December Monthly Meeting Poster

New exciting volunteering opportunities!

Hey guys,

I have recieved some information about an exciting new volunteering opportunity. Please check below for more information.

.......................

Is there a charity that's close to your heart? A cause you feel passionate about? Do you like the idea of working for a UK charity of your choice for two months - and getting paid for your time?

The World of Difference UK programme delivered by the Vodafone Foundation lets 500 people do just that every year. This year it could be you.

If you like the idea of getting involved but are not sure what opportunities are available, why not try out our unique Charity Matchmaker tool to help you find charities that match your interest and location.

To find out more and apply, visit the World of Difference website. To share your views and become a fan, find us on Facebook.

Apply by 23 November 2010 to be in with a chance of winning your place on the programme.

Click the link below to get to the website.

 Vodaphone - World of Difference UK 2010

Thanks, Robyn

Fairbridge Solent Training Opportunities

Hey Champs,

I have recently been made aware of an exciting new training opportunity through Fairbridge Youth Trust. The aim is to book 10 interested volunteers onto the training course for a basic Youth Worker qualification which will be being held at Hythe Youth Club.

Basically, the aim is to get the 10 people, send their names to Fairbridge and they will ask for a venue (Hythe Youth Club) to run the course and it only costs £10.

I will have more information for you soon.

Thanks,

Robyn

2nd Monthly Meeting Feedback

“Overall the workshop was fantastic especially with the reduced time scale. It was very creative and gave everyone the chance to use his or her imagination. If it had been longer like initially planned we could have made some great sounds to show each other and even tried out each others instruments.” – Stevi-Rose Allen

“The meeting went well, was nice to see some of The Champs again. It was a shame about the lack of young people. The SoCo gig opportunity was also very interesting.”  - Rosie Campbell

2nd Monthly Meeting Summary

I think that the 2^nd monthly meeting was quite successful. It started out the same as the 1^st with Amy handing out the resources for the 3^rd peer motivation sessions and running through how to use them to get the best from both The Champion and the FJF employee. After this we did a small exercise where we each said a negative comment about out placements (playing the role of the FJF employee) and our Champion would have to respond with a positive comment. The exercise was intended to show how to approach a difficult situation and how to give it a positive outcome. I think that everyone had very interesting questions and answers and that the overall exercise was very useful. After this we had a visit from Charlie from Music Fusion about an event that would be being held at SoCo Music Hub on October 23^rd. He told us that he really wanted to get The Champions involved with the Cultural Takeover / Future Jobs Fund placements to give them a bit more experience and to help a few Cultural Takeover placements towards their Silver Arts Awards. He did go on a bit longer than initially intended which put everything else slightly behind schedule. After the talk from Charlie, we did a quick activity for Miranda in the form of a Midpoint Peer Motivation Evaluation wall chart. It was based around the same idea as the Aspiration Tree we Champs did during the training in July but it differed in the sense that it outlined challenges we’ve faced and how we’re utilising the resources to benefit the FJF’s.

For the amount of time that was left I feel that the Build Your Own Instrument workshop went as well as it could have. There were a few points I couldn’t get across like the intended learning outcomes but everyone really got into creating their instruments and came out with some fantastic ideas. In the end we couldn’t split people into groups to compose something so instead we went around the group and got a small explanation from each person about they had made and what resources they had used.

Marshall and I are hoping to attempt the workshop again in the future with more input coming from both me and him as I did a lot of the work which wasn’t intentional. I couldn’t get to SoCo to plan with him due to unexpected illness. We also hope to have more time and more Cultural Takeover young to attend so we can get 100% from the workshop and everyone attending.

Here are a few pictures of the instruments that people made.

