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My name’s Tanya Butt, Millennium
Volunteer and former student at Moat Community College where I ran the Fair
Trade Tuck Shop. I’ve just finished my GCSEs and have taken a gap year to
research and gain experience in the field I plan to work in which is media and
communications. This means that when I go to college next year ill have a better
understanding of the industry.
So as from now on I am your new StudentForce MV roving reporter and hope to be
useful. I will be travelling around Leicestershire for the next year visiting
different MV projects to find out more about MVs and what they do. Don’t worry
I’ll keep you posted ever so often through the articles I write for the MV
newsletter, the StudentForce website
(www.studentforce.org.uk/MV/volunteer_frame.htm) and even local newspapers.
If you want to tell people about what you’re doing for your community and
environment there’s no better way to get your message across, just get in touch
with the Millennium Volunteers team at StudentForce and they’ll send me to you.
Call 01572 725 837 or email
Stephanie@studentforce.org.uk
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon. Your one and only reporter Tanya Butt
Youth Check has recently started
working with members of the youth sector and county council in Northamptonshire,
on a project to encourage local members of the community to brighten up the area
in which they live. The Art Sweep project will focus on creating art designs to
cover boarded up, disused buildings and factories in the disadvantaged ward of
St Andrews in Kettering. By working with the local community to create the art
designs, the Art Sweep project hopes to bring together people of all ages and
religions, breaking down barriers and creating a sense of understanding and
pride. The project will seek to improve the visual image of Kettering for
residents and visitors alike, with the hope of local business thriving through
the improvements.
The Art Sweep project is a good example of how living a sustainable lifestyle is
not simply about having an awareness of environmental concerns. Community action
is enormously empowering, local residents are able to take control and make
vital changes to their own lives and to the area around them. The Youth Check
team will be on hand to encourage as many members of the community as possible
to get involved and to express their ideas for the project. We will also look to
provide training and ongoing support to all those taking part.
Gemma Carpenter, YouthCheck Officer
On Wednesday the 23rd August I
travelled to Loughborough to meet The Amazons. This group of young women aged
11-25 began in 1999 and is one of 6 different voluntary projects held at
Mountfields Lodge Youth Centre on different days. Along with members of the
Pegasus group many are gaining MV accreditation for their hard work.
They are currently tackling issues such as happy slapping, domestic violence,
bullying, and shop lifting through campaigning to help raise awareness in the
local community. They choose projects according to what’s recently happening in
the news so that something should be done to stop it at the right time. But the
Amazons don’t only work within the local community but also the world wide
community. Right now they are focusing on raising money to put a roof on a
school building in Gambia, Africa. Part of this ongoing project to help young
people in Gambia get an education will be to travel there bringing exercise
books, pens and uniforms and to help teach. Their effective projects have won
them 10 awards from different trusts recently including the Prestigious Queen’s
Award for volunteering in 2006.
Amazons have already planned a new project that will take place sometime after
their visit to Gambia. They will raise the awareness of people in the community
about graffiti on train tunnels as it has been known of children being killed
accidentally by trains.
Some of the Amazons MVs wanted to express their ideas and thoughts about
volunteering. Miranda said “I have learnt to share my life experiences and I am
developing my existing admin and IT skills”. Also Zoe said “as part of the
Gambia project I have gained a greater understanding of poverty”. This
illustrates that all work that takes place helps all the young volunteers
achieve something in life that will be helpful to them in the future.
For more information check out
www.besafestaysafe.co.uk or contact the group leader Janet Holland at
MountFields Lodge Youth on 01509 236 043.
Tanya Butt, MV reporter
Wednesday 10th January was a historic
day for Oakham, the county town of Rutland, as it saw the long awaited opening
of the 4 mile bypass linking the A6003 and A606. Over 1000 people turned out to
see the official unveiling which included a Harrier fly-past at 11am as Alan
Duncan MP and Tommy Suthern, honorary alderman of Rutland cut the ribbon. The
bypass, finished two months ahead of schedule will be an interesting challenge
for the town centre with a drop in passing trade being anticipated. The focus
will be on what to do with Oakham town centre now that the bypass is open and Mr
Begy said: "The proof of the pudding will be to see how Oakham looks after the
bypass is in regular use. We mustn't lose the character of the town and must
retain the shops, businesses and night life”. "It's an exciting time now and the
objective is to attract more people to Oakham. We shall make sure the bypass
acts as an asset to the town and that there are no problems."
Nick Goodman Graduate Resource Manager
Fantastic news for Project Worker Clare
Turner at the Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT). Clare started just 9
months ago as a Business Support Officer for the Business Environment Management
Systems (BeMS) programme and has recently successfully applied for the manager’s
position. Clare will now take on the greater responsibility over the delivery
and development of the programme, which is an amazing step up for her and her
career in sustainable development.
Operations Manager at PECT, Rachel Huxley, says, We are very pleased to
have Clare as our new BeMS Manager, and are confident she has the skills and
enthusiasm to really drive the scheme forward. BeMS has proven highly successful
and we are keen to see it continue to deliver and develop services for business.
Andrea Lee, Sustainability Projects
Co-ordinator.
On the 29th of November, the Queen
Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, once again played host to the
annual EMS National Forum, held by the Institute of Environmental Management &
Assessment (IEMA). Run for the fourth time, this year’s forum saw its highest
number of delegates so far with over 300 in attendance, alongside a variety of
exhibitors, including DEFRA, Action Sustainability, BSI Management Systems and
our very own StudentForce!
The forum which produced a high quality programme included a number of
interesting and informative presentations in the morning, from the Environment
Agency on the Government Policy on EMS and the results of the REMAS project,
while this was followed by a breakout into more focused plenary sessions (two
options including Business & Industry, and Public Sector Focus). The particular
session which we attended was held by Kirklees Metropolitan Council and covered
the subject of DEFRA funded EMS networking project and managing CO2 emissions
with EMAS in a Local Authority. This was an informative talk, as Kirklees were
amongst one of the first local authorities to adopt EMAS.
