Vice President Activities of KUSU blogs about Volunteering!

Hi I’m Lauren McCormack and I am currently on a gap year from my Sports Science with Business degree. I have just finished my placement year where I worked full time as an elected student officer (Vice President Activities) of Kingston University Students’ Union where part of my job has been to oversee volunteering. I’ve also got involved in several volunteering opportunities throughout the year – here’s a quick recap of what I’ve taken part in and more importantly why you should consider volunteering too!

Working and studying full time can be very demanding on time, especially when there are deadlines/exams to prepare for. One-Off Volunteering is a great way to get involved in volunteering as you can do as much or as little as you like! I’ve done several one-off volunteering opportunities this year.

Back in November last year I went along with the sports students (known as the Kingston Cougars) to redecorate the sports hall at Waldegrave School For Girls, a local secondary school. 15 of us worked together to whitewash the wall and stencil silhouettes to transform the space – and it looked great!

In February I then took part in a food project for the homeless using waste food from supermarkets to cook at a local church in Kingston. Using food that was going to be thrown away we did a ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ style day where volunteers and the homeless were split into teams to see what exciting dishes we could come up with! The day was part of Student Volunteering Week and was great fun - we all got to eat the food together afterwards as part of a big lunch in the church hall!

Most recently I went along to KUSU’s Bird & Bat Box Building and BBQ event where I helped make bird and bat boxes for the nature trail at Kingston Hill campus. The event also celebrated KUSU volunteers’ achievements over the past year. The BBQ food was cooked to perfection and we were really fortunate to have good weather – it was a great way to meet other volunteers too!

Volunteering with KUSU is a good way to try something new, meet new people, make new friends and also learn new skills while helping out and having fun. It also means you are able to do something worthwhile and productive with your spare time! I’m looking forward to doing more volunteering this academic year 2012-2013. It’s going to be a busy year and I can’t wait!

In March I was re-elected to do a second year as Vice President Activities where my role is to oversee sports, societies and volunteering in Kingston University Students’ Union as well as representing the student body. In terms of volunteering this year I’m hoping to run a project through the Be A Champion sports volunteering scheme where 5 volunteers from the mountaineering (climbing) club will lead sessions at a local climbing wall for a community group. As well as this I’m also hoping to go along as a kayak volunteer to the Sub Aqua Thames River Clean project during Freshers Week to help ensure they are visible to passing boats. I’ll be keeping an eye on the One-Off Volunteering opportunities that happen throughout the year too and am also hoping to become a regular volunteer with the Scouts through Community Volunteering at KUSU! There’s just so many opportunities that it’s hard to get the chance to do it all, but I’m trying to make the most of it while I’m still at Kingston University and when I go back into my final year next September!

E-mail: activities@kingston.ac.uk

Phone: 020 8417 2883 Ext: 62883

Twitter: @activitiesKUSU, @laurenmacca19

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507326066

Volunteering at the Kingston Olympic Torch Relay!

I’m not, never have been, and most probably never will be a sporty person. Largely, excitement about the London 2012 Olympics has passed me by: at a push, I could probably be persuaded to watch the men’s diving (ahem), but golf? Archery? Football? Don’t we get enough football coverage on the TV as it is, without adding in some extra Olympiad games? Bah humbug, I say.

Anna Smith carrying the Olympic Torch through Kingston.
Spot the volunteers in their yellow t-shirts! 

Or at least, I did say. The Olympic Torch Relay made me prick up my ears a little, because it wasn’t all about the sport. 8000 everyday heroes were plucked from relative obscurity to carry the torch from A to B, to recognise and celebrate the fantastic work they have done in their communities or the successes they’ve achieved. So when I saw that I could volunteer through KUSU Volunteering, Go Kingston Volunteering and help marshal the event in Kingston, I figured it could be my contribution to this international sporting celebration that would really mean something to me.

