14 January 2025

Student voices: University of Glasgow Student Volunteer Guides

Two student volunteer speakers from the University of Glasgow reflect on their time volunteering with Commonwealth War Graves.

University of Glasgow Student Volunteer Speakers

Primary school children and University of Glasgow students pose on the Cross of Sacrifice in a Scottish cemetery.

Image: University of Glasgow student volunteers Kate Muir, left, and Laavanya Vardarajan, right, with the Year 6 children of Cadder Primary at Glasgow Necropolis Cemetery

Each year, thanks to the great work of Public Engagement Coordinator Scotland South and West, we partner with the University of Glasgow to give their students the opportunity to act as Commonwealth War Graves Volunteer Speakers and Tour Guides.

Our University of Glasgow partnership has been running since 2022. Since then, dozens of students have participated, helping share the work of Commonwealth War Graves and the stories of the fallen servicemen and women in our care.

Part of our remit is to engage with younger audiences to ensure the sacrifice of 1.7m service personnel in the World Wars is never forgotten.

We were once again delighted by our student volunteers’ commitment and passion. Working with local schools and organisations across Glasgow, plus hosting tours and events cemeteries across the city, they showed boundless enthusiasm and commitment to public engagement.

Here, volunteers Laavanya Varadarjan and Katie Muir share their experiences. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Laavanya and Sarah, and all the student volunteers, for taking part. We look forward to welcoming a new wave of University of Glasgow students next year.

Laavanya Vardarajan

A University of Glasgow volunteer guide giving a tour to Scottish MP and his staff at a Glasgow Cemetery. The group is standing in front of a row of CWGC headstones.

Image: Laavanya giving a tour to MP Martin Rhodes and his staff at the Glasgow Western Necropolis

Serving as a Speaker Volunteer Intern with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission over the past year has been an incredibly exciting experience. 

Among the numerous facets of the role that I thoroughly enjoyed, there are two key bits that stand out. 

Firstly, serving as a Volunteer Steward during the ANZAC Day Dawn Service will always occupy a special place in my memory. 

This unforgettable experience gave me the opportunity to fully appreciate the enduring traditional and historical significance of the CWGC’s wide-ranging works. 

It made me realize the power of global organizations like the CWGC in bringing people from numerous facets together towards a unified purpose of preserving history, fostering remembrance, and promoting a shared sense of humanity beyond boundaries. 

Secondly, developing our own Heritage Trail, with my co-intern Katie Muir, was an incredibly moving experience. 

In addition to helping me develop research skills to navigate various online databases, the touching individual stories showed me how meaningful the work of the Commission is, and why the next generation must continue to tell these inspiring stories for ages to come. 

Recollecting my many memories along the journey, I would also like to thank Sehar, who has been instrumental in enabling us to develop innumerable skills including public speaking, diplomacy, negotiation, project planning and time management. 

In conclusion, the CWGC Volunteer Speaker programme has been a thoroughly transformational and enriching experience that I will always appreciate looking back.

My time with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been immensely enjoyable and valuable. 

Katie Muir 

A University of Glasgow delivers a talk to several visitors at a restaurant.

Image: Kate delivering a talk to enraptured listeners

I learned and developed many skills and nursed my interest in history of the First and Second World Wars. I joined the internship programme as my grandmother’s uncle was killed in the Second World War, and is buried in a commission cemetery in Athens. 

This is what attracted me at first, but learning about casualties and cemeteries locally was extremely interesting.

This internship gave me the opportunity to be a part of commemorations, lead tours, and research casualties to share their stories.

As volunteers, we also led and delivered tours – myself, along with the other volunteer, Laavanya, researched, developed, and delivered three tours in total. One tour was with a primary school class.

This presented challenges different to an adult tour, and so was a valuable development of skills in leading focus and interest in the children, changing your speaking to be suitable for them, and answering their questions as they were asking.

We had an eye-spy activity, headstone rubbing, and demonstrations from the stonemason. This went down very well with the children, and they were very enthusiastic.

The skills developed during this internship have been invaluable. The more obvious ones of public speaking and communication were of course key. But I also had the chance to hone my research skills and being able to respond to questions and queries on my feet, adjusting my speech and answers to the audience. 

Being able to translate your own enthusiasm, passion and knowledge of something, to another group or person is truly crucial and transferrable in any future roles I will take on. 

In the future, I hope to continue to volunteer, to promote the stories of casualties and the work of the commission.

How can you support the University of Glasgow student volunteers programme?

All our projects and programmes rely on the generosity of our Members and our supporters. 

Please consider donating today to help make a real difference to the remembrance and commemoration of Second World War servicemen.

With your support, we can continue to engage with the public across the country and abroad to inform them of our work in commemorating over 1.7 million men and women from across the Commonwealth.

Membership costs just £3 a month.

With that, not only do you get to support our volunteering, education, and outreach projects, but CWGF Members also enjoy:

Become a Member today and help us keep the memories of the Commonwealth’s war dead alive for ever.

Tags University of Glasgow