Salford Foundation

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Historic hospital site inspires calendar winner

More than 120 children - one as young as three - took part in this year's Through The Eyes of a Child calendar competition in which budding artists were invited to submit drawings and paintings of scenes or people that reflect life in Salford.

Judges chose 11-year-old Philip McDermott's watercolour of the old Salford Royal Hospital building for the 2010 calendar's cover design.

Philip received a prize of an artist's set, an art book and his school St. Boniface is to be presented with a picture of the school building painted by the Salford artist Tom Brown who is one of the judges.

One of the entries - Salford's pink ice rink by eight-year-old Ola Sliwa - was chosen for this year's Salford Foundation Christmas card.

Entries were received from pupils from 18 Salford primary schools and awards were presented to the winning participants by the Deputy Mayor Councillor George Wilson at a special ceremony at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

Alan Rosser, Deputy Chief Executive of Salford Foundation, said once again the competition had attracted a high volume of entries and a high standard.

The event, which has been running for 14 years, is sponsored by Bank of New York Mellon, Salford Children's Services and Salford Foundation.

Lights - Camera - Action!

Bullying, alcohol misuse, risky behaviour and drugs are all topics tackled in an inter-active DVD to be shown to young people in schools and youth clubs in Salford.

Young Ambassadors from Salford Foundation's "One Three One Nine" team have produced three thought-provoking mini dramas which were filmed by a professional production company and turned into a brief film to be used as an educational tool to promote healthy relationships among Salford's young teenagers.

The Foundation's "Peer" team are delivering three unique AQAs - an accredited qualification - to try to reduce teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and to promote healthy relationships.

The unique selling point is that all the material and resource has been written and produced - and will be delivered by - the young ambassadors themselves. This puts a real life perspective on the content, which sets it aside from any other SRE teaching materials.

Phil East, who heads the project said: "This is very important work in a city like Salford where teenage conception rates are high with many young teenagers at risk of early parenthood.

"Our team has come up with an imaginative and engaging way to get the message across."

Caption: Party time - but do things go to plan? Filming a scene from "It's Your Choice."

Radio chat with "Inspiring" Stephanie

A Trafford volunteer who received a special "Inspire" award for her volunteering appeared on BBC Radio Manchester's Becky Want programme.

Stephanie Slater (17), from Brooklands, talked about her passion for volunteering, the satisfaction and life experiences she had gained from working with a cross section of different organisations.

Stephanie has raised hundreds of pounds for charities through various activities and has also undertaken volunteering work abroad.

She hopes to go into medicine but told Becky she would continue to do volunteering work between her studies.

Stephanie travelled to the 02 Arena in London to collect her award. Rebekah Dickson of the British Red Cross said: "Steph is very deserving of this award."

It's a wrap!

Old toys, teddy bears and unwanted games have been recycled to help bring some Christmas cheer to homeless children and families in Salford.

Volunteers from Salford's vinvolved team wrapped over 300 parcels and more than 30 food hampers so that children and families faced with difficult circumstances could have something to brighten their Christmas.

The volunteers have been raiding attics, store cupboards and larders as part of the effort to deliver some happiness into the homes of disadvantaged people on behalf of the Catholic Children's Rescue Society.

Award for justice intervention work

The Changing Direction mentoring team has once again received a Manchester Criminal Justice Award nomination.

A certificate was presented for work with adult male and female offenders during 2009.

Changing Direction Mentoring was one of over 70 organisations and individuals throughout Greater Mancehster to be nominated.

The certificate was presented to the project manager Kathleenann Armstrong by the Governor of Manchester Prison Richard Vince, who is also Chair of the Greater Manchester Criminal Justice Board.

The event took place at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester .

Afterwards Kathleenann said:

"The award recognises the hard work put in by our team of committed volunteers who undertake some very challenging work with people who have offended or are at risk of offending and who are making a determined effort to make positive changes to their lives.

Brighter playtimes for St. George's

Three large murals have been created by pupils as part of a volunteering initiative involving three schools - St. George's Primary, The Albion and All Hallows.

The vibrant art work - painted in acrylic - depicts dragons, the Patron Saint St. George and a myriad of colourful designs that reflect the lively imagination of the children themselves including flowers, smiley faces, wild life and written messages.

Eight students from the two high schools volunteered through the YV programme to assist the junior school pupils to create the three-metre square murals which now brighten the playground at the 160-pupil Charlestown junior school.

Professional artist Tina Roach

gave expert advice and took the murals back to her studio to enhance and weather-proof them.

Head of St. George's Pamela Heywood said the children gained so much from working with the older pupils and created "fantastic" work.

She said it particularly helped those children in Year Six who were about to move up to high school.

Pictured are Head Teacher Pamela Heywood (far right) with Lydia Wright and Becky Tapper (YV Co-ordinators) plus pupils from St. George's (front row) and All Hallows.

The Salford Business Education Partnership delivers a wide range of programmes to help young people raise their aspirations and awareness. If you, your organisation or business would like to be involved in helping young people with literacy and numeracy skills or introduce them to work through enterprise days or career days then please contact Salford Foundation on 0161 787 8500. We would love to hear from you.