Author archive
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By Jemima Jordan 13th June 10
So after another great night at the festival, Summer of Give is kicking off for the final day of Isle of Wight. We have got all sorts of performers doing their thing from basketball freestylers to aerobics instructors. Check out our Facebook page for pics. For now though, here is a blog from one of our volunteers, Dan. today he has been chatting to volunteers about their attitudes to volunteering. here’s what he found:Isle of Wight Festival 2010
Dan’s Blog: Sunday 13th June.
It’s the last day with the bigvbus at the Isle of Wight and it’s the last day of the festival. So I thought it was the perfect time to get off the bus and out amongst the festival go-ers to find out their thoughts and opinions about volunteering and about the Summer of Give project. I was unsure about people’s views towards volunteering, but was quickly overwhelmed by the positive attitudes everybody had about doing it.
I expected most people wouldn’t be interested in volunteering and would
think it wasn’t for them. I wasn’t alone in thinking that. Most people I spoke with thought volunteering was unpopular, despite being interested in it themselves.Ellie, from Newport, told me she’d like to volunteer with kids to gain work experience, but said most people can’t be bothered and think ‘why give up your time for nothing’. Another previous volunteer said “Some people think you don’t get anything out of it, but I like it.”
However, as I went round and spoke to more and more people I found that almost everyone was interested, and either had volunteered before, or would like to in the future. I spoke to some Oxfam volunteers who said they’d had the same experience. They were going round the festival trying to get people to sign up for their newsletter, but found lots of people interested in volunteering itself and asking ‘how do you get into it?’
One volunteer, Lucy, told me she volunteers in the Oxfam shop at home in Brighton, and for Oxfam at festivals. She’s taking full advantage of the benefits of volunteering at festivals, the Isle of Wight being the first of many festivals she’s getting free entry for this summer. She said if you have the spare time, then why not volunteer – “It’s fun, it makes you feel good, and it looks great on the CV.
Young people were especially interested when we spoke to them about v, the Summer of Give, and the opportunity to volunteer doing some they’re passionate about. v is unique because everybody volunteering for them, including at the Isle of Wight, is doing something they’re passionate about and they chose to do, making volunteering not just enjoyable, but also valuable. A festival-goer I spoke with said she’s interested in photography as a career and would love to volunteer for v, not just for the experience, but also to benefit a future Uni application.It’s v’s mission over the summer to make volunteering something unmissable, something that everyone wants to do. Certainly from my experience volunteering for v at the Isle of Wight, it’s something everybody should try.
Dan xx
To apply for Summer of Give, head to the website.
For more pictures and updates from the Summer of Give project, go to the Facebook page.
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By Jemima Jordan 12th June 10
Hey guys! So here we are still at the Isle of Wight festival 2010 for Summer of Give! We had an awesome day of volunteering madness on the bigvbus yesterday, and we all headed off to see Florence and the Machine and Jay Z, but today’s a new day, and with a new day, comes a new load of volunteers and a new blog! Woop woop! Today we have got Dan telling us his impressions of volunteering after spending 2 days with the Summer of Give team.Isle of Wight Festival 2010.
Dan’s blog. Saturday 12th June.
I was originally roped into volunteering for v by my friend, and in all honesty was apprehensive. I had all sorts of expectations and preconceptions about volunteering, that were immediately extinguished the moment I arrived. It doesn’t have to involve anything you’re uncomfortable with, or breaking your back picking up litter. Volunteering can be interesting, it can be completely personable and suited to each individuals skills and interests, and most importantly, it can be surprisingly rewarding!
Personally, my passion is writing and I’m lucky to have been given the chance to volunteer and write about vinspired. But the wide range of skills on show prove how inspiring and involving it can be. From Sam and
Sam performing their unique acoustic versions of S-Club’s ‘Don’t Stop Moving’ and George Harrison’s ‘Here Comes the Sun’ to the vinspired Climate Squad, helping raise awareness about climate change by encouraging festival-goers to power light bulbs, laptops and mobile phones by cycling their specially adapted exercise bike. Their aim is to recruit 16-25 year old volunteers and train them up to run carbon-cutting projects in their own communities.On the other side of the bus The Physics Busters Claire and Fliss were amazing everyone, particularly the ever enthusiastic Theone with the physics of non-Newtonian fluids, or, the custard trick to laymen!
The star of the day was the enigmatic beat boxer Bass6. Performing in front of the bigvbus he amazed crowds with his versions of hits such as Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ before he and Theon, a DJ, got the crowd going with ‘No Woman No Cry’.
