Timeline
Celebrating 35 Years of Volunteering and Outreach!
In 2024, Durham University Volunteering and Outreach is celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary of organised volunteering activity. Since its establishment in 1989, Student Community Action has transformed and greatly expanded. The Volunteering and Outreach team is now comprised of Student Volunteering and Outreach, Staff Volunteering and Outreach, and Team Durham Community.
1989
Student Community Action is formed
1989 marked the beginning of organised student volunteering at Durham University with the formation of Student Community Action (SCA).
1994
1-2-1 Tutoring is first mentioned
Since its creation, 1-2-1 Tutoring has run every year and continues to be one of the most popular student volunteering projects. By 2004 there were over sixty seven matched tutoring partnerships, a significant increase from fifty in the previous year.
1995
Peter Warburton becomes the Director of Sport
Peter Warburton became the Director of Sport at Durham University and has since played an instrumental role in the development of DU volunteering.
1996
Children Achieving Through Student Support (CATSS) is introduced
CATSS is a flagship outreach project that is still running to this day. Volunteers run day trips for disadvantaged children in the local area to support social development and provide respite for both children and carers.
2000
First Sabbatical Officer
In the 1999-2000 SCA shared their first sabbatical officer, Dan Metcalfe, with Durham University Charities Kommittee (DUCK). In 2000, the government launched Millennium Volunteers (MV), and forty eight SCA volunteers were working towards their hundred-hour certificate.
2002
oSCArs celebration leaflet
The oSCArs (now the Volunteering Awards) are a yearly celebration of volunteer achievements. The first recorded oSCArs event took place in March 2000, and saw sixteen student volunteers receive their hundred-hour Millennium Volunteers certificate.
2004
Zambia’s first national conference on sport and P.E. and formation of the Wallace Group of Universities
Peter Warburton chaired Zambia’s first national conference on sport and P.E. and was a key figure in forming the Wallace Group of Universities (now Bath, Durham, Loughborough, Northumbria, Stirling, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Cardiff Metropolitan). This led to their involvement in the Volunteer Zambia project, which is currently our only overseas volunteering project. Students support the development of sport education in Zambia, and fundraise to support the project.
2006
Significant Nominations
Student Community Action received two Higher Education Active Community Fund (HEACF) nominations and one National Volunteering Team of the Year nomination.
2007
Bill Bryson Patronage
Bill Bryson was made a patron of Student Community Action, and during his time in Durham, continued to be actively involved in volunteering throughout the university.
2010
Staff Volunteering
Staff volunteering began with Project Phoenix funding and was led by Andrew Cattermole. Thanks to the innovative nature of the programme, the Staff Volunteering Scheme became a formalised part of the volunteering department at Durham University. It has since grown and thrived under the dedicated work of the Staff Volunteering and Outreach team.
2013
Team Durham Holiday Camps
This is the first year that Team Durham Community ran their Holiday Camps programme. Since then, it has only expanded and improved.
2015
Investing in Volunteers
The Staff Volunteering team became the first university staff volunteering programme in the UK to gain re-accreditation from Investing in Volunteers after first receiving it in 2012.
2017
Community Fund
Staff Volunteering and Outreach raised £28,000 for thirteen charities in the local area.
2019
SCA becomes DUSVO
In 2019 Student Community Action (SCA) changed its name to Durham University Student Volunteering and Outreach (DUSVO), which it operates as today.
2020
Queen's Award for Voluntary Action
In 2020 the volunteering team was given the Queen's Award for Voluntary Action (now known as the King's Award).
2023
Corporate Social Responsibility and County Durham Together Awards
In 2023 the volunteering and outreach team won Gold at the International Corporate Social Responsibility Awards and Business of the Year at the County Durham Together Awards.
2024
Durham University Volunteering and Outreach celebrates its 35th anniversary!
1989-1996
1989 was Student Community Action’s first official year, although students and staff were volunteering before this. The SCA Handbook says:
There were various projects for students to get involved in, some of which were run by external organisations and others by the students themselves.
SCA also acknowledged other issues that might affect locals and students – this included racism, misogyny, ableism, and homophobia.
Palatinate, 09 November 1989
This is an article, presumably published very shortly after the official establishment of SCA, in a 1989 issue of the Durham University newspaper, Palatinate.
1995-96
SCA started with fortnightly open meetings, but by 1995 an executive committee was established and SCA had gained some impressive patrons.