So off I toddled, at 7.30am on a Tuesday morning (painful), into Kingston Market Place to meet with other volunteers, students and local residents alike, to help man the crowds and watch brilliant people be commended for their work. I was posted by the Bentall Centre, which was Anna Smith’s leg of the relay.

Earlier this year, Anna got home from work to find a neighbour being attacked by two thugs. Anna went to her rescue, saved the neighbour, but suffered a violent attack herself. She was in intensive care for a week before an intensive operation to rebuild her shattered cheekbones, nose and jaws. Her confidence was crushed by the incident and she had to move home. However, she chose to take a positive approach to life, joking that not everyone gets a free face lift and continuing to be an inspirational mother to her two young children.

Whilst she still needs some more operations, she has worked hard to regain full fitness so that she can return to helping others though sports activities. Reflecting on her time in hospital, she has been determined to do more therapeutic work to support people in need and has now successfully gained NHS sponsorship for a part time Occupational Therapy degree to build on her expertise and extend her skills for the benefit of others.

Anna's passion for sporting activities, her incredible determination following this horrific incident and the fact that she has used her experience to positively benefit others meant she was nominated as an Olympic Torchbearer. As the crowd roared their approval when she jogged past, lit torch proudly in the air, I began to understand that the Olympics was about so much more than sports. It’s about bringing the community together, promoting healthy, happy lifestyles, offering opportunities and celebrating diversity and equality.

And really, those four things are what volunteering itself is all about. It’s great to be a part of something bigger than yourself, and getting involved with all kinds of events and opportunities to make life better for others, just like Anna Smith did. 2012 is definitely the year to open your eyes to something new – for me it’s men’s diving, and who knows, maybe yours could be volunteering with KUSU!


Check out the rest of my photos from the day here.

Lucy Williams

Vice President Student Life at KUSU

http://studentlifekusu.wordpress.com

Volunteering with Sharks!

Blog by Kingston University student Chris Elliott.  
“So try to keep away from the sharks...” 

Well duh.

“...because if you corner them they might knock themselves out on the tank while running away.”

Er, what?

“But they aren’t that dangerous. The Southern Rays do have quite a dangerous Neurotoxin though...”

Ahah!

“Mind you they’re pretty relaxed around people. Simon trod on one accidently last week and it didn’t sting him”.

Oh.

“We’ve got twenty-six Lionfish in the tank too and they’re poisonous, but they just think you’re in there to feed them, so shoo them away with your brush if they get annoying.”

Right.

“Watch out for the Puffer Fish too. He’s not aggressive but he does have a strong beak if you get too close. We think he ate the Moray Eels.”

He....what?

“Any questions?”

Shark!

So here we are, it’s a Tuesday night at Chessington World of Adventures and students from Kingston University Sub Aqua Sports Club (KUSAC) are ready to help clean the Shark Tank.

Now when people find out that we do this they often ask two very sensible questions;

“They take the sharks out first right?

And when we answer no, it is usually followed by;

“Are you mad?”

Well... probably! I’m a SCUBA diver and a SCUBA instructor and us divers – well we love sharks.

FUN SHARK FACT

Annual deaths by shark attack: 5-15

Annual deaths by cow attacks: 100+

No Daisy, stop, no no no aaaaagh!!

But that’s the thing isn’t it. When was the last time you saw a show called “When Cows Attack”. Personally, I blame Spielberg.

So here we are looking forward to an hour or so of scrubbing rocks and washing the algae from the inside of the viewing windows. Partly so that we can be privileged enough to get close to these creatures, an experience uncommon for SCUBA divers in these overfished days and partly so we can help ensure that others can as well.

We change into our diving gear at the side of the tank – you must be completely covered for these sessions in case you brush up against a lionfish. On the side, we have first aid and emergency oxygen trained staff in case of problems. Inside the tank we’ll have each other to rely on and a brush to shoo stuff away with. It’s easy to be nervous. I’m pretty sure the US Army shark repellent isn’t a budget toilet brush from Wilkinson.