Joined by Skinny Lister, an acoustic folk band from Greenwich. They attracted a crowd with their performance, culminating in a rousing sing-a-long rendition of iconic folk song ‘South Australia’. I spoke to Lorna, vocalist and Ukulele player for the band. She said they wanted to come and perform at the bigvbus after seeing it at a previous event, and, having volunteered herself in the past, she understands “how inspiring it can be.”
I spoke to v20 member Chris, who has been with v since it b
egan back in 2006. He told me he started volunteering as a way of gaining work experience while at university, and didn’t imagine he’d still be doing it 5 years later! In his own words, after he’d joined v he didn’t want to leave; “because it’s so rewarding”.It’s only June and it’s only the beginning of the Summer of Give. Have a look at the upcoming opporunities and get involved. Head to www.vinspired.com.
Dan x
To apply for Summer of Give, head to the website.
For more pictures and updates from the Summer of Give project, go to the Facebook page.
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By Jemima Jordan 11th June 10
So for those of you that think today is just about the start of The World Cup, I am afraid to tell you that you are sorely mistaken! Today is also the very day that we kick off official day one of Summer of Give, where we go to five festivals across England, and showcase young volunteers’ skills. This weekend we are at Isle of Wight Festival, and we have got some lovely cameo bloggers who will be letting you know how we get on!Our first fantastic festival blog comes courtesy of Claire and Fliss! Don’t forget you can check out more of our crazy antics and photos over at our Facebook fan page.
Claire and Fliss’ festival blog
Friday 11th June – First day of the Isle of Wight festival
After a rainy start and some already aromatic toilets, we make our way to the vinspired bus…
Lisa is an expert in origami and is teaching members of the public how to make animals; we take the
opportunity to make some leopard print and zebra print frogs – and they actually hop. Lisa subscribed to the vinspired website but was ignorant of the Summer of Give project until she was sent an email about it; now she’s here with 67000 festival revelers, a group of cheerleaders, some physics busters (that’s us) and some major superstars! Quite a way to start the summer. Lisa’s first few customers make a dinosaur and a bird – caw caw! As Lisa says, she is proof that “volunteering is not just picking up rubbish.”Meanwhile, outside the bus the cheerleaders are wowing the crowds, performing lifts and throws for the public in their brand new shiny vinspired uniforms. After an easy Backwards Pitch, Amy is launched into a Twist-cradle, and a cheer erupts from the surrounding crowd.
Accosting members of the public, the cheerleaders grab a festival birthday boy and before he knows what is happening, he’s thrown into the air and purple and silver pom-poms are thrust into his hands. Afterwards he says that he’s “Never felt so scared in my life,” but the huge grin across his face would imply that he secretly enjoyed it.
Whilst the cheerleaders take a well earnt break, Charlotte the football freestyler takes over; that girl has got skills – the ball seems to be magnetically attracted to her feet. “I always played football when I was younger,” she says, “I played in midfield and I always liked the technical stuff…my agency got me the gig here at the Isle of Wight festival.” As for her opinion of vinspired? “It’s good because people can see that it’s fun to volunteer.”
Emma and Lucy are beavering away making Critters. They found out about vinspired’s Summer of Give through an advertisement in a creative magazine, and being creative types, they jumped at the opportunity to share their passion: “I expected the festival to be fun, and to interact with the public” says Emma, “it’s good to make people more aware of vinspired.”
The Cheerleaders are at it again, manic grins on their faces and impossible high kicks performed. Having been picked up and thrown about, one festival goer said that he loved the experience: “its a great thing you’re doing here” he spluttered when he returned to the ground “
…and the cheerleaders are great!”A quick wander round the festival site gets us all excited for the performances tonight – Jay Z is headlining and the roadies are testing out the equipment – not a bad place to be considering our ticket was provided by vinspired for our efforts. Tomorrow the physics busting begins!
Fliss and Claire xxx
To apply for Summer of Give, head to the website.
For more pictures and updates from the Summer of Give project, go to the Facebook page.
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By Jemima Jordan 20th May 10
Afternoon all,vJemima here!
Not to start on a sad note, but ’tis a sad sad day folks! ‘Why?’, I hear you cry! Well, my blog-reading chums, I am afraid to say that after 18 months of writing blogs for the wondrous world of v, that I will now be moving on from the v web team
(shed a tear people, shed a tear!).Sadly, I have decided to move to pastures new and have made the decision to go to … wait for it…the v Marketing team! I know it is a great distance of a full one metre away from my previous desk, and you may miss my ramblings about the National Express, but the blogtastic news is that you are going to get a whole new and exciting blogger who will taking over my role… He is fabulous and talented and full of blogging banter, and his name is Jon Ezaro! (queue round of applause!)
