What: Today over 100 volunteers gave 4 hours at Grinling Gibbons Primary School. We gave a new lease of life to the slightly tired looking parts of the school. Some artistic sparks designed eight colourful mural boards of festivals and nature scenes, while others decorated a wendy house. Another group completely revamped a shelter by painting bright bricks, numbers and animals on the walls. Volunteers also built a sensory garden full of different shapes, textures and smells. The final volunteer group grafted away at the walls of the play ground painting bold and striking blocks.
Funniest Moment: While digging in the garden some of the lads hit the foundation of an old building. They didn't give up though, they powered through and were able to use the bricks to build something new.
What Next: Your work doesn't have to stop here! Give 4 hours in your own time at Grinling Gibbons, Join the Collective and Get Given a Ticketmaster voucher. Get involved, contact Jonathan at jwren@ggibbons.lewisham.sch.uk. For more info on the Collective, click here.
Thanks to everyone who came down to this awesome project; you guys were amazing. We look forwarded to seeing you at the gig! Don't forget to check out the photos from the day, here.
Kat, Gemma, Dan, Lucy, Marcus, Matt, Ren, Aqil, Abi and Tris!
What: Russia Dock Woodland was originally a commercial docking yard used for importing and exporting timber to Norway, Russia and Sweden. The area was redeveloped into woodland in the 1980’s and has been been a hub for the community ever since. Today one hundred and five volunteers rocked up to Russia Docks in Surrey Quays and Gave their 4 hours in the blistering heat. Volunteers mucked in with some sawing, digging, raking and lopping the undergrowth, to some amazing beats laid done by none other than Jack Swift.
An extra big shout out goes to all volunteers who helped clean the embankment and bone saw down trees.
Best Moment: Coming together to see how much difference we had made to the entire area.
Make sure you check out all the pics of your hard work, here, and keep in touch with us, here!
What: A group of 66 Orange RockCorps volunteers came down to the primary school and got well and truly stuck in, transforming the nursery play ground and the sports hall. Tasks included painting, mural making, gardening and clearing areas to give the primary school an amazing new look.
Groups of creative volunteers put their artistic talents to use, creating jungle and under the sea scenes within the classrooms which will be hugely appreciated by both staff and pupils at the school.
Funniest Moment: Volunteers taking a break from all their hard work for a quick game of Paranoia!
Best Moment: Volunteers working together and managing to uproot a massive tree that was beginning to take over the pupils play area.
Shout out to every one who came down and helped out at the project, you've made a huge difference to your community and we can't wait to celebrate with you at the gig!
Check out all the pics from the day, here.. and stay tuned for exclusive gig news here!
Volunteers get to grips with a new mode of transport to get about the massive park quickly!
Where: Valentine's Park
When: Saturday 7th August
What: The Orange RockCorps 2010 programme kicked off at Valentines Park on Saturday. Over 60 eager volunteers descended on the park and got stuck in clearing the brook of all the rubbish. The four project groups managed to fill an entire skip with green waste! Everyone mucked in and worked their socks off to get the London leg of Orange RockCorps 2010 off to a flyer. The standard has now been set! Thanks so much to everyone that attended the project and we will see you all on the 24th September.
Funniest Moment: When 22 volunteers all ran away screaming when a wasps nest was unearthed by a volunteer's rake!
Thanks to everyone who came down to this incredible project and we hope you enjoy the gig! Don't forget to check out all the photos from the day, here, and stay tuned for up to date artist info and exclusive gig news, here!
What: This was the second part of this brilliant Groundwork Project so excitement was high already. Even Vampire Weekend rocked up with Alex Zane to muck in! Volunteers used their mad design skills to create a beautiful community garden from scratch! Groups toiled to create flowery planters, brilliant bird boxes, benches and super scarecrows. Today it wasn’t about individual groups but everyone mucking in and working their socks off to get the garden up to the Orange RockCorps standard, and boy what a job everyone did! Thank you all so much for all of your hard work and the incredible fun you brought to the day. Give, Get Given. HOLLA!
Funniest Moment: All of the groups competing with each other to build the coolest scarecrow men and women. Then everyone lining up and having their photos taken with them like they were real people.
Best Moment: Vampire Weekend picking up tools and digging with the volunteers for victory.
Thanks to everyone who came down to this incredible project and we hope you enjoyed the gig!
For photos from the project and the gig itself click here!
What: Today, Orange RockCorps volunteers Gave 4 hours brightening up and restoring Ordsall Youth Centre. Even the legend himself, Snoop Dogg came down to Give his 4 hours, first checking out the awesome mural the outside team had been working on and later laying down some beats and lyrics with a handful of lucky guys who work in the music studio at the centre!
Later, yet another surprise rolled up: Rio Ferdinand came down to support the Orange RockCorps volunteers and have a kick about with some of the lads.
A massive thanks to everyone who took part on the day. Cheers to all the guys and girls who painted the mural, redecorated the sports hall and music rooms, and cleared, weeded and styled the outside garden areas. We hope you enjoyed the gig! To check out all the pics from your project and from the gig, click here!
