Thames River Clean May 2015

Hi I'm Theo Mills, and I was student-leader along with Kathy Stanley-Quist of the 2015 Thames River Clean, as part of the Sports Volunteering Steam. We were supported by Volunteering Projects Design and Development Coordinator, Sarah Dutton.

I started scuba diving back in September of 2013 and have fallen in love with the sport. The club brings together an amazing group of people and one of our biggest events in the calendar year is the Kingston Thames River Clean.

Originally thought up and masterminded by fellow diver and Kingston alumni Chris Elliot, 2015 was the 4^th consecutive year that the river clean had been held. Having sadly missed last year’s river lean this was my first year attending and also helping to organising the event with other members of KUSAC and the Students' Union (SU).

I joined the committee just before Christmas of 2014 and was amazed by the amount of work that actually goes into making this event possible. Just for a one day event there is so much work behind the scenes that goes into making it possible. This involved applying for grants, contacting people to attend the event and general organisation of location and equipment. After careful consideration on much deliberation we settled on the 30^th of May as the date for the clean.  In order to secure the date, The Environment Agency gave us the go ahead, closed off one of the arches of Kingston Bridge, provided us with a river barge for rubbish, and informed all river users of the activity. We also had to organise insurance, recruitment of volunteers from all over the community, timetables, lunches, health and safety briefings, risk assessments and much more. It was exhausting but amazing to see so many get on board including, KUSAC, KUBAG, KU Kayakers, KU Mountaineers, Kingston Council, Environment Agency, Metropolitan Police, RNLI, Thames 21, Aquanauts and Capital Clean Up.

The hard work paid off and the river clean was an amazing success. In total we pulled out over 460 items from just a small stretch of the river. This included 31 trollies and 7 different push bikes. All the volunteers did an amazing job on the day, and made it and exciting and enjoyable day for the public and everyone involved. 

Next year I will be heading up the committee, and I look forward to helping keep this wonderful project going. It is clear we are helping to improve the environment around Kingston and this is an event that bring a number of different people together for a good cause.  

We are also recruiting for the 2015-2016 River Clean Committee, and welcome applications. If you are interested and are a student at Kingston University and in a sports team, please email S.Dutton@kingston.ac.uk, outlining why you think you would make a brilliant committee member.  

Supermarket River Sweep…

I started learning to SCUBA diver in February 2013 and fell in love with being under the water. Chris Elliot (aka The Master) asked for help on a project he and Matt, another student, were running in the autumn, the second river clean.  I went along on the day to help on the shore and was blown away by the amount of rubbish that was dragged from such a small section of the river Thames.

Jump forward six months and Chris approached me asking if I would organise KUSAC’S third Thames River Clean.  I was in my final year of study and commuting from Sussex, but jumped at the chance to be involved in such a brilliant scheme, little did I understand the amount of work that has to be put in before the scheme can even get off the ground. Thank goodness for Chris and the Union of Kingston Students’ Volunteering Office who were there to support and help me to keep the project on track.

The date was arranged and things were running smoothly when…. Mother Nature decided to throw a spanner in the works and sent rain, rain, rain and more rain, so much that the Thames was flooding!  So with time and the weather against us we had to postpone until the New Year.

This delay though gave us time to work with Thames 21 and train up future student organisers of the River Clean and other environmental projects.  It also gave us time to build stronger links with other organisations and companies such as Aquanauts, a local scuba and snorkelling shop whose owners, Ian and Lynne, donated cylinders and air for our divers to use along with volunteer divers from their dive club who were indispensable.

So the new date is in place Saturday 24^th May 2014. The Environment Agency have given us the go ahead, closed off one of the arches of Kingston Bridge, provided us with a river barge for rubbish, and informed all river users of the activity.  KUSAC ready, Divers information collated and all ready for the off, insurances checked, volunteers organised, KUBAG loaning equipment, Aquanauts equipment and divers ready, volunteers organised, KU Kayakers and KU Mountaineers ready.  Parking organised free by the Bentalls centre, Local council on-board, Environment agency organised, Metropolitan Police Kingston informed and aware of project… so now to cross fingers and toes and pray for good weather.

