Welcome

Hello lovely readers!

Welcome to my world! ;) I've designed this blog primarily because I'm involved in quite a few volunteer projects at the moment and I think it would be good to have one place where I can talk about what I've been getting up to and everyone can keep up to speed. Hopefully though, if I've managed to promote this blog with any degree of competency, some of you lovely readers will be people who don't know me directly but can maybe learn from my experiences in the world of volunteering and/or building a career. Or, you might want to read just to learn about spaceships, which I in my wisdom know absolutely nothing about but spend half my time talking about anyway.

So to begin, here's a wee bio of yours truly:

I am a final year English and History Student at the University of Aberdeen. I love my subjects, but I'm finding more and more that I'd like to use the skills I've picked up from my course in a more practical way. I am keen to get into the voluntary sector after graduation, and to get a better understanding of myself, the world of work and my career area I have been getting involved in a few volunteer projects. I have just received an SQA Award In Volunteering Skills (level 4) and I'm currently working towards a Saltire Award for 200 hours volunteer work, and these are both things which I thoroughly enjoy and am very proud of. I am an avid learner and am always on the lookout for new opportunities to develop my skills or enable others to develop theirs. I am passionate about ensuring everybody has the chance to speak their mind and feel that their voice is heard, and try to ensure that others feel valued and confident.

My main volunteer role is as a Team Cultivate member with Arts Development. As part of the Olympics Inspire Initiative, Team Cultivate was created to complete a series of individual and group challenges, culminating in a "Port" themed Parade. As a team we were able to learn about what it means to be a volunteer as well as how voluntary work impacts the volunteer and the Volunteer Involving Organisation. Using this as a basis, we were challenged to create large puppets from willow and cardboard in order to perform with them in the project's culmination - the Port Parade.

Since the parade, the team has moved on to become involved in the Creative Communities project, where we attend pop-up events and end-events in regeneration communities, and support the project's artists team in providing cultural and artistic opportunities to those who may not normally be involved in such things.

We are also beginning to organise our own project, Skirts & Tales, drawing on all we have learned so far and putting it into use in an enterprise which will become part of the programme for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.

I have enjoyed every second of my time with Team Cultivate so far, and I have met some truly wonderful people. The Arts Development staff, too, have been amazingly encouraging and supportive, and I owe them a great deal.

As well as continuing to learn with Team Cultivate, I have a few other volunteer projects up my sleeve. I've just become Aberdeen's newest Voluntary Arts Ambassador, where I try to encourage people to get involved in voluntary arts projects as well as support voluntary arts groups. There's a better introduction to VAA-ing in this post here, so check that out before you leave. I'm also elbowing my way into involvement with Aberdeen's City of Culture 2017 bid, having been part of the Cultural Awards Panel and, more recently, being one of the first volunteers to get involved in Seventeen, a cultural hub and the 2017 bid's new home.

I will wrap up the introductions there, but please feel free to comment below! I'm more than willing to hear your thoughts or comments on anything I bring up :)

You can also follow me on twitter, @NaomiBegg1, and check out my about.me page for links to my linkedIn and google+ pages as well as some other ways of following me and the things I get up to!


Over and out!
Love to everyone,
Naomi