The Vocational Access and Preparation for Employment students at the Brecon and Newtown site of Coleg Powys have managed to raise enough funds for a Shelter Box.

The students have put on a variety of events to raise the £500 needed to purchase a Shelter Box.  The events included selling Fairtrade products on a stall for Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Easter, having a coffee morning and a raffle.

Rod Evans from Rotary UK came in to receive the cheque from the students and provided them with some information about Shelter Box.  The initiative is now ten years old and has managed to send 80,000 shelter boxes to places where there has been a disaster.  Each box has the survival kit for ten people.

The boxes have a unique number on them, so the students will be able to know where there box goes to.

Vocational Access students at the Newtown site of Coleg Powys managed to win eight awards and be awarded overall winners in the Team Programme of the Young Enterprise Central Wales Strategic Finals, which were held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells last Tuesday.

The Vocational Access students have set up a business called Siarad a Sialc which makes novelty chalkboards from wood and slate.  Prior to the competition the students had to submit a company report and then at the competition they had to display a trade stand to show off their products.  They also had to participate in an interview with a panel of judges from local businesses and perform a five minute stage presentation about their company and experiences in participating in Young Enterprise.

The categories they won were Best Company Report, Best Trade Stand, People’s Choice, Best Teamwork, Best Use of IT, Most Commercially Viable Company, Most Commercial Product and Most Innovative Product.  Hannah Evans also received the Best Achiever Award.

They will now represent Central Wales at the All Wales Finals, which will be at City Hall in Cardiff on 24th June.

Coleg Powys was recently audited by Ground Work in Wales and was awarded Level 2 of the Green Dragon Environmental Standard.

The College has been working hard to adopt a more sustainable approach and has recently introduced its own sustainability policy which outlines the College’s targets and actions.

At the Newtown site 50% of all waste produced is recycled.  This has enabled the College to reduce its ‘landfill’ from two 6 cubic metres skips picked up three times a week to just one.  Also, on average 1 tonne of food waste per month is recycled – the College is one of the few colleges in the whole of Wales that participates in this type of recycling.

The Brecon site recycles approximately 50% of its waste and has reduced its electricity usage by 33% and gas by 45% in the main building. 

At the Llandrindod site approximately 70% of waste is recycled, gas has been reduced by 18% and electricity reduced by 23%.

The Vocational Access learners on the Brecon site have also been promoting climate and environmental issues by producing a globe and encouraging staff and students to make environmental pledges to reduce their own carbon footprint.  The Assistant Principal of South Powys Ian Millward pledged that he would bike 1000 miles from September to Christmas.  This involved him biking part of his journey to and from work.  He did this as part of the Cycle to Work Scheme and managed to exceed the 1000 miles.

Assistant Principal Quality Sian Pinner said: “We are very pleased to have been awarded level 2 of Green Dragon.  The College is continually trying to reduce its carbon footprint and is committed to creating a more sustainable environment for its learners and staff.  We will now be working towards achieving level 3 of Green Dragon.”

The Vocational Access students from the Brecon site of Coleg Powys presented a cheque of £140 to the Shelter Box charity last week. 

When the earthquake in Haiti struck six weeks ago the Vocational Access students wanted to do something to help so decided to do a couple of fundraising activities and give the money raised to Shelter Box, as they had been given a talk about the charity at the end of last year.  The catering group, Cymru Cooks, organised a coffee morning which raised £70 and the Global Challenge class made posters and money bags which were distributed round the College, raising a further £70. 

On the 24th February the money raised through these two activities was presented to Rod Evans who is a member of the Volunteer Display Team, Anthony Edwards who is President of Brecon Rotary Club and former President Brian Matthews. 

Mr Matthews explained that Shelter Box is a charity which provides basic and immediate help for the victims of disaster as practically as possible.  They produce boxes for victims which contain essential equipment for survival including a large family tent, stove and cooking utensils, a water purification system, waterproof ponchos, fleece blankets, mosquito nets, waterproof groundsheets, basic tools and activity packs for children.  The students were shown a box and had fun erecting the tent.  

Together with the Vocational Access students in Newtown the group are aiming to raise £500 in total, which is the cost of one box.

The Vocational Access Catering students of the Brecon site donated all the takings from the Cymru Cooks Bistro to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal Fund. They raised £70 in total.