The afternoon then saw a variety of workshops being run, while between the
presentations and workshops there was also an excellent opportunity to network
and view the exhibitors present. Overall, the forum proved to be a hugely
successful day, where a number of contacts were made with professionals
throughout the sector, and there was a great opportunity to learn and gain
further information regarding the current issues in the field.
Andy Scully, Sustainability Projects Coordinator
Una Bentley, designated Green Officer
of St Dionysius Church in Market Harborough, made contact with StudentForce for
Sustainability in June 2006 in order to have a CommunityCheck. After the Check,
a detailed report was sent to the Church Council with a description of the
initial status and lots of recommendations to improve their sustainability
performance.
Samantha Shape, Simone Brander and volunteer Matthew Allen went back to Market
Harborough to find out how St Dionysius Church had changed during the last six
months. St Dionysius has set up an Environmental sub-committee and an
Environmental Action plan for the next five years. Additionally, they wrote an
Environmental policy and displayed it to the public. They are working towards
tightening up their purchasing in order to make strenuous efforts to buy more
fair-trade, seasonal and organic. All the church windows had been cleaned – what
a big difference! They now make more use of daylight and need less artificial
light. Further, a thermostat was set and now the heating in the Church is only
on when there are people using the church. This will hopefully lead to
noticeable reductions in heating costs!
The CommunityCheck coordinators were delighted on seeing the efforts going on
and congratulate Una and Ken to the substantial results already achieved. They
encourage Una and Ken to carry on with their promising strategies and would be
pleased to be kept informed about the greening of St Dionysius.
Simone Brander, Volunteer CommunityCheck Coordinator
During the weeks leading up to
Christmas major developments were happening outside StudentForce’s office. In
the car park to the side of the building Network Rail contractors were digging
deep to connect a new pipe to an existing drain. This will allow us to install a
WC, basin and shower in the main office, something we have been waiting to do
since the building works started last May. No more trekking across the car park
to the loo in the rain!
Sara Branch, Resources Manager
StudentForce helped organizing a networking event in Nottingham. The aim was to gather together all the experts in sustainable development in higher education in the region and to promote sustainable development in university management, the curriculum and to prepare for the planned UN Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE).
As multiple international policies mandate, sustainable development should be integrated into the education system at all levels. Jos Hermans of the RCE Rhine-Meuse www.rcerhine-meuse.org, explained the global learning space. He pointed out that learning for world citizens should include access to good quality education, individual cognitive and social processes and the physical as well as the virtual learning environment.
Tracy Bhamra, of Loughborough University showed how sustainable development can be integrated in the curriculum exemplified by the curriculum of students of design and technology. She highlighted how students are becoming very enthusiastic about developing material to promote sustainable design and that they are realizing that sustainability gives them more work opportunities.
Karl Walkinshaw of the Derwent Community Team presented the linking of the sustainable development agenda of higher education organizations with communities. Illustrated by the Capital Build Programme, he pointed out how benefits for the environment, the local community and the individual employee can all be brought together.
During the final discussion, it was
brought up that universities should aim for fundamental changes in order to get
on a sustainable track. On the event, Adam Cade, Chief Executive of
StudentForce, said “Universities should be regional champions of sustainable
development and their attitude should be supportive to tackle climate change.”
Simone Brander, Volunteer CommunityCheck Coordinator
Young Princes Trust volunteers are to
receive training as part of the YouthCheck project in order to perform mini
environmental audits (CommunityChecks) on their community buildings in
Kettering. The group of young people will receive in depth training, which will
get them thinking about sustainability in relation to their local community and
ultimately the wider global community. The sustainability of community buildings
will be assessed and recommendations will be formulated into how buildings could
become more resource efficient.
This dedicated group of young people will be providing a valuable service to
their community through not only providing advice on how to reduce environmental
impacts and save on costs, but also becoming aware and raising awareness of
sustainable development and on a larger scale making a contribution to lowering
emissions of green house gases which is a contributing factor of climate change.
Leah Tirmizi, YouthCheck Manager
The Hub in Ashby is a great place for
young people to go with good things for them to do. It’s facilities include a
café and a multi function space for chilling out, watching TV, surfing the net,
training and other events which accessible to those with disabilities via a
stair lift. You’ll get a warm welcome and support from resident youth worker and
community angel Pat Goldsmith, as well as from the scores of Hub volunteers (26
to be precise) there from 9 am to 9pm.
One of the good things young people are doing is looking after the glass, paper
and can recycling site they’ve adopted and getting MV accreditation for it.
Sound like a load of rubbish? Craig Stephens the recycling officer at North West
Leicestershire District Council (who gave them custody of the banks) and SFS
Project Worker, explained why that’s a good thing. “They’ll be paid £5 for the
first 7 tonnes and £10 thereafter, so the more they can get residents to
recycle, the more money they make.”
Andrew Moreland, Hub trustee and volunteer youth worker who’s facilitating the
young people in running the project, is enthusiastic. The money it
generates helps to keep the Hub open and is part of our drive to be more
financially self-sustaining. It’s a rubbish enterprise and it’s also hard work!.
The public don’t always use the banks properly which can make them dangerous,
unsightly and smelly, so the young people make regular trips to the banks across
the road at Somerfield’s, to tidy up. One MV Danni, whose boundless energy and
gift of the gab sometimes get her into trouble, is designing posters to show the
community and how to use the banks properly why this is important. For her the
Adopt-A-Site project is a chance for her to enhance her community, changing any
negative perceptions of young people by channelling her energy into educating
people to protect their environment.
They are also organising a bag-decorating event which will provide participant s
with a re-useable shopping bag encouraging them to SNUB (Say NO! To Unwanted
Bags) and will highlight the importance of recycling and promote the use of
their site.
Samantha another MV said she got involved because she Wanted to know more
about recycling and get younger people involved. In response Stephanie,
their MV Support Officer, will run the sustainable lifestyles workshop in March
for them, selected friends and Ashby Young farmers who she also works with
nearby.
