Newbury College hosted Camp Hopson's charity tennis day on Saturday 6 July where Jonathan Hopson, CEO of Camp Hopson played table tennis for 12 hours with various opponents who all paid to play for charity.
The event was held in order to support the West Berkshire Alzheimer Association and raised £300 for the organisation. Participants made a small donation to play against Jonathon with time slots ranging between 10 minutes to 12 hours. There was a range of abilities from beginners to advanced, including Berkshire Champions, Duncan Campbell and David Barr. Duncan Campbell is a former champion now retired and David Barr is currently ranked 3rd in the county.
Players had the chance to win £50 Camp Hopson vouchers one for the longest rally, and one for the longest length of play. Commenting on the 12 hour event Jonathan Hopson, CEO of Camp Hopson in Newbury said, "I was pleased to be able to play over 60 games of table tennis in 12 hours and the level of support from all those that took part was very encouraging. There was a wide variety of skill levels represented, ranging from some who had not picked up a table tennis bat for more than 30 years, to 2 former Berkshire table tennis champions. On behalf of the Camp Hopson charity committee, we would like to thank Joe Pegg and his team at Newbury College and everyone who took part on the day in helping to raise £300 for West Berkshire Alzheimers".
Joe Pegg, Sports Maker at Newbury College who helped organise the event said, "This was a fantastic event which was really well supported by community members. Jonathan did an outstanding job and was so motivated to complete this exhausting task. The event saw a constant flow of people joining in and playing as well as supporting the event and the charity".
Certificates and prizes were awarded at two special ceremonies recently to Newbury College students who have completed the National Six Book Challenge, which is run in partnership with West Berkshire Libraries. Certificates and prizes were presented at two award ceremonies by Dr Anne Murdoch, Principal of Newbury College and Mike Brook, West Berkshire Council's Library Services Manager.
In its fifth year the 'Challenge' is aimed at supporting and encouraging less confident readers. As the name suggests, readers are asked to read six books of their choice and record their progress in a diary.
Mike Brook, West Berkshire Council's Library Services Manager said, "The aim is to get more people reading and build their confidence and literacy skills. Mr Brook told the students; "Reading is not only important for learning and finding information. In a stressful world it's also one of the most effective ways to relax."
This year, 34 Connect and ACL College learners successfully completed the National 6 Book challenge. Newbury College also ran a scheme for English for Non Native Speakers learners separately, in which 61 learners took part with prizes and certificates awarded at the same ceremonies.
LRC Manager at Newbury College Fiona Lees said, "The Newbury College reading challenge, which runs alongside the national 6 Book Challenge has been very popular with our learners. Learners have commented on how much their reading has improved over the period of the challenge. It has been great to see the learners' progress with their reading".
Steph Searle, one of the winners for the best diary entry, wrote "I like this challenge because I found out that I can read lots more things. It was excellent!" Other learners who took part expressed how they thought the book challenge was very interesting, challenging and helped them to get into reading more.
Newbury College hosted a charity Fun Run on Monday 10 June in aid of the Alliance for Youth Development UK (AYD). The event was organised by Health and Social Care student Louise Lane in order to help raise money for AYD to help those suffering in Ghana.
Individuals had the option to take part in fancy dress and were not restricted to running, with many choosing to complete the course by skipping or doing a three legged race.
Organiser of the event Louise Lane said, "We are currently trying to raise money for two projects, the building of a new orphanage and the instillation of clean water. All they money raised for AYD UK will make a huge difference to the lives of those suffering in Ghana".
Alliance for Youth Development UK is a non-profit organisation in the UK supporting the development of orphans and community members affected by HIV and AIDS in Ghana. AYD UK supports AYD Ghana to promote the development and empowerment of rural youth, women, and communities through establishing sustainable programs and coordinating funds and volunteers for programs that improve the lives and achieves the aspirations of marginalized members of Ghanaian Society.
Louise was inspired to help raise funds for the charity by her friend, Shadee Gerayesh-Nejad, who founded the charity in 2012. The initial project is to ensure funds are raised for the build of an orphanage that will home up to 30 disadvantaged orphans. The overall budget for this project is £30,000.
Both Shadee, and Newbury College Health and Social Care student, Louise, will be travelling to Ghana in December 2013 in order to get the project started. Whilst in Ghana they will be caring for the children that are in desperate need of help and delivering HIV/AIDS and sexual health programmes to the community.
If you are interested in making a donation, or have ideas of fund raising opportunities please visit www.ayduk.org for more details.
Newbury College officially opened its 'Gallery' space on Thursday 13 June at 4pm. The art exhibition space was opened by Councillor Hilary Cole who is Councillor for Culture in West Berkshire.
The Mayor and Mayoress of Newbury and other special guests, including governors and local dignities attended the opening where Councillor Cole cut the ribbon to declare the space open. The Gallery' space will be available for local community art groups to hire for activities and exhibitions. Following the launch, visitors attended the private view of the College's Art and Design end of year show. The event showcased up and coming student art talent who were available to talk about their work at the drinks reception.
Jackie Heggs, Course Leader of Art and Design, is delighted with some of the high standard of work this year and said, The event was a great success, some of the learners have blown me away with their final pieces; I think people are really going to enjoy the exhibition. The end of year exhibition is open to the public from 6pm on Thursday 13 June until Thursday 20 June.
The exhibition is a show case of students' work from across the range of art courses at the College from Level 2 courses to Foundation Diploma Level. This will include Photography, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Fashion / Textiles and Installation. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to meet the artists and also have the opportunity to purchase selected pieces of work. Many of the learners will be going on to University and other institutes to continue their art studies on Higher Education Courses.