Orange RockCorps volunteers talk us through their 4 hours at Moss Side Adventure Playground!
Orange RockCorps shoot some hoops at Moss Side Adventure Playground
It wasn't all just shooting hoops down at Moss Side Adventure Playground on the 6th July 2010. Volunteers gave all of the wooden fences and climbing towers around the site a fresh lick of paint, really brightening up the playground. Stay tuned for pictures from the day, here
What: This was the third and final visit to the amazing Hulme Adventure Playground by Orange RockCorps and boy what a day we had. Heavy rain was forecast so tensions were high, but the good vibes and hard work held off the elements successfully so everyone could get on with an amazing painting project. Volunteers worked tirelessly to stain wood, make brilliant bright murals on the walk-ways and create a huge rock face scene on the climbing wall. Two eager volunteers got so carried away when creating a hungry caterpillar mural that they decided to put flames coming off it and some Nike trainers! Everything was finished as planned and looks absolutely incredible thanks to all of the hard work and effort from Orange RockCorps volunteers!
Funniest Moment: Watching Project Coordinator Aine’s group having a race all around the playground!
Best Moment: The incredible dancing man from Project Coordinator Lucy’s Group having a dance off with top dawg and Project Leader Mike. Check out the video of his mad skills!
Thanks to everyone who came down and see you all at the gig! Can't wait for Thursday, wooooooop!
What: Phillips park is a widely used and appreciated area of rich woodland habitat. A group of 72 Orange RockCorps volunteers came along to the park today to build a footpath that leads through the park. The park was in desperate need of a footpath to increase accessibility and many members of the local community will now be able to enjoy the park easily. As well as laying the path, volunteers also brightened up areas of the park by painting the entrance gates and some surrounding fences.
Funniest moment: Volunteers racing along the side of the path in wheelbarrows - like this:
Best Moment: Realising what a great difference it will make to the park and the local community.
Thanks to all of the volunteers who came and helped out, you did a wicked job; we hope you had a great day earning your tickets. See you Thursday! Check out the photos, here!
St Mary’s Primary School is a brilliant learning environment, bringing children together from all over the local area. Unfortunately, the play area and some of the grounds have become difficult to maintain. Enter Orange RockCorps volunteers!
Orange Rockcorps Volunteers spent the day creating a new look around the outside of the building by giving the play equipment a brand new coat of paint, making a new garden and play area using old tyres and posts, updating the nursery area with fun faces and they also added the children’s favourite book character “Handa” to the wall. The parent/teacher area had fun children’s characters painted on the floor and walls such as the Hungry Caterpillar and the Gruffalo. The Quad area was given a complete makeover with a brand new sensory garden, flower beds and rockery and the wall in the main play area was white washed and painted with amazing spotty dots and stars.
Funniest moment: Watching the volunteers trying to climb onto the benches they were painting in order to get to those hard to reach places.
Best moment: The teachers’ joyful reaction to the finished school.
A big thank you to everyone who took part and we look forward to seeing you at the gig! Check out the photos, here!
What: Wythenshawe Community Farm is an extremely popular community space. Located within Wythenshawe Park the farm is not only home to animals including pigs, cows, horses and goats but it is also a great resource for children to learn about sustainability.
Orange RockCorps volunteers gave the farm a great new look with some amazing animal themed mural artwork. The stables were given a fresh lick of paint, and volunteers even built a chicken run and decorated the cow and pig shed!
Funniest Moment: Volunteers trying to catch the chickens - no chickens were harmed in the making of this project!
Best Moment: A group of volunteers deciding to help out every Saturday at the farm after having such a wicked day helping out with Orange RockCorps.
Thank you to all of those who came down to the farm and volunteered! See you at the Apollo! Check out the photos from the day, here!
Today at Debdale Park volunteers tackled the challenge of taming the wild grass and bushes that covered the paths armed with various spades, rakes, loppers and forks. The task seemed endless in the baking heat of the sun, but the volunteers pushed on and as the end was in sight what had been achieved was an amazing clean up of the paths and a large amount of gravel had been laid to create a magical yellow brick road.
Thanks to all the guys down both paths for a great day of digging, raking, lopping and litter picking, hope everyone had an awesome time. See you at the Gig!!
What: The Gorton Horticultural Society Allotments date as far back as the 1920's, and house over 100 workable allotments. Anyone from the local community can become a society member, allowing them use of the allotments to tend to their fruit and veg and access to the allotment shop for all their gardening needs. Towards the end of the summer the allotments become a hive of activity as the Gorton Horticultural Society Show takes place with members competing to see who has the nicest flowers or biggest courgettes!
Groups of volunteers visited the allotments to help with a massive clear up and to add a touch of colour and artistic flair ahead of the Show. Group 1 did an amazing job painting two walls in a fab nature theme with plenty of pretty flowers! Group 2 also did an awesome nature theme with plenty of flowers and funky butterflies. Group 3 painted some unsightly containers and made them blend in with the background by adding a grass and sky effect and finally group 4 did an excellent job of clearing and tidying up the lane.
