Monarchy seeks new role

I live near a street that's known for its charity shops. There are about a dozen (I jest not), and they've become quite specialised. There's the Oxfam bookshop, a British Red Cross weddings and evening wear shop, and a Cancer Research designer label wear shop. Even the general shops all have their own flavour - I'd know which one I was in if you took me in with my eyes shut and only allowed me to open them when the door was closed behind me.

There must be a lot of volunteers keeping all these charity shops open. It must be a constant effort, keeping enough volunteers on the books, recruiting them, training them, managing them. Many of the shops have notices in the windows, advertising for volunteers.

One sign I saw the other day amused me. It said

           Volunteers needed. Could you spare a few hours a week? Training given. 
           Come and be part of our team. Duke of Edinburgh welcome.

I know that last bit is short-hand for "if you need to do community service as part of your Duke of Edinburgh award, volunteering here will count, and we'd be happy to have you", but it's a lovely mental image, isn't it? Prince Philip, looking for a new interest in his retirement, popping into his local Barnado's shop with his cv, and being interviewed to see how good he'd be with the public and whether he could learn to operate a till.

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