About Lauren

Lauren volunteered with VESL for the first time in September 2011 for three months in India after completing her degree in Geography from the University of Edinburgh, after doing some other work in the charity sector she joined VESL as the Overseas Programme Assistant for three months before returning to India as a Student Leader. Lauren also visited Thailand and Sri Lanka in summer 2012 to visit projects and see volunteers. As of September Lauren is our first full time member of staff, she is committed to driving VESL forward and has lots of past travel and volunteer experiences to draw on.
Author Archive | Lauren
Lauren with our Country Manager in Thailand & 2012 Student Leaders

VESL Overseas Visit 2013

It’s that time of year again when we make our way overseas to visit our projects in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, visiting our Country Managers and our volunteers who are overseas at their projects. Where has the last year gone?! Lauren, our Programme Manager, will be heading out to Thailand on June 17th to […]

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Lucy Allcock with host family children in 2012

Student Leader Interview: Lucy Allcock

Our next Student Leader post comes from Lucy Allcock who volunteered in India in 2012 and is returning with a team of six volunteers this summer, check out her advice below! I’m Lucy Allcock, just finished my second year at Edgehill University studying Drama and Creative Writing. Last summer, I went to Kerala, Southern India […]

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Lauren in newly painted classrooms with students

VESL Interview: Programme Manager

As we have asked our Student Leaders to do interviews and provide advice for our volunteers we also thought that we should give you some of our advice as past volunteers ourselves. So this interview comes from myself and I hope you find it useful!! I originally volunteered with VESL in September 2011 for three […]

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Cake Raffle Prize donated by local community

Fundraising case study: Involving the local community

This week we have a great case study from our volunteer Sophie Ramshaw a student from Hull University who has done some great fundraising in her local community, check out the different events she held below to see how she met her fundraising target. To reach my fundraising target I decided to get the whole […]

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Andrew with students at his school in 2012

Student Leader Interview: Andrew Durrant

This is the second of our Student Leader blog posts (last week we had a post from James Hallworth), drawing on their experiences from last year and previous overseas volunteering they have written some useful advice. Our second post comes from Andrew Durrant, a student at Keele University. I am currently finishing my final year […]

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James saying goodbye to his students

Student Leader Interview: James Hallworth

We will be bringing you a series of blog posts from our Student Leaders and past volunteers about their experiences of working with VESL and some handy tips for preparing to go overseas. Our first post comes from James Hallworth a student at Edgehill University. I have just finished my second year of studies at […]

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Get cooking

Fundraising Idea: BBQ

Summer is here! Okay we may be getting ahead of ourselves but a GLIMPSE of summer is here and there are two bank holidays in May (plus obviously all the weekends!), so let’s hope for once we get good weather and can crack out the BBQ’s and some Pimms! Who doesn’t love a BBQ? BBQ’s […]

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Kirsty's speech at the event

Fundraising Case Study: Charity Event

This week Kirsty Armour from Edgehill University has written a fundraising blog for us about the event she held last weekend in her home town. A massive congratulations to Kirsty who raised over £500. Check out how she organised, ran and promoted the event below. I have always been involved in Performing Arts and so […]

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New taps and soap storage facilities for students

Wild Fund used to promote hygiene in schools in India

Ingrid Masters volunteered in Kerala from January to March 2013, while she was there she used funding from the VESL Wild Fund and a personal donation to help improve sanitation and hygiene at the school she was volunteering in. Sanitation and hygiene is a really important issue for students in India as they use their right hand […]

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James, Richie and Josh with students at one of the schools they volunteered in June 2012

Edgehill Volunteers Win Awards

You may have seen our article last week about some of our volunteers who were short listed for Volunteer of the Year Award and Volunteer Group of the Year Award at Edgehill University for their work over the past year in supporting VESL and rural schools in Thailand and India. Today we are very pleased […]

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Start thinking of questions...

Fundraising Idea: Quiz Night

Pub quizzes or quiz nights are a great way to raise money and awareness of your project in your local community and they have a huge potential to raise a large proportion of your target. Read on below to find out how to set up an event in your community or how to run a […]

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Edgehill volunteers nominated for Group of the Year Award

VESL Volunteers Nominated for Awards at Edgehill University

A huge congratulations to our volunteers who have been short listed for the Volunteer of the Year Awards at Edgehill University next week. Lucy Allcock has been shortlisted for Volunteer of the Year Award and our team of volunteers who were pioneers for VESL in Phayao Province have been nominated for Volunteer Group of the […]

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Match Funding

Fundraising idea: Match Funding

Match funding is when a company you work for or are associated with match the funds that you’re raising for charity, companies do this as a way of encouraging people to do charitable activities. Lots of larger (and sometimes small companies) will have funds set aside specifically for match funding and some small companies are […]

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Time to get baking!

Fundraising Idea: Coffee Morning or Afternoon Tea

It’s time to find your inner Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood and get baking! How to organise Find a venue – you could do this in your house, in a village hall or community gathering point. You may be able to hold it at your a school you’re associated with and invite all the parents. […]

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