A volunteer does not have to consider that, if he leaves his voluntary job, his livelihood is lost, his pension diminished and that he or his family could suffer. Neither need he contemplate the years of study already invested in his career. He can, with a clear conscience, wake up one morning and just decide not to go in that day, or ever again.

A service must therefore be able to function properly without its volunteers. Volunteers are not, as such, ’employed’ in the ‘setting’ – they are ‘volunteering’ in the ‘setting’. A service must not depend upon them to function.

The “experienced line-up of speakers” will, one can only hope, consider that.