Dedicated volunteer is 100 years old with a four-hour commute

Dedicated volunteer is 100 years old with a four-hour commute

Wednesday 29 June 2022

 

A dedicated charity shop volunteer spends 12 hours a week commuting to and from work— despite being 100 years old.

David Flucker celebrated his centennial birthday this week, but still went into work the next day, as usual, at the St. Columba’s Hospice shop in Edinburgh, Scotland.

David spends four hours traveling roundtrip to the shop—which he does regardless of the Baltic weather.

The sprightly widower started working in the charity shop after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and spent two weeks being cared for by the Hospice. He just wanted to pay it forward for the kindness he received.

“It is a wonderful feeling to be doing something,” said the senior, who lives in Balgreen, Edinburgh.

“It is two buses and a 20 minute walk to get to the shop, at least two hours,” he explained. “I work three days a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which are the busiest days.

The grandfather-of-seven says the shop in Ocean Terminal gets a lot of donations, and he checks them all out to see if they’re OK.

“We get a lot of toys, books, jigsaw puzzles. We have got to check them all over.”

David, who was widowed in 2010, also spends time building model railways which he auctions off to raise money for the hospice.

David, who retired aged 72 having worked as a printer, said his advanced years were no barrier to enjoying himself.

For his birthday on June 22, he was taken on a boat tour of the Firth of Forth and even received a card from the Queen.

“I saw parts of Scotland I’d not seen before… and got quite a surprise as the band started to sing ‘happy birthday’.

Back at the thrift shop, people came in to deliver well-wishes—and there was a “marvelous birthday cake” covered in raspberries.

“There might be more birthday cakes,” said the cheeky Scotsman.

Dedicated volunteer is 100 years old with a four-hour commute