On 17th October, a team of college students volunteered to redecorate Victoria Lodge Day Centre, Wisbech in just one day.
The Victoria Lodge Day Centre is run by Cambridgeshire County Council and provides day opportunities to adults with learning difficulties and older people some with dementia, running classes and workshops such as woodwork, cooking classes and supporting with independence skills.
Team Leader, Hayley Bradshaw said:
“The centre hasn’t been decorated in over 15 years and we wanted to spruce it up to make it a better environment for the people who use it day-in-day-out, so we looked to the local community for help.”
CWA Painting and decorating Course Director, Kevin Coates, offered the help of the entire class of the level 2 Painting and Decorating course at college’s Wisbech campus.
Guy Bridges said:
“This has been a fantastic opportunity for our students to engage with the local community and gain valuable work experience. We look forward to participating in similar work experience projects in the future. I’d like to add a big thank you to Hayley for making the day so much fun, also to Josh Jolie and Sonya Williams (Brewers Decorator Centre) for their paint donation.”
The 7 students were joined by college staff member, Kevin Coates, and local business owner, Terry Ardener, who owns a specialist moulding company and is the father of one of the centre’s users. Terry shut up shop for the day, along with his entire workforce to help paint the centre and Brewers Decorating Centre donating 20 litres of paint for the college to use towards the project.
All the volunteers took around 8 hours to paint the entire centre, which includes 7 rooms, as well as bathrooms and corridors.
Hayley said:
“I want to say a massive thank you for everything our volunteers did for us with our very successful paint day! The transformation to the place is huge, being felt by both the people that use the service and also staff! Without the help of our volunteers this would not have been possible, so a huge thank you to you all!”
The centre is a Cambridgeshire County Council service and is supported by the service users own enterprise and donations to purchase additional equipment and activities. The centre sells products that the team make, such as clothes and sweets, through their enterprise, Rags to Riches.
If you would like to donate to or volunteer at the Victoria Lodge Day Centre, then please contact Hayley Bradshaw on 01354 750335 or email