Loughborough Students' Union Action has spent 26,000 hours volunteering this year to help support charities and community groups.

The Action group, which is the volunteering section of Loughborough Students’ Union, provide extra help to better the community and its surrounding groups and organisations.

This year, Action has volunteered at a wide range of activities and events. These include annual events such as the summer litter pick to clean up the community, Kids Camp where volunteers take a group of young carers away on a trip and the Tea dance involving sandwiches, cups of tea and Tuxedo swing.

Action has also helped out with specific projects including the repaint of local charity cafe Glebe House. Fourty Action volunteers raised funds to purchase paint trays and brushes and repainted the charity cafe which helps to support children and adults with learning difficulties.

Earlier this month, six volunteers from the Action group lent a helping hand to the nearby Ronald West Court, a housing and Care 21 retirement scheme. Volunteers put on their chef hats and prepared pork dinners with trimmings for residents. They also helped out with the summer sing-along and gardening project at the home.

Many students also chose to volunteer on a weekly basis at local youth centres, schools and charities.

Vice president for Action this year, Phil Jenkins, said: “I am extremely proud of the Action team for their sheer dedication and commitment throughout this year. To have volunteered 26,000 hours is a fantastic achievement which I’m confident has helped to better the local community and a range of different groups.

“I'd like to thank the Action volunteers for their continued hard work this year, I could not have asked for a better team of people to work with.”