Become a project leader!

By Francine Gleadall

Does the thought of being a Project leader and leading a group of volunteers daunt you? Maybe you think you’re incapable of handling such a large responsibility? Do you think you couldn’t rise to the challenge? These were certainly my initial thoughts and doubts before I gained the courage and found self belief to take on the role of project leader; what an amazing experience it turned out to be!

The Hallam Volunteering project I led was ‘Fit Club’ which consisted of a group of 17 eager and enthusiastic volunteers. Throughout February and March, we introduced a programme of low impact exercises and games into two elderly residential homes in the South Yorkshire area, Guildford Grange and Bowfield Court. It was my duty to manage and co-ordinate my volunteers whilst overseeing that the project ran smoothly over the numerous weeks. I also had the demand of making sure that the deliveries of the sessions were safe and professional whilst making them fun and exciting for the residents.

It sounds like a demanding task doesn’t it? I must admit at times filling the shoes of project leader was tough. However, when retrospectively evaluating my position and the project as a whole, I was so pleased that I gained the confidence to grasp the leadership role, as the personal benefits and outcomes achieved from the project were certainly worth the sweat and hard work.

So, what were the advantages I achieved???

• It gave me a chance to develop a wide variety of skills in leadership and communication, to interpersonal and team working skills; all are essential transferable qualities that employees search for when selecting candidates for job roles.

• Another advantage was that I stood out as a volunteer. Any type of volunteering is fantastic, however if you can demonstrate that you have taken on the extra commitment to lead a project, I believe can indicate to future employers that from a relatively young age you have gained experience in higher managerial positions of work, helping you to climb up the career ladder quicker.
• By being part of Hallam Volunteering I gained the chance to apply for the prestigious Hallam Award. The award has been devised by the Hallam Union and can be awarded to anyone who is involved in student union activities. This award is to signify the hard work that you have dedicated to Hallam volunteering. Remember, this type of award will make your CV excel from the rest!

• The project leader position also enables you to gain the chance of winning the Hallam volunteering ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award, an award aimed specifically at project leaders. Luckily, I was awarded 2^nd place this year, I really felt that this award acknowledge my loyalty towards the project and my enthusiasm in making it successful.
• One of the most rewarding outcomes was that the project leader role gave me a chance to give something back to my local community; it is such a great feeling to know that you are helping others and improving their lives. Without the project leader position this service may not have been able to run inside the homes, as it is essential that someone is always monitoring the project.
• I was also given the opportunity to participate in training classes funded by Hallam Volunteering. The training I embraced was ‘Working with older people’ as this was relevant to the project I was working on. I found it extremely beneficial as I became aware of what to expect before entering into the homes.
• The role of project leader also gave me a chance to network and meet many useful contacts. These contacts ranged from members of Sheffield council, to important University employees and the Lord Mayor of Sheffield. Remember, sometimes it can be a case of not what you know, but who you know when searching for jobs.
• Finally, no matter how much you love your degree, we all know that at times you need a break from the workload and study. The project leader position gives you a refreshing and stimulating experience away from academic learning. However, at the same time the role of a project leader can benefit your degree. From having to be organised and developing effective time planning skills, I feel that this has helped with my organisation in other areas of my course.

For those of you who like the sound of being a project leader and feel that you too would like to gain these fantastic advantages. Then push any of those straying doubts aside which may be stopping you from fulfilling this role and get in contact with Hallam Volunteering on 01142 255 005 or e-mail them at hallamvolunteering@shu.ac.uk. Go on; make a change not only to your life, but also to those around you. Become a project leader and lead in 2010/2011!

Hallam students point the way - by Mark Copping

Students from Sheffield Hallam University have been working to draw attention to the distinctive and hidden aspects of the Sharrow area.

The project has been run by Hallam Volunteering and local community architect Julia Udall. Thanks to funding from Hallam University's Faculty of Development and Society, students studying in the fields of Architecture and Urban Planning have created a set of signposts with an artistic difference to brighten up Sharrow.