Cleaning the shark tank at Chessington World of Adventures

Once we’re in, we’ll be walking around the tank, as the tank isn’t very big and the finning makes the sharks nervy. It’s diving the way granddad used to do it. We get a few minutes to take underwater pictures and then it’s time to scrub, siphon and shine. It turns out that it’s pretty much the same as cleaning the fish tank at home - only bigger.

In the meantime we get to watch tropical fish shoal around us, watch Rays glide overhead and shoo away pesky Lionfish. The Horned Shark skulks around trying to get in the way and a Striped Moray Eel pokes its head out of a hole, alive for now and presumably scared that I might be a greedy Pufferfish.

It’s hard work, but someone’s got to be lucky enough to do it.

Kingston University student Matt in the shark tank at Chessington World of Adventures

Shark tank cleaning is open to members of KUSAC who are Sports Diver qualified (or equivalent) and higher.

Since the writing of this article, I can confirm that the Moray Eels are now all gone. May they rest in Pufferfish.

Jam, Jam Jam! Who'd have thought you could volunteer with jam?!

Neelam Shah

Hi everyone, my name’s Neelam and I’m in my second year of a BSc in International Relations with Media and Cultural Studies at Kingston University.

I recently volunteered at the ‘Jam Inn’ event which took place on Saturday 7^th July 2012 in Twickenham. It was a community engagement event for the Heritage community project ‘Jam Yesterday Jam Tomorrow’, which is being run by the Environment Trust for Richmond Upon Thames.

The ‘Jam Inn’ event turned the café at Heatham House into a vintage tea room which displayed research about market gardening in the local area. During the day I helped to serve tea and coffee, but my favourite part of volunteering was interacting with the public and talking to them about the heritage lottery funded project which explores the importance of Hampton market garden industry and the forgotten heritage of Twickenham. The purpose of the project is for the general public to learn about how to preserve and restore the lost plant heritage to sites throughout the area through archive research, oral histories and hands on activities. I really enjoyed volunteering because I felt like I contributed to the aim of the project.  

The day itself was fairly busy - I started off by handing out fliers to people passing by and encouraging them to go in and have tea, coffee and cake. Not many people came in at first because the weather was so lovely outside, but later on it got much busier and people starting sharing their market gardening stories. The children at the event loved it when they were taught how to make their own jam! The day was really fun and I look forward to volunteering again soon!

Collage Art Workshop with Kingston Young Carers – A Student-Led Volunteering Project

I’m Leo and I’m a final year Kingston University student. As a student of art and music, I wanted to apply my passion for the arts to volunteering. Over the past two years, I’ve volunteered my time and skills and organised several workshops for the Kingston Young Carers in Songwriting, Street Art, Drawing Cartoons, and most recently, Collage Art.

Leo and Kingston Young Carers showing off their collage art!

At the beginning of a workshop, I usually like to prepare a short introduction, which presents the children with examples, as well as select good music to play in the background (in this case Beach Boys, Pete Rugolo and a Honky Tonk Piano compilation). This gets their creative juices flowing and gets them more excited about wanting to make art. Throughout the workshop I ask each of them what they are creating and why, which helps them to engage more with their imagination and creativity.

For the collage art workshop, I had to buy art materials for the kids to use. KUSU Volunteering gave me a budget to buy these supplies with, which included books, scissors, glue and paper. Oxfam Bookshops in Surbiton and Kingston generously donated some of their books to the session. I made sure that I set up the room and supplies ahead of time so that it was all prepared when everyone arrived.

If you don’t find listed volunteering projects that are of interest to you, the kind staff at KUSU Volunteering (Volunteer Co-ordinators Jemma Houghton and Alex Britton) can provide everything you need to realise your own student-led volunteering project with full support! This way, like me, you can adjust volunteering to your skills and interests to effectively give back to the community. 

