volunteering magazine autumn/winter 2014
DESCRIPTION
University of Lincoln Students' UnionTRANSCRIPT
AUTUMN/WINTER 2014
Where do the months go?It doesn’t seem long since our last magazine but that was late Spring and now we’re fast approaching Christmas!
As always we’ve been very busy in the volunteering department and the biggest change for us is the great new Customer Relationship Management system that our Web Designer and colleagues designed for the whole of the Students’ Union.
The real advantage for potential volunteers is that they can easily sign up for specific volunteer roles that they see directly from the website and since the beginning of term we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of expressions of interest compared to the level we would normally see at this time.
We are now busy making referrals to the organisations so that the recruitment process can happen as quickly as possible. Another big advantage of the new system is that volunteers can log their hours directly on to the website each time they volunteer – once these hours have been verified by the relevant volunteer supervisor the volunteer can see their total hours building so they know what certificate level they are currently at.
We’ve been involved in a number of local community based projects and initiatives since the beginning of term including the Carholme Gala, Meet the Street events, community litter picks and the Big Brayford Pool Clean-up you can read more about these in the following pages. We’ve got the broadest range of volunteer projects that we’ve ever had and many of these are very particular to Lincoln including collating and checking names for the Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial, and digitally archiving an enormous collection of photographs for Ruston and Hornsby.
We also have some fantastic student-led projects including CoppaFeel, Lincoln Marrow and On-Tap – it’s really inspiring to see the passion that these students have for their particular projects.
So as the weeks march on students are settling into their volunteering roles and we’re planning some lovely one-off activities which we’re hoping to do in the run up to Christmas.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY PAGE 4
COMMUNITY ACTION DAY LITTER PICKS PAGE 4
su helpers PAGE 4
MEET THE STREET PAGE 4
THE VILLAGE EXPERIENCE PAGE 4
CRAFTY UPCYCLING PAGE 4
ALICE CARTER PAGE 4
GIVE BACK DAY PAGE 4
LINCOLNSHIRE BOMBER COMMAND MEMORIAL PAGE
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A note from Olivia Hill, VP Welfare& Community
Make a Difference Day
Community Action Day- Litter Pick
Students’ Union Helpers
Meet The Street
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16 The Village Experience
College of Social ScienceGive Back Day
Lincolnshire Bomber Command
Oxfam Crafty Upcycling
Alice Carter
Olivia said: ‘We had different sports and societies there to help with events and lots of volunteers help out, it went really well.
I also ran four Meet the Street events they ran at different locations across the west end. We had residents there, Police and people who work for City Council came along as well‘
Make a Difference Day was a huge success last year, cleaning out the Brayford Pool, that the Students’ Union decided to re-create it this time round. About 20 volunteers helped out at different points during the day including some Students’ Union staff. ‘We cleared out loads of gross stuff from the Brayford which went really well, it was a very high profile.’
When Olivia isn’t helping the community during her working hours she happily volunteers her spare time to make Lincoln a tidier place.
Olivia Hill is the Vice President Welfare and Community. Amongst many other things she is very involved in the volunteering aspects here at the Students’ Union.
So far she has been running campaigns such as the Wait To Rent Campaign, encouraging student to take their time when deciding to rent a house.
She has the Student Buddy Scheme running a drop in three days a week for students to talk about any issues they may have and, for the first time, Liberation officers available to help out with events along with guiding them in their campaigns and events. She also helped organise the Carholme Community Gala called West Fest and encouraged some societies to help out. These are just a few of the things Olivia does during her working week on top of those that she does outside of work.
I asked Olivia about her time so far as a Sabbatical Officer and thedifferent things she has been doing.
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Olivia manages to bring all of this together to benefit both her work and the community. By being so involved she is bringing together the Students’ Union and those who would like to recruit volunteers. They will come to the Students’ Union to use our resources and the campaigns and events help with placing those who have expressed an interest in volunteering.
‘At council meetings we talk about community cohesion and engagement. It’s really great to mention everything that’s going on and that we could create a volunteer event. As we do have students that are willing to get involved.‘
‘A lot of people come to us to find volunteers to help with their events because of the success of the volunteers that we have here at the University of Lincoln Students’ Union.’