Signposts have been designed, painted and constructed by students with the aim of creating an art trail to advertise all that Sharrow has to offer. This includes places of interest, which are perhaps unrecognised by people unfamiliar with the area, such as the Portland Works - once working as the backbone of Sheffield's steel industry and is now unfortunately under threat of closure as has been reported upon before in Sharrow Today.

Members of the Distinctive Sharrow Action Group have also been supporting and assisting the project. The group has been actively taking an interest in the built environment in Sharrow for a few years, running a number of projects that aims to empower local people to be able to change their environment or how it is perceived. Volunteers from the group have been showing students around the area and contributed in putting the signs together.

The success of the projects means that the signs should soon be seen out and about around Sharrow. Plans have also already been made for another joint Hallam Volunteering and Distinctive Sharrow project, so watch this space! Anyone interested in becoming involved with the scheme can contact Sarah Mcgillivray file:///C:/Webcache/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/HHP5Q4IF/uussm3@exchange.shu.ac.uk

Reeling Ahead with Longley Park! by Ashleigh Withall-Prince

The ‘Showreel’ project is in full flow working alongside local college students to produce a film, highlighting all that’s brilliant about Hallam Volunteering, and the achievements of the volunteers and local college students. It has offered a fantastic opportunity to develop film – making and editing skills to the team and students to produce a high quality film due to be premiered at a celebratory evening for volunteering, ‘The Event’ on March 24th.
Hallam volunteers are currently working with Longley Park Sixth Form students. The students from the college have all got some previous media experience, and are having a great time, building on their skills and forming a rapport with the volunteers.

Project Leader Matthew Voyse, who was once a student at Longley Park said: “We have a positive environment when filming and we try to make sure we have fun. The students are easy to work with, because they all do media, so they pretty much know what they are doing. They are really enthusiastic about working on the project.”

Shooting for the film began on 10th February, and is set to continue at least once a week, possibly more, in the weeks leading up to The Event. Initially, Showreel had 8 spots available for the students however, due to popular demand they have taken on 12, and it’s easy to understand why the project is so popular. You could say the sessions have bee somewhat of a ‘sell-out’!

The concept of the filming is based loosely in the style of TV programmes. The filming for the volunteer project ‘Season It’ was done in the style of Gordon Ramsey’s ‘F Word’. One of the students was pretending to cook like Gordon whilst conducting interviews, although they had to restrain from Gordon’s infamous swearing and fiery temper!

Matthew is extremely happy with the progression of the project at present, he said: “Luckily everything is running smoothly so far, I have a bunch of enthusiastic students and a great bunch of volunteers, which is all a project leader could ask for.” Well done to the Showreel team, we cannot wait to see this blockbuster!!

'Nothing Beats Word Of Mouth' by Dean Robinson

Despite February 16th being an extremely cold evening in our little town of Sheffield, it didn’t stop those making their way to the hubs for the third ‘Language Exchange’ event. The word certainly seemed to have spread making the first episode of 2010 be one of the biggest turn outs since it began at the beginning of the academic year. The Hubs seemed as lively as ever attracting a mix of both students and older people and it was also nice to see that. Again, there were plenty of worldly delicacies on offer to taste.

If you’ve never been before or not heard about this event then the Language Exchange programme has been put together by the people of Hallam Volunteering and by those of Language in Sheffield. They have created a great way to allow people of all ages and backgrounds to get together and share their different language skills.

There are about 15 to 20 tables set up with a variation of different languages from all over the world for example; Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Nigerian, Arabic, Swedish... the list is endless. Each table then had a representative that was fluent in both the selected language and English; some tables even had few traditional language games to add to the festivities.

If you fancy joining in with a Language Exchange Extravaganza then pop down to the A pod of the Hubs on the following dates:

Tuesday, March 9th 6pm-8pm

Tuesday, April 27th 6pm-8pm

It certainly is a great relaxed way to share and develop any language skills you may have or even to learn some new ones.