In the future the Adopt-a-Site group aims to help expand Ashby’s recycling
facilities. Stephanie suggested that We can use the event as an
opportunity to show the public what can be recycled and get feedback from them
of the about they could manage it. Involving them in developing
the project will facilitate them owning and taking responsibility for recycling.
That’s MV, that’s Youth-led sustainable development.
Stephanie Blackwell, Millennium Volunteer Officer
On the 18th of December the
CommunityCheck project held a Christmas Celebration event at Time Bar in
Leicester. We used Christmas as a good excuse for gathering and talking about
all the good CommunityCheck work done in the past year and what is still to
come. The main purpose of the get together was to give all the volunteers an
opportunity to meet Simone and myself, the new project coordinators. We
especially wanted to show our support for all the good work our volunteers do as
checkers and champions. We began the festivities with a few drinks and some
nibbles, all to prepare for the sustainability quiz. We all worked in teams to
answer sustainability based questions; the very practical prize consisted of a
‘Freddie’, a fat trap and coasters, along with some CommunityCheck pencils and
key ring (always encouraging sustainability). It was a great evening where our
new and old team members could meet and chat about the project and future
learning visits. We hope to organize a visit to the Hockerton Housing Project
for early this year to demonstrate how sustainable consumption can be integrated
into everyday life and how we might promote such ideas as part of the
CommunityCheck project.
Sam Sharpe, CommunityCheck Coordinator
StudentForce has been recognised as a quality
volunteering organisation that delivers new and exciting opportunities that
appeal to young people. We have just been awarded a grant from the new charity v
to deliver a number of “Taster to…” volunteering sessions to whet the appetite
of young people to the endless possibilities of volunteering. The new project
fits brilliantly with our YouthCheck and Millennium Volunteers programme. By
giving people the opportunity to try their hand at volunteering, some will be
inspired to carry on developing interests or learning new skills and become MVs,
and some perhaps will continue to get more involved in their own communities by
making them more youth-friendly with the YouthCheck team. Examples of some of
the activities on offer are conservation days, community consultations,
carnivals and events, enterprise initiatives such as bag painting and Fair-Trade
tuck shops and many other youth-led ideas so watch this space for more exciting
news, pictures and quotes from the volunteering front.
Stephen Passmore, Volunteering Projects Manager.
Governments has now woken up to the real value
of education for sustainable development (commonly abbreviated to ESD).
StudentForce and other ESD champions have seized the opportunity to capitalise
on this after many years of lobbying for more status. This is the first year of
the United Nation’s Decade for Education for Sustainable Development as well as
the year that the Government has published ground-breaking policies for schools,
further and higher education. StudentForce has led on the application by the
East Midlands Education for Sustainable Development (EMESD) Group to become the
first regional partnership in the UK approved by the United Nations as a region
with ESD expertise. There are only 10 others around the world and the East
Midlands region is set to join this group. The EMESD Group have already been
offered £50K from DfES over two years to promote sustainable schools, as well as
hosting the first Higher Education Academy regional conference on sustainable
development.
As Adam Cade, Chief Executive of StudentForce, said “ Some of the 30 or so
member organisations are developing several other large funding bids and have
recently met the other two european RCEs from Barcelona and the Rhine-Meuse to
develop new partnerships and funding bids.” If final approval is given by the UN
in December the region will be able to move more rapidly towards developing the
values, skills and knowledge that young people and citizens will need to create
a more sustainable east midlands.
More details about UN Regional Centres of Expertise in ESD can be found on:
http://www.ias.unu.edu/research/educationsd.cfm
The Region’s application for RCE status can be downloaded as a pdf file:
EMESDGroupRCEApplic_v1.0
Adam Cade,
Chief Executive
Billed as the UK’s biggest and best attended
exhibition in the industry, the Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition held
at the NEC, Birmingham, was once again a thriving success. Held over a three day
period in mid- September, the event was programmed into different themes, from
WEEE, Commercial & Retail Recycling on day one, to Local Authority Issues on day
two, while the topic area of Materials made up the final day programme. This
year the RWM saw over 7,100 visitors come through its doors, who were treated to
a busy seminar programme, a training zone, an outdoor area incorporating live
vehicle and waste demonstrations, alongside over 420 exhibitors who had expertly
and innovatively designed their stands.
Among the seminars that were run on the Local Authority day which I attended,
included an excellent talk on Alternative Weekly Collections. Run by Dave
Williams, Manager at Corus, Linda Crichton, Manager of WRAP’s Rotate Team and
Jonas Grist, Waste Technical Officer at Babergh District Council, the panel
analysed that of the 434 UK existing waste collection authorities, 192 have
already introduced or are about to introduce Alternative Weekly Collections. The
seminar also interestingly covered the potential reasons why some waste
collection authorities are not introducing the scheme, and even why nine
councils have already reverted back to weekly collections. These included bin
storage issues, and also dry recyclables reprocessing facilities as potential
problems. However, the panel also highlighted a number of key advantages of
Alternative Weekly Collections, including raising their council profiles,
increasing their councils’ operational efficiency and the avoidance of Landfill
Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) fines.
Overall, through the seminars, training zones and meeting the exhibitors the
event provided an excellent opportunity to gain an insight into the latest
technologies being used in the sector. As well as a chance to meet exhibitors
from both the public and private sector and find out how they are tackling key
problems.
Andy Scully, Sustainability Projects Coordinator
Waste Minimisation Advisor and StudentForce Project Worker Clare Mansfield
successful hosted a series of recycling workshops at a local residents
conference in Peterborough on Saturday October 28th. The workshop looked at
highlighting the successes of the current recycling campaign and enabled local
residents an opportunity to gain further information on just what happens to all
that material that they recycle. The workshops were also further used as an
opportunity of reaffirming the recycling and waste minimisation message in all
of its attendees.
Of the event Clare said “It did take a lot of organising, as well as
negotiating, but we got there in the end. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback
from all of the attendees and hopefully this is something that we can roll out
across the board. I want to thank all for the wonderful help they have given me
to enable this initiative to be successful.”
