Edition 6 - The Bucks Student lite

lite

edition 6

A tomato & ham sandwich bake

The Big Deal quick question

Wednesday 29 April

Bucks Acapella aca-update

The Bucks Student Lite: edition 6

Welcome!

In this edition: Sabb update . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Big Deal question . 4 Rusty recommends. . . . 5 Events calendar . . . . . . . 6 Festiball FAQ. . . . . . . . . . . 7 #ThankYouNHS. . . . . . . . 8 My time at Bucks . . . . . . 9 On the front line. . . . . . 10 Olein Flemming speaks as to what being a student nurse is currently like

Positivity page. . . . . . . . . 11 Bucks Acapella. . . . . . . . 12 Alumni activities. . . . . 13 Employability tips. . . . 14 Recipe corner. . . . . . . . . 15 Remote volunteering. 16 Advice Centre update. 17 JobShop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Editor’s note, Wednesday 29 April How are we almost in May already?

The time is really flying by, and hopefully by now, you’ve all found a way to make the time go quickly for yourselves. With the final University term underway, maybe learning and studying will be taking up a bit more of that time too - but hopefully not too much!

I know I’m spending my free time refreshing an Amazon search for ‘kettlebells’, and I remain hopeful that they will one day return to being in stock... What are you all missing? What’s the one thing you wish you could have in your social distancing dens?

Let us know and we can publish it in the paper!

We are accepting all content submissions that you can think of - I’ll even try and find a way to publish a video of you trying the various social media challenges going round if you’re so inclined!

To submit content or discuss ideas, you can drop an email to; editor@thebucksstudent.com.

If you don’t want to contribute, that’s fine too - you can just take half an hour out of your day every Wednesday to see what’s been going on at Bucks Students’ Union.

3

Sabb update

Christina Demetriou VPSI

Tao Warburton President

Brooke Pilbeam VPEW

Hello again everyone, back with another VPSI update for you!

As term starts again we are still house bound, but fear not we have some brilliant things for you to get involved in coming up very soon.

Hope you’re all good and finding things to be doing! Each week doing a little update is actually harder and harder as we become more adapted to this lifestyle.

So as we continue our lockdown life, I have a few updates on things I have been working on...

I have been in talks with the University gym to host more live workout sessions with you all to keep you motivated whilst the gyms are shut.

I have also been working hard alongside the Union activities team to submit our NUS green Impact accreditation. This will ensure all the hard work that has been carried out in making sure our campus is as green as possible is recognised and celebrated!

I have also started working alongside your new upcoming VPSI, Tom Featherstone, to bring him up to speed for when I hand over the reigns of VPSI. I still have plenty planned before this happens thoguh - but it is exciting to pool our ideas together!

As always, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to get in contact, and stay safe.

Myself and Ellie Bucks have started a #ThankYouNHS campaign to show our appreciation for those working for the NHS and to highlight that our students are also among those who are. The best part is, you can still get involved.

All you have to do is draw/bake a cake with blue icing/tweet (among others – let’s see how creative we can get) a blue heart with the #ThankYouNHS and post it on social media or send your pictures to ellie.freeman@bucks.ac.uk.

Along-side this we are running another campaign to share the stories of our student nurses.

We want you to tell us why you chose the career path of nursing using the #WhyWeNurse.

We also want to hear from you about how your courses are going and we as sabbatical officers always have our doors open.

All you need to do is message us and we will be happy to have a chat over a cup of tea.

This week Christina and I filmed an update video for you all. It’s just a different way of updating you on what we have been up to, however if you’ve been reading the paper weekly I am sure you all already know!

I am still attending many meetings around your education and continue to represent the student voice, so I will continue to update you on any changes or news.

Speak to you all soon!

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Tao Warburton, Brooke Pilbeam, Christina Demetriou

4

The Big Deal question

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

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Fancy winning a quick £50 for answering a single question?

