A Day of Celebration at the House of Lords

Our Higher Education Officer, Rebecca Duffy, attended a parliamentary reception at the House of Lords, to celebrate our sustainability work in style.

The event took place to celebrate the positive impact of its Students’ Green Fund which provides funding for 25 Students’ Unions nationwide. The College’s Students’ Union was the only general FE College union to be awarded funding, receiving £80,000 from the £5m fund aimed at developing local and global green projects.

Rebecca, who studies an HND in Fine Art, was accompanied by the College’s Students’ Union Co-ordinator Christina Donovan and the Executive Director for Environmental Services, Gill Sinnott.

While at the House of Lords, the trio met with Shadow Health Secretary and MP for Leigh, Andy Burnham and Labour MP for Wigan, Lisa Nandy, before hearing a speech from Toni Pearce, the NUS President.

Rebecca said: “It was really inspiring to hear Toni Pearce talking about the significance of the project and it was especially exciting that she specifically mentioned the achievements of Wigan & Leigh College.”

Christina Donovan, Students’ Union Co-ordinator at Wigan & Leigh College, added: “It was amazing to see so much celebration of good practice, and increasing recognition from senior politicians of the need to make sustainability a central agenda for policy makers.“It was great to see so many students empowered to create change and especially see the great work being carried out by our own learners.”

Thanks to the funding, Wigan & Leigh College’s Students’ Union has been able to organise a number of events aimed at raising awareness of various green issues, including food waste.

For more information on the Students’ Green Fund visit, http://www.studentsgreenfund.org.uk/