Scott Riley,
Senior Sustainability Projects & Marketing Coordinator
StudentForce has been successful in obtaining
funding from Melton Borough Council and WRAP (Waste and Resource Allocation
Programme) to conduct a 12 week door step campaign in the Borough starting on
Wednesday 15th November. A team of StudentForce doorsteppers will be visiting
half of the Boroughs households to find out attitudes to recycling service. The
aim of the campaign is to achieve over 50% recycling across the Borough, beating
last years record of 47%. The council, with the support of Studentforce will be
exploring ways to encouraging everyone to recycle. WRAP is a not for profit
organisation who are working with Melton Borough Council, Verdant and
Studentforce to raise awareness of recycling and improve peoples attitude
towards it.
Raman Selvon, Melton Borough Council Principal Assistant Environment said: “The
whole waste management team here at Melton are very excited about this project.
We are determined to keep the Borough moving forward with its fantastic
recycling achievements and getting out there face to face ,to ask those who
matter ‘most’ to us our customers what they think and feel is one of the most
important things we have done since we introduced our kerbside box recycling
services in 2003.”
Nick Goodman,
Graduate Resource Manager
On the 22nd of September Studentforce was invited to
attend the Community Rail Awards at Locomotion Railway Museum, Shildon,
Darlington. The evening was held to celebrate achievements in community rail
development across the country. Studentforce attended as guests of Central
Trains and Network Rail as the first success story of the Central Trains
Initiative. Our success in breathing new life into the disused station masters
house and parcel office at Oakham Railway Station was recognised and nominated
for two of the Rail Awards. Our nominations included ‘New Uses for Station
Buildings’ and ‘Best Heritage/ Conservation Scheme’, both were tough categories
and we were one of about twenty finalists. Unfortunately we did not win either
of the categories but we did come away with the runners up prize for ‘New Uses
for Station Buildings’ and third place for ‘Best Heritage/ Conservation Scheme’,
both of which were well deserved.
Samantha Sharpe,
Heritage and Sustainability Project Coordinator
StudentForce moved into a new home in
the disused former Station Master’s house at Oakham Station thanks to the
groundbreaking Central Stations Initiative which aims to breathe new life into
railway stations. Oakham Station is the first scheme in the country to be
completed. Developed by Central Trains and Network Rail, a special ‘tripartite
lease’ offers redundant station buildings to charities and community groups with
a tenancy of up to 25 years at a peppercorn rent!
Speaking at the official opening on October 2nd, the project’s chair Peter
Bradley, the former Labour MP who devised the initiative with Central Trains,
said: “It’s great to see a project take shape that could make such a positive
contribution to community life up and down the country. StudentForce is just the
kind of organisation we want to encourage. It’s got a great deal to offer the
community.”
Adam Cade, Chief Executive of StudentForce for Sustainability said “The Central
Stations Initiative and the offer of part of Oakham railway station provides our
charity with a lifeline for the future. On the one hand it will promote
sustainable transport as one of the key platforms for our approach to helping
young people to practice and promote sustainability. On the other hand it will
provide an accessible office base and training centre on local heritage and
sustainable development. All the restoration and training centre costs have been
grant aided by the Railway Heritage Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The
costs are far outweighed by the benefits of in kind contributions of Central
Trains and Network Rail of a 25 year lease at a peppercorn rent. Community Rail
Awards, September 2006.”
Sara Branch, Resources Manger.
A big Welcome to Gemma Carpenter as a new member of the
StudentForce YouthCheck team. Gemma recently graduated from the University of
Exeter with a degree in Sociology. She has spent the last year working for the
Ivy Project, a Youth Action Agency based in Devon, and also as a Community
Projects Adviser for the University of Exeter Student Union. She is now the
Youth and Sustainable Communities Project Worker on the YouthCheck project. We
wish her every success during her year long placement.
Leah Tirmizi, YouthCheck Project
Manager.
On Wednesday 13th September the
CommunityCheck team took a group of volunteers to Brocks Hill Environment Centre
at Oadby, just outside Leicester City. The afternoon’s aim was to let volunteers
see sustainable measures in practice. The centre and park were opened in April
2001 after receiving £939,000 funding from the Millennium Commission and match
funding from various partners including De Montfort University and
Leicestershire County Council.
The first tour began with a walk around the building, which was designed to make
the most of the natural light, with large windows on the south facing side of
the building. On the roof there are photovoltaic panels and solar air heaters
providing both electricity and hot air heating, they were the first of their
kind to be supplied in the UK. The buildings unusual design has attracted
visitors from across the region. The timber-framed building is made from locally
sourced or sustainably managed forests, and other building materials with a low
environmental impact such as locally manufactured bricks and re-claimed tiles.
Insulation is much thicker than would be expected for a UK building and made
from recycled newsprint in the form of Warmcell cellulose. Rainwater is
collected from the roof and supplies some of the centres needs. Waterless
urinals, low flush toilets and composting toilets all help to minimise the water
demand. The centre has many more interesting practices and visitors can go along
and take a self-guided tour of the centre to see them for themselves!
The second part of the tour got us outside into the country park. The aim of the
park is to focus on native trees and allow for natural succession to increase
the amount of woodland within Leicestershire. The 67 acres also includes
wildflower meadows, an orchard and ponds that have been created to encourage
wildlife. As yet the park does not have a large amount of wildlife, however as
it matures it is likely to become a haven for some of Leicestershire’s rarer
species.
Caroline Shannon, CommunityCheck Coordinator
CommunityCheck Coordinators on the move
Anna Willett, The CommunityCheck
Coordinator for Leicester City and Rutland is moving on to continue her career
in the environment sector. As Anna said “The time has come for a new step and a
new challenge. The project has such a high aim of changing attitudes and
behaviours to increase sustainable development, and I am thankful for the chance
to be involved. I have greatly enjoyed my time with the project over the last 15
months, working with some wonderful volunteers and organisations.”
Hopefully by November there will be a new Coordinator to welcome and take the
project further in Leicester City and Rutland.
