Just giving?
Date published:
By Tim Marsden, knowledge manager
During the last few months, the Chamber has concluded its social value series and has launched a ‘social value working group’. The workshop series and working group have engaged several charities along the way.
The Chamber has also recently launched a series of workshops aimed at supporting the third sector.
During these discussions, particularly around the subject of ‘volunteering’, I recall some of my own volunteering. I don’t know why I’d never really thought about it before, but my volunteering is mostly around a multi-billion-dollar industry at its highest level. A multi-billion-dollar industry which inherently relies on its volunteers to function, let alone be a success.
For a lot of years, I spent some very hot, extremely cold, wet weekends as a motorsport marshal. This isn’t ‘crowd marshalling’, this is trackside marshalling at local club events, to Formula 1.
This means waving the flags, dealing with breakdowns, car fires and breaking up fights between drivers. You name it, I’ve seen it.
Don’t get me wrong, grassroots motorsport absolutely relies on volunteers to function. I didn’t mind receiving a solitary bacon sandwich, in return for a 6am to 7pm shift, for someone to either pursue their motor racing hobby or try and become the next Lewis Hamilton or Sophia Floersch.
I’ve had some memorable times marshalling – I’ve learned important life skills and had many once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Now I look back and realise how a $17bn industry such as Formula 1 still relies on volunteers. Around 1,000 people volunteer (via a strict application process, for all track staff) for a weekend at the UK’s Silverstone F1 event.
If you see an F1 car breakdown at Silverstone this year, chances are there will be 15-20 unseen volunteers supporting the car’s recovery.
It’s an incredibly long and unappreciated F1 weekend – mostly 18 hour days from Thursday to Sunday, with well over 70,000 volunteering hours throughout the weekend, supporting 480,000 spectators’ enjoyment and a global TV audience.
What do you receive for volunteering 72 hours over 4 days? A cap and some food vouchers, but more than that, volunteering has taught me so much and I remain grateful to the motorsport industry for those insights, experiences and some of the best times of my life.
Witnessing first-hand a motorsport-related death at the 2019 Belgian F1 event remains, however, one of the worst experiences of my life.
Here at the Chamber, we continue to support our third sector colleagues in their development and look forward to continuing the conversation over the remaining months of 2025 and into 2026.