The day arrives… I have stayed at Simon’s (Dive Manager for this project) and am up at daft O’clock (that’s before 6am!) and walk along to meet Chris to collect the equipment.  Then on to Horse Fair Quay where the river clean is being carried out.  By half eight the majority of volunteers have arrived and organising is in full swing.  Volunteers are signed in, and health and safety talks have been given so now it is down to business.

The first group of four divers enter the water; the kayakers are providing surface cover and protection to our divers under the surface.  Sarah and Steve from the Volunteer Office, volunteers from Kingston University Mountaineering club, KUSAC, KUBAG, Aquanauts, Thames 21 and other Kingston students and alumni were ready on shore to pull the debris ashore.

The goal was to clean as much as we could, of the area behind the Bentalls centre on Horsefair Quay; oh and to beat the last river clean trolley count!

The water looks murky from above but it is not until you go under the surface that you realise how bad the visibility is down there. It looks okay until you move or move an item that is in the thick gloopy muddy silt on the bottom.  The divers had to use their hands to “feel” where the next item was located or sit and wait for the silt to settle take in their bearings and then reach for the item knowing that as soon as they moved the silt would come back up and reduce their visibility to just the end of their noses.  So the divers grab the grapnel that has been lowered down to them from one of the shore people, dive under the water and attach it to whatever item they have discovered and then tug on the rope to let the shore party aware that something needs to be pulled up.  The divers then move away from the object so as not to get trapped though keeping an eye on the item in case it gets tangled in
other debris.

                  

On the shore the volunteers from all the different sports clubs along with all other volunteers, members of dive club, Aquanauts, Thames 21, and the local RNLI team from Teddington who also popped in to help for a couple of hours, are ready and eagerly awaiting the treasure trove of items that the Thames is going to sprout forth.  From divers to water and shore rescue teams, litter pickers, waders, pullers and grabbers, tea and coffee makers, washer uppers and general go to it girls and guys all hands were on deck.

Not only did the RNLI give us water cover, after lunch they also helped to pull items from the river by loaning their muscle power to pull debris from the Thames.

And so the massive task of stacking all of the materials/bicycles/debris on to the floating rubbish barge began in earnest.

  The final tally of rubbish included, 105 metal shopping trolleys, 388 glass bottles, 244 drinking glasses, 3 prams, 22 bricks, 45 CD’s, 3 coconuts, 1 stove, 1 microwave oven door, 2 dead pigeons, 2 battery packs,  2 mallets, 2 gas cylinders, 30 skateboards, 1 children’s bicycle, 13 adult bicycles, 14 scaffold poles, 4 logs and many many many items that are far too many to list but in total there was over 4 tonnes of rubbish removed from the river that day!!!

An absolutely amazing achievement by all those involved.

I am so pleased with the result and the hard work and dedication from all of those involved. The day itself ran really smoothly with everyone finding a job or role that they could do.  Many a smile and some laughter, with a Christmas like quality to the air sometimes with people wondering what was going to be dragged out of the river next!!

I want to extend an HUGE thank you to all involved (majority shown here) for working so hard and managing to help in retrieving such an huge amount of rubbish from the Thames with little to no fuss, you were all A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

4pm and all divers out of the water, time to clean up, wash down the area, clear up and go home!  By 7pm Chris and I had put the last bit of equipment away and were shattered.

Time to go home and relax with a nice glass of red wine, until the next time, on your trolleys, get set, GO...  Kathy J

Volunteer Cheer!

Group photo - KUSU Volunteers and Kingston Young Carers!

