Hi J49ers, I'm sad to say, it's nearly the end for me at Bath uni. I've got a month to go, and I'm trying to use it to develop volunteering opportunities for the upcoming academic year. Getting structures in place for the most sustainable of this year's J49 projects to keep going is providing a mixed bag of tasks, some are easier, some harder, but the Volunteer Centre here should be able to keep at least 4 going for sure! I'm, going to miss this job so much! It's been amazing working with all of your (sometimes zany) ideas, and seeing all the good which has been done thanks to this year's projects is really inspiring. Enough reminiscing, I've got loads of work to get back to! x

Hi all, it feels like a ghost town here at the moment! There are very few students around, which means we now have time to get on with all those boring jobs we can't do in term time... I'm really looking forward to the Urban Fete end of year celebration next Tuesday, I hope all of this project leaders are coming along! It's going to be fab meeting loads of other J49ers from other towns and catch up with all the J49 officers from other unis. See you there!

It's been ages since the project, but I keep on forgetting to post in the link to all the photos ond videos of us getting down and dirty on the farm, including some footage of me showing the volunteers how digging's done! See the photos here http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo_search.php?oid=40759703896&view=all and the videos here http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/?oid=40759703896

Remember, it's really important to eat healthily when you're studying as it will really help to keep your brain working at its best, and to keep you awake! If you missed out on the free fruit and veg during revision week, get yourself down to the greengrocers or Fresh and buy some! You can still sign up for your FREE BBC Grub Club cooking pack http://www.bbc.co.uk/headroom/grubclub/index.shtml
The campaign was awesome, we handed out over 250 free smoothies, 400 free bags of fruit and veg, a couple of hundred students signed up for free cooking packs, and we also gave out advice, recipes, and generally spread the Food Glorious Mood vibes all around campus! Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out!

++ AWARE and Junction 49 have got together to make your Revision Week a little easier! It's really important to remember to eat healthily when you're studying as it will really help to keep your brain working at its best, and to keep you awake!

++ We've teamed up with Headroom, a BBC mental health campaign, which is looking at a number of mental issues. Grub Club is aimed at students, and every student at Bath is eligible to order a free Grub Club pack which includes:

* Bag
* Chef's Hat
* Badges
* Booklet
* Invites
* Card Game - Grub Trumps
* Voting cards
* Tea Towel

++ Why not host your own Come Dine With Me evening? Rate your friends on their hosting abilities and see who wins!

++ Apply here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/headroom/grubclub/index.shtml

++ You can also apply by signing up with us, look out for the volunteers handing our FREE bags of Veg today and FREE FRUIT FRIDAY tomorrow!

Issue 3 of our Volunteer Shout Out newsletter is out, find out what our volunteers are up to.
http://www.bathstudent.com/pageassets/volunteer/newsletter/Issue_3.pdf

There's another Junction49 event happening 5th-8th May, this time in conjunction with AWARE too, and we're after some volunteers to help us give out free fruit and veg on Parade. ___________________________________________________ Food Glorious Mood! is going on all week: "Cooking and eating the right food feeds your mind and fuels your body. When you have an essay to write, an exam to take or simply need to shake off a hangover, the right kind of food can make a huge difference.
During revision week, 5-8th May you can get your hands on loads of free fruit & veg, use pedal power to blend yourself a free smoothie, take a gamble with the human fruit machine, get recipes, cooking packs and plenty more. This could be a great excuse to get together with mates, lift your mood and cook for each other!" ___________________________________________________________________ If you can spare any time at all between 11 and 3 during the week we'd love for you to come along _____ Tue 5th - Free smoothies using a bike-powered smoothie machine __________ Wed 6th - Free veg: your 5 a day in a bag with a soup recipe ____________ Thu 7th - Free fruit: your 5 a day in a bag with a smoothie recipe _________ Fri 8th - Free Fruit Friday! We're looking for 3 volunteers to become a human fruit machine (no previous experience necessary)! _______________________ If you can help, please email Junction49@bath.ac.uk using Food Glorious Mood as the subject. If not, grab a freebie or two anyway when you're walking by.

Oooh, it's all go 'round here at the moment. I'm about to head off to Bath City Farm to join the 'Mentoring with a Twist' project, where Student Mentors are spending a few hours with their Mentees working on the farm to improve disabled access. The biggest aim of the day is a social opportunity for the 10 school kids, so they can bond with other pupils who also have mentors and hopefully not feel like they're the only one in need of help. Photos to follow soon... _________________________________ On Wednesday night I want to FAB Fashion at Bath, a show set up by the uni's SIFE Students in Free Enterprise team. It was amazing, everything was so professionally put together, the Bath Assembly Rooms is an amazing location, the models and the clothes were so good, all in a really impressive night. It's not a J49 project, but it was just so exciting to see that I thought I'd put a little rant on it right here....

