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On Thursday 24th October 10 students from Loudwater Combined School completed their Play your Part volunteering day at Herschel Park. This day forms a central part of the Yes Futures programmes to develop key talent areas whilst engaging with the local community.
The grey drizzle outside contradicted the excited buzz of the students heading out for the day. Despite low temperatures and rain that seemed to only grow heavier, it thrilled the students to jump off the bus and get started. Our leader for the day, Rozina, greeted us and gave a talk and demonstration of the tools we would use to tackle the overgrown brambles. We were tasked with clearing the area for regrowth of plants and to promote wildlife within the park. On seeing the brambles, it seemed a daunting task as many of the beastly plants towered higher than the students themselves! This did not deter the students at all, driven by a determination to achieve personal goals they had set themselves that morning.
We split into three groups, and got to work. The students quickly realised the ability of different tools and the importance of teamwork in the task. Students volunteered themselves into roles, with excellent leadership skills being seen.
As lunch time approached the rain got even heavier and as stomachs began to rumble, we quickly made headway into the indoors and sheltered from the rain. Out of our wet shoes and soggy raincoats we lunched and played games. Moods picked up and stayed up, even with putting on wet coats and shoes as we headed back out into the rain to pick up where we had left off. It was great to see the positivity and motivation levels still remaining so high.
The students were keen to finish what they had started and quickly got to work again. Their resilience was impressive, as I was a cold wet coach that would have happily retreaded to find shelter! By the end of the day, we all felt immensely proud as we had cleared a huge patch of brambles. This visual difference from the start of the day to the end evidenced their teamwork, communication skills, leadership skills, and most evidently their resilience.
A huge well done to the students that took part and a big thank you to Rozina and Ian, the extremely helpful team at Herschel Park who facilitated the day for us!
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To find out more about how your students could get involved with the Yes Futures Programmes, please contact Sophie, Impact Manager: sophie@yesfutures.org, 07908 687779 or visit our website.
If you're interested in becoming a Play Your Part partner, please contact Helena, Head of Programmes: helena@yesfutures.org.