Plant pots, plant pots everywhere in LionMouth

With the University seemingly void of staff, we decided to hold an impromptu team challenge at LionMouth Rural Centre for anyone who was around.  The centre had recently acquired a nursery's worth of plants and needed a little bit of help jiggling things around so that they weren't weaving in and out rosemary bushes to get into the building. After a good few weeks of little-to-no rain, the skies obviously decided to tease us on our first challenge in a while.

Team Challenge at Old Durham Gardens...

After the recent snow, volunteers were slightly apprehensive about the job of planting apple trees down at Old Durham Gardens. However the weather was beautiful and athough it was a little chilly, the team soon got warm digging holes. With some help from the Friends of Old Durham Gardens dead trees were soon uprooted, with new ones being planted. The afternoon was rounded off with some tea and biscuits in the pavilion, and everyone is looking forward to going back to the site in the spring to see the blossom in full bloom.

Who we are...Meet the team

Although small, the staff volunteering team are always very busy managing and organising volunteering opportunities. 

Each member of the team has a different background and therefore became interested in staff volunteering in a different way. 

The diversity of the team provides a wide range of skills and insight, allowing the management of volunteering opportunities to be as innovative as possible. 

The team:

Dr Andrew Cattermole - Assistant Director (Staff Volunteering & Outreach) 

Andrew has worked at the University since 2003 and is currently Assistant Director (Staff Volunteering & Outreach).   Andrew has a previous background in logistics management in the private sector, prior to returning to higher education as a mature student to gain a BSc (Hons) in Countryside Management and a PhD in Rural Development, both from Newcastle University.  Prior to joining Durham University Andrew worked in a range of regeneration roles and as an independent consultant. 

Vicky Ridley - Experience Durham Project Manager

Vicky joined Experience Durham and the Staff Volunteering & Outreach team in November 2011. She has extensive experience of life at Durham University, having completed a BSc (Hons) Natural Sciences degree and an MSc by Research at the University. Following graduation she worked for Student Community Action, managing and coordinating volunteering opportunities for Durham students in the local area. She has spent time abroad working and volunteering in far-flung places of the world and spent 16 months working in the Alumni Relations team at Durham University. Vicky supports all aspects of the Staff Volunteering and Outreach teams works and is responsible for promoting the wider activities taking place within Experience Durham.

Rebecca Byrne - Volunteering Co-ordinator 

Rebecca is on a sabbactical post and works for the SVO team as well as Team Durham marketing and is responsible for Team Challenge coordination.

A fresh look at Staff Volunteering...

Over the next few weeks, the blog will be looking at staff volunteering from number of different angles. The blog will be taking a behind the scenes look at who we are, what we do, how we carry out our work, where we carry out our work, and of course why staff volunteering is so important. In a series of posts, we hope to therefore make clear the aims, objectives, practicalities and history of our work.

A reminder of what we do...

The Staff Volunteering and Outreach team supports staff members who wish to participate in the Durham University Employer Supported Volunteering scheme. All staff can participate in the project and can apply to volunteer in work time for up to 5-days per year. Volunteering opportunities take the form of Team Challenges, one-off volunteering events and long-term volunteering placements. The scheme therefore makes it easier for staff to engage in one-off projects, as well as sustain a long-term interest, or commitment to, a community project.

The SVO team works with a growing number of departments across the University to facilitate student  (as well as staff) placements as part of degree programmes. Through these projects, groups of students work together to tackle a real business problem faced by a community or third sector organisation and offer practical solutions to these issues. Some of the most successful projects have so far seen groups of Computer Science students work with a large number or local organisations, and students studying at Durham Business School delivering marketing and business plans for community groups in the North East.