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.