Northumbria University has won a prestigious national volunteering
award after its students were recognised for their work in driving a positive
change in society.
The University was competing for the National Sport and Recreation
Alliance volunteering award, which also saw Loughborough Sport, at Loughborough
University, and Sport England’s Active Surrey programme also shortlisted. Northumbria Sport was presented with the award by His Royal Highness Prince Edward.
The Sport and Recreation Alliance’s volunteering award seeks to
celebrate clubs and programmes that go the extra mile to make volunteering
accessible to all people. Northumbria Sport’s 297 on the volunteering programme
logged over 9,000 hours of work between September 2017 and August 2018.
Northumbria’s sport development and engagement manager, Sue Vout, said
she was delighted with the programme’s achievements and the result. “The Sport
and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella body for sport and recreation in
the UK and is the voice of the sector with government, policy makers and
the media,” she said. “In 2017, our student volunteer programme won the BUCS
workforce programme of the year award, demonstrating its excellence among other
universities.
“Unlike that award, the Sport
and Recreation Alliance award is open to all types of organisations across the
country, clearly demonstrating how outstanding our work in this area is.”
Student and staff development manager, Kate Hansbury, and Sarah Stephenson,
sport services assistant, oversee the sport volunteering programme at
Northumbria and paid testament to the volunteers and hosts they work with.
“We are lucky to work with such
fantastic volunteers, as well as internal and external hosts who offer such
exciting opportunities for them to experience,” said Kate. “Without these
generous host organisations there wouldn’t be a programme, so being nominated
for this award is an achievement for everyone involved.”