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Get Involvedin a Cause
At the Students’ Union, one of the things we’re passionate about is getting students involved in the local community and each year we arrange a volunteer activity in support of Make a Difference Day.
Last year we had a team of volunteers who cleaned out Brayford Pool – the day was so successful we decided to do the same again this year. So on 28th October we set out with nine student volunteers on the ground, five members of LUCK (Canoe and
Kayak team) in the water and six Officers and staff members.
Working in various shifts between 10am and 4pm, volunteers were armed with grappling hooks and fishing nets and pulled out everything from traffic cones, supermarket trollies, bicycles, road signs and general waste from the iconic Brayford Pool.
The energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers was incredible – by the end of the day they’d filled a skip again, and the volunteers
were covered from head to toe in Brayford goo, smelt awful, but they all said what a brilliant time they’d had and how important they thought it was to be involved in projects like this. Community volunteering is hugely important and the excitement from local press and the residents who passed by made it truly rewarding.
The Students’ Union and all the volunteers who took part are keen to give back to the community and show the truly positive impact students have on this great city.
BY JANE KILBY
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Volunteers and canoeists fishing out
strange objects from the river.
Bikes, trollies and signs
were pulled out using nets.
The volunteers donned their rain macs ready to get stuck in.
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reported that Trading Standards
were very interested in what was
recovered and hope it will help
with their ongoing fight against
counterfeit tobacco products on
the UK market.
We will be repeating these litter
picks during November and
December and will be planning
more when students return after
the Christmas break and plan to
continue supporting Smoke Free
Lincs Alliance in future litter picks.
MORE COMMUNITY ACTION DAYS LITTER PICKSSINCIL BANK - 18TH NOVEMBER
CARHOLME ROAD - 26TH NOVEMBERCARHOLME ROAD - 4TH DECEMBER
Lincs Alliance to highlight the
issues of tobacco-related litter
and counterfeit products.
We armed students with clear
plastic bags to collect cigarette
ends and tobacco packaging,
which we photographed, labelled
and sent to Trading Standards for
further investigation.
Smoke Free Lincs Alliance were
really grateful to the students
for taking part in the project and
Last year we arranged the first
litter picks as part of our
Community Actions Days
programme of volunteering and
these have continued into the
new academic year. So far we
have cleaned up streets around
Carholme Road, Sincil Bank and
the Monks Road areas of the city.
During our last litter pick around
Monks Road we collaborated with
Daniel Lowbridge from Smoke Free
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Each year the Students’ Union recruits a team of volunteers primarily to help new students settle in to University, and Lincoln during Welcome week – this is our team of SU Helpers.
This year we had an amazing team of 60 volunteers, our red army, who started during move-in weekend to quite literally help unload the cars as they turned up, signpost students to all the essential things and most importantly be a friendly face to offer support and guidance to people leaving home for the first time and trying to settle into a new life at University.
Wearing their distinctive t-shirts and armed with placards they volunteered their time throughout the week and many of them have gone on to support the Students’ Union in some of our other activities in the weeks that followed including helping out at the Carholme Gala, delivering around a thousand invitations to the West End for our Meet the Street events, helping at the events themselves, and some of them donned wellies and ponchos to help with the Big Brayford Pool Clean-up.
We asked a couple of them to tell us about their experiences:
“I first decided to become an SU Helper because I wanted to do something a little different to add to my C.V. and because I’d got a flavour of volunteering from the Lincoln Award and wanted to do more. I was looking forward to coming back to second year and getting involved, but being an SU Helper has been even better than I thought. I’ve met some great volunteers, staff and local residents, and taken on a really wide range of roles: from being a human signpost
BY BETH LUNNAND GRACE RICHARDS
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to lifting boxes and moving in new students; from chatting to local residents over coffee to having a go on a bouncy castle (the last one being purely for supervisory purposes, of course).
I’ve got so much out of being an SU Helper, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone, whatever year of study they are in. It’s helped my confidence and social skills, enabled me to get involved in my community (which is something that is particularly important to me, especially now as I live in the West End), but most of all it has given me a real sense of belonging as part of the University, as part of the SU, and as part of the amazing group of volunteers and staff that I’ve worked with.”
