Barton Peveril: Students help vulnerable people at Christmas

Those studying at Barton Peveril College got stuck into volunteering, handing out bread, soup and brownies to homeless and elderly people at Pavilion on the Park, Kingfisher Hall on December 21.

The event was entirely student-led, with musical performances acting as a festive backing track throughout the day.

Plenty of homeless people picked up food at the Pavilion and residents from a care home travelled down to enjoy the music.

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Maisie Silcock is a wellbeing mentor at Barton Peveril College and was one of the key figures organising the event, and she explained that everything was ‘completely free’ to bring the community together.

More people turned up to the student-led event than the organisers were expecting. (Image: Supplied) “It’s a bit of a party as the festive period starts,” she said.

“We were hoping that the volunteering experience would give students a sense of community.

“I know it’s very different for students to get started with volunteering work when it comes to helping vulnerable people, so we wanted to kick start that and boost the teamwork they’d need to run it successfully.”

Maisie noted that more people turned up than her team were expecting, but that they still had plenty of food to go around.

Barton Peveril College music students performed at the event. (Image: Supplied) “I do think we made a bit too much soup, I still have half a pot in my fridge,” she said.

“But the care home that showed up were really sweet and made it clear to us how much they enjoyed it.

“This is the sort of thing that I do in college, I do what I can to help the wellbeing of the college and the community.

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Ten plus students offered their spare time for the event and Maisie was proud of what her team achieved.

“We were really happy with the turnout of how many people came to help,” she said.