Two Celebrations of Volunteer Achievement!

In my last blog I talked about the benefits of volunteering, so it seems apt now to write about some of KUSU’s regular volunteers and what has been happening in the last month in the world of KUSU Volunteering. 

Bird and Bat Box Building Event and End-of-Year Celebratory Barbecue!

On Wednesday 30th May, KUSU Volunteering had an end-of-year celebratory event for our volunteers! We organised an awesome barbeque, (even if we do say so ourselves!) which was complete with cupcakes for pudding! KUSU volunteers asked to make bird and bat boxes beforehand, which KUSCO’s Bruce Lloyd and Kingston University’s Biodiversity and Landscape Administrator Lynsey Stafford supervised. Students made 12 bird and bat boxes in total, all of which will make lovely wildlife homes, as well as increase the biodiversity of the local area. The combined volunteer and celebratory event took place on the lovely and serene Kingston Hill nature trail, which you should check out if you have never been there before. On a side note I’m hoping to run some volunteering opportunities in partnership with Lynsey Stafford and the Kingston University Biodiversity Action Group (KUBAG) in semester one of academic year 2012-2013, where we will do some rhododendron clearance on the nature trail – which for the non-green-fingered bunch of you means cutting down this particular type of plant because it has a negative impact on the woodland ecosystem! I shall email this one-off opportunity out nearer the time, so if you would like to spend a few hours getting some fresh air and helping out, make sure you register your interest in volunteering, so that I have you on our mailing list! 

As well as our barbecue and bird/bat box building event, we also had our annual Volunteer Awards Ceremony this month at the very beautiful Dorich House Museum! This event was to celebrate the volunteering commitment of certain Kingston University students, who have gone above and beyond and really shone in the roles they have been volunteering at, this last academic year. The Vice Chancellor of Kingston University, Professor Julius Weinburg opened the event speaking of the difference volunteering made to the community and his pride in the positive dynamic it brings to Kingston University.“Boasting isn’t usually a good thing,” he said “but sometimes I don’t think we boast enough. You can all be very proud of the work you do volunteering and the experiences it’s brought you.” 

This year’s KUSU Volunteering Award winners are: 
Volunteer Project of the Year: Charlotte Buck and Imogen Morris

Charlotte and Imogen put on three day-long drawing, painting and art history workshops at Hollyfield Secondary School. Unfortunately Charlotte and Imogen were unable to attend the awards ceremony, but will be coming into the KUSU Volunteering Office soon to collect their award, certificates and medals and we hope to get a photograph of them then!

Community Volunteer of the Year: Madiha Khan
Madiha volunteers with the British Red Cross, assessing the needs of and helping to devise care plans for patients who have returned home from a traumatic stay at hospital.  Red Cross coordinator Debby Mulling said, “Madiha has shown us that she is a quick learner with a high standard of service.”

School Volunteer of the Year: Amy Wheatley
Amy spent many hours helping in the classroom and on the playground of Tolworth Junior School. Tolworth staff recognised her for her great relationship with the pupils and her ‘above and beyond’ attitude. 

Best Newcomer: Sara Ann Hope
For two full days every week, Sarah supports two special needs students at Southborough High School with their class work. The special education team describes her as “brilliant and wonderful”. 

Best One-Off Volunteer
Natasha May Chinnery was recognised for taking part in nine one-off volunteering projects this year including fundraisers for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and mental health charity MIND.

Be A Champion
The Rugby, American Football and Cheerleading clubs were also commended for their involvement in the ‘Be a Champion’ project which encouraged sports clubs to start their own volunteering project. The Rugby club were awarded the Be A Champion trophy for their volunteering project.

Volunteer England Gold: Emma Lindner, Derryn Lovett and Rachael Penzo
This nationally recognised award was given to Emma, Derryn and Rachael for their achievement, dedication and leadership within volunteering. Unfortunately Derren was unable to attend the awards ceremony, but he will be coming into the KUSU Volunteering Office soon to collect his award, certificate and medal and we hope to get a photograph of him then!