For those who haven’t guessed, this vogue-esque picture above is of me and Jon in our official, business-stylee handover, so now you can visualise for yourself!
So it is now time to go and practice my marketing lingo and try and drag myself away from my keyboard, but I bid you farewell and welcome Jon with Cup-a-soup style virtual bear hug! Look after him everyone!
vJemima
Oo and remember, that the deadline for No Power Hour, our awesome project about getting schoolchildren to energy-save, is TOMORROW! GO GO GOOOO PEOPLE!
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By Jemima Jordan 6th May 10
As you may know, BBC Radio 1 held their first ever Local Hero Week from Sunday 18th – Sunday 25th April and as part of the fun, they only went and asked our very own vTiger to help answer questions about volunteering on The Surgery. Now there was no way we were going to let that pass us by without finding out the insider goss, so we asked him to write a little cameo blog for us. Check it out here:“So there I am sitting in a basement around the corner from Oxford Circus station on a Sunday evening chatting to Aled and Alexandra Burke about the joys of volunteering. Outside the glass panelled walls Westwood is waving enthusiastically, phone and text messages are pouring in, we’re live on Radio 1 and somehow I need to keep my composure and respond to questions about what volunteering opportunities are most applicable for a young person who is interested in fashion.
It still hasn’t sunk in but last Sunday’s Surgery show will always remain one of my most cherished v experiences. So how did this all come about? Well I think our people had been talking to the Radio 1 people and the VSO people were involved, and possibly a few other people and they agreed that it would be great to profile volunteering and have a Local Hero week. I’ll be honest and say when they said Westwood was fronting it I was a little unsure how things would pan out, but the Big Dog was on top form all week. Cruising around supporting good causes in his beat up A-Team van, with celebrity help from the likes of Scott Mills, Chipmunk and of course Alexandra he helped show the fun that can be had in all types of volunteering. The video clips on the BBC Radio 1 website are definitely well worth a watch!
What was most compelling was seeing that the Local Hero week had really made a massive impression on him and I don’t know what happened on the farm between Westwood and Henrietta the pig but he visibly lit up when recollecting the story on air. I have to say I was a little choked up by the impact the week had on him and as a result made a bit of a hash of answering my final questions. That said I loved it, every single second of it and if you ever get the chance to do any kind of radio seize the opportunity with both hands. Prior to the show I was chatting with the production team and Aled. It was interesting that all
of us had gained some experience of radio as volunteers. I used to host a two hour weekly show during my time at Southampton University on good old SURGE FM. I never thought the skills and experience I gained would ever be used again let alone on a live show on Radio 1! Viva volunteering!Adios, Tiger”
To find out about volunteering opportunties in the media, head to www.vinspired.com now!
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By Jemima Jordan 30th April 10
Hi everyone! Friday again (where did the week go?) and I am just about to head off for a lovely bank holiday weekend of beer and bacon sandwiches, but before I go, I just wanted to make sure you all know what the score is with the fantabulous vinspired.com.When you logged on/log on today, you will notice a few changes. Don’t panic because not only are they going to make it easier for you to search for opportunties to suit you, but they are also going to make it possible for you to apply for a vinspired.com award through your vinspired.com profile. Nuts! To see run down of the changes on your profile and how to apply for a vinspired award, click here. But do bear in mind that the changes won’t be fully implemented until earlier next week, so you will not be able to take advantage of the full functionality until then. It’ll be worth the wait though!
Please also bear in mind that if you have already logged your hours on the old system, your hours HAVE NOT BEEN LOST, and will be moved over to your vinspired.com profile by the end of the weekend.
Phew! Well now we have got that sorted, let’s all go and enjoy the sun.
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By Jemima Jordan 23rd April 10
Agh what a beeeeautiful sunny day it is and what a beautiful sunny weekend it is set to be! I am uber excited about potential park picnic whilst wearing floaty summer dress, even if I am not so excited at the prospect of being laughed at by my friends for not being able to catch a frisbee (shhhh, don’t tell anyone) Anyways, here at v castle, we have had an even more super-busy week than normal what with the exciting new changes we are set to make on vinspired.com. Don’t worry, it is nothing dramatic – just a couple o’ lovely little things that are guaranteed to make you smile
Anyway, you must make sure you keep an eye on the blogs and your emails for more details so you know what to expect Trust me, you’ll love it though.And on that note, don’t forget to get your applications in for vcashpoint and the Summer of Give or I will have to enforce a blogging strike (I just know you are quivering in your boots as I type). Trust me, if you don’t get them in, you will miss out big time
OK, off to the park. xx
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By Jemima Jordan 16th April 10
Afternoon all, how’s it going?