Students volunteered with many different people and travelled across the county to work with local communities. This includes 1-to-1 Tutoring, which is our longest running and still active project!
Peter Warburton & Barbara Fotheringham
Peter Warburton became the Director of Sport at Durham University and has since played an instrumental role in the development of DU volunteering. Barbara Fotheringham also joined SCA in 1995 as the first administrative assistant and paid staff member.
1996-2001
1996-97 saw the creation of another significant project that still runs now – Children Achieving Through Student Support (CATSS).
The organisation averaged between 20-30 projects, across various areas including:
- Young People
- Adult Mental Health
- Crime and Safety
- Children and adults with learning difficulties
- Elderly befriending
- International volunteering
Team Durham Community (TDC)
Team Durham Community and their involvement in the Durham Sports Partnership began in the late 1990s. Peter Warburton pioneered sports volunteering at Durham University and chaired the Durham Sports Partnership. With the aim of sport development and increased participation across the county, the partnership was formed of various Local Authorities as well regional and national boards.
Peter Warburton sat on the steering group of Sports Action Zones (SAZs), a Sport England initiative that aimed to tackle sport deprivation in disadvantaged areas. This was also supported by Durham University PhD student, Lucy Wheatley, who analysed the data and communicated with the national SAZ team to enable monitoring and evaluation.
TDC was responsible for coordinating the delivery of the Active Sports programme as well as researching and monitoring the Active Sports initiative in the local area.
Friends of SCA
1996-7 also saw the establishment of the Friends of SCA. Whilst there was no official membership fee, people could opt to pay the friend price of £5 to raise money for the organisation, enabling it to continue operation.
In 1997, the handbook records three hundred students volunteering. However, by the end of 2001 this number had increased to approximately seven hundred.
The organisation averaged between twenty to thirty projects, across various areas including Young People, Adult Mental Health, Crime and Safety, Children and adults with learning difficulties, Elderly befriending, and International volunteering.
Millennium Volunteers
In 2000, the Millennium Volunteers initiative was launched to increase the number of volunteers and opportunities. Forty eight students were working towards this award and sixteen hundred-hour certificates were awarded at the oSCArs ceremony in March that year.
2001-2007
In 2007, SCA ran an impressive 90 projects over the year. Some of the newly developing projects included:
- Language tutoring – Spanish and German
- Drama Project
- International Student Link-up
- Thurston Project – performing arts and creative workshops in collaboration with the Thurston Trust, set up in memory of Adam Thurston
- Befriending for people with autism
In 2005-06, three student volunteers received national recognition, achieving Student Volunteering England Gold Awards – Roxy Rocks-Engelman, Emma Rowland and Caroline Carey.
Mission Statement
In 2002, SCA clearly defined its intention to enable the students of Durham University to volunteer within the Durham area. It has always been at the forefront of SCA's values to engage with the community around them and try to make an active change on the ground.
oSCArs 2002
During the 2002 oSCArs, thirteen students achieved the Millennium Volunteers Award for completing two hundred hours of volunteering. In 2005-06, three student volunteers in this period also went on to receive national recognition, achieving Student Volunteering England Gold Awards.
Team Durham Community
Over this period, Team Durham Community was active in many areas of local public life. It even spread its cover internationally in 2004, when Peter Warburton chaired Zambia’s first national conference on sport and physical education. This project is still running and seeks to empower young people in Lusaka, using sport and recreation to promote healthy lifestyles.
2007-2013
In 2007, Student Community Action updated its mission statement to:
"Durham University SCA is a student-driven, community-centred volunteering organisation.
We exist to:
Inspire a pro-active volunteering ethos
Engage students in a broad range of one-off and ongoing projects
Further personal development and skills by offering projects, training and support
Respond to the needs of the local and wider community
Encourage diversity and equality through awareness of and interaction with the community
We believe everyone has something to offer and that we can offer something to everyone."
In the academic year 2007-08, SCA welcomed Chancellor Dr. Bill Bryson as a patron. His support and advocacy helped to promote SCA, and he was actively involved in the organisation for years to come.