All of the award winners received a glass award, certificate and medal for the award they were nominated for and won. It was a lovely day and the students gave us feedback after the event that they really enjoyed coming up on the stage and being presented with their award by Vice Chancellor Professor Julius Weinberg. They said it felt as prestigious as a graduation event. It was particularly wonderful seeing students’ family and friends getting to take part in the celebrations and see them collect their awards. Afterwards everyone got to enjoy a delicious buffet and drinks in the settings of Dorich House, before having their photo taken on the open-air-top roof! 

Jemma Houghton and Alex Britton
KUSU Volunteer Co-ordintors

New Volunteering Coordinator - Jemma Houghton

Hello everyone! I just thought I’d write a blog to introduce myself - My name is Jemma Houghton and I’m the new Volunteering Co-ordinator in KUSU Volunteering. I can’t believe I have been here a month already – the time has flown by, what with settling in, working on the BirdBox-Building and BBQ celebration event, the KUSU Volunteering Awards Ceremony and now preparing for the Vice Chancellor’s Civic Reception!
For those of you who have not met me yet, I will be looking after One-Off Volunteering Opportunities and Student-Led Volunteering Projects. Alex Britton my lovely colleague (the other Volunteering Coordinator in KUSU Volunteering) will continue to look after Community Volunteering and Schools Volunteering.

If you are not sure what any of these four categories of volunteering are, you can click on the hyperlinks which will take you to more information about the type of volunteering we offer here at Kingston University Students’ Union!

I just want to take this opportunity to say that if you have never volunteered before and want to find out more please pop by and see either myself or Alex in the Student’s Union on Penrhyn Road Campus. We’re really friendly and there’s no commitment to sign up to anything. We’ll just have a chat with you about volunteering, what you know, what you don’t, what you might be interested in and then you can go away and have a think about it! If you want to get involved, then that’s great, but if it’s not for you then that’s alright! There are plenty of other things you can get involved in at KUSU such as joining a sports club or a society, standing for a position at the elections etc!

...Back to volunteering though!
Lots of people volunteer at charities or not-for-profit organisations for different reasons. There’s no right or wrong reason to volunteer... Some people do it to meet new people and make new friends, other people have skills they want to share with the local community, some people just want to give something back, some people are bored and want to get involved in something exciting, whereas others do it to increase their work experience, to put it on their CV and to gain some life experience.

If any of these reasons spark an interest in you then you should check out KUSU Volunteering! There are so many different opportunities to get involved in – there really is something for everyone. And if there is not, then let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your needs!

I’ve volunteered at a range of not-for-profit organisations and at many-a-charity event over the last 9 years and have loved every single moment of it. Giving my time and skills to help the local community, or to help small or large charities gives me a feeling that is hard to describe. The best way I can put it, is that I get a warm, happy feeling in my heart. Volunteering lets you be the best possible person you can be, it allows you to meet inspirational people you’d never have the opportunity to meet otherwise, you get to develop your skill-set, be supported along every step of the way and most importantly make a positive difference in other people’s lives. It’s one of the key reasons why I work in this sector because I want to help facilitate more people getting involved in volunteering, so that they can help others, as well as experiencing the wonderful benefits that volunteering brings.

All in all, it’s been a very busy month, and both Alex Britton and I are now preparing for Kingston University’s Civic Reception. If you didn’t get around to volunteering this academic year, don’t worry because there are still volunteering opportunities trickling in over the summer and before you know it, it’ll be Freshers’ Week and then London Student Volunteering Fortnight (Saturday 27th October 2012 – Saturday 10th November 2012) where we will have lots of taster volunteering activities you can try out!

All the best,
Jemma Houghton
KUSU Volunteer Co-ordinator

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