This week has been a busy sorta week for all of us at v, but boy have we got some snazzy stuff to show for it! OK, so I might have escaped back to Wales for a belated Easter break avec my family, but I can surely assure you that everyone else has been very busy making the campaign of all campaigns, otherwise known as…
(*ahem… *queue round of applause*… *ahem*Why thank you*)
This fantabulous campaign is offering 18-25 year olds all over England the chance to get a free ticket to some of the UK’s biggest festivals in return for just 4 hours of their time showcasing their talents. That’s right folks – by giving a miniscule four hours of your time showing off your skills, you could get a free ticket to the following:
★ Isle of Wight Festival on 11th – 13th June.
★ T4 On the Beach on 4th July
★ Relentless Boardmasters on 4th – 8th August
★ V Festival on 20th – 22nd August
★ Creamfields on 28th – 29th August
Sounds good? Well then my little blog-reading chums, what are you doing here? Head to www.vinspired.com/summerofgive and apply! There are not only just opportunties for you to showcase your talents right slap-bang in the middle fo a festival, we have also got promotional opportunities for those of you that don’t fancy showing off and instead just want to help us spread the word about volunteering!Meanwhile, our special London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games inspired vcashpoint is still up and running so get on it immediately budding project-runners! That £2500 for you to set up a volunteering project in your community won’t be around forever! Click here for more details.
Right well that’s it for me then. I have a niggling hope that I may get 2000 fans this weekend on our Facebook page, so if you fancy helping nudge the action along a little bit, do join or suggest to friends
Thanks all.x
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By Jemima Jordan 1st April 10
Not only is it Easter this weekend, aka Jemima scoffing her face with chocolate for the first time in forty days and forty nights (let’s just forget about the mini egg carnage of march 2010), it is also….Wait for it….
A new special London 2012 inspired round of vcashpoint! YAAAAAYYY! Do you know what this means people? It means you get to apply for a grant of up to £2500 to set up a project of course! Like previous rounds, you’ll need to show how your project will help other people (not relatives), the environment or your community, but in
a bit of a twist, we are also asking that your project has been inspired by London 2012. To get your brains twirling and swirling, some Olympic and Paralympic themes that we came up with are Sport, Health Culture, Education and Environment. So what are you waiting for?!? Head to our luscious vcashpoint page and apply!We also have more news, which is half happy and half sad, and that’s that we have now finished recruiting for season 5 of v20! That means that we have 20 new inspirational and enthusiastic 16-25 year olds to make sure that we is down the ute….aka youth. Woop woop. The sad news is that we
will be saying good bye to our lovely season 4 v20 in the next two months . You will not be forgotten and I am sure you won’t forget vGary’s raps OK that’s it from me now. I am off to eat choc and eat more choc. Huurraaah!
Happy Easter from us all x
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By Jemima Jordan 22nd March 10
Morning all and welcome to the first (week)day of spring (see what I did there?)! If you just squint your eyes a wee bit, you won’t see that massive dark cloud looming above, and you can happily convince yourself that there is only sunshine and blue sky; a sure sign that we are rid of that ghastly winter that we thought would never end.Not only does this signal the end of months of sunlight deficiency for me and everyone else in England, but it also means that outdoor volunteering is back on the cards. Lucky for you, we’ve got a whole page which pulls together all of the volunteering opportunities that you can do outdoors, so you don’t need to waste precious Facebook-stalking minutes searching for all the things you can do outdoors! If you give the page a good ol’ scan with your peepers, you will see there is lots going on from tree planting, to cricket, to football coaching, to taking pictures of those lovely pretty waterways you wander past every da. So what are you waiting for? Go have a cheeky peek now, before its July and your panic-buying a holiday to Tenerife in a bid to make the most of your summer hols!
The other thing spring signals is festival volunteering application time: We currently have loads of lovely stuff up on our festival volunteering page, but I am going to have to shake my finger like your aunty and say ‘hurry up and apply’, beause they are filling up FAST. Word on the street is that the only spa
ces left at Glastonbury are waiting list, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya!One cheeky tip I can give you though, is that we will be looking for volunteers for the bigvbus bus veeery soon, so all is not lost if you miss out this month
I’ll keep you posted folks,
Jemima and the vinspired.com team.
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