The Big Deal is an initiative run by Bucks Students’ Union, which enables students to access various activities free of charge, including: events and entertainment, additional skills workshops, competitive sport, recreational activities and societies.

The Big Deal also gives students the chance to be rewarded, as student reps.

The Big Deal is an exclusive package and we are the only University in the UK to offer our members free access to such a diverse and exciting range of activities and events.

We believe in always putting our members first and want to hear from you. For your chance to win £50, simply click on the link below and let us know if The Big Deal was a factor in you choosing to come and study at Bucks.

5

Rusty recommends

Rusty recommends These are the events you can be looking forward to!

Although there may be no venue, that doesn’t stop events from happening! We’re searching the internet far and wide for virtual events that suit everyone!

Thursday 30 April – Netflix Party

Saturday 1 May – DJ OneF Playlists Mixcloud

From 7.30pm every Thursday you can join in with your friends and family watching the same film or series together! Didn’t get to finish the series with your house mates? Or left your film on pause before your last night out? Catch up with everyone on our Chrome Extension!

Keep an eye out on social every Thursday for what’s playing!

Did you LOVE DJ OneF’s set on BBC 1Extra on the weekend? We did! That’s why every Saturday we’re brining you different playlists our favourite Wednesday night resident DJ is producing!

Join us Saturday from 2pm where you can follow the link to DJ OneF’s mixcloud to check out all the different playlists, there’s something for everyone to listen too!

Friday 31 April – Tasmin Taylor ft. Face Down Event

Our CRASH resident DJ Tasmin Taylor is joining up with Face Down live Friday night for some isolation bangers! From 10pm you can enjoy some of Tasmin’s favourites and start your weekend off the right way!

This event is FREE to stream and suitable for all ages!

Sunday 2 May – Sports Quiz

Sunday’s Kahoot Quiz is all about Sports, something a lot of people are missing right now!

But to make this even better we’re bringing you a ‘BUCKS/BUCS Sports’ round, full of questions from your regular Wednesday game day to Varsity’s virtual and previous years! As well as professional sports and so on!

Check out this quiz Sunday 8:30pm – The winner will receive a £10 Amazon voucher!

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Seana O’Reilly

6

Events calendar

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

29 April - 12 May | Events Calendar Wednesday 29

Thursday 30

Friday 1

Saturday 2

‘Wild Wednesdays’

Netflix Party

BingoLingo Pub Quiz

Ladbaby Pubquiz

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne

Virtual tours: Arsenal FC Emirates

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne

DJ OneF mixes

All day - What’s on page

What’s on page

7.30-10.30pm - Netflix Party

All day - What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho

What’s on page

What’s on page

All day - Mixcloud

What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho

What’s on page

What’s on page

Sunday 3

Monday 4

Sports Kahoot quiz

Virtual tours: Rijksmuseum Dance with alumni Jake All day - What’s on page Kernot

‘Wild Wednesdays’

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne

8.30-10pm - Kahoot

What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho

Tuesday 5

What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho What’s on page

What’s on page

Wednesday 6 All day - What’s on page

What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho What’s on page

Thursday 7

Friday 8

Saturday 9

Sunday 10

Netflix Party

Virtual tours: US Air Force National Museum

Ladbaby Pubquiz

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Kahoot quiz

7.30-10.30pm - Netflix Party

Virtual tours: Camp Nou, FC Barcelona

All day - What’s on page

All day - What’s on page

BingoLingo Pub Quiz What’s on page

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne What’s on page

Monday 11

Tuesday 12

Virtual tours: MoMA

Virtual tours: Museum of Fine Arts

All day - What’s on page

Groove aerobics with alumni Daniel Browne What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho What’s on page

All day - What’s on page

Alumni Activity: Rock it with Rho What’s on page

What’s on page

DJ OneF mixes

All day - Mixcloud

8.30-10pm - Kahoot

Festiball 2020 FAQ Why has Festiball 2020 moved from May to October?