Hi I’m Danielle and I have just completed my 3^rd year at Kingston University where I studied BA (Hons) Drama. On the 29^th May I volunteered my time and experience in leading a two hour Cheerleading fun session for 16 children from Kingston Young Carers. The fun session was an introduction to cheerleading. With the help of four other student volunteers from the KUSU Cheerleading Club, we taught the children various skills of cheerleading, including stunts, motions, jumps and dance. It took place at the dance studio in the gym at Penrhyn Road campus. The venue was brilliant because it was perfect in size and had appropriate facilities such as mirrors and mats that we needed to run the session.

For the project I led and co-ordinated the fun session with help and support from Jemma Houghton the Volunteer Co-ordinator at KUSU. Tasks I undertook included devising the session plan, completing a risk assessment, buying refreshments, sourcing ‘winner’ medals to give out to the children, creating certificates and recruiting volunteers to help me run the session.

As I am a qualified cheerleading coach I already have a passion for teaching cheerleading to children; it’s often something new they haven’t come across before and which they get particularly excited about - especially when pom poms are involved!

Why did I run this volunteering project? Well last year another member of the KUSU Cheerleading Club (who has since graduated) ran a Cheerleading fun session for Kingston Young Carers, which I helped out with and enjoyed immensely; the young carers all finished the session with huge smiles and said how much fun they had. This inspired me to get involved and lead a similar project this year.

Kingston Young Carers show off their new stunt skills!

The best part of the project for me was seeing how quickly the children picked up the cheerleading skills. We were able to teach higher skills than planed and they were all really proud of achieving something they didn’t think they could do.

I would recommend a volunteer project like this to anyone! It’s incredibly rewarding, the children are so grateful for the session and leave with a massive smile on their face. It’s a project that has aided my coaching work as it has increased my experience of working with a different group of children and is something I can put on my CV.

I wish I’d done more with KUSU Volunteering - the staff are very helpful and will support you with whatever volunteering you want to do. From Student-Led Volunteering like I did or other opportunities, there’s lots you can get involved with to make a difference and add something different to your CV to make you stand out to employers. Get involved - you won’t regret it. 

Check out more of the cheerleading photos!

Helping Scope Renovate their Garden

Az and I (Kingston University students and KUSU Volunteers) began the year with one thought in our heads, ‘This is our last year, we want to do to something that we’ve never done at uni before, but what?’

We’d seen and heard of lots of other KUSU Sports clubs and teams, from Cheerleading to American Football, taking part in KUSU Volunteering, so we took it to our team, Ladies Basketball, and said, ‘Hey guys, fancy a spot of volunteering?’ We got a unanimous positive response! 

In the first few months I helped Az from the sidelines. I had never volunteered with KUSU before, however I had taken part in other volunteering ventures outside of KUSU from coaching at a local football club, bag packing in Asda for charity, to being a Games Maker at last years London 2012 Games.

Our journey began with Az our captain deciding to take the lead and contacting Jemma Houghton, the lovely KUSU Volunteer Coordinator, who supported us throughout the project. There are dozens of volunteering opportunities which KUSU Volunteering promotes on a weekly/fortnightly basis and as a team we wanted the chance to take part in one of these exciting projects and help out our local community in anyway possible.

KUSU Volunteering came back to us with a project that would prove to be both challenging and involve a fair amount of planning, but which most importantly would be fun and allow us to help out in the community. Lingfield Avenue a local residential home run by Scope for 14 people with cerebral palsy and learning difficulties, were in need of some volunteers to renovate their garden. Scope is a national charity that has one clear vision, ‘A world where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else.’ Az contacted the team and everyone decided it sounded like the sort of volunteering project we wanted to get involved with. As the garden needed a lot of TLC KUSU Volunteering recommended we have two co-leaders on the project, which is when I started and began helping Az.

KUSU Volunteering supported us by making the initial contact with the excellent and hardworking staff at Scope and helped us to set up a meeting with one of their supervisors. We went round to the residential for a scoping visit, to assess the garden and find out exactly what Scope wanted help with. This is where we realised there was more to do than just planting a couple of bulbs! The garden had over grown plants, pesky moss on the decking and concrete, weeds that knew no bounds, a real lack of colour and was a haven for dead plants with the deepest roots known to human-kind! So the Ghostbusters were sent in, oops, I mean the totally cool and green fingered Weedbusters to create designs and plan out a new garden.

