild is something you never get over," said Mr Huggins.

"But this is the way I deal with it and I look at it now as being her legacy.

"If there is one family we can spare in going through what we went through, it would all be worth it."

He said he had helped raise about £60,000 for the fund, enabling him to honour the memory of Sophie, who had a "wicked sense of humour" and "infectious laugh".

"We had some very sad times, but we also had some very memorable times as well," he said.

Among those treasured memories were when Mr Huggins organised two "largest gatherings of people in fancy dress" record attempts, with families parading from the town's pier to a picnic on Southwold Common.

The spectacles in the late 2000s raised about £43,000 for four charities - Cancer Research UK, East Anglia's Children's Hospices, The Children's Trust and The Sick Children's Trust - involved in supporting Sophie, first diagnosed with a tumour when she was 19 months.

Busy though he is, gone are the days when Mr Huggins had to balance long hours managing his shop on Southwold's main thoroughfare with his 41-year-long commitment to the town's RNLI lifeboat.

An official certificate from the charity stated during his service "the lifeboat rescued 229 lives from shipwreck".

The stalwart first volunteered there at the age of 20 before eventually becoming lifeboat operations manager, overseeing the station's day-to-day running and ensuring it was always ready to respond to emergencies.

It was where - as chairman, and part of the fundraising committee between 1980 and 1990 - he helped to drum up £110,000 for the station.

Mr Huggins remembered his lifeboat role as being tough at times, alongside his duties as a father of three and business owner.

He retired from his shop at the age of 58, having only taken 16 weeks' holiday in more than 25 years.

"The things that stick in my mind most are the sad things... when you lose somebody, when you don't actually bring them ashore alive, that... stays with you for a long, long time," said Mr Huggins.

"But everybody helped everybody else and we'd talk among ourselves and move on."

Overall, Mr Huggins said the camaraderie he had enjoyed, friends he had made and sense of achievement gained by volunteering had been to his benefit.

"You know what they say, 'Give a job to a busy person,'" said Mr Huggins.

"I can't imagine my life without having been a volunteer.

"I always say to people if you can manage to give up just one hour, one hour a week or one hour a fortnight, you're a volunteer.

"There are always people asking for volunteers - and a lot of people are missing out.

"There's so much to be gained from volunteering... and nearly every bit of volunteering helps somebody at the other end."

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