Due to the current global pandemic and Government advice around events and public gatherings we have had to move Festiball to Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October. We didn’t just want to cancel the event, as we know a lot of our members and staff really look forward to the end of year ball so we have worked to ensure that we can still offer the same event just over a different weekend. We hope that by this point all businesses will be back to a more regular routine and we will be able to bring you Festiball 2020.

I am a current third year or 2020 leaver, do I have to pay for an alumni ticket?

No. We are communicating with all third years and leavers of 2020 to be able to offer them free entry, as if the event was happening in May.

How do graduates of 2020 get their free ticket for the October dates?

There will be a sign-up link generated and communicated to all leavers and third years to enable them to sign up to get free entry to the new dates.

Please bear with us while we get this in place.

Will it be the same line up?

Obviously with the current climate things are subject to change however, The Students’ Union has worked hard in attempting to get the same acts to re-schedule for the October dates. So far this has gone to plan and all acts that were announced previously will be performing in October.

I have a Sports Alumni Fixture ticket. Are the sports fixtures still happening?

Currently, all sports fixtures that were originally booked for Saturday 9 May are being moved to Saturday 3 October. As long as the same amount of ticket holders can attend the new dates the fixtures will still go ahead. We are aware that the sporting calendar will have started for most clubs and there may be restrictions on facilities. Individual sports fixtures are subject to change based around demand, but this will be communicated via social media and email.

Is Freshers’ Fortnight and Freshers’ Ball still going ahead?

Festiball and the Freshers period are a large part of our events calendar and a giant part of the student experience. Freshers Fortnight will still be going ahead, with the re-scheduled Festiball dates incorporated into this.

We are aiming to run Freshers Ball the following weekend after Festiball.

This has never been done before and could be a huge risk but we think that both events create brilliant memories and build lifelong friendships. We would want to work to get both events happening for all of our members benefit.

Are my tickets still valid?

All tickets currently purchased for Festiball 2020 will be valid for the new dates.

There is no need to contact the ticket agent or us to move them over – this happens automatically.

There are still currently Early Bird tickets available so grab a bargain whilst you can!

I can’t make the new dates! Can I get a refund?

Yes! We understand that these are un-precedented times, so we have changed our refund policy to allow people to refund their tickets if the new dates don’t work.

Please be aware that this offer will be in place until the end of May 2020.

I still have a question – who do I contact?

Please email us suevents@bucks.ac.uk and we will be able to answer any query you might have about Festiball.

8

#ThankYouNHS

#ThankYouNHS We need all of you to help thank our Bucks NHS staff!

At Bucks, we have a number of current students, staff and alumni working for the NHS during these unprecedented and uncertain times. Our Bucks family are on the frontline during this pandemic, and we need your help to say thank you.

We are asking you to take part in our #ThankYouNHS campaign, by getting creative!

All you need to do, is make a blue heart and share it with us.

It’s up to you how you do this.

You could draw a blue heart on some paper, ice a blue heart

onto a cake, incorporate a blue heart into your make-up, chalk a blue heart onto the pavement – the options are endless!

Have fun getting creative, then take a photo and share it with us. You can either email these photos through to ellie.freeman@bucks.ac.uk or share it on social media with #ThankYouNHS and tag us so we can see it.

Instagram: @bucksstudentsunion Twitter: @buckssu Facebook: Bucks Students’ Union

We will be collating all of these blue hearts into a video at the end of the campaign, so the more the merrier! You could encourage your loved ones to take part, make multiple blue hearts in different styles, or tag your friends in your post, challenging them to get involved too.

Thank you for helping us say a big thank you to our Bucks NHS staff.

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Ellie Freeman

9

My time at Bucks

My time at Bucks

We are talking (remotely!) to all of our Venue staff over the next few weeks and bringing you their run down of what it’s like to work for the Bucks Students’ Union Venue and Events team. This week we hear from Millie, a member of our bar team.

Millie Wardman Bars team

If you would be interested in working on our bars, within our promotions team, a member of security or as part of our technical crew please check out bucksstudentsunion/workforus or you can get in touch via email; suvenuemanagement@bucks.ac.uk.

