Noriyoshi, or Nori for short, volunteers three to four hours every week for Tenovus Cancer Care at our head office in Cardiff.
The rest of the week you’ll find him working part-time in a laundrette, or even playing a classical music recital with his orchestra as a trained musician.
“Volunteering at the Tenovus Cancer Care office has been interesting," said 47-year-old Nori, who is also a passionate cook.
I haven’t worked in an office environment before. I like to be around people and the conversation.
It’s a good vibe. I do the admin, chasing up induction paperwork and also working on developing an e-learning platform, that type of thing.It’s valuable experience I don’t have in the laundrette. Sending an email, for example, has never been part of my job. It's been great to learn Microsoft 365 too.
At the laundrette, I show people how to use the machines, chase items when they go missing, that sort of thing. What I’ve found is it’s very hard to shrink something!”
Music was Nori’s first love. An accomplished violinist, he was taught to play to a high standard as an undergraduate music student in Birmingham more than 20 years ago.
Now, he plays regularly with an orchestra, but that doesn’t pay the bills. Nori is hoping his new-found office skills could lead to fresh employment opportunities.
“There is a violin in a case beside me saying practice me. I have been playing in an orchestra for almost ten years now. It’s what I was taught to do, and I enjoy it.
I relocated from Birmingham to Cardiff many years ago to do a postgraduate degree in music, and it has sort of stuck.
I had a job at the Virgin Mega Store in Cardiff before it went into administration. Since then, it's been difficult to find the right employment."
Volunteering for a cause that supports people affected by cancer means a lot to Nori.
There was a customer who used to come into the laundrette who had cancer. We'd become friends.
I went to see him before he passed away and he'd become so weak and frail in a short space of time. I'll never forget trying to find him where he was being cared for. When I eventually did, I had to check the name on his bed as I didn't recognise him.
That was ten years ago, but I remember it clearly. It made me realise how devastating cancer can be and that could be any of us.
It’s so important there are charities like Tenovus Cancer Care to provide support to those who need it."