Luckily enough Az is an Architecture student so she drew up the plans and we used these to show Scope what we intended on doing for the gardening makeover project. KUSU Volunteering very kindly put us in touch with the amazing Rachel Burgess, the Biodiversity and Landscape Administrator at Kingston University who gave us some expert advice. She was extremely helpful in giving us tips on how to design a garden for people with disabilities, focusing on how to make it more sensory and thus more enjoyable to use – ie bright colours, wind chimes etc to engage people’s visual and auditory senses.

Upon working out what types of plants we needed and what tools, Az and I went on a shopping spree! We were lucky as Scope and the university let us borrow some of their tools, which meant we could use most of the budget KUSU Volunteering allocated us with, to go on lovely flowers for the garden, which we were all very excited about! We purchased potted plants, plenty of flowers, a bird feeder, wind chime, trowels and other gardening necessities. After completing a risk assessment which KUSU Volunteering helped us with, we were able to begin. We had to pick a date quite late in the second semester as the frosty weather kept getting in the way. This meant we weren’t able to recruit all the girls from the team as we’d hoped, so we opened the project up to all university students. On the day we had KUSU Volunteers, KUSU staff and KUBAG volunteers helping out!

So the Weedbusters united, fought the dirt and the usual bit of expected British drizzle, to prevail and create a beautiful garden that we hope the residents of the home will now be able to use in the coming Summer.

To someone considering leading a project or volunteering I’d tell them that it’s one of the greatest opportunities they will have at university. Many people on a day-to-day basis do not have the time or the contacts to get involved with volunteering but KUSU gives students that opportunity. Grasp the opportunity while you can. It’s not always easy, especially leading on a project, but at the end of the day if a project finishes a success then that’s what really matters.

There is still more work to be done so we hope KUSU and Scope can continue to work together. It was an exciting, fun and really rewarding project for all those involved and I encourage everyone out there reading this to try your hand at volunteering because you never know, you might find out your hands are far greener than you ever thought!

Have a look at the rest of the photos on the KUSU Volunteering Facebook Page!

From a Ripple to a Wave – The Second Thames River Clean

Last year a good friend of mine Chris Elliott asked me to volunteer as a diver on a river clean he was organising. On Sunday 17^th September 2012 I found myself taking part in this great initiative created by Chris to help clean some of the debris that damages and ruins the aesthetics of our riverine environment. It raised a great amount of public awareness and in a team of 26 student kayakers, divers and shore volunteers, as well as 11 members of the community and staff, we managed to remove two skips full of rubbish including 22 shopping trolleys, 304 glass bottles, 3 bicycles, 1 gnome, 1 bird bath and more!  

This was just the tip of the iceberg as that day we did a 100 metre scope and realised there were hundreds more trolleys and countless other items on the river bed. That day we decided we could do more, a lot lot more…

Skip forward to 2013 and Chris is encouraging me to lead on the second river clean project. Hesitant at first of committing to something so big in my final year at university and knowing how much work organising the student-led river clean volunteering project can be, I finally said yes; it would be a great chance to show employers my project management skills, represent my degree course in environmental science, give something back to the river that guided me home in those months as a fresher and make it safer for river users.  

And so with Chris Elliott, KUSU Volunteer Coordinator Jemma Houghton and Thames 21 supporting me, as well as equipment donated by local dive shop Aquanaut, we took up the challenge once again. We set out to not just repeat our previous success but to build on it, extensively refine our methods, make it easier to repeat and try and make a bigger impact.

