Make a Difference Day

Wednesday, 28th September saw all Brighton College pupils and staff engage in over 100 activities across the city and Sussex, as they set out to help their local area as part of the College's annual Make a Difference Day.

First launched in 2008, "MADD" has become a hugely important event both for the College and for the local community projects it supports. "The College is very much at the heart of the local community, says Head Master, Richard Cairns." I am immensely proud of the dozens of our pupils who, every week, spend time visiting the elderly and supporting the homeless and disadvantaged. But MADD is a great opportunity for the entire school community to give something back to the local area; with so many of our pupils and staff involved, we really can make a huge difference in just a single day."

Whether undertaking maintenance work at St Dunstan's centre for blind ex-servicemen and women or washing protective suits for the RNLI at Brighton marina; marching and collecting in support of Breast Cancer Awareness or sorting stock for the Martlets Hospice and other charity shops; more than 800 pupils worked tirelessly this year to support a diverse range of projects within the community.  Indeed, picking litter from the beaches and roads of Kemp Town as part of 'The Big Tidy UP' - keep Britain Tidy Campaign proved to be popular with members of the local community again this year, as were the cakes baked for and distributed to elderly residents. A number of conservation projects are also supported, most notably woodland preservation with the Brighton and Hove Urban Rangers at Stanmer Park and scrub clearing with the National Trust on the Downland Restoration Project at Devil's Dyke. 

In one of the many new initiatives, over 70 pupils also engaged in 'Operation Ground Force' at St John's School and College for young people with severe learning difficulties, at both their Walpole Road and Seaford sites. Here their jobs included landscaping, gardening, repairing tables and benches and even painting murals. Site Manager at St John's, Gary Brown, was delighted. "We have a very busy, but small, ground staff here; it would take us weeks to achieve what the 80 pupils from Brighton did in just this one day! Even more exciting is the fact that College pupils have now committed to continue volunteering with us on a regular basis; to have this kind of support in the longer term will truly make a difference to all here."

Make a Difference Day 2012 will be held on Wednesday September 26th.