“I got into volunteering as I’m now a third year and thought that I would not get the opportunity to have as much of an impact in the local community again! One of the main reasons I got into being an SU Helper is because I would have really appreciated seeing a friendly face when I moved into courts. I love Lincoln as a place and feel that the university do a lot to help the community. With this in mind I felt like it was an ideal opportunity to get involved.”
‘It has been fantastic to see different people from the local community talking to each other about what they love most about the area they live in.’
BY JANE KILBY
volunteering magazine 201414
The events were arranged in
partnership with the City of Lincoln
Council and Lincolnshire Police.
Both student and long term residents
were invited to pop along, enjoy tea
and cake and have the opportunity to
get to know their neighbours.
The events took place at Elena’s
Kitchen, St Faith’s Parish Hall, Alive
Courtyard and the Queen in the West.
Olivia Hill, Vice President Welfare
and Community, said:
“The Meet the Street events were
successful in achieving what we
originally set out to do – which is to
help bring the community together.
Our thanks go to all the student
volunteers who helped deliver the
invites, and who attended the events,
served refreshments and got involved
in some really positive conversations
with other residents living in the area.
‘These events are aimed at creating long- lasting relationships between people and I have high hopes for the upcoming events.’
For the second year running the Students’ Union organised a series of Meet the Street events in the West end of Lincoln.
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‘It was one of the most emotional but rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.’
Is how Kirsty Barnes, the Course Representative Co-Ordinator at the Students’ Union, described her time while she was volunteering in India.
One of the volunteering opportunities here at the Students’ Union is going to India with People First. This is a very popular choice as it allows volunteers to experience another culture first hand as well as providing different opportunities for those that go.
She Said: “It is a very unique programme which sees volunteers working alongside the staff within the People First Educational and Charitable Trust. There are a variety of projects to get involved in.”
The People First Educational and Charitable Trust work with the Students’ Union to provide such a range of opportunities from working with local schools, health teams, child protection schemes and more.
“On our first day in Gaya, it was reported to us that around 70 children were on their way to Rescue Junction, all who had previously been taken from their parents and made to work in various factories for 12 hours a day, without a break, their average age was 7 or 8.
“The team at Rescue Junction worked tirelessly and managed to reunite most of the children with their families within the following few days. We managed to spend some time with these children, playing games, doing crafts and even helping with their studies.” Kirsty told me.
Despite the primary reason for their trip to India, helping those less fortunate, they also got involved in many local activities and traditions.
During their time in India they had the chance to witness the Raksha Bandhan festival. This is a Hindu festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. Those who don’t have a brother or sister celebrate having a brotherly
or sisterly relationship with others. They were invited to take part in the festival with children at Rescue Junction, most of which were orphans.
“We were invited to take part in the festival. We would tie wristbands called Rakhi to them and exchange gifts. It’s was a lovely gesture to be asked to take part.”
I asked Kirsty what her most memorable moment was during her time in India. “I will always remember when we had the opportunity we had to work first hand with the health teams in the local villages. If the charity didn’t work in these villages, the people living there would not have access to any medication.
“They would never see a health practitioner and if they had any illnesses then the sad reality is that they wouldn’t be with us anymore. That’s why it is so important for the charity to do the work that they are doing.”
BY RUSSELL BLAKEAND KIRSTY BARNES
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This experience creates some very mixed emotions as explained by Russell, another volunteer that took part in the People first trip to India.
“Be prepared as what you will see may shock you but at the end of the day will make you a stronger person.”
I asked Russell why he chose India for his volunteering opportunities and what made People First stand out from the other volunteering opportunities. “I chose to go to India because I have done a lot of travelling in my life and I really enjoy it. “My reasoning for going with People First was because I wanted to give
something back to the people in the country that I was travelling in and I believed this to be a brilliant opportunity to do that.”
Russell found the people of India to be very friendly, helpful and happy to talk about their lives and experiences. He found the youth projects that People First in Bihar the most rewarding.
“The work that is done by People First in Bihar is amazing you will see things that you will never forget. This includes extreme poverty. however, the children that you see always have a smile on their face.