We originally wanted to continue clearing the stretch of river we had previously worked on, but due to some last minute building works nearby we decided to focus on the relatively unknown area just North of the bridge known as Horsefair Quay. The second change was to expand our capacity for collecting large scrap items such as bulky shopping trolleys. The Environment Agency let us borrow a barge which they conveniently moored right next to where we were diving. Thirdly we wanted to change how the volunteers worked together as a team to make it more streamlined. This was achieved by the appointment of strong reliable leaders - Jemma for the shore party, Simon Garrad (an experienced sport diver) for the dive management and myself as Dive Lead. Lastly the divers changed the method by which we raised our debris; although the original lift-bag method worked, it took time and we hadn’t expected so many large items. So in response we agreed that our divers would instead attach grapnels or ropes and then use a lot of muscle (gratefully provided by Kingston University Students’ Union’s Mountaineering Club). This method though limited to the near shore side was dramatically faster and thus more efficient.

On the day we’re as ready as we can possibly be, but still not prepared for the vast amount of trolleys we found, decade’s worth it would seem… It turns out the area just North of Kingston Bridge was loaded with trolleys; every descent was met with metal bars in the limited visibility. We soon realised that what we were clearing was not a passive nuisance, but a potentially fatal hazard because should any person accidently fall from the river edge they would immediately be met with rusted, broken and sheered metal less than a metre from the surface.

Diving in that kind of environment is a testing experience - the only reliable sense is touch as sight is all but lost once you shift that first hunk of metal, because the sediment effectively makes you blind. Though it’s barely 3-5m deep it takes a lot not to panic and to stay focused on the task in hand, whilst the tangled mess of metal around you presents tangle and snag hazards.

After a long day and a generous lunch provided by KUSU we managed to completely clear a 30 metre area back to as near a natural state as was practical, with the remaining 20 metres cleared of the largest debris. The most notable being a Korean helmet, ship battery, 17.5 skateboards and 82 trolleys - a fourfold improvement on last year’s efforts.

Perhaps the most astounding thing the divers alone experienced was what it’s actually like down there as beneath a forest of horrifically mangled metal and leached chemicals, life is striving to survive. It’s not what you would call an attractive habitat, but for those of us that can appreciate it, it’s nothing more than fascinating. There’s a kind of solid coral like growth that builds on trolley metal, as well as crabs, eels, tiny fish, snails and different species of shellfish all along the river. Many people believe the Thames River to be dead and toxic, however our river clean is testament to how wrong that assumption is.

On all fronts the second river clean can be considered a resounding unequalled success, not just for the amount removed, but for the ripple we turned into a wave surging through the Kingston community, helping people realise that our river is a living, breathing aquatic environment and that it needs our care today, tomorrow and in the future.   

Check out the video of the second Thames River Clean.

A Wonderful Week in the world of KUSU Volunteering - Recognising Volunteers' Achievements!

Last week was a really exciting week in the world of KUSU Volunteering! On Tuesday 7^th May 2013 we had our annual Volunteering Awards Ceremony, followed by our End of Year Social, the next day. Although having the two events so close together was a little hectic (!) it was really special getting to spend a couple of days celebrating all of the volunteering that our amazing KUSU Volunteers have done over the past year.

During the social, under the leadership of Rachel Burgess from KUBAG, a group of students and staff volunteered a couple hours of their time each, removing five rubbish bags full of the vigorous invader Himalayan Balsam from the Hogsmill riverbank at Knights Park campus. Student volunteers were then treated to a yummy afternoon picnic and were presented with a certificate thanking them for all the volunteering they’ve done this year.

The KUSU Volunteer Awards Ceremony 2013 was kicked off by KUSU’s Student Development Manager Mo Haque who thanked everyone for coming and explained that the evening’s celebrations were about congratulating certain KUSU Volunteers on their exceptional achievements, dedication and commitment. Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr David Mackintosh was a brilliant guest speaker, talking about how much of a positive difference student volunteers make to their local community, as well as highlighting all of the wonderful skills students will have gained throughout their time volunteering and how this will improve their employability upon graduation.

