The evening, which was attended by Professor Keith Burnett, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, and Councillor Graham Oxley, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, included exhibitions from over 30 volunteer projects which have taken place over the year, and was a chance to meet the participants who made them happen.

The event also included talks by a student volunteers, and members of the community, who shared their success stories and talked about their passion for volunteering.

Rashida Hassanali, who worked with SheffieldVolunteering to set up Lego Project, talked about a new project which has been set up to help pupils engage with their parents.

The Lego project at Firs Hill Community Primary School aims to engage parents to support their children's learning through extra-curricular activities in order to raise levels of attainment and progress. The project quickly attracted a range of parents, and frequently sees 10-15 adults and 30 children working with two or three students at any one session.

Rashida, who works as an Extended Service Manager for Fir Vale family of schools, said:

"The student volunteers have been absolutely fantastic throughout this project and have been a real inspiration for the pupils at the school. Parents have learnt to play with their children and give them positive attention, which is so crucial to effective parenting. It has been particularly beneficial to have male students providing a positive role model for pupils and fathers alike. The school is fairly female dominated environment, and it was great to see fathers feeling comfortable and having fun with their kids.

"In addition, the presence of the students has stretched the pupil's boundaries in ways we didn't expect, and has given us new ideas about ways to engage with pupils and parents in the future."

Stella McHugh, Manager of SheffieldVolunteering, said:

"We are extremely proud of all the hard work and commitment that our volunteers have put into various projects throughout the year. Our volunteers play a vital role in the local community and without them, many projects across the city wouldn't be possible. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has volunteered this year for supporting some truly worthwhile causes."

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