Volunteer your time BEFORE you join the Skills Exchange. This is what Alex did. Via a friend he heard about the group, contacted me and told me that he was a handy man.
Only minutes before I was hunting around to make a frame for my bee hive. No wood, no tools and it was too windy to go out to get the wood. I asked Alex if he could help and he said he would. Today after dropping the children off at school, we met up, Alex with a frame in hand. Just the job and much better and faster than I could have done!
I then signed Alex up, handed his wallet with gems and cycled off together to harvest some apples of a tree that had been damaged by the storm. All in all a lovely morning with a new friend.