Abbie and I (KUSU’s Volunteer Coordinators), with the help of Lauren McCormack (Vice President of Activities) then had the delightful role of speaking about the award winners, sharing their volunteering stories and journeys with the audience and presenting the awards! Here’s what we had to say about them:

Best Volunteer Newcomer – Natalie Flower

We’ve had some excellent new volunteers this year so competition was tight, but this year’s winner is Natalie Flower. Natalie has taken part in several one-off events this year, including volunteering at the Royal Parks Half Marathon, Women’s Only Run, London Marathon, as well as becoming an avid knitter making hats for premature babies. Despite having a hectic timetable and often being on placement as a student nurse, Natalie always gives us vital feedback about the volunteering she has done, what she enjoyed, what she’d like to see more of and we’re delighted to award her Best Volunteer Newcomer.

Community Volunteer of the Year – Lucy Williams

Awarded for a combination of excellence in regard to the amount of time given, the level of dedication and the overall impact the volunteer has made to the local community. Lucy Williams was nominated by Refugee Action Kingston: “Lucy started volunteering at our crèche in May 2012 and regularly helps one morning a week to run free sessions for refugee and asylum seeking children under the age of 5. Lucy has been consistently reliable, enthusiastic, great with the children and an overall asset to our crèche team. Lucy has shown a real commitment to supporting children and families who attend our learning centre crèche and outside of her normal volunteering role Lucy has always advocated on behalf of RAK to promote the work we do.  Lucy has collected large amounts of clothing for our donation days and always offers or makes herself available to help where she can.”

One-Off Volunteer of the Year – Philip Commatas

Philip has given up a huge amount of his time taking part in an astonishing 12 one-off volunteering opportunities this academic year since he registered as a KUSU Volunteer in October! He’s volunteered on the Momentum Opera Evening, Winter Night Shelter, Christmas Tree Harvesting event and French Day at Age Concern, to name just a few. He’s also a regular KUBAG volunteer helping out at lots of environmental events and has just been placed at the Cancer Research shop in Kingston. Philip has been a brilliant and reliable one-off volunteer. He gets stuck into every volunteering role, he’s extremely flexible, works well in a team and is a delight to have around.

School Volunteer of the Year – Mark Lynch

Awarded for a combination of excellence in regard to the amount of time given, the level of dedication and the overall impact the volunteer has made to a local school. Mark Lynch was nominated by Tolworth Junior School for his mentoring role: “We interviewed Mark in January for a very important role at our school. We needed a male role model for a year 6 pupil with behavioural problems. The pupil in question (pupil x) aged 10/11 does not have a male figure in his life and is known to display very aggressive disruptive behaviour. Mark works with pupil x on a one to one basis every Thursday afternoon. Mark has a creative style of mentoring incorporating the talent of the pupil. He is not judgemental; he has given pupil x the confidence to confide in him. He understands, he demonstrates empathy and he acts on requests immediately. Mark created and designed a project for pupil x to work on during the Thursday meetings. Mark has proven to be the Perfect Role Model and we have seen evidence of improved behaviour from pupil x.”

Pupil x also commented: “Mark is fun, he listens to me, he is a good artist, and we are writing a comic book. I really like being with him.”

Be A Champion Volunteering Project – Sub Aqua Club

Be A Champion encourages sports students to continue the legacy of the London 20123 Games and run volunteering projects. The Sub Aqua Club have run an amazing three volunteering projects including a ‘try-dive’ - teaching a local youth cadet group how to dive, and 2 underwater river cleans of the Thames in Kingston. The second river clean saw 25 students volunteer, giving 184 hours of their time and removing an astonishing 2338kg of rubbish from the Thames, including 82 shopping trolleys, a soldier’s helmet dated 1954, 110 glass bottles, an engine block, a coconut and 17.5 skateboards - all of which pose a threat to wildlife and river users.

