Students donate karaoke machine to Age UK Northamptonshire

Second year Geographers were visited by Alicia and Shazia from Age UK Northamptonshire – the county’s largest charity supporting people in later life.

During a Q&A session, Alicia and Shazia shared some really powerful insights about the causes and significant consequences of social isolation among people aged 55+.  They also evidenced how cuts all kinds of local public services have impacted disproportionately on older people. They also discussed the challenges of sustaining important services in a challenging economic climate.

They shared information about forthcoming fundraising and volunteering opportunities, and also left us with a collecting challenge. Alicia and Shazia asked for a collection of trivia games/books to update the quizzes run by local day centres for isolated older people. 

Games and trivia books donated by the students

 They also put out a plea for a karaoke machine to be used at a local day centre… This seemed a long shot but our students rose to the challenge so we were able to donate a karaoke sound system to the day centre! We look forward to hearing which songs were most popular!!

Students donated a karaoke sound system to the local Age UK day centre

Behind-the-scenes at Northampton food bank

Second year Geographers visited Re:store Food Bank in Northampton as part of their sessions on geographies of poverty, deprivation and austerity.

Behind-the-scenes at Re:store Food Bank, Northampton

We were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the food bank. Staff from the food bank provided some affecting first-hand insights into issues of food poverty. They also shared experiences about the challenges of sustaining services for vulnerable and marginalised people in contexts of austerity.

Students carried out budgeting exercises

The food bank provided a budgeting exercise and case studies which really brought home the everyday challenges faced by many people. They also provided some fundraising and collection challenges which we know our geographers will want to get involved in!

Students finding out more about the services provided by the food bank

First year geographers explore disabled access in Northampton town centre

First year Geography students have recently been putting their fieldwork skills to the test by auditing disabled access in Northampton town centre.

Thinking about possible barriers to access

The exercise is part of a series of classes on 'geographies of disabilities', which aims to help students to think critically about the ways in which people encounter everyday spaces.

Learning how to measure slope angles.

The students reviewed various spaces in the town centre, comparing a range of measurements (e.g. slope angle, width of paths) and observations (e.g. colour contrast) with published guidance on accessibility.

Learning about homelessness in Northampton

Second year Geography students have been learning about homelessness as part of their Issues in Human Geography module.

Second year Geography students, Market Square, Northampton

Prof John Horton took the students on a walking tour of Northampton town centre to help the students reflect on spaces of homelessness.

Learning about spaces of homelessness

The students have also been learning about the topic through exploring academic research and hearing the stories of volunteers working with homeless people.

Third year Geographers learn about food waste

Third year Urban Geography students have been reflecting on their personal food waste. This relates to academic work carried out under the theme of Food and the City. Before visiting Elsie’s Café – Northampton’s RealJunk Food Project, Mr. Andy Fox, a volunteer at Elsie’s, visited the group and gave a talk on how the project works, and why it came into being. Then, the students visited the café on Charles St where they had the opportunity to sample the food and find out more about where the food comes from.

Students at Elsie's Café

 

Elsie’s Café is one of a network of over 150 such projects worldwide. Surplus, out of date food, items passed their sell by date, items in broken packaging etc. are donated from a variety of sources including supermarkets, restaurants, shops and allotments. Diners pay what they feel (#PAYF) is appropriate for their meal, money which finances the running of the kitchen and the café itself. There are now over 100 volunteers involved and the café is so busy now that they are looking for more volunteers to fill specific posts such as café manager/organiser. The project instigator Shena Cooper is looking forward to developing further links with the University. A big thank you to Elsie’s café for a very warm welcome and for sharing food and drinks with us – we’ll be back!

For further details see:

http://www.elsiescaftrjfp.org.uk/

http://therealjunkfoodproject.org

twitter: @elsie_caf

If you would like to get involved see:

contact@elsiescaftrjfp.org.uk