STUDENT volunteers hope a new exhibition will raise the profile of their work in the community.

About 800 students at Durham University give their free time to 36 different projects in and around the city.

These include a "sitting service" for the Alzheimer's Disease Society, welcoming patients and relatives to Dryburn Hospital, and helping tutor schoolchildren.

Student volunteers are also being trained by the national Youth Theatre to run drama workshops.

Collete Erskine, of Student Community Action, said: "We have managed to recruit about a tenth of the university, but we would like more volunteers.''

The exhibition is being staged with Durham Volunteer Bureau, the umbrella group for charities and organisations that rely on volunteers.

The bureau hopes that it will encourage more people to give up some of their spare time to help local organisations and charities. Its coordinator, Elaine Batchelor, said the exhibition got off to a good start yesterday.

"It will be a good thing if we can raise the profile of the organisations that need more help,'' she said.

The exhibition is in the Galilee chapel of Durham Cathedral until Sunday, April 1, and is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm.

Anyone wanting more information on becoming a volunteer can call the bureau on 0191-383 1944