Stockton friends reunite as North Tees hospital volunteers

Stockton friends find a new sense of purpose together as North Tees hospital volunteers

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Former colleagues Jackie Kendall and Jean Scott have reunited in retirement as volunteer hospital welcomers, and are encouraging others to give volunteering a try.

By The Tees · 28 August 2026

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Retirement has brought two long-time Stockton friends and former colleagues back onto the same team, this time in the entrance of University Hospital of North Tees.

Jackie Kendall, 65, and Jean Scott, 73, now spend Wednesday afternoons volunteering together as hospital welcomers. Their role is simple but important: helping patients and visitors find their way, answering questions and offering a friendly first point of contact in a building people often enter when they are worried or unsure.

Both women told University Hospitals Tees that the move from busy working lives into retirement took some adjustment. Jackie retired in May 2025 and had already started thinking about volunteering before she finished work. She missed the social side of her job and wanted somewhere useful to put her time and energy.

Jean, who retired from her role as a senior buyer in October 2025, had a similar experience. After the novelty of having no work schedule wore off, she realised she wanted something with purpose. Jackie volunteering and, by chance, Jean discovered that the person she would initially shadow was her old colleague and friend.

They now work side by side again, with Jackie passing on the support she received when she first became a volunteer. Jean says the role has helped her confidence grow and both are encouraging other people approaching retirement to consider giving it a go.

The hospital has a range of volunteering roles, so taking part does not have to mean committing to a full working week all over again. A drop-in session for anyone curious about volunteering will be held in the Tees Meeting Room at University Hospital of North Tees on Thursday 10 September from 10am to 11.30am.

There is something quietly good about the story. Retirement did not end Jackie and Jean's working friendship. It changed its purpose, and now the time they spend together is helping strangers through the hospital door.

: Details and photography are from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust / University Hospitals Tees, published 27 August 2026.