Abingdonian 2020

22 The Abingdonian Community Service Toby Smallcombe and I were lucky enough to volunteer at Abingdon Community Hospital for almost two years while we were in Sixth Form. We found it a valuable experience which helped deepen our appreciation of our National Health Service as well as solidify our desire to study medicine. We were based on the stroke rehabilitation ward, where we learnt supported-conversation skills which helped us understand the lives and challenges of the patients there. We owe a very special thanks to the brilliant speech and language therapists who gave us so much of their time. Joe Bradley, 7MSC Over the last two years I have learned a great deal from my time spent at various Abingdon care homes for the elderly, as part of the Abingdon School Service and Citizenship Scheme. Every Tuesday afternoon for an hour during term time, a group of us visit a local care home, where we spend most of our time helping to organise quizzes or playing games of dominoes with the care home residents. We also help the new third year volunteers, who are visiting for the first time, become more at ease chatting and engaging with the older people at the homes. We have also helped to run the events that Abingdon School puts on for the elderly in the community. These typically occur towards the end of each term, such as the Abingdon School Service and Citizenship Scheme Christmas Tea Party. This involved us helping out with the organisation of raffles and themed quizzes, as well as other festive activities. The event is a great opportunity for the guests, as it helps to provide them with a wider range of social interaction. We also invite some of the many Abingdon School choirs to provide live music, which the residents thoroughly appreciate as they do not typically have the opportunity to hear live music. Participating in this scheme and experiencing its many benefits has helped me to develop as a person. It has given me the opportunity to help organise events and interact with new people that I would not otherwise have met. I have also developed my public speaking skills, but more importantly I have been able to engage with the Abingdon community in areas which I would not have been able to before. This has all taught me the importance of helping the community and the social responsibility that we younger people have to older generations. Callum Ryall, 5MGD In the third year, I started community service with an open mind, not knowing what to expect. In the Summer Term, I began to visit Bridge House which was an amazing experience, and I decided that continuing it into fourth and fifth year would be a good idea. I continued my weekly visits and, once in the fifth year, I had the opportunity to take part in the organisation of the raffle during the Christmas dinner. We were given a budget and bought the raffle prizes – it was quite a challenge to find what might be appealing, so we played it safe with copious amounts of chocolate and biscuits. Compèring the raffle itself was something I was happy to hand over to Callum, but it was good fun to hand out the prizes to the winners, who all really enjoyed the event. Another highlight of the year was the inaugural pancake race which had us alongside the third years, racing around the lounge with the residents cheering us on, much entertained by some of our rather inadequate techniques.