The Sub Aqua Club’s commitment to making a difference in the community by sharing their skill set and working on three volunteering projects this year is phenomenal. Mary Tetley, BSAC chief executive, said: “Underwater litter-picks like the terrific one staged by the Kingston University team gives our divers the chance to contribute to the fight against marine pollution...  all of those involved in this latest Kingston University clean up deserve a pat on the back for their efforts. The volume of shopping trolleys they have recovered is astounding and really does highlight the problems we face with what is discarded in our precious marine habitats.”

Volunteers Inspiring People Via Sport (VIPS) Volunteer of the Year – Fiorella Badin

Student Wellbeing offer a sports-specific volunteering programme called VIPS. VIPS was launched in September 2010 and was awarded the Inspire Mark from the Olympic board along with the 'Experts in Volunteering' recognition from the Greater London Volunteering team. Students can gain a recognised coaching qualification and enjoy sports-specific work experience by taking advantage of the volunteering opportunities available. This includes placements at football clubs affiliated with Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal, Wentworth golf club, and one off events such as London Marathons and events at the London Youth Games to name a few.

Students give back to the community by putting in the required 10 hours volunteering at a time that fits in around their studies and effectively become sports ambassadors for the University. This year Fiorella Badin is our first ever winner of the VIPs award, chosen for her commitment, dedication and enthusiasm for the scheme. 

Student-Led Volunteering Project of the Year – Olufunmilola Kehinde

Projects this year have included a knitting club making hats for premature babies, a Caribbean Culture Day for people with afro-caribbean heritage and a clay-making after school club. The winning project was led by Masters student Funmi who ran a jewellery-making workshop, teaching 10 children aged 4-6 years of age and their parents from Kingston WelCare how to make different types of jewellery including bracelets, necklaces and keyrings.

Funmi was a delight to support, always replying to emails and deadlines on time, her project proposal and costing document were extremely thorough and she delivered the workshop with professionalism and confidence. She was an excellent leader and we were extremely impressed with her time-management, organisational skills and commitment. Kingston WelCare had this to say about Funmi’s jewellery workshop: "My Thanks for your time and interest in WelCare. Your energy and fun approach was so up lifting. Thanks for planning and delivering the workshop. Everyone had a great time."

Kingston University Biodiversity Action Group Volunteer of the Year – Tina Corr

Led by Rachel Burgess, KUBAG is a group of staff and student volunteers dedicated to preserving and enhancing biodiversity on campus. Nominated for outstanding dedication to and leadership of a conservation project, here’s what KUBAG had to say about Tina: ‘Tina Corr is described by KUBAG as the life and soul of the Kingston Hill beehive project. She checks the hive nearly every week throughout the year and ensures the wellbeing of the bees by providing supplementary food and protection when necessary as well as health checks. She not only looks after the hive, but also coordinates the student and staff volunteer check assistants for the weekly summer checks. Her passion for the bees is inspiring and she never misses an opportunity to help promote the project and suggest ways we can improve habitat for bees on campus. She devotes countless hours to this project and events such as frame-building, talks and honey tasting and constantly strives to raise awareness about bees, their lives and current plight which is fabulous.’

Volunteer Blog of the Year – Chris Elliott

This is a new award that KUSU Volunteering has created this academic year. We’ve had an amazing 23 blogs submitted to us by students capturing the different volunteering they’ve been doing. These students are to be congratulated on sharing their volunteering experiences and journeys with the rest of the student body, and acting as ambassadors encouraging their peers to try out volunteering.The criteria for Volunteer Blog of the Year included how informative and inspirational a blog was, as well as the writing style. It was really hard to shortlist as the blogs were of a really high quality, but in the end 6 students made the cut and the winner was Chris Elliott for his blog entitled: “The Thames River Clean – A Guide to Student-Led Volunteering”. This blog is captures Chris’ quirky and humorous take on life whilst encouraging and inspiring students to try out Student-Led Volunteering.

Volunteer-Involving Organisation of the Year – Tolworth Junior School

We are hugely excited this year to be giving out an award to a Volunteer Involving Organisation – which has been nominated by students for being an amazing and supportive organisation to volunteer with.