“This really makes you think about how lucky you have been to get what you have in life. ”You can tell from these stories that, although this is an experience that will upset you, it will make you a stronger, better person. This is a worthwhile trip and People First are doing an incredible job.
Kirsty said “I would urge those that are interested to take part.”
This is supported by Russell’s final comments. “I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone who wants to do volunteering in a foreign country.”
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People First India village experience 2015Bodhgaya, Bihar, India
There are 20 places available and the programme runs from 17th August - 3rd Septemberlincolnsu.com/volunteering/opportunities/community/international
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On the 15th of October 2014, 25 members of the College of Social Science Admin team participated in a Give Back Day at the Hartsholme Cricket Club which had been organised in liaison with the ULSU Volunteering Coordinator, Jane Kilby and with Ian Dovey, a member and coach at the Cricket Club.
We were fortunate to have good weather on the day and although the previous day’s rain precluded fence painting, there was still plenty to do. Ian provided us with suitably robust gardening gloves and we wasted no time in getting started, setting about undertaking the logistically challenging task of
relocating stacks of felled trees to a bonfire located on the other side of the Cricket grounds.
The task, which required careful lifting and coordination, also involved identifying and setting aside cuttings that could potentially be used as firewood, leading to some lively debates around what did and did not constitute a log. There was also an opportunity for some members of the team to help Ian sort out shelving in the children’s equipment hut. Following a welcomed lunch break, the team went about raking out leaves and debris from under the trees, bagging them up and taking them to the bonfire sites.
Ian Dovey was a wonderful host who provided us with drinks and lunch and talked enthusiastically about the role of the Club and the work it did which included providing young children with a chance to learn and play a much loved sport.
For us, the day, although tiring, had been thoroughly enjoyable and it was immensely satisfying to see the difference that we had made.
Give Back days provide a wonderful occasion to work as a team within a totally different environment. For a College as large and diverse as the College
BY MARINA FOXINTERVIEW WITH IAN DOVEY
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of Social Science, it had the added bonus of providing us with an opportunity to work with colleagues we might not otherwise have had the opportunity to.
Ian Dovey commented – ‘The 25 volunteers from the Social Science Department had a busy day at Hartsholme Cricket Club in the South of Lincoln. The club is run by volunteers and there are always jobs to do to help maintain their ground especially as we approach winter.
We owe the Social Science volunteers a sincere
thank you for all their cheerful hard work- we
simply don’t have enough volunteers of our own to
cope with this time of large scale job!”
It was like watching a colony of ants as the volunteers cleared the car park of recently felled branches from over grown trees, which was the main job of the day. It entailed taking the branches across the ground to a bonfire site.
Other jobs including clearing several years of leaves and debris from round the ground and helping reorganise the kids cricket store. Fortunately this happened on the one dry day amongst a wet week!’
The International Bomber Command Centre, which is part funded by the heritage Lottery Fund, is being created as a point of recognition, remembrance and reconciliation for Bomber Command in a world-class facility.
The Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial Trust is working in partnership with the University of Lincoln to open the Centre in September 2015. There is currently no single national or international facility to allow organisations and individuals access to the history of the command. Therefore it is of great importance that the history and heritage of Bomber Command is gathered and conserved for future generations.
The title ‘Bomber County’ was given to Lincolnshire when the Headquarters of both 1 and 5
groups and a third of all the UK’s stations were based in the county. This Centre will allow many people and organisations access to information previously unknown or unrecognised. Such as 55,573 Bomber command Aircrew were killed on operations during World War Two and In 1945, as part of operation Manna, 6,680 tonnes of food was dropped over Holland.
A University of Lincoln student, Nicole, has volunteered to help the organisation.“I am helping to gather information of aircrew that died in World War Two. This involved checking and adding more information into databases of 350 servicemen using the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.”
In addition to the Centre that is being built, there is a memorial
spire which will be accompanied by a series of memorial walls carrying the names of the 25,611 listed in the Rolls of Honour held in Lincoln Cathedral of servicemen who lost their lives during their service flying with 1 and 5 groups. Nicole was very involved in the process of gathering information of the servicemen.
