By Jonny Pryn | Development Worker
If the months since our last update can be summed up in just a handful of words, we’d have to call it ‘the time of the volunteer’. PIP has seen enthusiastic helping hands come in from the Department for Transport, Westminster and L’Oréal, all of whom have contributed a huge amount of energy and been a source of great excitement for our students.
In our last report, we promised an update on how the volunteers from the Prince’s Trust faired rejuvenating our downstairs breakout space. As you can see from the pictures below, they’ve done a fantastic job of brightening up the walls with a splash of ‘PIP green’ and students and staff alike are all very taken with the brand new black board. It’s a fantastic space for the students to relax in so a huge thank you to everybody involved!
When they weren't hard at work with paintbrush in hand, volunteers could be found taking part in a range of activities with PIP W9 students. Groups from the Department for Transport delivered some wonderful sessions which involved planning a journey on the tube to visit Buckingham Palace and learning about the new HS2 rail service. Just a month later, a group from Westminster City Council worked with students to make a fantastic piece of artwork for PIP, celebrating all of the money we raised bucketing with the students last year (£1016!).
More recently, May 21st meant Citizens Day and a visit from members of L’Oréal staff. After getting to grips with PIP by joining in with drama and music sessions, the volunteers delivered a fantastic workshop which encouraged the students to think about their own interpretation of beauty. After an afternoon making art inspried by the same theme, the day culminated in a presentation of the group’s hard work in the PIP garden.
Visitors also came in the form of musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra who conducted (quite literally) a three day musical project with PIP students. Accompanied by cellos, vibraphones, triangles, guitars, drums and every instrument in between, students, staff and orchestra members collaborated to write three original songs. The pieces were inspired by the past, the present and our hopes for the future and were showcased in a spectacular performance at Paddington Arts. It was a genuine pleasure to work with every volunteer who came to PIP in the last quarter- thank you so much for all your hard work and please feel free to come and visit us again!
In between all the new faces, we said goodbye to a familiar one at the end of May when PIP development worker Rosie left us to take up a teaching position in Sri Lanka. We wish her all the best with her new adventure and can’t wait to start working with the new member of staff who will be filling her shoes in June!
As you can see, it’s been another action packed few months at PIP, with more news than we can do justice to here. To keep everyone up to date, we’ve created a new blog which you can find at www.pipldnblog.com where you can get to grips with day to day life at PIP, meet our students and learn about our fundraising efforts. In our latest post, our office administration assistant Jo talks through her working day and what having a job means for her independence. Make sure you bookmark the page for everything PIP- it will be the go to place for news until we report back here in the next quarter!
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