Royal Holloway, University of London, will be hosting its first Festival of Volunteering on Wednesday 26 September, during the university’s Welcome Week.
The festival, which will take place within Founder’s Square at the university’s Egham campus, will be launched by the High Sherriff of Surrey, Jim Glover, and Royal Holloway Vice Principal, Bob O’Keefe.
The all-day event aims to encourage students to get involved with volunteering opportunities available at Royal Holloway, and to be part of the university’s ever growing voluntary presence in the local community, for which it has won The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The award was bestowed upon Royal Holloway for the Community Action’s work in helping build strong communities by inspiring students to volunteer and lead projects to support local organisations.
The Festival of Volunteering will have five zones of voluntary activities on offer for students to sign up to including, Community Action, Social Action, Community Research, Volunteering Abroad, in association with Challenges Abroad, and Sports Volunteering.
There will be a variety of activities and workshops throughout the day, including advice on how to pursue a career in the charity sector, a Guinness World Record sign-up space, and a screening of a community related film.
Voluntary Support of Surrey will also be on campus throughout the day to assist those who are interested in volunteering within the local community.
A range of Hear the Experts theme based talks will be hosted through the late afternoon by a number of leaders within the sector, including Wendy Solesbury MBE, National Youth Engagement Manger at the British Red Cross, and Linda Fenn, Head of Volunteering at the British Heart Foundation.
Phil Simcock, Volunteering Manager at Royal Holloway’s Students’ Union said: “We’re delighted to be hosting our very first Festival of Volunteering here at Royal Holloway.
“Volunteering has always been very important to us at Royal Holloway, and it’s great to see how enthusiastic our students are to help. We’re hoping that the festival will be a great way to reach an even wider pool of students and showcase some of the brilliant work that is being done.
“We’re very proud to work with some amazing charities and hope that our network will continue to grow over the years.”
The Royal Holloway Festival of Volunteering is sponsored by Challenges Abroad, vInspired, Enterprise RAC, British Heart Foundation, MTC Europe and NCVO.