“I started working at Bucks Students’ Union the September just gone as I entered my first year and it was such a relief to have a job walking into university instead of searching for one on top of my studies. I started the first night of freshers and loved every second of it.

The Students’ Union offers me and everyone else all kinds of opportunities, from learning sign language to first aid to a personal bartenders license! It’s also given me a chance to meet new people in this amazing place.

When I began on Fresher’s Fortnight I was helped by the amazing team to fit in and learn new skills on the spot. As the weeks went on, I was able to enhance the skills I had and learn a few new ones along the way, these being; serving food and drinks during our day shifts, making coffees (surprisingly didn’t know how to before), communication with our teams and customers, along with solving problems.

Working at our Students’ Union is a great opportunity for any student with pay above average, extremely flexible work hours and the fact that everyone that is working with you is a student at Bucks or has been so everyone knows how it feels to be a student and are able to help you through it all. Being able to work for Bucks Students’ Union has given me the opportunity to meet many amazing people and become friends making our work place a fun environment to be in.”

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Millie Wardman

10

On the front line

On the front line

My name is Olein and I’m a second year nurse based in Uxbridge.

Everyday life as a student nurse can be a big challenge, especially during these pressing times. To ensure that your general and mental health are cared for while you are out on placement, below are a few links that the Students’ Union have found to help each nurse or key worker at this time. This is very fundamental for your training as your resilience will be tested each day. Finding resources to support your general wellbeing can be difficult. The Students’ Union asked me to see if the links worked as only those who are on placement and working through this time can really know.

1. NHS STAFF: Nursing staff have access to a dedicated mental health support service published by the Nursing Standard. Varies charities such as Hospice UK and Samaritans provide a call/text helpline that is available between 7am and 11pm. The link for this article can be found here: rcni.com/ nursing-standard/newsroom/ news/covid-19-mentalhealth-helpline-nursesopens-159786 2. UNISON have written an article providing nursing students about key information to their year groups. The material provided in the article are generalised guidelines that have been set out by the regularity bodies.

Also, the university will have provided information that applies to your specific placements. All information about the article can be found here: unison.org.uk/at-work/ health-care/representingyou/nursing/student-nurses/ covid-19-importantinformation-nursing-students

3. The Nursing standard has also provided an article describing how a critical care unit operates on a daily basis.

This article offers information about the role of a critical care nurse. If you are a student nurse who is about to begin training at a critical care or intensive care unit. I would encourage everyone to read this article as it provides you an idea of what to expect.

The article can be found here: rcni.com/nursing-standard/ careers/career-advice/covid19-what-to-expect-if-youare-deployed-to-a-criticalcare-setting-159646

4. Social media may also induce anxiety in healthcare workers, as the eyes of the world are focused on us.

We have a duty of care, and as the whole country praises our efforts to stop the spread and implement treatment to patients. The public look to us for answers and guidance, which sparks more anxiety. Education does not stop for nurses and healthcare professionals after we graduate. We need to draw on our awareness and keep up to date on different issues. Social media often fuels a fire that cannot be tamed. For example, the public panic buying from supermarkets. This article offers tips on how to deal with excessively negative social media messages. The article can be found here: rcni.com/ nursing-standard/opinion/ comment/covid-19-whenour-social-media-posts-shiftsharing-concerns-to-fuellinganxiety-159541

If you have a break from placement or want something to read, I would highly recommend the above links as they have allowed me to gain some clarity in what is going on in these uncertain times. Stay safe!

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Olein Flemming

11

Positivity page

In these tough times, Catherine Lymer is going out of her way to show there are still good deeds to be done, and to find those doing them...

Tim Dixon – our Welfare Advisor in Uxbridge – and Fergus Adams – the Activities Co-ordinator for competitive sport – have both joined the GoodSAM

Positivity page

group which is the NHS Volunteer Scheme. Looking to draft in volunteers to help with Covid-19 situation.