Team Durham Community
By 2009, the TDC team consisted of five staff members and over 175 students were volunteering on 15 weekly or bi-weekly projects. Projects, some of which run to this day, included:
- Female Learning Support Students
- Homeless Sports Festival
- Second Chance Football and Multisport Pilots
- Multi Skills Academy
- Asian Women’s Forum
- Junior High Performance Academy
- Sport in Action: Zambia
Launching the Staff Volunteering Scheme
2007-2013 also saw the formalisation of the Staff Volunteering and Outreach programme (SVO). Its journey began in 2008 with the creation of Project Phoenix, a university program related to maximising the value of its presence and work in the local community. In 2009 the university approved a system whereby all members of staff would be eligible to take volunteering leave for up to five days per year. In its infancy, alongside providing volunteering opportunities for university members, SVO also acted as a volunteer brokering and delivery service for the NHS Business Services Authority in Newcastle.
2013-2018
2013-2018 was a period of substantial growth for student volunteering at Durham.
SCA also appeared to be fulfilling the goals they had set in 1989. The original handbook makes it clear that SCA was keen to immerse Durham students in the local community. From a survey done in 2018, 91% of student volunteers felt that their volunteering activities helped them feel connected to the community around them.
This period was also significant in the move towards where the volunteering department lies today, within the Student Enrichment Directorate (previously Experience Durham). While volunteering had previously held an office in the Students’ Union (SU), though they were not officially part of the SU, by 2015 the main office had moved to the Palatine centre alongside other Enrichment Directorate teams. In the 2017-2018 academic year, Durham Student Theatre elected its first Volunteering and Outreach Officer, expanding the presence of volunteering in the Enrichment Directorate beyond the sports and volunteering teams.
Staff Volunteering
Staff Volunteering continued to grow; a pioneering programme that remains a model to many other universities. Stacy Porter, a driving force behind the growth of staff volunteering at Durham, joined the team in 2016 and has been pushing it towards excellence since. In 2016, Andy Cattermole presented at the Mexico City World Volunteering Conference, where he found that the staff volunteering programme was internationally well-regarded.
Team Durham Community
Team Durham Community continued their expansive range of opportunities for children and adults from many areas around Durham. In Easter 2013 the first children’s holiday sports camps ran, with staff and students delivering daily, fun sports sessions to 45 children from the local community per day.
2018-2024
In 2018 Durham became the first university to achieve Investing in Volunteers re-accreditation twice for both the staff and student teams. The reaccreditation came with the following comment from the IiV assessor:
“NCVO are pleased to reaccredit Durham University’s Staff Volunteering team for its third consecutive Investing in Volunteers for Employers quality standard – a unique achievement amongst UK universities. Since receiving the initial award in 2012 Durham University has demonstrated a continued commitment to Staff Volunteering as part of its strategy with clear support from senior management and ongoing resources for the SVO team. The ever-increasing numbers, activities and impact at Durham are very impressive and this certainly puts Durham at the forefront of university employer supported volunteering in the UK.”
Embracing Change
In 2019, SCA became Durham University Student Volunteering and Outreach (DUSVO).
2020 brought significant adaptations to university volunteering, with many projects shifting to online models due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This included Mutual Aid groups, online tutoring, vaccination centres, pen pals, and the online Volunteering Awards.
In 2021, DUSVO combined with Staff Volunteering, Team Durham Community, and College, Society and Department Volunteering to form the Volunteering and Outreach department (DUVO).
In 2023, Durham University Volunteering and Outreach won the International Corporate Social Responsibility and Excellence Awards with the Gold in the Volunteering category. In December of the same year, Durham University Volunteering and Outreach were awarded the title of Business of the Year at the County Durham Together Awards. We are particularly proud of this award because as a university our priority is the local community, and this demonstrates the value of our volunteering contributions.
Awards and Accreditations
Owing to the brilliant and consistent contributions from our staff and student volunteers over the years, as an organisation, we have achieved various notable awards:
2012-2027
We have held the Investing in Volunteers accreditation since 2012 (not including 2019-2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
2020
The team received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in the Community since 1989.
June 2023
Our team won gold at the International Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.
December 2023
We were winners of the Business of the Year category at the County Durham Together Awards.
Our Themes of Volunteering
These themes represent areas of local community need that are also important to DU staff and students.
Cultural
Cultural volunteering at Durham University covers a variety of projects and events. From Durham Global Schools supporting international students in visiting local schools to talk about their home cultures, to students celebrating County Durham’s history and culture at The Auckland Project. The cultural volunteering category is a more recent addition to student volunteering at Durham University, with the growth of internationalism and youth involvement with volunteering in the heritage sector. Cultural volunteering has also been adapted to meet the needs of modern service users, with the Wikimedia Project focusing on teaching people how to efficiently use the platforms that fall under Wikimedia Commons.
