Age UK Camden
The first project team at the Great Croft Centre hosted a Mad Hatter-themed party for the clients. The activities included games, live music, sing-a-longs and chats with the volunteers.
“It was magical, I do not know how else to describe the day. Also, we were particularly happy with the team work required to plan the event... the determination of all the volunteers that this day was going to be the best day at Great Croft, and it really was!”
“The event raised self-esteem and self-worth, due to the volunteers’ happy, outgoing nature and the kindness showered on our members. Their happiness and fun was infectious, for our members, staff and other volunteers. Improved the emotional and well-being of our members
Team two ran a gadget workshop and trouble-shooting technology clinic. Clients brought along their electronic gadgets such as phones, laptops and tablets.
“Sharing new skills, empowering our older clients.”
Opening Doors London
A workshop with ambassadors from Opening Doors London helped them to craft letters to their 16-year-old selves. The letters will be used as part of the charity’s communications to connect with other isolated LGBT communities. You can see a short film about the project here.
“An opportunity for experiences to be articulated and voices heard.”
Cutting East Film Festival
This project team organised interviewing technique and other training (including filming on smartphones) for the organisers and volunteers of the Cutting East Film Festival, ahead of their festival launched. You can see a picture gallery from the day here.
“Great techniques on how to interview and how not to. How to use mobile phones to record interviews. Opportunities to speak to key people in a field young people want to get into.”
“The hands-on element of the day was great, using equipment and then actually interviewing journalists was extremely valuable.” Cutting East youth worker
Media Trust
The Guardian Education Centre ran a workshop on feature writing for aspiring writers, followed by a networking session with editorial staff, where the young people got advice on how to start a career in the media sector. Read here about what one young journalist thought about the day.
“The young people who attended really enjoyed the experience, learnt new skills, and understood more about the industry.”
“This day allowed us to offer the young people access to the industry and an opportunity to meet and talk to employees in order to share skills.”
Bemerton Villages Management Organisation
The team at Bemerton Villages ran a landscaping project on the estate along with creative workshops in the new art studios. They also created communal art for the Cally Festival and hosted a barbecue for the residents at the end of the day.
“The team worked tirelessly for the whole day, transforming the appearance of a prominent but neglected corner.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) secondary school
This project was a workshop about leadership and influencing skills for Year 10 students. The aim was to help them develop a way in which they could pass on their knowledge to the upcoming group of senior leaders in the school.
“The feedback from the school was that the project sparked lots of new ideas and initiatives, and collaborations between us and the school. For example, they are reviewing their curriculum policy on social media and digital media in light of what they learnt at the Guardian about how it can be used in a positive way.”
“The young people who attended really enjoyed the experience, learnt new skills, and understood more about the industry.”
Here are some tweets from the volunteers:
@EGA girls letter to future yr10 seniors - inspiring stuff #GNMVolWk pic.twitter.com/8Wbfu9lSuI
— Juliet SC (@JulietSCrox) June 12, 2014
#EGA presenting to #guardian panel #GNMVolWk with Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and CP Scott lurking in the background.. pic.twitter.com/n2cO0w5Ap2
— Laura Freeman (@lorz18) June 12, 2014
Global Generation
Working with the young entrepreneurs from the business BTEC course, the project team helped the students to plan their market stalls and make their products. The products included bat and bird boxes, insect hotels, chilli jam, pizza, and mini herb gardens.
“The brilliant volunteers from the Guardian who came to Global Generation enabled our 14-year-old business BTEC students to get their micro-business ideas off the ground. Everyone worked together on making a variety of products for sale at the Skip Garden Summer Market - ranging from sweet chilli jam and chocolate chilli brownies to bird feeders and insect hotels, made using reclaimed birch. It was so heartening to see the community spirit amongst the students and the employee volunteers, all working together in their little business teams. The next day, we were all immensely proud to see the students’ market go really well with lots of customers, including the lovely volunteers who returned to show their support.”
Live Mag UK
A series of workshops for the Live Mag UK contributors covered audience engagement (in the UX lab), citizen journalism (including filming on smartphones), investigative journalism techniques, and practical steps to pursuing a career in the media sector.
Here are some Twitter thoughts from the Live Mag UK team:
Getting some lessons in backpack journalism. Guess what you can do it all straight from your phone #GNMVolWK pic.twitter.com/FH3H08TotP
— Live Magazine (@LiveMagUK) June 13, 2014
Loving it @GNMVolunteering with @LiveMagUK pic.twitter.com/TYTZI2W2Tn
— Jennifer Collier (@J_Collier123) June 13, 2014
London Wildlife Trust
Our partners at Camley Street Natural Park hosted two project teams. The first took on some practical conservation work including footpath maintenance, compost bin improvements, fence and gate repairs and wildlife surveys.
The second team worked along the canal towparth here they did some planting, re-gravelled the exposed banks, did a litter pick and some general canalside maintenance.
Pentonville prison
A team of colleagues from across GNM helped students to create their own radio shows and broadcast an audio version of the prison magazine, Voice of the Ville. Classes covered script-writing, feature writing, radio presentation skills and interview skills.
Stretford Sure Start Children’s Centre
In Manchester, a team regenerated an allotment to create an educational space for children from Stretford’s Sure Start Children’s Centre. The project tasks included designing and building the new space, fencing, laying decking and pathways, creating a wormery and building timber raised beds.
“Completing the work on the allotment has enabled local families to use a safe area to learn about growing their own food and sustainable living and create a learning environment for their children.”
New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC)
At NHYC, some of the project team got involved in cooking meals for residents. Others were able to provide CV and career advice at drop-in sessions. Another team conducted some local market research for the centre’s crepe stand and there was also a garden party for local residents and young people to support the centre’s local engagement plans
“The volunteers helped prepare food in our kitchen, worked on our crepe stall and transformed our garden.”
New York Cares
Colleagues in our New York office took part in Volunteering week for the first time in 2014. They got involved in four separate projects organised by New York Cares, including working in a food pantry, wildlife conservation on Randall’s Island, and running healthy eating classes with school children.