Tim, who is also a local councillor in Aylesbury, has helped set up two resident support groups in Aylesbury, as well as joining the local support group in the area that he lives in. He has given benefits advice to two individuals and coordinated shopping lists for some isolated residents. As his role as a councillor he has disseminated key information from the councils in Aylesbury and Buckinghamshire to residents and delivered (before the lockdown) flyers to residents on where to get help.

He has also phoned over 200 local members to check they are okay and to see if there is anything they needed.

One of his more heart-warming good deeds is the befriending of a resident in isolation in Aylesbury. After setting up one of the resident support groups for his ward he was contacted through the Facebook group. He is now in fairly

regular contact with a man in his 90’s who loves to talk about Birmingham – which Tim is happy to do until the cows come home. Tim has been doing a great job all round helping out our students, as well as his local community and beyond - so a huge well done and thank you goes out to Tim from all of us at Bucks.

Emily West – our Training and Development Co-ordinator – has been helping out a local family by shopping for them and delivering their shopping as their mother is stuck in Africa. Their dad is at home with the 2 kids, so can’t make it out that easily either.

Daniel Lawrence has registered to give blood and has got a date to donate in the next couple of weeks.

I am continuing to pick up prescriptions and shopping for the vulnerable residents in my village.

It doesn’t take much to have a positive impact on someone’s life – so the challenge is there. What are you doing to help? Please let us know as I would love to write an article about what our members are doing, drop an email to catherine.lymer@bucks.ac.uk with your good deeds.

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Catherine Lymer

12

Bucks Acapella

Though our year came to a close early – Bucks Acapella has had a successful year and we’ve absolutely loved seeing how far our members have come since the year started. In the run up to Christmas, mainly focusing on Christmas songs, our biggest project to work towards was performing at John Lewis to raise money for one of our RAG charities Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Once we came back from Christmas we started learning our arrangements for our Queen themed takeover with Rugby – a night that we thoroughly enjoyed as well as the joint sessions we had with Rugby in preparation for our performances.

Before the change of circumstances we were preparing for two more performances we had in the pipeline which have unfortunately been cancelled – but you can see one of the songs we were putting the finishing touches on our YouTube page: Bucks Acapella.

We reached out to one of our members, Dylan, through social media in order to keep social distancing up, and asked them to talk about their time as a member of the society this year – here’s what he had to say: “This year I joined the Acapella society and for me it was a great time. I mainly joined because I love to sing, but I started off being one of the quietest people of all time, like a pin drop would be louder than me. As the sessions passed the thing that kept me there was just how fun it was, it is full of amazing people who are a bunch of laughs and with the help of everyone there I came out of my shell a hell of a lot. By just attending sessions I became a lot more confident, I started liking myself a little more and even though every session we had a laugh, I knew that people there were supportive of one another.

Socials were also amazing, we went to the Antelope for karaoke around Christmas time and everyone took part, I’ll just never forget putting mad energy into singing ‘Fairytale of New York’ and duetting it with Beth. So if you want to have made fun like this next year come along and see what it’s like, no hurt in just seeing what it’s like”

Dylan has come such a long way since we met him back in September and is now one of the most active members of the society – he’ll be taking over as Social Sec next year and we know he’s going to be an incredible member of the committee! We’re so proud of all our members this year and the bond they have formed – we look forward to meeting new people once everything returns to normal.

To keep up to date with anything we do make sure you’re following us on our Social Media pages: Instagram and Twitter: @bucksacapella Facebook: Bucks Acapella Society YouTube: Bucks Acapella

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

Bucks Acapella

By Tyler Griffiths

13

Alumni activities

Alumni activities

We’re working together with Bucks Alumni to support businesses by getting involved, check out what we have going on the ‘What’s on’ page on the website for more details!

Virtual Dance Classes with 2018 alumni

Emily Harris

Two-year advanced contemporary competition team choreographer Jake Kernot is back live on social media brining us contemporary dance routines. Jake’s incredible history competing for Bucks includes his advanced contemporary team bringing home 7 trophies over the two years!