Educational
Educational volunteering has always been a staple of outreach at Durham University. 1-2-1 Tutoring is the longest running DUSVO project (as of 2024) and has remained committed to supporting the students of Durham still in secondary education. As an educational institution, it has always been important to Durham student volunteers to support their younger peers and raise the aspiration of the pupils they support. Educational volunteering has also been adapted to fit both international and local needs, with volunteering efforts such as Tutor for Ukraine being set up and run by students in response to international events.
Environmental
Environmental volunteering efforts at Durham have grown alongside the global interest in sustainability education. Our projects cover a variety of issues, with Beyond Food working with local food banks to combat food insecurity, Hedgehog Friendly Durham working to make a real impact on the lives of our local hedgehog population, and the Gardening Project supporting gardens in the local area. We also support litter picks and beach cleans across the colleges and departments.
Animal Welfare
Our volunteers, particularly staff, support Stray Aid, a charity that provides love and support to hundreds of stray dogs and unwanted cats. Volunteers attend monthly sessions where they do dog walking, and spend time socialising dogs and cats that are waiting to find their forever home by cuddling and playing with them.
Social Inclusion
Some of our earliest projects focussed on prison visiting and supporting people accessing disability/mental health services. To this day, social inclusion remains our biggest DUSVO category. Social inclusion is where one of our flagship projects, Children Achieving Through Student Support (CATSS), is housed. CATSS has been providing respite for children from hard to reach backgrounds since its inception in 1996. The social inclusion category has evolved over the years to suit the needs of the community and shifting global awareness surrounding social issues, with more recent projects focusing on causes such as period poverty and empowering young girls.
Health & Wellbeing
Health and Wellbeing is the newest category and focuses on community wellbeing – both physical and emotional. Projects range from swimming lessons for people accessing disability services to being a walking buddy for adults at risk of harm. Many of these projects focus on both physical and emotional wellbeing, with the growing understanding of how closely they are interlinked. Many of the students and staff members who volunteer in this category have expressed how volunteering has helped with their own physical and emotional wellbeing as well. Staff volunteers also support the NHS in saving lives by donating blood and plasma.
Past and Present
Over the many years that DU Volunteering and Outreach has been active, there are various events and projects that have remained popular and still run today.
Longstanding Projects
CATSS - Since 1996, Children Achieving Through Student Support has provided new experiences for over 200 economically and socially disadvantaged young people across Durham.
1-2-1 Tutoring - Since 1995, 1-2-1 Tutoring has been one of the most popular student volunteering projects, with hundreds of school children being tutored by DU students.
Sport in Action: Zambia - Over 75 DU student volunteers have made successful volunteering trips to Lusaka, contributing over 22,050 hours since the project launched in 2006.
Team Durham Holiday Camps
Since beginning in 2013, the Holiday Camps programme has only improved. The summer camps, supported by student volunteers and local young leaders, now accommodate over 100 children every day who do dance, adventure, specialist sport camps, and multi-sport days. 2024 marks 20 years of the Second Chance Programme which provides exercise interventions for people working with the police and probation services, recovering from addiction, and accessing homelessness support.
Staff Volunteering and Outreach
From concept to now being embedded in the culture for staff members, the Staff Volunteering Scheme continues to thrive. Utilising a model to support Team Challenges (group volunteering) and Individual Volunteering the Scheme works alongside over 90 local charities, organisations, and schools. The team supports all departments and individuals to engage in the community; in 2022-23 over 106 Team challenges took place, and over 9,051 hours total were logged.
College Volunteering
When college volunteering was introduced in the early 2000s, it made up only a small part of the central Student Community Action structure. Since then, it has come into its own and there is now a dedicated College Volunteering Coordinator within the DU Volunteering and Outreach Team. Nowadays, most colleges have a volunteering representative (or two!) who sits on the Junior Common Room executive committee.
Volunteering activity is varied across the 17 colleges. Some have regular projects, while others take part in larger scale one-off events. They focus on a plethora of areas including elderly befriending, environmental conservation and awareness, tutoring, social inclusion, culture, and more.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our online exhibition. Want to know more about volunteering? Read more about what we're doing nowadays on our website. To get in touch with our team, please use the relevant email below:
DU Student Volunteering: student.volunteering@durham.ac.uk
DU Staff Volunteering: staff.volunteering@durham.ac.uk
DU Sports Outreach: teamdurham.community@durham.ac.uk
External Contacts: community.engagement@durham.ac.uk
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