A horrific selection of Christmas jumpers

Story collected from Rachael Griffiths

Collected by Malwina Kozlowska

Edited by Robert Swallow

I moved to Oxford in September 2013 and one of my flatmates was an activity coordinator for Branch Up. He was desperately trying to find some extra volunteers, knocking on our doors going, “Can I tempt you tomorrow morning to get up at 9am and hang out with young people and volunteers? We’re going to play hockey on the green at Wadham”. I could see that he was really desperate, so I thought “yeah, fine”, and I didn’t really think about it any more than that.

It was so different to anything I’d ever done before. I just had the nicest day, just blown away by how nice the group of young people were. They got off the bus and there was this wave of energy. They were yelling and they were all running, over to their partner volunteers and catching up. It felt really wholesome that everyone was that close. The volunteers were so supportive, too. I had only been in Oxford for three weeks and felt quite isolated but at the end of that day the coordinator said that they were going to go to the pub, asked if I wanted to come along and, while we were all out having a drink, was like “so can I sign you up for the next event in two weeks’ time?”. “If it’s going to be this much fun each time then absolutely!”. After that, I don’t believe I missed a single event for the next five years. I shouldn’t say this, because I did get a DPhil, but Branch Up was the best thing I did during my degree…s.

In Branch Up, you are partnered one to one with a young person, which is really important because you kind of become a role model. Having someone to talk to, especially when you come from disadvantaged backgrounds is really important. I was partnered with the same person for five years. I think about the volunteers and young people regularly, particularly the young person I was partnered with. He was eight in 2013 and I could never really think that that would mean he’s 17 now! Yeah. Weird.

Branch Up was mostly focussed on activities. Our mission statement was mostly providing extracurricular for the disadvantaged. Over time, you see the young people grow in confidence and play more with others doing whatever, like quidditch. They loved quidditch. Watching them develop in that way, you can see the benefit, which you can lose sometimes in one day of volunteering.  When I think back to the stuff that we did, whilst also university students, it is kind of amazing…

Some moments are extra special, and they summarise all the best and golden bits of Branch Up. There was a Christmas party where I asked all the volunteers if they’d be willing to bring Christmas jumpers. “If you have some, wear them and if not, I’ll buy them”, or more aptly bring mine from home. I have a horrific selection of Christmas jumpers. I’m always going on about Christmas jumpers. I love Christmas jumpers. Anyway, everyone came along and was dressed up and we brought loads of paper to make paper hats. The young people made the most outrageous party hats for the volunteers and then the volunteers said they wouldn’t take them off for the rest of the day. The whole group was walking through Oxford, dressed up in jumpers and massive hats, and the kids were laughing and finding it really fun and we were all singing Christmas songs on the way. It sounds really cheesy, but we were like a crazy family. It was a perfect photograph moment.

For me it was a huge turning point, if life-changing sounds too cheesy. I made some of my closest friends through Branch Up and it let me get out of my Oxford bubble. One of the first times I took a minibus to pick some people up, we were driving through areas, and I didn’t even know they existed. That’s so ridiculous. It’s important to connect with where you live and the people there. If you do, Oxford will feel more like a city and less like a fairy-tale, which it can when you’re in college.

So many skills can be improved through volunteering, like leadership, fundraising skills, organisation and communication skills. I’ve learnt such a lot, especially how important a group is. When I became coordinator on Branch Up’s committee, I got it in my head that the pressure really fell on me to do everything. I wasn’t very good at sharing responsibility but I very quickly realised that I had an amazing committee around me that were so, so capable. We had no real comms officer, so created the role, which I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t actually asked and listened to what the group thought we needed. It was amazing! Suddenly we had an Instagram page, Facebook and they wrote a termly newsletter as well that went out to all the volunteers on the mailing list, old and new. This meant old volunteers could stay in the loop and even donate.

We take fundraising for granted, but when I became a coordinator, I was suddenly really aware of how much budget there was and that it’s not a never-ending supply. We wondered, “how are we going to fundraise in a sustainable way? Get not just one off, but long-term recurring donations?”. We revised our methods and one year we managed to fundraise £4.5k, which allowed us to pilot a youth program for two teenagers in Branch Up to train to become volunteers.

There’s another charity I’m involved with now, NACOA, and how volunteering looks and how to raise funds and profile is something they’ve been thinking about. If organisations don’t rethink volunteering, then they are missing out on a lot of peoples’ passion and talents. You don’t have to turn up and host activities. Volunteering can be writing newsletters, organising an exhibition or whatever. I think we often have a very black and white view of what volunteering looks like, but actually it is so diverse. I know its cheesy, but there’s something for everyone. People think of it as a lot of time and energy that they don’t have. People don’t have to do something every weekend. It can be the smallest of things but that will make such a huge difference. For instance, just 50p would buy bread for all the young people’s sandwiches on a day out.

I was given two awards for social action, the High Sheriff award and the Vice Chancellor’s award. It felt wonderful to be recognised by the community and university like that. I was overwhelmed. When it comes to it though, perhaps it’s my Britishness, but it’s awkward and I don’t like talking about it. I feel a bit like “ugh. Thanks, but…”. It felt amazing to be recognised and to be thanked, but if you asked me "did you already feel thanked by the young people?", then I did. I saw it on the young people’s faces and that was enough.

One of the best parts of the award was being in the same room as other people and hearing all the work that’s been done. Branch Up had been, you know, my life. I hadn’t been aware of all the amazing things happening and it was so heart-warming to be in the room with all these people, like “yeah, we should celebrate this”, because all the work people are doing is enabling change and that’s incredible. Again, it comes back to the fact that I never feel like it’s just me. It’s such a team effort. I definitely still do feel really proud of what we did. I was quite emotional about it all and it was quite sad in a way, a real, bittersweet moment. I got this award and I felt totally overwhelmed and really grateful, but also it was like I was saying goodbye to my baby. At the same time, I was handing it over to a really great committee and I felt I was handing over something very strong with new volunteers, new ways of fundraising and better thought-out days. It felt like Branch Up was in a really good place. I felt a lot of pride for that as well.

When I first started, I could not have thought that Oxford Hub would get to where it is today. When I first got involved with the Oxford Hub it felt really small and really student-y. And now, over the years, it’s become so much more about the whole of Oxford as a community as opposed to just supporting students. It’s really great, because the Hub has now found its place. Actually, I think Oxford needs the Hub. Now it’s found its roots, it’s about moving forward and adapting to how Oxford’s going to adapt, because it’s a city that despite being very traditional, is constantly changing.

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