If you think students spend all their spare time avoiding studying, going out with their mates and having a good time then you'd be right. Well our student bloggers do anyway. While they assure us they don't slack on the study, they've got a lot to answer for when it comes to enjoying themselves while volunteering.

All | Emma | Oli | Daniel | Carrie | Olivia | Fiona | Sammy | Ashley | Rochelle | Natalie | Tom | TomG | Harry

Friday May 14, 2010

As we students are inherently political.....

So, even if you were turned away from the polling station, frustrated, disenfranchised, and possibly discriminated against because of your status as a student instead of a 'local', it doesn't matter – a new government has been formed anyway.

A coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is now in power, and while everyone is getting het up about the 'constitutional implications' of such a thing, I thought I'd look briefly at what it might mean for the voluntary sector.

Given the amount that the state relies upon the voluntary sector to deliver services as basic as legal advice (through places such as the CAB), it would be political suicide for any of the party leaders to declare themselves as anything but supportive of volunteering. This is all the more relevant as we are now being told that large public sector cuts are necessary to reign in the UK's public debt, and it may be up to the voluntary sector to provide services that will no longer be provided for by the state.

Below is a brief summary of the two parties manifesto pledges in relation to volunteering, and with the uncertainties of a coalition government it will be interesting to see how many promises each party will be able to keep.

In the Conservative's manifesto ('Invitation to join the government of Britain'), the emphasis is very much upon services that were previously provided by the state instead being provided by groups of individuals in their communities. It paints a picture of the 'Big Society': schools set up by groups of interested individuals, as well as community run libraries and public amenities. Cynically re-phrased by some as - 'run your own schools, we're not up to it'.

Furthermore, social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups are to play 'a leading role' in delivering public services, and they will be encouraged to enter bids for state funding. Their manifesto also promises that a Big Society Bank fund will be set up (from unclaimed bank assets) to support these organisations.

Finally a National Citizen Service scheme is pledged – which would encourage 16 year olds to volunteer in their local community.

While the Lib Dem's manifesto ('Change that works for you') is supportive of the voluntary sector, it is less specific in the measures that they would introduce. Instead things are phrased in more general terms: 'We believe that society is strengthened by communities coming together and engaging in voluntary activity'. However they do promise to reform the CRB scheme so that volunteers only need one record 'that is portable, rather than multiple checks for each activity'.

For more information, the people at Volunteering England have done a proper job of this, with a brief summary of the manifestos' volunteering aspects here; and also a more comprehensive version here.

Posted by Harry ( 10:07 AM )
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Friday May 07, 2010

A new start for Bookends...

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I ventured off to China during the easter holidays on a study programme. This should have lasted 3 weeks, but oh yes you guessed it, a little volcanic eruption managed to extend my stay by 2 weeks! So sorry for the absence...

This of course meant that I had to delegate all my Torcher's organising to others while I was stranded in Shanghai - unfortunately I obviously delegated to the wrong people! I arrived back in Aberdeen on the day of the parade and found our float looking a little bare, at which point I marched off to Asda to buy random summery things (bubble machine and a paddling pool? Yes please!) and called some mates to help fill up the float as apparently only 4 other volunteers were showing up!

I was a little shocked at the lack of interest when before Easter everyone had seemed so enthusiastic, but on the night we still made a good go of it, dancing down the street to some ehhh "Hawaiian" inspired techno...which then hit Bassment Jaxx etc... well, my bucket was pretty heavy by the end despite emptying it twice so it can't have gone too badly! The parade as a whole is estimated to have raised over £10 000 for charity, thanks to the help of other 2000 students, and a huge and generous crowd lining the streets!

In other news, our new store is officially open! The space is about 3 times the size of our last shop, with extra space for tables, chairs and comfy sofas and beanbags, giving us a social and lively space, which will hopefully soon have all the cafe facilities we need! The store's shelves will be closed and locked in the evenings, as the space is also available to societies and students to rent out at night for events, allowing us to provide a further service to the students of Aberdeen - fantastic!

So far, we've had our hands pretty full with just attempting to shelves all the books and decorate the store, but now that it's all finished, we're hoping to see a surge in customers, which can only be good for the Charities Campaign...

Well that's the plan, I'll get back to you with how it goes... Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 5:00 PM )
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