Idea: Ground Force Durham

 
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  • Created on: 27 Nov 2007
  • Idea status: Underway
  • Town: Durham
 

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What it's all about

Working in conjunction with Durham's Student Community Action group, we want to have a one-off day of volunteer gardening for the elderly or disabled people in and around Durham. Often the gardens have been their pride and joy for many years but recent problems have prevented them maintaining them, and they really appreciate seeing them back at their best. Many also enjoy the contact and the chance to chat to young people, especially as they are used to only ever hearing negative things about them.

This one-off day will take place on the 27th February (during SVE week), starting at 1pm. People can asemble at the DSU and be sent out to various pre-arranged projects around the city. In this way we can get more volunteers interested, raise our profile within the community, and make our repsonse rate to new requests quicker. The extra equipment will continue to be used by SCA.

This is a project with a potential to keep growing, as more people hear about us and people who we have volunteered for in the past ask us to come back. Volunteers who feel they have made a real difference and been part of a larger project are more likely to come back too.

What's needed to make it a reality

More equipment, to allow us to send out several groups at a time to different locations on the day.

More spades, forks and trowels for basic digging-over and weeding;

A shredder, to make the green waste we leave behind easier to dispose of. At the moment, we do them a favour and then leave 10 sacks of refuse! With a shredder we can reduce the number significantly.

Hedge clippers or shears - this is one of the main jobs we are asked to do.

The funds to allow us to take taxis to and from jobs, rather than relying on the buses, which are difficult and time-consuming to organise, make exact timing of jobs impossible, and are rather impractical when taking any amount of equipment.

One-off Taster Session Costs
Taxi Fares 130
Bosch Impact Shredder 97.36
10 Spades (4.98 ea.) 49.80
10 Forks (4.98 ea.) 49.80
10 Secateurs (6.98 for 2) 34.90
5 shears (4.98 ea.) 24.90
publicity: around £80 - posters and flyers


Grand Total: £436.76

Available actions

Comments

  • Avatar Jo & Andy 12:10, 28 November 2007 This sounds like a great one off project Helen thanks for posting it. I will email you so we can meet up to wrtie a more detailed funding proposal of how much all the extra equiptment is going to cost and how we are going to recruit all the extra volunteers needed for the day. I look forward to meeting you soon and hopefully providing the funding to make this proposal a succesful one off event.
    Thanks
    Joanne Gale
    Volunteer Support Officer
    Durham University
  • Avatar jonnyfive 11:43, 29 November 2007 I'm just up the road in Newcastle, so would be willing to help out!
  • Avatar Jo & Andy 09:41, 30 November 2007 That is great that you are willing to help out. If you could email helen h.m.thomas@durham.ac.uk I am sure she will give you lots more details about the event. Feel free to encourage all your friends to come along as well. Thanks for showing an interest in the project.
    Joanne Gale
    Junction 49 Volunteer Support Officer
    Durham University
    junction49.sca@durham.ac.uk
  • Avatar Helen 13:00, 13 March 2008 Ground Force indeed! Several taxis left from the Strudent Union on a sunny wednesday afternoon and headed out all over Durham. Around 15 people were involved, including first-time volunteers and hardened experts. All agreed that they had achieved a lot, and the recipients of the help really appreciated the difference that a few volunteers with a couple of hours and enouch spades can achieve! Thanks everyone, it was a great success and something we would hope to repeat in the future!

    Helen
  • Avatar Jo & Andy 12:41, 03 April 2008 Thanks for posting Helen. I look forward to Ground Force part two in SCA week.
    Jo
  • Avatar Jo & Andy 12:49, 03 April 2008 After a cold and rainy winter, there was a backlog of gardening jobs to
    be done around County Durham. Helen Thomas, the Gardening and Decorating
    Project Leader, organised an afternoon of gardening last Wednesday, in
    conjunction with Student Volunteering England Week. More than ten
    volunteers and several members of the exec were taxied to one of several
    locations in County Durham where they would spend the afternoon weeding,
    digging, pruning... or whatever it was that needed to be done. Despite
    fears that the weather wouldn't hold out, it was a very pleasant
    afternoon, and everyone made the most of the ideal gardening conditions.
    Three hours later and four gardens were unrecognisably tidy and weed
    free. As always, the help given by these volunteers was very much
    appreciated and we hope that similar 'Ground Force' events will be held
    in the future.

    Emma Rowland
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