Whilst choreographing, Jake has taken us through love, heartbreak and sorrow with his 2018 (you could hear a pin drop in the room) piece ‘women of war’ and rebellious fighting spirit with his 2019 ‘The Final Chapter’ both breath-taking pieces Jake was also recognised for his talents by receiving ‘Best Male’ in competitions three times during his time competing for Bucks which is astounding!

Emily Harris took on the role of ‘Advanced Jazz’ choreographer back in 2018, with her fierce and fiery routine ‘devils vs angels’ Emily’s team walked away with four trophies in her first incredible year.

In 2019 Emily’s Jazz team created one of the sassiest performances Bucks has produced to date with some of the greatest transitions we’ve seen!

The Advanced Jazz team deservedly came home with another four trophies and the bar was set well and truly high following Emily’s graduation.

Since graduating, Jake is now performing at Chessington World of Adventures Resorts bringing his professional experience to his Contemporary style routines via his Instagram live page @jakekernot with the next chance to join in being on the 5th May! With just some of Jake’s successes mentioned whilst studying and competing at Bucks his classes are something to not be missed!

Keep an eye out on socials for updates on Jake’s classes!

Moving on to the professional world, Emily is now a Production Dancer at Butlins performing on a weekly basis for large crowds in as may genres as you can think of! The talent Emily is producing is endless and we wish her well for her upcoming career!

You can take part in Emily’s online live virtual classes for FREE and this would be something not to miss!

Instagram live with @emily687 take part in commercial/jazz classes with the best!

Keep an eye out on social media and the newspaper for future classes with Emily.

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Seana O’Reilly

14

Employability tips

Employability tips Creating a work-life balance Whether you are already working or are looking towards working once you graduate, remembering to maintain a balance between work and the rest of your life is essential for your well-being.

Top tips

Switch off after work:

• Know your priorities before starting to look for work - pay, flexible working opportunities and hours.

With emails linked to phones, it can be difficult to separate your work and home life. But make sure you try and spend some time completely separate from work. Watch a movie, read a book, catch up with friends or do your daily exercise – everyone has their own way to relax, but make sure you plan this into each day.

• Schedule one thing you look forward to every day • Switch off after work however you feel most relaxed • Make time to look after yourself!

Make time to look after yourself:

• If you are struggling with any element of your work or social life, talk to someone

Depending on your industry you may feel like you have little time to take care of yourself. Eating well, exercise and relaxing are all important ways to take care of ourselves and there are ways to maintain these with a limited timeframe! If you are struggling to find time to cook on certain days, try batch cooking something that will last a few days so you don’t need to worry about preparing your food when you have less time. Try 5 minute workout apps if you don’t have time to exercise daily and whenever you do get a good amount of time, make sure you use it to switch off and relax!

Know your priorities: Every role, whichever industry and company you work for, will have different responsibilities and offer a different benefits package. It is worth knowing before you decide on an industry or particular company, what is important to you so that you can decide if the industry will support your desired lifestyle. Make sure you check the salary, the working hours or the family friendly policies, whichever or however many of these are important to you.

Schedule one thing you look forward to: Work is important, and it is important that you find a job that you enjoy as your working life will last a while! But make sure you have something scheduled for each day for you to look forward to once work has finished. This can be something small like your favourite meal, or a night out with friends, it just needs to be something to get you through any difficult days!

If you are struggling: If you are struggling with any element of your work or social life, it is really important that you talk to someone. This can be your line manager, a close friend, family member, the Advice Centre, or a company Employee Assistance Programme, it is always better to talk it through with someone rather than try and deal with it yourself.

Look out for the next employability tip in next weeks edition of The Bucks Student Lite!

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Emily West

15

Recipe corner

Ingredients 25g butter, softened 1 garlic clove, crushed 4 thick slices stale white bread 12 cherry tomatoes 50g ham, roughly chopped 500ml milk 3 eggs

Have leftover bread, or just missing your daily meal deal?