In the words of the student nominator: ‘It is hard to sum up why I feel that this school deserves the award in just a couple of paragraphs. From the moment I walked into the school for my interview I felt that the school was special, it gives off welcoming and warm vibe. The staff at Tolworth are very involved in aiding me in my role, they always make time to have meetings with me before and after my sessions with the child I work with, they allow me the freedom to do what I think is best but also offer support and guidance to aid me in my role. Being given the opportunity to work with tolworth has been completely worth it. I have never felt happier or more supported in a role. The only bad thing I have to say about this whole experience is that it will soon be the summer and I won’t be going there anymore! TOLWORTH ROCKS!’

Outstanding Contribution to Volunteering – Chris Elliott

This award is the most prestigious of our awards, marking excellence, achievement, dedication and leadership. Chris has been an integral part of the KUSU Volunteering “landscape” if you will. He was nominated and won this award for organising the Sub Aqua’s first underwater river clean, which took approximately a year to organise to gain permission from local/national authorities including British Sub-Aqua Club, Kingston Council, Metropolitan Police and the Environment Agency. Despite many barriers Chris remained enthusiastic, was meticulously organised, and displayed excellent communication skills and commitment. Chris is also receiving this award for organising Sub Aqua’s youth group try dive, supporting another student to lead on the 2^nd river clean, being a regular volunteer for KUBAG, taking part in one-off volunteering events such as volunteering as the mini-bus driver for the Xmas Tree harvesting event, running our First Aid training session for KUSU Volunteers, cleaning out the shark tanks at Chessington World of Aventures and blogging about his volunteering experiences.

Chris is extremely reliable, a great team-member and always in good spirits. KUSU Volunteering have loved supporting him on his volunteering journey. It’s truly been an honour. He is a champion of student volunteering and a role model to his peers. He represents the best student volunteering talent Kingston University has to offer.

Jemma Houghton and Abbie Hurrell
KUSU Volunteer Co-ordinators
Photographs taken by Kingston University Professional Photographer Chris Thomas.

American Football Fun Session for King Athelstan Primary School

In all my time as a student and player, I have been consistently trying to learn new things and new concepts but this time it was the other way round... I along with a group of students & players just like me, now had to become the teachers which proved much more difficult than first anticipated. King Athelstan Primary School in Kingston was our destination and teaching the basic level of American Football to a mixed group of 10 and 11 year olds was our goal.

We set out nice and early to make sure we arrived on time to set up the various drills and politely introduce ourselves to the supervising staff at the school. When we started, the kids seemed really excited because they had never ever tried American Football. One kid even referred to the sport as “Madden” after the title of the popular American Football video-game series, as he did not realise the sport had an actual name!

Throughout the course of the day we demonstrated and got the kids to participate in a number of important drills & games for developing as a player, drills that we alike execute in training to improve our fundamentals. I think the game they enjoyed the most was British Bulldog, a playground classic but which surprisingly teaches the importance of speed, pursuit (for defensive players) and elusiveness (for offensive players).  I think they enjoyed it because they had played it before and I believe we set it up because of how fun we find it in training too (except we have full pads & a helmet which raise the excitement levels).

We did not face huge challenges during the day; the kids were very well behaved and very quick to respond to opportunities of participation. This made our job as teachers so much more fun & exciting because we had a group of children who were willing to put in the effort to learn something new. I now understand how hard my teachers must have found it in school when I was not co-operative; all those detentions were well served!

My advice to anyone who is considering volunteering is to just “go for it”. It is probably the most rewarding thing I have done throughout my years at university. Teamwork, teaching & leadership are only three out of an exhaustive list of things I have become better at thanks to just volunteering on this project. It was a long day, especially working with young kids with the highest energy levels but all in all, I’d happily do it again if it meant I made a difference in their lives.

Chike Nnalue

Kingston University Student