Wednesday, October 16Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

A word from Community Action

SING–ALONG SURREY

Sing-Along Surrey is a new Community Action student-led project since 2013 that was initiated by a student with the aim to encourage students from Royal Holloway to interact with the elderly generation of the local community. The weekly Sing- Along helps to build a rapport between the students and the elderly; it also helps both groups to gain a better understanding and appreciation of each other’s generation. This project musically gives students a chance to practice their performance skills to an unintimidating audience and also provides a chance to study the benefits of regular musical interaction on the memory and practice on the patient’s mental well-being.

Placement:

Sing-Along Surrey placement is an extraordinary opportunity open for all Royal Holloway students who wish to work with older generation in Surrey areas and experience in impromptu performance, music therapy, clinical and management practices during their university studies. The placement team position requires a full commitment of the role from late October 2014 to March 2015. In general, members of placement team are responsible for organising all regular Sing-Along Surrey services during the year. They will work as separate teams, attend meetings, prepare materials and lead the services.

Volunteering:

This position is not heavily committed but always welcomes students from Royal Holloway to get involved with the voluntary Sing-Along Surrey project. Any singers, instrumentalists or students who are looking for career practice this coming year are also welcome. Volunteers who may not sing or play an instrument are also needed simply to encourage the elderly to sing-along and reminisce on times gone by. Music and transport will be provided. This is a great opportunity for volunteers who may want experience in impromptu performance and music therapy.

Both placements and volunteering must be registered as Community Action volunteers and will be supervised by a Royal Holloway Community Action team manager and member. Their contributions will be recorded as a part of the Royal Holloway Passport Award scheme.

If you are interested on, why not apply? Send an email to [email protected], to get more information from us and apply! Come and share your music with the elderly!

Christmas Volunteering 2014

There are two Christmas volunteering opportunities that happen annually this term: Santa’s Workshop and Love in a Box.

Santa’s Workshop

Santa’s workshop is Community Action’s biggest Christmas project, where we wrap-up and donate presents to local elderly people in partnership with Age UK. It is an event that annually gets students from all societies and sports clubs involved together. Get involved by donating items in the bins around campus, or come to wrap the items in the SU main hall! Santa’s hats, mince pies and festive tunes are provided.

To get involved in the wrapping of the donation bins on the 26th of November please come to the SU upstairs 12- 2pm and help with the official Santa’s Workshop on the 10th of December.

Love in a box

Love in a box help to create beautiful shoe boxes wrapped with Christmas paper and filled with Christmas gifts, from stationary to hats and gloves. Every year we send the boxes to underprivileged kids, this year we are working with the Trussell Trust, whose community projects tackle poverty and exclusion in the UK and Bulgaria. There will be a prize for the best-decorated shoe box.

To get involved collect a shoebox and appropriate item guide from the Community Action office in the Students’ Union, and then drop off your completed box by 4pm on the 25th of November.

If you are interested, send an email to [email protected] to get more information from us. We welcome all students and staff to come and join in. We look forward to seeing you!