"We are Gold!" by Martha Brown

Day after day volunteers throughout Hallam union work tirelessly for their projects. So, every year to recognise this dedication the union present four volunteers with the Gold Awards.
These are recognised achievements with volunteering England and have been honoured for a very long time. They are the only student awards of its kind that acknowledge qualities in further and higher education in relation to volunteering.

There are three categories associated with the awards; leadership, dedication and achievement. Anyone can nominate, project leaders and group members can vote for one another.
Once the votes have been cast a panel of judges will decide who they believe should be given the awards. On the panel this year is Laura Stafford, the Hallam Volunteering manager, Alison McHale who works in the University with Work Based Learning and a trustee elected by the students.

The awards will be handed out on Thursday 22nd April at the end of year party, where internal awards will also honoured.

Voting opens at the beginning of March, so if you have a perfect candidate in mind someone who you think deserves to be recognised for their contribution to volunteering, or if they have been exceptionally dedicated or if they have shown outstanding leadership skills, don’t hesitate, Vote! And Let them receive the exceptional gold award.

Smash It! - Hallam Volunteering

This year the Hallam Volunteering fundraiser was a little different. Usually a wobble down West Street in the style of a three legged race, the cry went up for a change and Smash It! was born.

On Monday 7^th December 2009, Hallam Volunteers gathered in The Scholar on London Road and made history. Well, maybe not history, but they certainly broke some interesting HV records.

All the games were monitored by the friendly fundraising team dressed as leprechauns-complete with top hats. These were to be our guides for the evening and also the judges to check that no one was sneakily trying to cheat!

First, came ‘Pass It’, a game some of you may have played before which involves passing a playing card from one player to another using only the mouth. This game has all the ingredients for a laugh-out-loud event which, unfortunately, didn’t help when trying to pass the card.

‘Taboo It’ was next on the agenda, which was a large recreation of the traditional game. One person tried to get you to guess a word without using certain ‘taboo’ words stated on the card and the object of the game was to guess as many as possible in the time provided.

Then there was ‘Shake It’; how many handshakes can you do in one minute? A line was formed and we sought to figure out the answer to just that. The lucky person at the front of the queue had to shake everyone’s hand quickly before moving on to the next.

‘Sock It’ was a game to see how many socks could be placed on one foot in a minute. ‘Make It’ was a really fun game where teams were given a random selection of objects and asked to make something surrounding a specific theme. This year’s theme, as it is December, was Christmas!

‘Flaunt It’ was the final challenge for the volunteers to strut their stuff and pose in their fancy dress costumes. There were mimes, pyjamas, footballers ,walking newspapers and famous book characters posing and prancing all over the room.

At the end of the day one winner had to be announced and that

winner was the Blue Team. However, everyone who took part contributed towards the ultimate goal; we all got sponsored and raised some money for Hallam Volunteering. Special congratulations to Emma James and the Fundraising team for the success of the evening!

Language Exchange - by Mark Copping

My experience of learning a foreign language hasn't been good up to this point. I'm still quite traumatized by old French teachers at school, barking at me for the correct pronunciation. Not to mention my German teacher, who wouldn't let you go to the toilet unless you asked her in German (Kann ich zur Toilette bitte gehen?). So when I was asked to go along to the second 'Language Exchange' event of the academic year, I was a little sceptical.

The event, which is ran entirely by volunteers, gathers international and multi-lingual members of the Sheffield community for a social evening in the Hubs. As someone who can't speak any foreign languages I thought that I would be lost in translation going to this event. However, what I found was a welcoming environment where I met a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and cultures. The event is designed for those who love language to either brush up their language skills or learn a whole new language. It’s a kind of ‘swap shop’ for languages so to speak.

It's a very direct and social way of learning simply by talking to people who speak a different language. You're given the perfect opportunity to ask questions about something you want to learn and if you're already fluent you can just have a general chit chat in another language.