This recipe will satisfy both of those as well as your hunger!

• Heat oven to 180°C / gas mark 4.

• Mix the butter and garlic together, then use a little to grease a shallow baking dish or tin.

• Use the rest to butter the bread slices, then cut them in half diagonally. (Because that is the only way to cut sandwiches) • Arrange the bread slices, overlapping, in the baking dish.

• Tuck the cherry tomatoes and ham in and around them.

• Whisk the milk and eggs together, and season generously with salt and pepper.

• Pour over the bread and gently push the slices down in the liquid.

• Leave to stand for 5 mins.

• Scatter the cheese over the top, then bake for 35-40 mins until golden and just set.

• Serve with a crisp green salad.

50g cheddar, grated

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

Sandwich bake

By Janet Gladstone

16

Remote volunteering

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Jade Collis

Remote volunteering Family Action Family action is an organisation that transforms lives by providing practical, emotional and financial support to those who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation across the country.

The organisation has several volunteering opportunities that they need your help with. The first is Familyline. Familyline can make a huge difference to the lives of families. This opportunity can be done from the comfort of your own home. To become a Familyline volunteer you will need to use skills from your own life or work experiences and be able to commit to 4 hours of volunteering fortnightly.

The organisation is looking for mentors for children, Familyline specialists and mentors for care leavers. All of this opportunities require different skill sets but can all be done from the comfort of your own home. The website will explain all the opportunities in details and how to apply. family-action.org.uk/get-involved

Become a Dementia Friend “People living with dementia face social isolation, now more than ever.” This is why the organisation Dementia friends, needs you! This organisation has different volunteering opportunities that you can get involved with to support people with Dementia. One way to get involved is by becoming a dementia friend. You will be asked to learn about dementia for your local community and take action both big and small! To find out more about becoming a dementia friend or to see how else you can support this organisation visit their website; dementiafriends.org.uk

Fundraising for RAG We may not be on campus but that does not mean that fundraising for our two RAG charities has to stop! Netball and Ladies Hockey kicked off virtual fundraisers for RAG in the form of challenges. Netball came up with the idea of spell your name workout challenge. The idea was to do the exercises that were associated to each letter of your name and then donate £5 to our online fundraising page.

Ladies Hockey then created the BNU ice bucket challenge. They challenged you all to cool off in this heat with ice cold water and donate £5. It was great to see students get involved in both of these challenges and it would be great to see more students think of virtual fundraising ideas! Don’t forget the planning of these virtual fundraising ideas and participating them all counts as volunteering, so don’t forget to log those hours!

These are only some suggestions of how you can use your time for good! Whatever you chose to do will have a huge impact on someone else so get involved! When volunteering don’t forget to tell us all about it by tagging the union on Instagram and Twitter and logging your volunteering hours!

If you want to volunteer or want any help with volunteering or logging of your volunteering hours, please get in contact: volunteering@bucks.ac.uk.

17

Advice Centre update

Meditate the easy way Do you find your brain jumping from one thing to another?

Are you constantly anxious? Do you find it difficult to concentrate?

Difficult To sleep? Then meditation can help.

You may have been put off from trying to meditate before because of all the paraphernalia, chanting and mysticism that’s connected to it, but actually meditation is really simple and once you get the hang of it really easy. You do not need to chant or have any special equipment like a Tibetan singing bowl or a or a statue of a Buddha.

What meditation does is calm the mind – it is like a mini holiday from thinking and with all good holidays the good effects carry on even after the holiday is over. What you are aiming to do during the meditation is to empty your mind and think of nothing!

Here is the simple way to do it.

1. Get comfortable in a place and time where you are unlikely to be disturbed.

You can sit or lie down, being comfortable is the key thing here.

2. Begin by concentrating on your breathing and relax.

Make sure you face, neck and shoulders are relaxed, let go of any tension in your body.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth or nose. Do nice steady breaths and notice the air as you breathe in and breathe out.