Anna Willett, CommunityCheck Coordinator
On Monday 11 September, the CommunityCheck project held a volunteer social
at the Latin American restaurant, Las Iguanas in Leicester. Now although fun and
games were had this did not detract from the importance of the meeting and the
future plans of the team. Project Coordinators, Anna and Caroline, kept the
environmental theme going. The occasion provided a great chance for the whole
team to get to know each other or in some cases meet for the first time.
First of all we introduced ourselves explaining our position and our role within
the team and got organised in height order. Members were then split into small
groups and asked for feedback about the project and how it could be improved.
This information is vitally important and will help shape the future of the
project and enable it to move on and continue to produce successful outcomes. A
discussion was started about the sustainability issues surrounding food with
Caroline cutting up an apple to illustrate the proportion of the earth that can
produce food to feed the world. The proportion out of the whole earth is only
1/32nd! Stephen Passmore, Volunteering Project Manager, asked some trivia
questions to get the grey matter of all our brains working, with some green
prizes for the winners.
James Greenberry, CommunityCheck Volunteer.
It’s not just all work, work, work at
StudentForce; we also like to make interesting use of our free-time. On Sunday
10th September a group of StudentForcers plus a good friend, Sumby Nawaz,
bravely took part in the famous Burghley Horse-less Trials to raise money for
the Children’s Society. The, imaginatively named, StudentForce team successfully
completed the 5km “run”, making easy work of all the obstacles put in front of
us barring the in between bits of actual running, in under 40 minutes. Now fully
recovered, we are looking forward to taking part in the worthwhile event next
year – so look forward to seeing you there!
Andrea Lee, Sustainability Projects
Co-ordinator.
StudentForce have just been confirmed
by the British Council as an approved Sending Organisation for the European
Voluntary Service - the only organisation in the East Midlands. Read on if you
are an 18 to 25 year old UK passport holder and want to volunteer for 6 to 12
months, all expenses paid (travel, accommodation, living expenses, and training)
with learning support, on a project that promotes and practices sustainable
development in any of 35 European countries.
The European Voluntary Service is described in more detail on the attached file
and on
www.britishcouncil.org/connectyouth-programmes-european-voluntary-service.htm
The vast number of possible projects are listed on
www.ec.europa.eu/youth/program/sos/hei/hei_en.cfm -Try searching on
any of the 35 listed European countries or themes such as Environment, Urban or
Rural Development, Heritage Protection, Social Exclusion, Health, or Others.
There are five deadlines for all the paperwork to be signed and completed each
year - the next are Nov 1st and Feb 1st. StudentForce can help you find a
Hosting Organisation and project, prepare you for the volunteering, help you
complete the paperwork, and support you during the volunteering and when you
return.
So if you are interested have a read, look at some possible projects and then
contact
katharinehughes@studentforce.org.uk or
anaguerracarrillo@studentforce.org.uk or phone 01780 729282
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StudentForce move into newly furbished offices at Oakham Station this Friday 15th September.
We have secured a 25 year tenancy of
Oakham Railway Station, other than the ticket office, at a peppercorn rent from
Network Rail/ Central Trains. This is the first of several such charitable
tenancies around the country. We have managed to obtain funding from the
Heritage Lottery Fund, Railway Heritage Trust and others to renovate the
stationmasters house and parcel office. This will provide new office space for
our 15 staff and a publicly accessible training and interpretation centre. This
location will enable all our visitors to easily arrive by train or other public
transport and all our staff, Directors and volunteers to support sustainable
transport. We are very pleased that as a result we have been nominated for two
national Community Rail Awards.
Our new contact details from Monday 18th September will be:
StudentForce for Sustainability
Oakham Railway Station
Station Approach
Oakham LE15 6QT
Tel: 01572 723419
Fax:01572 725830
StudentForce staff and volunteers, past and
present, were out in force to celebrate Stamford RiverCare Group’s second annual
river day. The event, held on Stamford Meadows on Sunday 4th June and attended
by hundreds of people was aimed at increasing awareness of the river,
environment and Sustainability. As well as representatives from StudentForce
there was also the Environment Agency, English Nature, Wildlife Trust, Anglian
Water and South Kesteven District Council recycling road show. StudentForce
staff were involved in face painting, bag workshops, bird box making, making
butterflies and dragonflies and even racing pooh sticks down the river Welland!
The sun shone and a good time was had by all. For more information about
Stamford RiverCare go to www.stamfordrivercare.org.
Nick Goodman, Graduate Resource Project Manager.
Alongside a consortium of public sector, youth
volunteering practitioners and volunteering infrastructure organisations,
StudentForce helped to facilitate a Youth Volunteering conference last month at
the Tigers Rugby Club in Leicester. The aim of the conference was to report back
the views of young people, young black and minority ethnic people and
volunteering organisations on the volunteering picture in Leicestershire. These
views were considered and used to generate a series of recommendations on the
development of youth volunteering, building on current best practice such as
Millennium Volunteers. Implementing the strategy is a long term challenge and
the Leicestershire Young Volunteers Group (the new name for the aforementioned
consortium) is committed to making it a reality. StudentForce sees real benefit
in being involved at this strategic level both through forming partnerships and
in shaping the regional volunteering movement.
Stephen Passmore, Volunteering Project Manager.
Community Development Officer and StudentForce Project
Worker, Gillian Clarke, who works for Peterborough Racial Equality Council, was
part of a team which saw a groundbreaking conference look at issues surrounding
rural BME (black and minority ethnic) groups and migrant workers. The conference
held at St Ives near Huntingdon, was the culmination of extensive research
resulting from a joint partnership between Peterborough Racial Equality Council
and Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum. Gillian, took a lead role in researching
the data collected for the creation of a report, which hopes to help service
providers better understand the needs and issues of rural BME groups and migrant
workers. The report was commissioned by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Voluntary Sector Infrastructure Consortium (CVSIC) supported by ChangeUp
funding.
Scott Riley, Sustainability Projects Co-ordinator.
