CSV Make a Difference Day, which is supported by Barclays Community Investment Programme, encourages people to give time instead of money to help improve their local communities. Activities take place the two weeks either side of Saturday 29th October and range from giving blood, knitting outfits for premature babies, transforming wasteland into community gardens, teaching IT skills, renovating homeless shelters or baking and donating cakes to people in residential homes - anything which improves local communities.

CSV Make a Difference Day is a flagship campaign during the Year of the Volunteer.

FRIDAY

Goodbye fast food - hello healthy living
Volunteers will be showing local residents in Southall a healthier way of living at Dormers Wells Allotments. Residents will be shown how they can improve their health by growing their own food, including planting fruit trees and growing vegetables from seeds.
When: 12-3pm, Friday 28th October 2005
Where: Dormers Wells Alottments, end of Brindley Way, Southall, London UB1

Victorian elegance restored in Berkshire
A team of volunteers will be restoring a traditional Victorian orchard in the grounds of a beautiful stately home in Berkshire.
When: 9.30am - 4.30pm, Friday 28th October 2005,
Where: Lilly Hill Park, Bracknell Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1RT

Save the last dance for the MSP
A group of school children with special needs in Aberdeen will be showing Richard Baker MSP a thing or two about dancing and karaoke at their after school club. The event provides stimulating entertainment for the children as well as respite for their parents and carers.
When: 4pm, Friday 28th October 2005
Where: VSA-Hazlewood After School Club, Hazlewood School, Fernielea Road, Aberdeen, AB15 6JU

SATURDAY

Children muck in down on the farm
Kids from across the capital will be heading down to Spitalfields City Farm to make friends with pigs, sheep and donkeys. They will be creating a sculpture signage trail, building bird boxes, planting trees and bulbs, and tidying up the animal grazing area. Arts workshops, storytelling, games and circus performers will be entertaining them, free of charge, throughout the day.
When: 11-3pm, Saturday 29th October 2005
Where: Weaver Street (off Brick Lane and Buxton Street), London E1

Specials tackle arson and vandalism
Special Constables are giving a vandalised school that has been the recent target of an arson attack, a make-over. They will be clearing graffiti off the walls, painting the fence and clearing away dumped rubbish.
When: 10am - 5pm, Saturday 29th October 2005
Where: Bliston C of E School, Albany Crescent, Wolverhampton WV14 0HU

The Big Paint
Young people will be brightening up run down areas with their hand prints for "The Big Paint". They will be targeting bus shelters, subways and buildings with a catchy and bright design.
When: 9.30am - 3pm, Saturday 29th October 2005
Where: Police Station, Palace Road, St Austell, Cornwall PL25 4AL

TV cop and radio reverend team up to redecorate
Cyril Nri, star of ITV's The Bill, will be at the Refugee Council in Brixton to help redecorate the centre, used by around 100 clients every week. Cyril, a refugee himself, will be joined by the BBC's Reverend Canon Roger Royle, refugees and asylum seekers and members of the local community.
When: 12-3pm, Saturday October 29th, 2005
Where: 240-250 Ferndale Road, London SW9 8BB

Ealing toddlers to shine with the help of Flash
Kim Wilde, popstar and horticulturalist will be helping to help clean up Ealing's Pitshanger Community Play Centre. As the hub of the community, the centre runs activities for over 300 local children and families per week and is in desperate need of a face-lift. Kim will be joining CSV Make a Difference Day volunteers and the Flash clean up squad on the day to scrub, shine and buff the centre and playground to give them a new lease of life.
When: 12-2pm, Saturday 29th October 2005
Where: Pitshanger Community Play Centre, Pitshanger Park, Meadvale Road, Ealing, W5.


ENDS


Further press information contact: Esther Freeman CSV Make a Difference Day Press Office on 020 7812 0035/39. Email: efreeman@csv.org.uk. Out of office hours call 07981 591150.

Latest press releases: www.csv.org.uk/press

Notes for editors


1. CSV Make a Difference Day takes place on Saturday 29 October 2005, and activities take part a week either side. Nearly 100,000 people are expected to give time rather than money to improve their local community. The campaign is organised by CSV (Community Service Volunteers) and supported by Barclays community investment programme and the Home Office Active Communities Directorate.

2. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) is the UK's leading volunteering and training organisation and creates opportunities for people to play an active part in the life of their community through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 164,000 people give 4.1 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV.

3. Year of the Volunteer 2005 is owned by volunteers, led by a partnership between Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and the Volunteering England Consortium, and supported by the Home Office. To find out more about events and activities during the Year of the Volunteer 2005, please visit the official website at www.yearofthevolunteer.org

4. Barclays PLC actively encourages employee involvement through its Employee Volunteering grant giving, Volunteer 2day time giving and £ for £ match-funding schemes, as well as encouraging the wider public to do the same through supporting flagship projects such as CSV Make a Difference Day and Barclays Spaces for Sports.

5. "We actively encourage our employees to give their time and effort to local charities, urban regeneration, fundraising and all forms of volunteering. We are proud of their efforts and not a little humbled by them." Matt Barrett, Group Chairman.

6. Over 20,000 Barclays employees from around the world took part in community activities in 2004. Over 11,500 Barclays employees took part in Make a Difference Day activities alone, including staff in Africa and Spain. Volunteering projects ranged from mentoring, clearing beaches to gardening, painting and decorating.

7. Barclays takes its social and environmental responsibilities seriously, supporting social and financial inclusion both nationally and at grass roots level to make a real and lasting difference to the community. In 2004 the bank continued to be one of the UK's top corporate contributors, making a global commitment of £31.9m and one in three Barclays employees volunteered for their local communities.

8. For further information on Barclays community activity, please see corporate responsibility at http://www.barclays.com. Media enquiries contact: Sarah Davis, Sponsorship PR Manager, Barclays PLC on 020 7116 6095.