Volunteer of the Month, October 2011

Tom Newman

Tom, now in his second year at Durham, has been volunteering with Team Durham ever since he arrived. He manages to juggle his sporting commitments, playing tennis and swimming at University-level, with his Biology degree, but still finds time to help out at Maiden Castle.

Tom's main voluntary work involves instructing tennis to junior school children as part of their sporting curriculum, though his altruistic streak has led him to work with vulnerable women and young offenders. Of this, Tom said, "It was quite a challenge as I'd never worked with [young offenders] before, so knowing where to pitch what I was saying was difficult, but I built up a rapport with them and things went really well... it was very rewarding".

Having started with no coaching qualifications whatsoever, Tom has worked his way up to a Level 3 Coaching badge, no mean acheivement in just over a year! It is clear that whether or not Tom takes up coaching as a career, the skills he has gained will be readily transferrable and he will have benefitted immensely from the hard work he has put in helping others get more out of life through sport.

Volunteer of the Month, December 2010

Ellie Cliffe

Ellie has volunteered for a number of projects while at Durham University, including the Second Chance debating project. This award is to recognise her dedication over the past three years to Team Durham and in particular, the commitment she has given to the ISSP canoeing programme.

Despite being busy with her dissertation, Ellie has travelled to Sunderland Harbour every week to work alongside a qualified canoeing instructor on a programme that aims to help disadvantaged service users gain canoeing qualifications.

 

Volunteer of the Month, November 2010

Christine Reid, Sam Richards, Shiz Gerami

All three students have had an instrumental part in this year's Second Chance debating project. As well as planning each week's workshop and exercises, they each took on a leadership role within the project, showing great initiative and enthusiasm at the weekly Tuesday night sessions.

Their friendly outgoing attitudes made them popular with the participants, while their debating experience with the Durham Union Society made them knowledgable leaders.

 

Volunteer of the Month, October 2010

Simon Goatcher

Over the last three years, Simon has volunteered on a number of projects while at the University. These include the Mini Olympics Sports Festival and the Multi Skills Academy, which are run in partnership with the Durham City School Sport Partnership. His role at these events have ranged from assistant coach to mentor to general helper - whatever role he is assigned to, we know it will be done in a professional and diligent manner. 

Simon has also given his time assisting Laura Coleman who is the Community Rugby Coach for the Durham area. He visits schools with Laura to deliver tag rugby and touch rugby. Simon is a very capable rugby coach who coaches his College club as well as refereeing games on Wednesdays and at weekends.

 

Volunteer of the Month, June 2010

Sarah Harding

Sarah Harding has been rewarded for her volunteering in the past-exam period.  Sarah was a javelin demonstrator extraordinaire at the 'Playground to Podium' event at the Riverside Complex, Chester-le-Street, where disabled young people and adults were talent-spotted in a number of sports.  Sarah also assisted on a sports session for young people who have been identified as not getting much parental support for academic and extra-curricular activites. 

 

Volunteer of the Month, May 2010

Simon Marsh

Simon Marsh received Volunteer of the Month for May for giving his time on the SUNEE Street League project throughout the university exam period.  Simon assisted with preparation of the sessions as well as being a first class goalkeeper in the football matches.  He has also found time to complete his Level One Certificate in Football Coaching with the help of Team Durham.

 

Volunteer of the Month, April 2010

Kate Douglas

Kate has volunteered with Youth Offenders throughout the year on the ISSP (Intense Supervision Surveillance Programme), mentoring clients on sessions such as rock climbing and cycling.  Kate has also helped with a multisport activity day and volunteered on a trampolining session.  Such has been Kate's dedication throughout, that she has travelled from Stockton to Durham for many of the events.

 

Volunteer of the Month, March 2010

Steph Thompson

Steph has volunteered every Tuesday and Thursday on Team Durham's Women's Group.  After supporting the project as a mentor in Michaelmas term, Steph has taken on responsibility for planning and organising the programme of activities in Epiphany term as well as delivering sessions like circuit training.  She has also completed the Level One Certificate in Football Coaching while mentoring three of the clients through the same course.

 

Volunteer of the Month, February 2010

Steph Hannah

Steph has been spending her Wednesday mornings in a local primary school, Trinity, which caters for children with learning difficulties and disabilities.  During her time at Trinity, Steph has supported the P.E. teacher in the delivery of sport classes and her help and support has been gratefully received by the school, who have really appreciated having an additional coach.  On top of this wonderful work, Steph has also been volunteering on a wide range of community preojects including working with Looked After Children and supporting the delivery of the Junior High Performance Academy.

 

Volunteer of the Month, January 2010

Karen Sayer

Karen has been one of the lead mentors working with the IMPACT group this year.  This project aims to educate and train students from local pupil referral units in County Durham to enable them to complete an ASDAN in Sport and Exercise Award.  Karen has delivered practical and theory sessions in nutrition, fitness testing and principles of training, to name a few.  She has been dedicated, reliable and built an excellent rapport with the group.

 

Volunteer(s) of the Month, December 2009

Tim Finlay and Christine Reid

We have awarded this duo 'students of the month' for December in recognition of the succesful completion of the 2009 Cyrenians Second Chance Debating Project.  The students, who have volunteered an astonishing amount of time in fundraising, lesson planning and superb delivery of workshops, received a fantastic end result when this year's project had a record number of debaters and arguably the best debate the project has ever seen.

 

Volunteer of the Month, November 2009

Sophie Walton

Sophie has been involved in many projects in this past year including SUNEE Street League, ISSP (working with youth offenders) and IMPACT (working with pupils from a school referral unit).  As part of her role within the project, Sophie has planned and delivered lessons on Nutrition, fitness testing and circuit training.  Through the work she has done on the projects, she has reached out into the wider community and is now a paid coach for a local Gymnastics club.  We would also like to congratulate her on securing a place with Team Durham on the Zambia project this year.

 

Volunteer of the Month, October 2009

Chris Savage

Chris has volunteered on several projects over the last two years, including the SUNEE Podium event, Homeless sessions, IMPACT and Kelly Cup football sessions.  His ability to communicate with adults and children on their level makes him a great mentor for the participants that come to the Team Durham projects.

 

Volunteer of the Month, September 2009

Emily Reed

Emily has volunteered on many of the Team Durham Community Projects including Girls Together, Summer Camps, Women's Groups and SUNEE Street League.  She has also undertaken several coaching courses to further her development as a volunteer coach/mentor.  Emily builds up a wonderful rapport with all the groups and participants, making them all feel welcome and special.