Wittering Community Association (Youth)
participated in a day of team building at “Go-Ape” in Nottinghamshire. This
involved everyone assisting each other up and down rope ladders. Although the
weather was appalling, we don’t look bad after spending five hours in the rain
and muck. If you could see the back of us it would be a different matter as our
bottoms became very useful as brakes down the zip slides.
Jane Keal, MV Support Officer.
On the 6th and 7th June, the Graduate Resources team
were lucky enough to attend the 5th annual conference of the Institute for
Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), one of the biggest environmental
professional body in the UK, as they celebrated their 10,000th member. We had
the opportunity to meet new Local Authorities, businesses and other
organisations who have yet to experience the benefits of a StudentForce project
– so look out for new developments in our Project Work in the near future. It
was also a great chance for the student and graduate IEMA members to find out
more about the great opportunities we offer. To our delight, some past Project
Workers came to our stand to let us know how their StudentForce experienced has
helped them move on in their careers in the environmental and sustainable
development sectors, and so hopefully some of them may now even be in the
position where they can help other graduates follow in their steps. In addition
to spreading the StudentForce word, Scott Riley, Sustainability Projects
Coordinator, and myself helped facilitate a workshop on sustainable strategic
thinking run by the environmental consultancy, Future Perfect, with whom we are
currently running a project. So all in all, an enjoyable two days.
Andrea Lee, Sustainability Projects
Co-ordinator.
The DfES has just launched their consultation
on Sustainable Schools, saying “Schools have a special role to play in securing
the future for young people: they can help young people be part of the solution
to the world’s big challenges, rather than part of the problem.” Click here
holding the Ctrl button, to read the consultation documents. There is even one
for pupils to complete.
We have offered to help any schools in Rutland who are interested in becoming
more sustainable:
StudentForce is a member of the East Midlands Education for Sustainable
Development Group who are trying to encourage wide participation in this
consultation in all local authorities in the east midlands region. We are
offering:
1) Advice on the consultation.
2) A workshop on the consultation from 4.30 to 6.00 pm on Wed. 28th June in
Ketton.
3) Assistance from a qualified recent graduate in the Autumn or Spring term to
help research and develop some of the ideas in the Sustainable Schools
consultation.
4) Help to spot ways of making the school, including its buildings and grounds,
more sustainable, using our CommunityCheck team of volunteers.
Adam Cade, Chief Executive.
The Higher Education Academy has contracted StudentForce to conduct a UK wide
survey in partnership with NUS Services, AGCAS, Graduate Prospects Ltd and
others to find evidence of the impact of employer's ethical, social and
environmental responsibility on the graduate job market. Donna Druce, the
Sustainable Careers Market Researcher at StudentForce said ” We’re looking for
input to this survey from a wide range of UK university students and recent
graduates. We need to gather evidence from as many current students and
graduates as possible so we can present realistic evidence to government,
employers, higher education institutions as well as students and graduates.” The
online survey is on
http://www.studentforce.org.uk/SNAP/mr_questionnaire.htm. Results will be
published on the Higher Education Academy website in November. All completed
surveys will be entered into a prize draw with the chance of winning one of 20
£10 Amazon vouchers and a range of other prizes such as Innocent Drinks.
Adam Cade, Chief Executive.
StudentForce for Sustainability has just celebrated
its 10th birthday on May 17th with an event for about 100 guests at the Victoria
Hall, Oakham. "We also used the event to launch the United Nations Decade for
Education for Sustainable Development in Rutland and look forward to the many
challenges ahead for young people and their stewardship of the planet." says
Adam Cade, the co-founder and Chief Executive. Ketton-based StudentForce is now
probably the largest charity in Rutland with 15 staff and over 100 volunteers.
It is also the only organisation in Europe with the aim of helping young people
to become more employable in sustainable development by offering placements,
volunteering and careers advice.
Professor Stephen Martin, the co-founder and President of StudentForce with his
wife Maureen, presented some of the challenges faced by educators and some of
the opportunities for enabling young people to make a real difference. Roger
Begy, Leader of Rutland County Council, presented some achievement awards to the
Graduate Resource Project Worker of the Year, two CommunityCheck Volunteers and
the Millennium Volunteer Group of the Year - young people based with the
Nottinghamshire Community Housing Association.
This was a carbon neutral event and also launched the start of the UN Decade for
Education for Sustainable Development in Rutland.
• Celebrating local young people’s achievements for sustainability.
• Hearing from our users about our projects.
• Meeting current staff, volunteers, directors and partners.
• Networking with key educators, employers and practitioners.
• Hearing about some of our challenges and help us plan for the future.
Stephen’s undergraduate training and education
was in Agricultural Botany at the University of Nottingham and later a PhD in
Stomatal Physiology at the University of Reading. He has held the national
responsibility for agricultural, technical and vocational and environmental
education, as a member of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education. He chaired
WWF UK’s Education Committee and was a Trustee from 1994 - 2000. He also chaired
WWF UK’s Programme Committee, which is responsible for its conservation and
education programmes in the UK and overseas.
From 1993 until 1998, Steve was Chief Executive of Countec Limited, the
Strategic Education and Training Forum for Milton Keynes and North
Buckinghamshire, which was responsible for developing a lifelong learning
strategy for one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. He has also been
Director of Learning for The Natural Step (UK), which is operated under licence
by Forum for the Future – one of the UK’s foremost sustainable development
organisations. He has been a visiting Professor at the Open University Centre
for Complexity and Change, Faculty of Technology and an Honorary Professor of
the University College Worcester since 2000.
Stephen is currently working as an independent consultant to develop new
approaches to sustainable development based on action learning and
organisational change. He has worked closely with a number of corporate clients:
Carillion plc for whom he co-authored On being a good neighbour – Moving towards
Sustainable Construction, Air BP for whom he designed an intranet-based
sustainable development learning programme, Bulmers plc to create a new
sustainable land-use college and Barclays Bank to design a sustainability course
for their graduate training programme. He has been recently commissioned by
Yorkshire and Humberside Sustainable Development Education (SDE) Forum to work
on the region’s ESD strategy and has designed an evaluation framework for the
Environment Agency’s national education and training programme. He has recently
been made a Director of Society for the Environment a new Professional Body
seeking to promote environmental sustainability in the professions.