Funniest Moment: Seeing Geoff (the charity parter) customising the volunteers’ Orange RockCorps T-shirts by chopping arms off and such like to cater for the immense heat!
Best Moment: The many wheelbarrow rides down the lane with group 4 due the exhaustion.
Thanks for all of your hardwork! See you next Thursday at the show!
What: St Wilfrid’s Primary School is committed to the achievement of each and every child, they celebrate a success and a thirst for achievement at every level and they involve everyone, children, parents and staff, in this process.
The outside walls of the school were given a new lease of life with a fresh coat of paint, an area with plain tyres and a climbing frame were animated with a lick of paint, the woodland area was opened up and a footpath was created giving the children an exciting new area to play in. The children’s foundation stage playground was also treated to a new layer of paint - jungle and animal murals were painted to add some adventure to some of the containers in the playground.
Funniest Moment: Nat and Ste ejoying the glorious weather by having a water fight to cool down.
Best Moment: the children’s faces when they saw what the volunteers had done on Monday.
Thanks to all of you that gave your four hours, well done! See you at the gig!
What: Moss Side Adventure Playground is a great place for children from the surrounding area to play and as such it has become a vital part of the local community. Volunteers spent the day working hard to give the playground a complete make-over. By the end of the day the volunteers had completed a wicked art mural of a treasure hunt that surrounded the entire park. During the day the volunteers split in to several groups to allow them to cover as much ground as possible. All groups had an amazing time painting the adventure playground so that by the end it resembled a selection of different environments ranging from an under the sea scene to a desert landscape!
Best Moment: Seeing the completed treasure hunt, what an amazing transformation with a huge impact!
Funniest Moment: Volunteers dancing to massive tracks from the DJ whilst painting Jungle scenes!
We hope that you all had a good a day as we did, your hard work will be greatly appreciated. Can’t wait to see you at the gig!
What: North Salford Youth Club is a major asset to the local community and is widely used by young people aged 11-25 year olds from the surrounding area. The centre provides facilities for a wide range of activities including art and crafts, pool, football, basketball and dance. Volunteers spent a fun-filled afternoon transforming the centre. A fresh lick of paint and a selection of cool art murals both inside and out has provided a much needed splash of colour. The hard work will be greatly appreciated by both staff and users of the North Salford Youth Centre.
Funniest Moment: Project Leader Neil standing in a tray of Paint!
Best Moment: The amazing transformation of the corridor which is now covered in a wave of stars thanks to the artistic volunteers!
A massive, massive thank you to all volunteers who came and helped out, we can’t wait to see you at the Apollo!
What: West Gorton Youth Centre didn’t know what had hit it when 118 volunteers descended upon it. Everyone mucked in to bring a new lease of life to the youth centre with the aid of lots and lots and LOTS of paint! Group 1, led by Amy, created a magical secret garden with a giant tree and lots of woodland critters. Groups 2 and 4, under the leadership of Lucy and Emma, combined forces to bring much needed light to a dark social area and a sparse sports room and they even found time to jazz up a kitchen with some dancing vegetables. Then last but by no means least, Group 3, led by the wonderful Gemma managed to completely re-do a giant sports hall with beautiful colours and sporty murals. A job well done everyone!
Funniest Moment: The paint station nearly blowing away and Ben having to jump through paint trays to save the tent, much to the amusement of all the gathered volunteers.
Best Moment: Project coordinator Ren finally getting a fairy mural after three weeks of begging. Magic!
Thanks to everyone who came down and see you all at the gig!
Project Coordinator Ren gets to grips with delegation!
Project Coordinator Craig shows off the work done at Victoria Mill
Volunteers cleared foliage, weeded, litter-picked and widened paths so that local waterways were a cleaner, more accessible and prettier community space for members of the public to use! Volunteers also did a spot of painting, brightening up the Community Centre. Top work!
What: Holy Name Primary School is the only school in Manchester to have won the Education and Skills International School Award. This has inspired other local schools to be more involved in the international arena, opening up loads more opportunities to children in the community. The school is volunteer-run and was in need of a bit of a spruce. Orange RockCorps volunteers painted the nursery area and playground games, brightening up the school with stunning murals!
Funniest Moment: Volunteers holding down our flyaway tent which tried to get away a couple of times!
Best Moment: The looks on the pupils faces when they rocked up for school on Monday morning!
Thanks to everyone who came down and see you all at the gig!
Ste, Kat, Emma, Gemma, Dan & Nat.
For all the photos from the day, stay posted, here.
What: Go Oldham! is an inspiring community action project that aims to encourage and support local children and families to make the most of their area. The staff do a fantastic job of creating a space where everyone is welcome to learn, relax and explore new activities in a friendly and exciting atmosphere. 46 Orange RockCorps volunteers spruced up the skate park and brightened up a huge wall mural.
Best Moment: Watching our jazzed up skate ramps put to amazing use by a local pro bmx-er. Beautiful Sunshine and pumping tunes from DJ Mark Smith put everyone in a great mood.
Thanks guys, you all did an amazing job!! See you at the gig!!!
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