News from Hersham Hounds

Back in February as part of Student Volunteering Week our regular volunteer Marketa updated on the work she does at retired greyhound rescue centre Hersham Hounds. She has kindly provided us with another update on her work...

Princess

Hersham Hounds kennels care for over eighty dogs, with some leaving and new coming every week. It is difficult to have any favourites, because the majority of the dogs are friendly and thankful for your attention. However, my personal sweetheart is a dog lady called Princess, a twelve year old resident of the sanctuary.   

It was the first dog I have ever walked at Hersham Hounds; I remember she was shy, but affectionate and we had a great walk together. Princess was abused in the past and when she came to the kennels she was very aggressive, biting both the staff and other dogs. Thankfully, the staff recognized her angry behaviour is caused by fear. It took her a long time to rebuild trust in people and both staff and the volunteers had to show extreme patience and loving care. They were successful in the end – Princess now shares a kennel with another dog and is friendly towards people. I still enjoy walking her, because it makes me realize that volunteering is worthwhile and does make a difference to people, or animals, living around us. 

With so many animals living there the kennels need care and maintainence, so in February and March each year teams of volunteers go in to help paint the buildings. Alex took a group of KUSU Volunteers down in March. Here’s how they got on.

Rachael, Stephanie and Crystal

On 22nd March, a group of KUSU Volunteers and staff headed over to Hersham in their oldest clothes, armed with brushes and huge tubs of green and white paint.  Amazingly, we had incredibly warm weather, and got loads of painting done- Crystal, Stephanie, Rhiannon and I did the indoor exercise yard where the dogs can go during the day, whilst Rachael and Alex (one of the centre’s regular volunteers), sanded down the mural outside the centre’s entrance for another very artistic volunteer to repaint.

Rhiannon and Crystal walk the dogs

                                                                                                    A                                       After a break for lunch in Hersham village we returned to start on the kennels- loads of 

white emulsion paint everywhere: by the time we left everything was so gleaming white, the dogs probably needed sunglasses! 

There was also time for walking the dogs before we headed back to uni, which everyone enjoyed- the volunteers perhaps even more than the dogs!

KUSU Volunteers making the news!

After our recent award ceremony on May 11^th KUSU Volunteers got a write up in the local press. Here is the clipping from the Surrey Comet. You can read it online here. The online version is accompanied by a picture of volunteers who contributed time to the Knit for Babies project. 

As well as local media coverage for our awards KUSU volunteers also featured in Saints Alive which is the local news letter for All Saints Church. The article resulted from our Student Volunteering Week link up with Cathedral Camps. 

Finally you can check out the hard work of three KUSU Volunteers Leo, Maheen and Paula who all took part in local museum Dorich House’s Cultural Olympiad (that’s the arty bit of London 2012 in-case you didn’t know) project. The project documented how our homes reflect our personalities and our interests, and Dorich House is the perfect museum for this because it’s a home turned into a museum- the house used to belong to sculptor Dora Gordine and her husband Richard Hare, also an art collector. Each volunteer involved chose an object from the museum to investigate. The chosen objects are now on display at the Geffreye Eye Museum in London. You can read all about it here.

KUSU Volunteering Awards 2011 - Gold Awards

Our winners showing off their Gold Awards!

As well as handing out a selection of awards to KUSU Volunteers that have shown exceptional committment in the different areas of volunteering that we offer we also handed out three very special Volunteering England Gold Awards on May 11^th. 

Volunteering England's Gold Award is a national student volunteering award that recognises the Achievement, Dedication and Leadership of Student Volunteers. It's a prestigious mark of excellence in student volunteering. 

This years winners were -

Will with his Gold Award

Will Scott-Barrett

Will was nominated for his dedication to his role as part of the Kingston MET Volunteer Programme which he started in April 2010. Alongside this he has done a number of one-offs so has packed in an impressive amount of volunteering in a relatively short amount of time (he was Best Newcomer at last year's KUSU Volunteering Awards!). 

He has gone beyond his original role as a Front Counter Assistant at Kingston Police Station and taken on additional roles within the MET Volunteer Programme. He's shown endless energy and enthusiasm and helped with volunteer recruiment, induction and buddying and with steering group activities. He frequently puts in nearly 40 hours a month as a MET Volunteer (and he would probably do more if they let him!).

Will has also assisted with C019 (Specialist Firearms Command) unit a couple of times! Nikki Gobey, Volunteer Coordinator at Kingston MET said 'It is a pleasure to have Will on the team and even though he is looking to transfer to C019 permanently, for selfish reasons I am actively encouraging him to remain at Kingston, or at the very least, consider being shared between the two programmes.' 

Christine Daniel 

Christine with her award!

Our second Gold award was given for achievement. Christine has been part of KUSU Volunteering for the past three years and has got involved with an epic amount of things. 

She has been a valuable member of the Swingbridge Boat Project, supporting ex-offenders. She has taken part in several one-offs and she’s run her own project, Project Phoenix, providing information and raising awareness of mental health conditions, suicide and self harm.  

Christine has consistently been an enthusiastic volunteer, putting her heart and a great deal of energy into everything she’s done. She has truly made volunteering a way of life and has been a strong advocate for why it’s a great thing to do. Her volunteering extends beyond KUSU Volunteering and she has recently become a Special Constable with the MET Police, and so impressed her trainers they offered her a job! 

Paul collects his second award!

Paul Matthews

Our final Gold Award winner had a really good night at the Awards coming away with two shiny medals! Paul Matthews so impressed the judging panel that as well as Community Volunteer of the Year, he was awarded a Volunteering England Gold Award for Dedication and Achievement.

This was to acknowledgement not only of the time he gives to the community through his roles in St John Ambulance, but also in acknowledgement for the fact that he demonstrates to the public what student volunteers can do despite all their other commitments. 

In the words of his Duty Officer Joe O’Shea, Paul is someone who demonstrates that students can be people who “put themselves out and go that extra mile to seek out a voluntary role that requires more than just once a week commitment .They put themselves forward to serve their community. From time to time students do get bad press, drinking cider, eating pot noodles and walking home with traffic cones on their heads. However people like Paul (and our other St John Ambulance Volunteers) Gary, Maria & Crystel are ambassadors for students showing that there is more substance to being a student.’

Nicky collects her certificate

Special Commendation went to Marketa Setinova and Nicola Archer who have both put in exceptional effort over several different volunteering roles. Marketa has been a dedicated volunteer at Hersham Hounds and Nicola has got involved in numerous one-off projects and ran her own project putting on a Jazz Tea Party at our local Age Concern Social Centre. 

That rounds up our volunteering awards for this year! I think you'll agree we have a pretty exceptional bunch of students doing great things out and about around Kingston there. Looking forward to plenty of the same next year!