1st Monthly Meeting Summary

I think that the first monthly meeting was a great success. It was structured really well starting out with Amy’s intro, Miranda’s “spiel” and going round and finding out the good points and bad points so far. I think this was good as the whole group could input information about a certain person’s query. Then we all moved to the workshop area and sat with the young people on The Cultural Takeover. Amy gave another small introduction to what we would be doing and how it’d work to bring out our creative sides but could also show inspirations, aspirations and self-reflection. I think this worked really well because if you’d have said “Here’s a mask, here are some materials, make this.” it would have come across as being quite boring and not very productive but leaving the Champs and young people to design and create was a lot of fun. I also spoke to some of the young people on The Cultural Takeover placements at SoCo who were putting musical designs onto their masks. This included musical notes, the Metallica “Star” logo, Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison’s kabuki style mask markings, drums and other more colourful and artistic designs. They were really enjoying their placements and being able to jam together on drums, guitar, bass and keyboards to create some great ideas for songs or to just generally have fun.

I have also gathered some feedback from The Champions with their thoughts on how the meeting and workshop went.

“I thought the first meeting went well. All of the Young People were engaging, and seemed to be having fun. As for The Champions, I had a good time. It was nice to see everyone again and also nice to meet some of the young people. The packs you set up for us seem to be helpful and will help us organise things a little better I'm sure.” – Rosie Campbell

“I thought the mask painting was awesome, it was a nice way to interact in a relaxed environment with the young people on The Cultural Takeover programme. It was good to listen to everyone else's experiences and thoughts, bringing them all together” – Clare Nolan

“The monthly meeting was extremely helpful for a number of reasons. I found giving feedback to other Champions and hearing their experiences very helpful and having a question and answer session gave me more ideas on how to approach certain situations. The packs were very useful and informative. The funnest part was the mask making. It not only introduced us to young people but gave us a chance to interact with them creatively. A great exercise and I look forward to the next one!”  - Louise Ward

Here are a few pictures from the creative workshop showing The Champions and a few of the Cultural Takeover young people who were on their placements at SoCo Music Project.

My case study for The Champions' Training

I have recently completed the Champions’ Peer Motivation training course, which took place from the 6^th - 22^nd of July. Within the training I learnt lots of new skills that I can utilise in my volunteering and hopefully continue to use it with any work I do is the distant future. The most important bits of training for me were:

·         Learning about “Safe Touch” and when it is necessary.

·         The use of Action Planning to motivate and to help visualise goals.

·         The use of icebreakers to get people motivated and to add a fun start to the day.

·         Creating collages to show interests, ambitions and inspirations. I think this is also a good way to show creativity and also to show how the individuals may picture themselves.

For me, the main skill that stood out for me was the Action Planning. I really like the idea that if you set yourself one main goal then layout however many stepping stones and milestones between your start and final goal with a set time period, that it will give you a clearer picture of how you can get from A to B. I plan on creating an Action Plan for myself when I have the chance to, to help me get a better understanding of what I’d like to pursue as a career.

I also enjoyed the Icebreaker activities at the start of each training session. These got my motivated for the day and got my brain working so I could get stuck in with everything that was planned out. My favourite Icebreakers were the ones where you had to throw the juggling ball to someone and say your name as you did it. This was a good way to kick start your brain so that you remembered who people were. At the end of the day we played it again but instead of saying your name when you threw it you had to say the name of the person you were throwing it to. This helped a lot when it came to confidence. If you can put a name to a face then the person doesn’t seem intimidating no matter how kind they really are. I also enjoyed the Rhythm Snake. This was another great memory activity. Everyone stood in a circle and had to create a dance move to go with the syllables in their name. As you went round the group you had to remember each persons different dance move and copy it. When you got back round to the start it would speed up or go in reverse. It was a fun way to start the day and I would really enjoy incorporating it into anything I have to make people feel more comfortable.

Since finishing the training I have been much more positive and have a greater outlook on my day-to-day life. I look forward to starting my motivating both as a part of The Champions project but also within my local youth club/community. There are things I thought the training may have helped a lot with but only gave a slight nudge to. These will have to be worked on if my hopes of being a music teacher or teaching assistant are to happen. I think they may be improved by my own Champion but if not, there’s always the next lot of training I can do to help it.