Painting & Decorating students put their skills to good use to support local football club
Last month, Painting & Decorating students from Milton Keynes College volunteered their skills to repair and repaint Stony Stratford Town Football Club’s clubhouse.
The opportunity came through an MK College staff member whose son plays for one of the club’s teams. Eager to put their classroom learning to practice while supporting the local community, the students embraced the chance to work on a real-world project. The clubhouse, which is run entirely by volunteers, had suffered flood damage a year earlier, leaving the lower sections of the walls in need of repair and a fresh coat of paint.
Painting & Decorating students from MK College were keen to step in. On Friday 21st and Monday 24th November, two groups of Level 2 Painting & Decorating learners took part in repairing the clubhouse, with a total of 29 students contributing to the project.
The Friday group focused on preparation work, including protecting surfaces and mixing and applying filler where it was needed. Monday’s group then applied several coats of paint in the club’s trademark team dark blue, before cleaning and tidying the space to finish the job.
Danny, a Level 2 Painting & Decorating student, said: “I enjoyed it the project – it was a good opportunity for us to build our team skills, gain experience and realise what jobs we could be facing outside of college. Another reason I enjoyed it was because we did it out of pure kindness and helped someone out that needed it. Growing up playing football, it made me happy knowing that I could help restore the clubhouse so the football teams can now use it again.”
Adrian Bujorean, Course Team Leader for Construction at MK College, said: “It was a really positive experience for our learners. We had a great time – the pizza was delicious (very kindly provided by the club!) and the results really made the students feel proud. Many of them said it made them realise: ‘We’re actually on the right course.’ and ‘We can’t wait to do something like this again.’”
Louise Amodio, one of the Club Directors of Stony Stratford Town Football Club, said: “Stony Stratford Town FC is over 125 years old and is lucky enough to have its own Clubhouse and own Grounds but these don’t come without costs and the upkeep can be quite a lot for the small amount of volunteers we have, so we were delighted to receive the offer from MK College to help us with the Clubhouse redecoration.
“The students were an absolute delight, polite and hardworking and they have done such a brilliant job. We are just about to start Christmas Party season for all our youth teams so the help couldn’t have come at a better time. Thank you to Adrian and MK College!”
Learn more about Painting & Decorating at MK College by reading more here.