If you’re interested in foreign languages it’s definitely the event for you, if travel broadens the mind then so does meeting people from all around the world.

The Hubs as Santa's Grotto!

Hallam Volunteering’s Children’s Christmas Party got underway on the 14^th December with great success. The upstairs pods were transformed into a twinkling Christmas grotto, full of activity and smiling faces. It is hard to believe how a few decorations transformed a night time hotspot into a festive haven for select schoolchildren from the Sheffield area. The bedazzled stairway resembled a gateway to a mythical wonderland that led the children to an evening full of fun, frolicks and food.

The evening began with a quick bite to eat, as all fun-filled evenings should, and then it didn’t take long until the kids were tearing around the pods, making the most of all the fun activities the Volunteering team had laid out for them. Everything was so organised that it was difficult not to feel like a spare-part but I was definitely starting to get the Christmas bug watching the kids split up for their different activities. From the piped-in Christmas music to the twinkling fairy-lights, it would have been enough to melt even Scrooge’s icy heart.

In each pod there were a number of different activities to occupy the children; face-painting, letter-writing, cookie-dressing, pin-the-nose-on-Rudolph, pin-the-bauble-on-the-Christmas-tree, and Santa’s grotto were some of the more sobering activities, but the one that got the excitement flowing had to be the bouncy castle. Against the backdrop of a private screening of Santa Claus: the Movie, this had to be the favourite of the night. After all, bouncy castles are perfect for letting off all that steam after a long day at school.

There was even something for the accompanying toddlers, in the shape of an inflatable ball pool. When they weren’t pottering about the pods on newly-found feet, they were having a whale of a time wading about in the ball pool while the grown-ups looked on with a relaxing cup of coffee close at hand. The Christmas Party definitely had everyone in mind, and not just the visitors. Volunteering Executive, Kate Healey was more than happy to throw herself into the fun and games in her fluffy red hat with blonde woolly pigtails.

Overall it was a lovely experience that the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy, and it was difficult not to keep a smile on your face when seeing them so happy. Job done I’d say! Congratulations to Ellie Greening, Emily Wood and the fantastic Children’s Christmas Party team! You should all be extremely proud of yourselves!

D and S Projects

This year Hallam Volunteering is teaming up with the faculty of Development and Society to offer students a new and unique volunteering opportunity. The one off days will be aimed at encouraging students who do not normally volunteer with us to get involved!

The faculty are investing in Hallam Volunteering and this will enable students to increase their skills base by offering unique and tailored volunteering opportunities on their doorstep, in their neighbourhood such as the Peaks! The investment from the faculty has increased the flexibility and appeal of Hallam Volunteering to more students.

Peak District Conservation (Feb 2010)

At the Peak Park Conservation Volunteers (PPCV), there is no age and experience limit - anyone is welcome to take part in conservation projects within the Peak District National Park.

Volunteers will take part in a wide variety of activities that are normally performed by the National Park's staff, local professionals or outside contractors - giving students real experience. The activities will include:

Footpath construction and repair;

Stile, step and footbridge building;

Fencing, walling, hedge laying and tree planting;

Nature reserve management and habitat protection;

Erosion control, drainage and pond clearance.

This project can offer you the opportunity to experience the environment first hand. The aim of Hallam Volunteering is to provide students with a placement based project, which may be more appealing and more applicable to Built Environment students.

Come and lend a hand to Hallam Volunteering!

Distinctive Sharrow Project (February and March 2010)

The 'Distinctive Sharrow' project is an innovative new opportunity for students to focus on the perceptions and utilisations of space. It aims to help you and others alter spaces and places in Sharrow on a small or large scale by influencing development projects.

The first event will aim to look at the empty shops on London Road and investigate what can be done with the empty space. The second will be an art trail to alter people's perceptions of this area as a pedestrian. These projects look set to be popular and lend themselves to those studying Surveying or Architecture based degrees.