Maureen was born and educated in Canada taking
a BA in Politics and Economics at the University of Saskatchewan and an MA in
European Economic Integration at the University of Reading. She held a research
post in trade relations with BP. She was head of Administrative Computing at the
University of Plymouth and subsequently Head of Student Management Services at
University of Gloucestershire. She has also held senior administrative posts at
the BBC. She has been a school governor for many years. She is currently a
sustainable development consultant and has worked on a number of projects
related to education for sustainable development. Her most recent project is to
support an educational charity in Bangladesh.
Hugh has been associated with StudentForce for
most of its 10 years both in the recruitment and volunteering side. This has
been in his role with Scott Bader and in the voluntary sector. Scott Bader,
through Hugh, have also funded some of the StudentForce projects, including
Corby Waste Not. Hugh has a number of roles in Northamptonshire and the East
Midlands and chairs a number of organisations including EMAGE – the East
Midlands Action Group on the Environment.
Mark currently manages all the waste operations
for Norfolk, including 20 Recycling Centres, household waste disposal, abandoned
vehicle disposal, financing recycling collections by district councils and
voluntary and community groups, and the environmental management of 150 closed
landfill sites.
Prior to this he worked for South Norfolk Council for four years, managing a
team of 70 providing the direct environmental services for the District. This
included refuse and recycling collections, street cleansing, sewage collection
and treatment, fleet vehicle maintenance, grounds maintenance, pest control and
dog warden service, and environmental issues. Before moving to Norfolk he worked
for 10 years at Leicester City Council in a number of Environmental Management
roles. He was also a campaigner for Friends of the Earth and Chair of a
community environmental charity, Environ.
As well as Leader of Rutland County Council,
Roger is also Chairman of Lincolnshire and Rutland Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
which is responsible for the strategy and financing of post 16 learning,
lifelong learning, work force development, and skills training. He is also a
member of the Regional Scrutiny Board of the East Midlands Regional Assembly.
We thank all the award winners for their
commitment, support and work with StudentForce and wish them all success with
their future careers and promotion of the sustainability message.
CommunityCheck Volunteer of the Year
This year the Northamptonshire CommunityCheck Volunteer of the Year award goes
to Laura Holloway, and the Leicester CommunityCheck Volunteer of the Year goes
to Sophie Charters.
“Without our volunteers the project would not be as successful as it is and we
would like to show our appreciation through awarding a CommunityCheck Volunteer
of the Year for the Leicester and Northampton areas.” said Anna Willett, one of
the two CommunityCheck Coordinators.
“We would like to send a big thank you to all those who have supported and
helped with the CommunityCheck project over the last year, with special thanks
to our volunteers giving up their time and being involved with the project.”
added Caroline Shannon, also a CommunityCheck Coordinator.
Sophie Charters
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Sophie is a business student at De Montfort
University and has given up some of her free time since October to help as a
volunteer Checker with the CommunityCheck project. Since joining Sophie has
become a highly valued member of the Leicester team of volunteers, involving
herself in all aspects of the project.
Laura Holloway
Laura joined the project last July looking to gain
more hands on experience in giving environmental advice. She has been involved
with many aspects of the project including carrying out checks, report writing
and providing articles for the newsletter. Laura has been an important member of
the Northamptonshire team of volunteers and will continue to volunteer as a
member of the new Rutland team.
Laura currently works for a firm called Associa where she gives legal advice to
farmers on environmental issues. Ultimately her role helps farmers cope with the
incoming flood of legislation from Europe. She began volunteering with
StudentForce a few months ago now with the aim of expanding her experience to
people on a one to one level. She has carried out four checks so far on
organisations such as youth hostels, offices and schools.
Laura comments:
“Volunteering with StudentForce has been a really positive experience which has
also enhanced my commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling waste around my
own home, as well as encouraging people at work to recycle paper more, which is
our biggest waste stream. The CommunityCheck project has also given me chance to
develop many skills such as report, newsletter writing, practical knowledge of
sustainable systems and being able to develop communication skills on a one to
one basis by helping the organisation improve their environmental efficiency.
All in all I have found the scheme to be extremely beneficial and enjoyable both
to volunteers and organisations involved.”
Millennium Volunteers is a national programme encouraging young people to
volunteer for the benefit of their community. Our offering of Millennium
Volunteers is to enable 16-24 year olds to be more sociable by volunteering with
their peers and in groups, to be more sustainable by enhancing their communities
and environment, and to be more employable by learning and developing new
skills. We have 166 active MVs in Leicestershire and Rutland, they all deserve a
shout out for their achievements, but today we are privileged to award, for
completing 50 hours of volunteering time:
From High Fields – helping young people to participate in local decision
making
Mohamed Hasan
From Active Youth – Promoting fitness and sports leadership and working on
the youth council
Manish Sudra
Niral Makadia
Minisha Bopadra
Ravi Dave
From Wittering Community Association Youth – working on the Skate Park
project
Nick Cartwright
From Nottinghamshire Community Housing Association
– for volunteering at the annual Bird-Fair at Rutland Water and for Help the
Aged
Heidi Atkinson
Daniel Billsdon
From Active Youth
Poonam Chauhan
Bhavin Patel
Darshika Patel
Hitesh Mistry
Rakesh Sava
Congratulations to you all for your enthusiasm and commitment
As part of our 10 year anniversary celebrations
on the 17th May, the Graduate Resource team are looking to celebrate the hard
work and dedication of the people who make our projects come true by holding the
first Project Worker of the Year Award. It has been a difficult decision but by
using tough selection criteria, based on sustainability, employability, learning
and their contribution to StudentForce as a whole, we have drawn up a list of 8
lucky nominees:
Thomas Davies (Maidstone Borough Council), James Dyer (Worcestershire County
Council), Eliane Foteu (North Norfolk District Council), Polly Jackson (Care and
Repair West Norfolk), Sadia Moeed (Melton Borough Council), Giles Pipe (Tamworth
Borough Council), Anna Squires (Peterborough Racial Equality Council), Craig
Stephens (Northwest Leicestershire District Council).
