Goldsmiths’ Civic Days: Marian’s story

A Goldsmiths colleague reflects on her local volunteering efforts, as part of the College’s Civic Days initiative.

Since early 2023, Goldsmiths’ Civic Days initiative has given all colleagues the opportunity to take up to three days of additional leave for volunteering each year. This time can be used to support any cause or organisation, but all are encouraged to consider taking these as ‘Civic Days’, to volunteer in Lewisham.

To date, close to 500 hours of volunteering time have been taken, meaning that over 70 full days have been given back to good causes locally and further afield. Colleagues from across different teams and Departments across Goldsmiths have volunteered on at a range of different organisations, from food banks to nature conservation charities.

One such colleague is School Student & Programmes Hub Coordinator, Marian Perez-Velazquez. Marian was prompted to volunteer following an International Women’s Day event at Goldsmiths, where she met the volunteering coordinator for Glendale Local. This organisation partners with Lewisham Council to look after places like parks, sports pitches, and community green spaces around the borough of Lewisham, and offered Marian a number of potential volunteering opportunities to choose from.

"The team made it really easy for me to find the right volunteering for me. I was really keen to get more involved with the local community, and Glendale gave me a choice of things to do, with different schedules. This meant I could use the College’s Civic Days for some of the work, and do some more in my own time at the weekend.

“In June, I went to a little pond to catalogue the diversity of all the plants and insects and so on that were there. Then in July I got involved in a river clean-up, which was really enjoyable. The team provided everything – waders, and all the equipment you needed – and a cup of tea at the end! The organisers were really welcoming, as were the regular volunteers – there was a lovely social feel."

The Civic Days initiative is one contribution to Goldsmiths’ broader civic mission, which focuses on working with communities to address local issues and facilitate local development. 

Goldsmiths’ Head of Civic Engagement, Michael Eades, said: “Our Civic Days initiative is just one pathway through which we are working as a university to make a positive impact in our local area."

"The wider community benefits from this, too, so it's a win-win – and one of the and one of the cornerstones of our civic engagement activity."