ACES projects

Lantern Carnival (March 2010)

This coming March there is a fantastic opportunity to take part in the Sharrow Lantern Carnival. On 13th, 20th and 27th March volunteers can work with local art facilitators and the local community in workshops to produce handmade lanterns. These lanterns will then form part of a procession in April through the streets of Netheredge/Sharrow, ending in a big celebration in Mount Pleasant Park. This project would ideally suit students on courses in the ACES faculty such as Contemporary Art, Creative Art Practices, Contemporary Fine Art and Contemporary Media Art giving these students a great chance to illuminate you individual creativity!

How can you benefit?

Looks great on the CV as the evidence of getting extra skills;

Fun and useful experience for those studying relevant degrees.

Deck The Hubs for 120 Children! by Tanya Masih

WOW! Did you know the Hubs will be transformed into a magical Christmas wonderland for 120 children on the 14th December from 4-7pm.

It will be a fun-filled evening of activities including a bouncy castle, ball pit, Santa’s grotto, face painting, letters to Santa and Christmas games, such as 'Pin-The-Nose on Rudolph' and 'Pass the Parcel. The children can even make a big Christmas tree, which they can take home and show off to their parents! There will also be bauble and biscuit decorating, a Christmas themed colouring competition, delicious food and a disco. Christmas starts here at the Hubs!

The team have raised funds for this event by bag packing at Morrisons in Hillsborough on Sunday 29th November. This proved highly successful with the final total reaching £264.69.

As well as a great evening for all ages, it is also very beneficial as the kids get the opportunity to meet children from other schools, and not forgetting that much appreciated time off for parents and guardians to go and do that extra Christmas shopping before Santa arrives!

“The benefit the event has to the children is to give them the opportunity to come and have lots of fun at a party, which they usually wouldn’t have time to do as the time and space is often not available to the schools where they come from, as many are from socially deprived areas of Sheffield,” said Project Leader, Ellie Greening.

Although past Christmas parties have been very successful it looks like this year is set to be a Christmas cracker with activities going on in every Pod, so there’s no waiting around and wondering what to do! Keep up the good work elf volunteers, and let’s make it a party the children won’t forget!

Come and send Santa your Christmas list!

Interview With Kate Healey - by Jayne Roberts and Jenny Watkinson

It's All About Kate Healey!

In her final year studying Marketing, Kate Healey is taking on the role as Volunteering Officer. Kate has the responsibility this year to work on revitalisation and improvements. We went to meet her and ask all about her new position in Hallam Volunteering...

What initially made you join Hallam Volunteering?

"I knew I wanted to join a club, but I'm not a sporty type so I joined the Publicity Team, and after three years as a volunteer I haven't looked back!"

What are the three main things you get out of being a Hallam Volunteer?

“Fun, friendship and skills!”

Describe your duties this year as the new Officer?

"My first task as Officer was the recruitment of new volunteers, which was successful due to the record numbers of applications. I also need to build up the recognition and publicity of Hallam Volunteering making sure it is seen a positive light"

Are you excited about the new projects on offer this year?

"I am especially excited about the 'Magic Numbers', as this is the only maths based project. Due to the media's focus on Sheffield's numeracy levels it will be very beneficial, and hopefully Hallam Volunteering can help improve this."

Finally, we asked Kate what her advice would be to other volunteers…

“Get involved and have fun!”

Welcome to eVOLve!

Welcome to eVOLve! This is our new look magazine to give everyone access to the latest stories from Hallam Volunteering!

It is going to be a fantastic year for Hallam Volunteering seeing the arrival of new projects, new volunteers and new Committee members to match! I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for all their hard work so far getting the projects up and running. I would also like to wish you all good luck for the rest of the year!

Enjoy!