3. Only allow yourself to think about your breathing and what the air feels like as you breathe in and out.

Really concentrate on every sensation from the air going in and out.

If you need help please let someone know, don’t suffer in silence.

Although we can’t see you in person at the moment the Students’ Union Advice Centre is open and we’re here to help so don’t hesitate to contact us on suadvice.ac.uk or complete the enquiry form here: bucksstudentsunion.org/advicecentreenquiry. We’ll reply by email or phone you, whichever you prefer.

Alternatively, if you have some great tips about how to survive or thrive at the moment send them in to editor@thebucksstudent.com and we will share the best ideas.

4. Thoughts will come into your mind and you need to let them go and ignore them.

If you struggle with this imagine your head is like a dome made from window frames without the glass.

When you get a thought change the thought into a bird that then flies out of the dome, let it go.

Then concentrate on your breathing again.

5. If you find yourself thinking of nothing even your breathing, then brilliant. That is what you are aiming for.

6. If you get distracted just keep concentrating on your breathing and do it for as long as you like. 10-15 minutes is good.

That is it! Doing this really can help calm your mind and make you more able to manage your life. If you are struggling to sleep, try when you are lying in bed it can really help. It helps if you do it regularly and it gets easier the more you do it.

If you try the above and it does not work for you then try a guided meditation, there are loads to choose from on YouTube.

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Julia Crooks

18

JobShop - part time

The Bucks Student lite edition 6

By Emily West

JobShop - part time We understand that everyone’s current situation is different, as an anonymous source said (on Facebook!) “we might all be in the same storm but we are all on different ships”.

For those that need to work, these can be incredibly difficult times, with so much uncertainty in so many sectors.

However, on our JobShop page on the Students’ Union website, we are working hard to keep sourcing local and online where possible, part time job vacancies for you.

Whether you feel able to work in the supermarkets, help support the vulnerable or are looking to earn some money while keeping yourself and loved ones safe at home, we have a range of recently published opportunities available for you. Please take a look at some of the current vacancies available at the moment or go to our JobShop page for the full list; bucksstudentsunion.org/jobshop Passenger Assistant - Part Time Immediate openings for school Passenger Assistants in Buckinghamshire. As a Passenger Assistant you will usually be teamed up with another colleague who will be your Driver. The company try to maintain continuity for the children by ensuring that the driver, passenger assistant and route remain unchanged as much as possible. This means that you will be transporting the same child or children to and from school, 5 days a week.

No previous experience necessary as full training will be provided.

You will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check.

Online English Teacher No experience required In these uncertain times, teaching online is both a convenient way to earn extra income and a great way to gain valuable experience in teaching English to non-native speakers without having to leave your home. And no experience is required for this vacancy!

Support Worker As a Home Companion for Right at Home you will be classified as a ‘Key Worker’ and can really help support those most vulnerable during this time and get paid for doing it.

Tesco - Temporary customer service assistants Tesco are currently looking for temporary staff to help with increased demand and staff shortages.

Online Surveys Earn money from home! Put your retail experience to work in a new and interesting way completing online paid research tasks. From Sales Assistant to Customer Service Manager your knowledge, communication and awareness skills already make you a great candidate.

Please remember that you should not put yourself under any unnecessary risk and that if you have any problems regarding finance or anything else, our Advice Centre is there to help you and you can contact them at suadvice@bucks.ac.uk.

THANKS FOR READING see you next time

Contributors Christina Demetriou • Tao Warburton Brooke Pilbeam • Oli Gunson • Seana O’Reilly Ellie Freeman • Millie Wardman • Olein Flemming Catherine Lymer • Tyler Griffiths • Emily West Janet Gladstone • Jade Collis • Julia Crooks Want to be on this list? Submit your content to editor@thebucksstudent.com!

Articles in this newspaper do not necessarily represent the views of Bucks Students’ Union but are that of the specific author. © 2020 Bucks Students’ Union