Hey Blog! Today's Easter Egg fundraiser went really well, the team sold over 120 tickets in advance, and loads more today too. The sun is out, and the teams looked like they were enjoying running around outdoors. The winners came back to us in just over 1h30min with the anagram sorted 'HAVE A CRACKING EASTER!' They each received a big chocolate egg, some cinema tickets and more. There were prizes for the runners up too, and we're waiting for photos to be submitted to the Facebook page. The best photo will win a prize too. Watch this space....--------------------------------------------------------Issue 2 of the Uni of Bath Volunteer Shout Out newsletter is here, copy the link to check it out http://www.bathstudent.com/volunteer/newsletter/

HI blog readers (if there are any of you out there!). I'm really happy to say that last Thursday's Student Charity Shop went really well, we raised over £300 for Rag and SCA’s Romania Aid Trip!_________________________We had so many more clothes donated than we anticipated, there was barely enough room to lay everything out. The volunteers and willing staff involved managed fantastically though, and the display looked great. We couldn’t have done it without the hangers donated by M&S ____________________ Stylists Lucy and Damaris came along to lend a well trained eye and work on the items which needed adjusting and customising, I saw a few hemlines getting higher, a tie turning into a belt and a lot of buttons appearing where there hadn’t been any before. We also had makeup artist Tori giving free makeovers, she managed to turn my eyes from sleep deprived puffballs into sparkling party divas in no time, and I saw a few other faces getting similarly pampered. There were also loads of freebies to give away, partly thanks to the generosity of a few local businesses, including Lush samples, Body Shop makeup, Fairtrade Divine chocolate bars, a load of condoms and many more._____________________I’m really grateful to Lorna, Naomi, Alice, Hao, Kelly, Scarlett, Jess, Bokani, Heather, Dominic, Chris, Louise, Pia, Rachel, Kirsty, Vicky, Claire, Emma, Alex, Monica, the other Alex, the other Rachel, Nathan, Lucy and everyone else who volunteered in collecting, sorting and washing clothes, handing out flyers and harassing friends, setting up, running and clearing up on the day. A load of staff pitched in too, and we had clothes collection points kindly hosted in STA Travel, SU reception, & UBSA_______________________A big thank you also for the staff and students who were kind enough to have a wardrobe clear out and generously donate clothes. We collected so much over a couple of weeks, and hopefully the debatably fantastic pics of scantily clad Sabbs used on the Junction49 ‘Get Your Kit Off!’ posters encouraged you to get excited about donating unwanted clothes to charity, buying clothes from charity shops, and will keep you doing so forever…_________________A few people suggested we set this up as a monthly event led by students, which would be fab. If you’re interested in leading contact Scarlett Junction49@bath.ac.uk or pop into the BUSU Volunteer Centre.

I want to shout a big well done... WELL DONE! or 'Congratulations & Celebrations' as Cliff would say, to the 7 new projects which received funding this week! _________________Mad Hatters Tea Party ______________Mentoring with a Twist______________ Easter Egg Hunt ____________Strictly for Charity _____________GCSE Maths Academy________________ Dragnet! __________________EWB CAT Trip

Here in the Volunteer Centre we’d like to see more people getting excited about donating their unwanted clothes to charity, so Junction49 (Scarlett) is launching ‘Get Your Kit Off!’ Come in to uni wearing any clothes you don’t want, look out for collection bins around the SU, ‘Get Your Kit Off!’ and donate it until Tue 3rd March. ________________There’ll be a chance for you to bag yourself a bargain when everything gets put on sale at the ‘Student Charity Shop’ running in Elements Thu 5th March from 11am-3pm with the help of Junction49. You can also take part in some reusing and customizing workshops along with a fab competition or two. For more info see http://www.BathStudent.com/Volunteer/KitOff ______________________We’re also looking for volunteers to lend a hand in collecting, sorting and washing clothes, setting up, running and clearing up the ‘Student Charity Shop’, so whether you can spare an hour or a day, contact Scarlett in the Volunteer Centre or at Junction49@bath.ac.uk. ___________________What are you waiting for? Take part and help raise money for charity! After all ‘One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure’

Unfortunately the order got delayed in leaving our finance office and although the lovely people we put the order through have pushed it as being urgent, the baby dummies are snowed in and stuck in the warehouse for the next few days. We’re all looking forward to the bizarre arrival of two bags stuffed with babies, and are ready to perform CPR on them, they’ll need it after days stuck in a freezing warehouse! There’s a little concern that the dummies won’t arrive in time for Wednesday’s workshop, which is the first of those planned for a local toddler group. Alan is looking to borrow a few dummies if he can, or the workshop may even have to be delayed. Fingers crossed.