Amy x

Amy Louise Moore, Publicity Officer

Editorial Team

Publicity Officer

Amy Louise Moore

Editors

Sam Wilson

Jayne Winn

Adam Reaney

Laura Smith

Ashleigh Withall-Prince

Contributors

Mark Copping

Jayne Roberts

Martha Brown

Rachna Kotecha

Tanya Masih

Jenny Pead

Yu Chin Wong

Jenny Watkinson

Dean Robinson

Hallam Challenges: Go Further! by Jayne Winn

'Hallam Challenges' has been running for a number of years but this year they have decided to reinvent the Challenges into exciting, quality volunteering events. To make sure a variety of students can get involved, 'Hallam Challenges' aims to create Challenges revolving around courses which have not been accommodated in the past.

However, anyone can get involved- from international students, to people who cannot commit lots of time to a full project. There has been such a high demand for Hallam Volunteering this year that not everyone who applied was able to have the opportunity to take part. Now, thanks to Hallam Challenges they are being given that chance- just in a different form!

Volunteers are invited to donate whatever time they can, whether it is ten minutes or the full day - it's the taking part that counts.

The first challenge of the year has gone all festive with 'Reindeer Food'. Taking place in Santa's grotto at the hubs, the little helpers from Hallam Volunteering made tiny parcels of reindeer food to give Ruldolph and Co. the energy to deliver presents on Christmas Eve.

The Hallam volunteers really got in the spirit, dressing up in Christmas attire and handing out candy canes and other Christmas treats with proceeds going to the wonderful, local children’s cancer charity, 'Amy’s Retreat'.

Gabrielle from 'Amy’s Retreat' introduces both ‘Reindeer Food’ and the charity to us: “'Amy’s Retreat' is a Sheffield charity helping families who have children with cancer. The charity was set up by Joanne and Steve Hall in memory of their daughter Amy who died of cancer when aged 5.

“One of our main activities is arranging breaks at Center Parcs for families who have children undergoing treatment for cancer at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. We know that these holidays make a big difference to the families, enabling them to spend much needed time together away from the hospital routine and to enjoy brief respite from the difficulties the family faces. We also have a project to build a holiday home for families, to be located near to Sheffield.

The Reindeer Food project is a very important part of 'Amy’s Retreat'. Between October and Christmas with the help of volunteers, we make beautiful little organza parcels, containing oats, glitter (and magic!), which retail for £1. The parcels are for children to sprinkle outside on Christmas Eve, so that Father Christmas knows who to visit. The parcels are very popular with families as you can imagine, and the project is a valuable source of income for us as well as excellent for promoting the charity.”

So remember to look out for the pink and black posters next semester and find out what your next challenge will be about!

'Language Exchange' In The Hubs - by Dean Robinson

Tuesday 10^th November saw the return of the immensely popular and exciting ‘Language Exchange’ event at The Hubs.

Now, what is this event all about? The programme has been put together by ‘Hallam Volunteering’ and ‘Languages Sheffield’ in order to allow people over the age of 18 from different backgrounds to get together and share their different language skills. There were between 15 to 20 tables set up with a variation of different languages from all over the world, for example; Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Nigerian, Arabic and Swedish. Each table had a representative that was fluent in the selected language and English. Some tables even had few traditional language games to add to the festivities.

For a first event of the year, it was pleasantly surprising to see that it was so popular with around 80-100 people filling the A pod of The Hubs. Julia Fitzgerald, Volunteer Co-ordinator for the project said:

“The Language Exchange evenings are a celebration of language and culture, providing an opportunity for individuals to speak their native language or learn a new one, all while meeting new people in a fun and relaxed environment.”

Food and drink was also provided which acted as a bit of an icebreaker, allowing people to relax, socialise and pick up a few tasty treats on the way. Whether your foreign language skills go as far as knowing how to say hello (like me) or whether you are fluent in the language, I would definitely recommend going along to one of these events.

If you’re interested in finding out a little more, you can contact Julia Fitzgerald (Hallam Volunteer Co-ordinator) either by email or by phone : j.fitzgerald@shu.ac.uk | t. 0114 225 5002. Don’t worry if you missed the latest Language Exchange, there’s one on monthly (with the exception of January).