Craig is one of the eight Project Workers who have been nominated for the
StudentForce Project Worker of the year. Craig was placed as a Recycling
Assistant and had a significant impact on the residents of North West
Leicestershire. He managed a door-stepping campaign promoting recycling through
kerb-side collections and gathered views about the service from about 500
householders. As Craig said “The survey has given us the opportunity to take the
recycling message door to door. This enables us to educate and advise residents
on how to get the most out of the recycling service and facilities in the
district as well as listen to their views.” The project was sponsored by WRAP
(Waste and Resources Action Programme) helping to introduce the kerb-side
recycling service to about 20,000 households.
Anna Squires Community Development Officer
(Traveller Communities), Peterborough Racial Equality Council
Anna Squires task was to help bridge the gaps between service providers and the
Gypsy and Traveller communities within Peterborough. The priority within the
first four months was to forge relationships with the community and look at
methods of outreach and capacity building for this excluded community. Anna’s
relationships with partner agencies and their campaigning for recognition of
this communities needs at a strategic level has lead to the City Council looking
to develop a strategic policy for Gypsies and Travellers within Peterborough.
Her project has been a difficult one, but she has more than risen to the
challenge. This fact can be no better demonstrated by the fact the she has been
volunteering with a youth club working with traveller kids off her own back, so
important has her role been that she will be paid for this work in the future,
she also volunteers on a steering group involved with another project within the
organisation. She has issued many press releases and is looking to do an article
with the Evening Times which will contain a StudentForce mention. She
volunteered on the focus group that Adam ran looking at users of the
StudentForce service. She has written 3 Eforce articles (somewhat of a record)!
Her contribution to her project has been so successful that Peterborough Council
for the Voluntary Sector and Peterborough City Council worked together to create
a permanent position for her, which she has accepted.
The winner has been somewhat of a revelation. She has worked tirelessly on her
project and built partnerships and campaigned extensively in her chosen field,
whilst also finding time to write numerous articles for the Graduate Resource
magazine EForce and attending all the workshops offered. Recently offered a
permanent contract to continue their good work in Peterborough.
StudentForce as a national charity based in
Ketton is about to celebrate its first 10 years. StudentForce was founded by
Adam Cade after he resigned from English Nature as their Head of Education. Adam
lives at Brewery House, next to the Northwick Arms, and decided to convert the
old stables, malt store and brewery offices as a base for the new charity.
It now employs about twelve staff, supports over 40 graduates on paid placement
and over 100 young people as volunteers, all working with local employers or
communities to promote "sustainable development" - boosting the local
environment, community and economy. It may even be the largest Rutland charity.
You may have noticed the staff cycling to work in packs from Stamford, running
training workshops in the YMCA or topping up with local goods on Market days.
With all this growth it is now negotiating with Central Trains to develop an
additional office in Oakham Railway Station. StudentForce is also on the lookout
for a volunteer with experience of financial management to act as a treasurer
for the charity. The young staff are all keen to practice sustainable
development wherever possible - on the staff allotment, with the organic food
box deliveries, the recycling of all office plastic, cardboard, paper, cans, and
most of all with our support for the local Ketton facilities and services.
Adam Cade, Chief Executive.
StudentForce have been approached by a range of organisations to partner them in
bidding to DEFRA for the Climate Challenge Fund. Three bids were submitted to
DEFRA by the deadline of March 31st. The £6M fund is aimed at changing attitudes
to climate change and is seen as one of the major challenges for the UK
government and media.
The Worcestershire Climate Challenge – Cut the Carbon bid builds on
StudentForce’s previous Kerbside Recycling project called Mission Impossible
with Worcestershire County Council as it involves lots of 1:1 dialogue with
householders. Graduate Project Workers and young trained volunteers will try to
persuade householders, shoppers, car drivers and employees to kick the carbon
habit linking to a range of county-based campaigns such as sustainable travel,
home energy efficiency and sustainable food.
Cool Lifestyles – Cool Planet is The National Youth Agency and StudentForce’s
bid to change the attitudes of young people in youth clubs and groups. It will
use recent graduate Project Workers and young volunteers based in a major city
of nine English Regions to work with youth and community development workers and
enable youth groups to focus on their own lifestyles as a response to the likely
impacts of climate change over their lifetime.
Degrees that Matter is the bid by a large East Midlands partnership led by the
East Midlands Regional Assembly, with whom we have placed several graduate
Project Workers. The proposal targets students at the ten universities in the
East Midlands Region and enables student groups to use their creativity to
persuade their peers to change their climate change attitude
Adam Cade, Chief Executive.
StudentForce has recently submitted a report to
the Welland Sub-regional Strategic Partnership (SSP) which describes how and
where rural villagers gain access to public services provided by the major
market towns within the Welland. The study will help the SSP to promote better
use of existing services and identify where funds are needed most. Since the
beginning of the year, the lead researchers in the project, Helen Bolton and Ian
Tennant have toured the Welland meeting representatives of market towns and
rural communities to build a picture of the services available throughout the
area. They have been looking at access to public and community transport,
healthcare, education, business support as well as retail services, leisure and
entertainment. Parish Councils in the Welland were also surveyed. Helen Bolton,
researcher for the project said, “the Parish Councils were very helpful; a good
response rate to the questionnaire has helped to produce a detailed picture of
how villagers access services in ‘their’ market towns”. To display the
information in an easy to understand visual format the researchers used
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software which will allow the SSP to view
patterns across the whole of the Welland. The SSP supports promotion of the
local economy and services, a feature which many people in the East Midlands
rely and this research provides the first stage in addressing the decline in
such services.
The report will be available on the Welland SSP website from early spring
http://www.wellandssp.org.uk/
and SFS website!
Ian Tennant, Sustainable Rural Communities Researcher.