Martin Chambers is the first to admit he can talk the hide legs off a donkey.

But that's not the most important skill he uses when it comes to the volunteering role he took on almost three years ago.

Mr Chambers, who is 68 and lives in the Tenterden area with his partner Sue, volunteers for Victim Support in Kent.

The charity helps people who have been the victims of crime and it relies on volunteers giving up their own time to get out into the community to support others who have sometimes been through horrific and traumatic ordeals.

More people than ever now have access to support if they have been a victim of crime.

During the last financial year the charity made contact with more victims than ever with more than 85,000 people being offered support.

Victim Support is based in Ashford and is always looking for more people to become volunteers and spare time to help others.

It is also KentOnline, kmfm and KMTV's Charity of the Year.

Mr Chambers is retired and has four grown up children who live at various locations across the country, so he has the time to spend part of his week volunteering for the charity.

Before he took on the role, he used to be a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator in Pluckley and had never heard of Victim Support until one day he got a call from one of his contacts in the police force.

Mr Chambers said: "I got a casual call from a contact I had in the police who said Victim Support were looking for volunteers.

"Well I had never heard of it really, so I gave them a call and the rest is history as they say."

After his initial training Mr Chambers then went on to do further training and now specialises in giving domestic and sexual abuse support.

He added: "I try and keep it to any two clients at one time and that's about two hours per client, about four hours, maybe half a day per week.

"There is a basic training called core training which is quite extensive and I am also trained separately in domestic abuse and sexual abuse cases.

"The training is not tough but its not something you can just coast along in.

"You are put under pressure to a certain extent and obviously you are being prepared for talking to clients.

"We have to go through that process amongst ourselves in syndicate exercises to make sure we can meet the clients face-to-face and do the job we are being asked to do."

And he remembers how apprehensive he was when he met is first client.

He added: "I remember my first client as if it was yesterday.

"I was extremely apprehensive and this lady had been burgled and I thought what on earth am I going to say?

"What is she going to say to me? What am I expected to do?

"But I did it and she was very grateful for the support.

"I think its a bit like an actor going on stage. I get apprehensive even now before every client.

"But I think it is a useful bit of adrenalin to keep you on your toes.

"It does get easier and I think one of the best things is I have been in business all my life and I can talk the hind legs off a donkey.

"But when it comes to taking to victim support clients I have learnt to just listen and say nothing.

"The long gaps in a conversation do not scare me but they are really good for clients because they then fill those gaps.

"One of the best things about Victim Support and the way I deliver the service is often by just saying nothing.

"It is amazingly powerful just having someone who is little scared, a little apprehensive, little bruised and battered, being able to talk to someone without any reply almost for two hours.

"You see the difference through an interview when someone is talking to you and you can just watch them start to relax and start to wind down a little bit and they tell you things they might not have told anyone else and that's just amazing."

Listen to Mr Chambers talk about his role at Victim Support

Sometimes his role will just mean he needs to meet a victim of crime and that is enough.

Other times, more in-depth support is required with clients.

Mr Chambers added: "That first interview is all we need sometimes.

"But it is very hard sometimes to deal with people's emotions.

"First and foremost we provide emotional support, that's one of the main threads of what we do.

"I think we do that just by being there for the people and even though they can get emotional, sometimes I think that's positive when they are talking to a stranger."

So what makes Mr Chambers continue in his volunteering role?

He said: "I do it because it is rewarding. I feel like I am making a difference.

"I feel like I am really helping people in their lives.

"On our identity badge we use to have a thing called 'finding the strength' and that's about resilience and when you get knocked down, metaphorically knocked down, with a crime or something like that, your resilience has taken a hit.

"So our job is to try and get people to find that resilience again to rebuild and come back to their old self where they had the resilience to tackle normal life in the normal way.

"One of the most rewarding things is when someone says 'I don't need you anymore. I am happy now'.

"Then you think, that's fantastic and it means I done my job I can't have done any more and that's very rewarding."

But its not all plain sailing and every client is different.

Mr Chambers added: "Sometimes it is a little stressful you do sometimes get a client who doesn't really want your help.

"There are some difficult situations to deal with."

Victim Support is an independent charity and is not connected to the police force.

However, referrals from victims do usually come from the police and Mr Chambers thinks in a way, the charity is the one of the country's best kept secrets.

He added: "I didn't know about it before I joined and I think the more we can do with Victim Support to help people the better.

"What happens when there is a crime is the police go off to find the perpetrator and the victim is left alone or frightened and it is not the police's job to comfort them and get them back on the road to recovery.

"But before Victim Support that job was done by nobody, so as a far as I am concerned it's a really important job.

"We come in after the crime has been committed to get people back on their feet.

"So I carry on because it is rewarding and because I feel I am helping. I really am helping."

Even though Mr Chambers is retired, there are lots of volunteers who have full time jobs and still find time to fit in time to help the charity.

He added: "We do have a number of volunteers who hold down regular jobs as well, so I am full of admiration for them.

"They do what they do and they have a regular 9 to 5s, but I have not got that concern.

"There is no barrier to carrying out the role of victim support and holding down a regular job."

The work Mr Chambers does is confidential to each and every client and people seeking help can be assured of confidentiality between client and volunteer.

Mr Chambers added: "There is a very good structure with our approach to clients and confidentiality between us and one of the things I say to all clients when we first meet them is everything you say is confidential between you and Victim Support who will support you.

"We work very hard at maintaining that confidentiality."

And even thought most referrals do come from the police, people can also refer themselves.

Mr Chambers added: "Quite a lot of our referrals come from the police on the basis of reported crime, but they don't have to.

"You can very easily self refer yourself if you have suffered any sort of incident and it doesn't have to have been reported to police you can simply ring Victim Support and we will support you just like anyone else.

"We don't need to go into any details about the crime itself as what we do is give emotional support, it is the service we provide.

"What we can do just by talking to people about how they feel and that can be rewarding for the clients.

"I think it comes back to the emotional support and how we are able to provide that."

Mr Chambers who used to be a project manager still loves his hobbies and has plenty of time to enjoy them despite his work as a volunteer.

He said: "I love my photography, I love my cars and I love my barbecuing."

Senior service delivery manager at Victim Support, Rebekah Vela-Castro added: "Martin is a larger than life character, who brings a smile wherever he goes.

"He is a real people person and his care and compassion for supporting vulnerable people and helping them move beyond the crime is a real strength.

"Martin has gone on to specialise in domestic violence and serious sexual violence and is valued member of the Kent Victim Support team."

For more details about the charity’s work and volunteering or if you need support call 0808 168 9276, when the local office is closed call 0808 1689111 or visit www.victimsupport.org.uk