STUDENTNEWS


Street party celebrations for those who gave up time


Streetpartyspiritoverflowedin March as staffand students were honoured at the Uni- versity of Chester’sannual vo- lunteers’ celebration.


The Volunteer Indoor Street


Partyevent, held to recognise the thousands of hours of vo- lunteering carried out by staff and students from the Chester andWarringtoncampuses, took place during the University’s annual Diversity Festival. Claire Britton, the Uni-


versity’s Volunteer Co-ordinat- or, said: “Since the early 1900s street parties have been a way forcommunities to come to- gether and celebrate special events and occasions – so what betterway to celebrate our own community of volunteers than our very own street party? “It was great to see so many


student volunteers recognised for their achievements over the past year.” The event involved a huge in-


put from students including acoustic band Les Pêches, stu-


You can contact the volunteering teamin the followingways:


Chester Campus, Phone: 01244 511552 Email: student. development@chester.ac.uk Location: Binks CBK101 Opening Hours: 08:30-17:30 (Mon - Thurs) 08:30-16:30 (Fri) Warrington Campus Phone: 01925 534398 Email: warr.student.support @chester.ac.uk Location:MartinWMA009 Opening hours 10:00-16:00 (Mon - Thurs) 10:00-15:20 (Fri)


dent balloon modeller Andrew Johnston, student magician MathewParrott, as well as Chester Students'Union Circus Skills Society and Dance So- ciety group Push It, whose members choreographed and


performed with St John Am- bulance Young Carers. In the past academic year 457


student and staff volunteers have clocked up 7,975 volunteer hours in schools,charities and local community groups. More than 500 newvolunteering op- portunitieshave alsobeeniden- tified. The University offers two vo-


lunteer schemes whichallow students to record and gain cer- tification fortheir volunteer hours. ThenationalvSchemeisopen


to students aged 16 to 25 and the UCV Scheme is availablefor students and staff aged 26 years and above. The University is also part of


the Cheshire vInvolved Team whichincludes the Youth Fed- eration, Volunteer Centre Chester and CVS Cheshire East. The project started in April 2008andbyApril 2011will have created morethan 5,000 newvolunteeringopportunities for young people in Cheshire.


Lucy’s Special mission pays off


LUCY Rushton, a formermedia studies student based atWar- rington Campus, took advant- age of a voluntary opportunity with the Special Constabulary – the UK’s part-time police force.


Made up of volunteermem-


bers of the public,whowear a uniformand have full police powerswhen on duty, the con- stabulary ismade up ofmore than 15,000 ‘Spe- cials’who serve with police forces the length and breadth of the country. Lucy,who


graduated last year, said: “I have had such an amazing time as a Special – it is truly one of the best things I have ever done in my life and Iwould love to pass on thiswonderful opportunity to anyone that is considering giving it a go. “Thanks to the experience I


Lucy Rushton


gainedwith the Special Con- stabulary, I have actually set up my careerwithGreater Manchester Police as I have beenworking for themfull time since September.” DebraDonoghue,Volunteer


Co-ordinator at theWarrington Campus, said “Lucy took full advantage of the service provided by the University; in the end itmade a great differ- ence to her career path. “Voluntarywork offers so


Staff and students get into street party spirit at the


much choice of placements, and you can take on flexible short or long-termplacements. “It is an opportunity to en-


hance your CVat a timewhen more employers noware look- ing for something extra.”


Taste of success is sweet for hospice fundraising team


VOLUNTEERS from the Warrington cam- pusprovedtheyhadall the right ingredients for fundraising success earlier this term.


In February, students


JohnMulholland,Suzy Tsang, Jason Cort, Hannah Murray, Kirsty Ashton andHarrietChilds tookpart inthe Act1on10 Challenge 2010 to raise cash for ClaireHouseHospice. As part of the fundraising ini-


tiative, which was launched at the beginning of the year, the Hospice gave £10 to participating teams, whose members had to come up with ways of ‘growing’ the invest- ment into a profit whichwould be donated to the charity. With the support of Tina Girard,


Eco-friendly volunteers have been braving all weathers to make an impact


Catering Operations Managerat the University, the team of six cooked up a range of treats, in- cludingIrishfifteensandchocolate crispies, tosell tostaffandstudents and raised £86.94. In April John, Suzy and Jason


9


FUNDRAISERS: Students from Warrington campus made money for Claire House Hospice.


were joined by Hannah Murray and Jessica Cleary and collected bric-a-brac from staff which was then sold at a car boot sale held in Winwick, adding a further £64.21 the cake bake funds. Debra Donoghue, Volunteer


Co-ordinator at Warrington, said: “Through both events students have built up an array of skills, such communication, business and organisational skills while having fun.


“It was a greatplacement for


students to be involved in, as they got to control howmuch time and effort was allocated for each event.” If you are interested in other


volunteeringopportunitiesatWar- rington contact Debra on 01925 534398, send an email to d.donoghue@chester.ac.uk or drop intovisither inRoomWMA009, in theMartin Building.


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