Here is the list of the next few meetings:

- Tuesday, December 15^th 6pm–8pm

- Tuesday, February 16^th 6pm-8pm

- Tuesday, March 9^th 6pm- 8pm

- Tuesday, April 27^th 6pm – 8pm

New Projects Hit The Ground Running - by Mark Copping, Rachna Kotecha and Jenny Pead

S7-Food Heaven!

Based in Sharrow, (S7) area of Sheffield. Hallam Volunteers aim to promote healthy eating via a range of practical food-based activities, such as growing vegetables, planning a nutritious diet and cooking.

A team of twelve volunteers will be running weekly after school clubs for 8 to 13 year olds at Abbeydale Primary School and St. Peters Community Centre, providing an opportunity to learn new recipes and put these into practice with fun, hands-on cooking and craft sessions.

To get the ball rolling, students have been fundraising with exciting and informative games, to help support the project. Project Leader, Reanne Taylor comments:

“Healthy eating is not hugely publicised but if it was, we would be amazed at how poor diets can dramatically affect our bodies. Therefore, to put forth 'S7-Food Heaven!' is a privilege, as we are trying to benefit the whole of the S7 community in their healthy lifestyles. Hopefully from there it will alert more communities, specifically the children.”

Magic Numbers

This new project aims to make maths fun! Led by Project Leader, Lindsey Bowkett, a team of twelve volunteers are running workshops around various local schools, in order to teach Maths in a new, magical way.

Children in years 2 and 3 will be attending 'Magic School', engaging in creative maths activities such as finding missing numbers to stop the evil ‘Number Snatcher’. Having achieved this, they will receive a certificate and become fully-fledged ‘Maths Wizards’.

Government research shows that numeracy levels are low, specifically in South Yorkshire. This project is designed to alter this and encourage children to enjoy Maths. It is also beneficial to Hallam students, who have the opportunity to volunteer and gain teaching experience, enhancing their future career prospects.

The team have organised a raffle on the 10^th December to fundraise for the project, and welcome your support in this great scheme.

Volunteering Residential Weekend - by Jenny Pead and Martha Brown

Every October for the last seven years, Project Leaders and Committee members from Hallam Volunteering have packed their bags and gone on a residential weekend all in the name of the cause. This year seven members of staff and 38 Project Leaders took off to Buxton for a fun filled team-building weekend.

Lasting from Friday to Sunday, the residential trip is said to be 'one of the perks' of being part of Hallam Volunteering. Activities available to the daring group included archery, climbing, low ropes & problem solving, all with the aim of getting a better understanding of the projects that they are leading, and developing skills needed to fulfil their roles successfully. The intention was to have every project represented on the weekend to enable the leaders to interact and get to know each other, as well as allowing them to get an understanding about all the new projects and the teams that run them.

The activities in Buxton all contribute to the teams carrying out their invaluable work in Sheffield communities.

So if you fancy going on this fully-funded, fun-packed weekend, then why not consider applying to be a representative with Hallam Volunteering next year?

Volunteering Welcome Party 09/10 by Jayne Roberts

Well, what better way to start the year with Hallam Volunteering than at The Welcome Party! The party was a great success with over 100 volunteers attending and a warm welcome given to the new Committee members. The Committee performed a well rehearsed dance routine to ‘High School Musical’s 'We’re all in this together' which succeeded in lightening the mood.

Liz Credgington - Socials and Communications Officer and organiser of the party said: “It was more successful than last year because there was more interaction between the volunteers.” This was definitely due to the fun game of human bingo encouraging people to mingle with people from other projects.

The new Fundraising Officer Emma James was in her first day of post, and her Fundraising Team were very successful in raising £109 from the raffle for the Small Grants Fund and managed to get lots of local businesses to donate prizes. This was a great start to the year!

The Welcome Party didn’t stop there either! Around 25 volunteers then went down to Bar Phoenix to continue the party!

The photos from the night should be uploaded on to the Facebook group 'Hallam Volunteering 09/10' shortly.