Make A Difference Day

Volunteer Cornwall celebrated Make a Difference Day 2010 in Redruth on Saturday 30^th October with a Family Fun Day, at the Murdoch and Trevithick Centre. Organised by a variety of staff from the organisation, with the help of a number of partner organisations and a group of hard-working volunteers, the day attracted not only local families and individuals, but also a number of visitors to the area.

Our Well-Being Facilitator, Hugh Knuckey, said “We were also greeted by a surprise visitor – Sir Jon Shortridge, the chairman of CSV, the organisation which organises and promotes Make a Difference Day nationally. We were delighted that out of all the fantastic events happening across the country, Sir John was able to support our family fun day in Cornwall. Make a Difference Day is all about celebrating volunteering, and through our “Spring into Action” project, everyone attending was given the opportunity to volunteer for just a couple of minutes by planting up pots of bulbs. These will now be given to local elderly people to bring some Spring colour into their homes. Volunteering for even such a short time can make a huge difference to other peoples’ lives.”

Visitors were able to adopt various scary personas with help from the resident face-painter, take home a pumpkin that they had carved themselves in the Halloween Grotto, create smoothies by pedal-power, or be creative in making bags or hats, as well as finding out information about anything from Healthy Living to Fire Safety.

Hugh added “I would like to thank all the organisations who came and donated part of their weekend to provide activities and information. The fact that many could be seen trying out activities that weren’t their own summed up the spirit of the day!

The staff at the Murdoch and Trevithick Centre were amazing with their help for this project, and we hope that having so many visitors has helped raise awareness of the exceptional work that they do on a day to day basis.

The day ended with a free draw for everyone who attended – this was made possible by the generosity of shops and businesses in Redruth in donating some wonderful prizes, so we are delighted that the event was supported by the whole community!”

You can see a slection of photos from Make A Difference Day on our Facebook Page