Emma’s getting on really well with this one, she’s delivering regular youth enterprise sessions at a local boy’s school, and they are well on their way to setting up their business plan and putting it into action, Their chosen product, chutney, is being designed at the moment, the pupils are deciding on the name for their fund raising venture, and they are working out costings, taking into account raw materials, merchandising, power supply, everything! The Funding Application will appear very soon.

Hi all, we've got a few exciting projects in the planning, and a few events coming up:

_______________ Thu 8th Jan __ Paper Doves Taster Session __ 11am to 1pm__ Uni Library Foyer. The first of many J49 taster sessions coming up this year, to get you thinking, trying something different, and maybe volunteering! Stop for a couple of minutes, learn how to fold a paper dove and take a breather. You may simply enjoy forgetting about exams for a short moment, you may decide to become an origami master, who knows! ____________________ Thu 5th Feb __ Debate & Discuss Taster Session __ 11am to 1pm __ Uni Library Foyer
Pick up a discussion topic as you walk past, think outside the box for a moment, see what your mates think and debate it! If you have time to stop, tell us what gets you talking, we'll pass it on and see what others have to say. Start a conversation, you never know what you're going to get... _________________Thu 12th Feb __ Taster Session __ 11am to 1pm __ Uni Library Foyer. Details to be confirmed...

Last Tuesday we saw our first J49 event on campus! And the second one quickly followed on Friday! Woo hoo! Tuesday's Pop-a-Thon, which I unfortunately missed, was a real big success. The girls stood on parade, outside the library with their helpers for ages, with what must have felt like endless handfuls of balloons, getting students to pop, bang and pop those balloons, collecting a prize for every pop! They raised and amazing £597.12! I'm so impressed at the whole event, and even more so at the effort the team put in. Well done to all those involved! THe kids Christmas party wend down really well to, we had lots of happy kids and tired volunteers on Friday night, great feedback from the schools, so lots of happy people. A big thank you to the xmas party team. LAST week us J49 Officers got together in London with the head office gang for some training and meal. It was fab meeting everyone else in my role again, really positive hearing about projects going on in other parts of the country, and I got loads of ideas, so watch this space... WELL, it's time to leave for my Christmas hols, I'm planning on relaxing and having some fun, I hope you do too!

Yesterday's 'Intro and Ideas' session was fab. There were very few of us, but that meant that we were able to talk loads about ideas and I was able to answer everyone's questions. Below you'll see some thoughts we had on volunteering. Thank you to everyone who came along!

STILL COMING UP! Tuesday's Pop-a-Thon! Come and pop a balloon and win a prize, anything from sweets to restaurant vouchers and many in between. If you're anywhere near the library on Tuesday, you can't miss them!

Hi y'all.

Firstly, Thu 4th Dec, we've got a J49 'Intro & Ideas' drop in session going on, from 1.15 to 3pm in 3E 4.17. I don't know where that is yet, but I'll find out in time! COME ALONG, It's going to be great fun, we wanna get together, share and generate ideas, bounce project plans off each other to see what we come up with, and plenty more... And there are some freebies up for grabs; T-shirts, pens & bags. I'll be outside the library Monday 1st to shout about it.

Ideas come through so far (we need to get these on the site guys!):
Free kid's after school football club
Bar FTSE (I thought they meant Footsie)
Popping balloons for prizes
Booze-free local band dance
Student charity shop
Plenty more to come...

Get your thinking caps on!

Ska

Wow, last week felt really hectic, loads going on, a few projects starting to trickle in, there are some brilliant ideas out there, it's really inspiring!
I'm trying to spread the word aobut J49 but the uni's so big and there's only one of me! Articles coming in the student paper and posters on a noticeboard near you soon.

Hi everyone...

So, I arrived last Tuesday, I'm loving the atmosphere here in the Volunteer Centre, and I'm trying really hard to settle in properly.

It's a bit of a mammouth task trying to get in contact with everyone who's expressed an interest in J49, as there are quite a few of you out there, but I'm loving all the project ideas floating around and I hope to catch as many as possible asap!

I look forward to getting involved in lifting all of your projects off the ground, come see me so we can get started!

Sca