The information gathered by the volunteers will be integrated into the world’s most comprehensive digitised archive on Bomber Command. Incorporating oral histories, never before seen documents and data from research, the University is the lead on this side of the project.
“Over 80 volunteers have gathered information on; date of death, service number, place of burial and next of kin.”\Nicole has
BY NICOLE SHEANON
The International Bomber Command Centre is being created as a point of recognition, remembrance and reconciliation for
Bomber Command in a world-class facility.
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found that this is a very rewarding experience and provides valuable work experience for her degree and the skills she has learnt can be applied in future work.
I volunteered for the project because as a history student this really interested me. I also really wanted to help the community with this local project, as memorials are very important to communities to remember those who lost their lives during war.”
There is a wide range of volunteers from University students, school students to squadron associations. They are still looking for volunteers to help in a variety of roles. To get involved please see the form on www.internationalbcc.co.uk/volunteer-record
more but that is a process of breaking down somethingto make it into something else to be resold. Upcycling is taking something you have and making it better and more desirable.
Bethany does Conservation and Restoration at university and the skills she has learnt whilst volunteering as a crafty upcycler will certainly be useful for the future.
“The best thing that I’ve learnt from my experience is how to bind books, which may be a useful skill in the future on my course. I’m also glad that I’ll have something extra to put on my CV at the end of the year!”
In today’s ‘throwaway’ society upcycling is making a comeback. Upcyclcing is the process of converting old, discarded and unwanted materials into something more useful or desirable.
Oxfam have decided to make the most of the upcycling trend by using donated materials to create something new to sell.
The concept is taken from the 1930’s and 1940’s when families made the most of what they had and didn’t have as much disposable income to spend. Bethany tells us why she wanted to be a part of Oxfam’s crafty upcycling.
“I wanted to volunteer at Oxfam because they were offering a role that I knew I would enjoy. As a Crafty Upcycler.
“I spent my time in the back room where I had access to hoards of unwanted stock and craft material, and I was able to make some lovely things to sell in the shop.”
This is making a comeback for a couple of reasons.
The first being the cost of clothes and household items on the high street, by upcycling some of the things you already have you can create a completely unique item that can rival the quality of those you can find in shops.
Another reason is the impact on the environment. As we become more conscious of the world around us and the impact of throwing away we tend to recycle
BY BETHANY PLATT
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ADVERT PAGEIn previous editions of our magazine we featured Alice Carter, a student who has been involved in some amazing volunteering projects during her time at Lincoln, look what she got up to over the summer:
Sport student Alice picks up Prime Minister’s award for volunteering A postgraduate student from the University of Lincoln has been given an award from Prime Minister David Cameron after contributing more than 2,500 hours as a volunteer on community sports projects.
Alice Carter, who is currently studying for an MRes in Sport Development in Lincoln’s School of Sport & Exercise Science, has been recognised with a Point of
Light award, which honours the hard work of people who are making a positive change in their community and inspiring others.
Her volunteering began while she was studying for a BSc(Hons) in Sports Development and Coaching at the University of Lincoln. During the holiday periods and in the evenings, she would coordinate sports sessions in city parks, run a Saturday night
football project and she developed a street hockey project with a group of Slovakian hockey players. Now she plays a vital role in the development of the local community group, Action LN2. Through the project she helps to organise regular litter picks in the Monks Road area or the city, as well as community events such as summer fun days.
Alice, who was presented with her award by Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd MP, still remains engaged in sport through the weekly Saturday morning football project she developed from scratch, which is held at Lincoln’s Arboretum.
Alice said: “I feel extremely proud to have been given this award. Like other Point of Light award winners, I do not volunteer to gain recognition but simply because I love being able to use my time constructively to make a difference to somewhere or somebody, therefore getting this award is very humbling. I hope other people will be inspired by these awards to see how they can support their own community and take a pride and interest in where they live.”
Lincoln Students’ Union would like to extend our congratulations to Alice – she really is an amazing role model and an inspiration to so many other young people.
For the past four years, Alice
has given her time to numerous
community- based sports and
youth projects, engaging with
young people from a wide variety
of backgrounds.
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