Category Archives: Charities

St Chad’s College Charity Fashion Show 2017

19th June 2017Charities, College, Front-PageVictoria Brown

In support of MHNE, SCCCFS ’17 saw Chad’s quad transformed into a stadium for viewing ‘beautiful people wearing clothes’ in the words of compère Rose Minshall.

Launching with an incredible display of core strength from Chad’s very own pole dancer Izzy Niner, the catwalk was sporadically taken over by entertainers ranging from the DU dance squad to singers Helena Morgan and George Cook, whose rendition of a High School Musical Classic left not a dry eye in the house.

Of course, *clothes clothes clothes* were in abundance and the SCCCFS exec secured 21 fashion brands. The gals and guys of Chad’s looked resplendent, and if you too desire to resplend then the morning of the 21st will see a fashion flash-sale in the garden. If metallic crops, jazzy leggings, bowtee shirts, and patriotic swimwear are your thing do come and join.

Gratifyingly, the show was an outrageous success, with a phenomenal five thousand pounds raised for the charity Mental Health North East. This more than doubles last year’s amount and the SCCCFS exec deserve a great deal of credit for working around the clock to support a cause so close to their hearts.

Charity officer Izzy Zeitlyn commented: “We were so pleased to have Lyn Boyd, Chief executive officer of MHNE, Tamara Blakey, one the MHNE young persons team, Jan Blakey and Karen brown, supporters of the charity, with us on the night. MHNE is such a small charity, with all their funding coming from donations, so the charity was thrilled to be SCCCFS’s chosen charity. The charity representatives really enjoyed the evening and we hope to stay in contact with the charity for future fundraising events.

AGE UK Summer Tea Party

11th June 2017Charities, Front-PageVictoria Brown

On Friday the 9th of June St Chad’s College welcomed members of Durham County’s 50+ community into the heart of the Bailey. As part of a community Outreach project Chad’s has partnered up with the charity AGE UK. Part of the project involves meeting once a week with a coffee morning group made up of elderly residents from the nearby town of Framwellgate Moor. Our summer tea party was a chance to welcome the members of St Aidan’s into the heart of St Chad’s. After much preparation, organisation, and of course baking, we were ready and eager to host what promised to be a lovely afternoon for all involved.

On arrival the residents were offered a selection of teas, coffee, and most importantly, a choice of mouth-watering homemade cakes. Given the quantity of cake consumed we safely can say they went down well!

After a mini tour of the gardens, the residents then settled down for some entertainment by one of Chad’s finest musicians, Floris Winckel. His self-composed piano piece blew everyone away, and despite his nerves, he delivered a flawless performance. Following this was a monologue by one of our guests from St Aidan’s Kitchen, reciting a part of ‘Albert and the Lion’, which was received with great humour and laughs from both young and old. After the laughs, everyone knuckled down for some trivia with a quiz written by two of Chad’s finest (and harshest) quiz-masters: myself and Emma! The winning team won with an impressive 6 point lead. AGE UK representative Peter Dawson then preceded to entertain us with a second comedic monologue.

After a closing thank you from myself, the guests and students bid farewell in what seemed like high spirits. The afternoon was a great success with many more arriving that was anticipated. This was all due to the diligent efforts of the bakers, students, AGE UK members, and kitchen and college staff involved. Thank you to everyone who made the afternoon so wonderful and enjoyable – we look forward to hosting similar events in the near future.

The Great Chad’s Bake Off

5th November 2016Charities, Front-Page, NewsVictoria Brown

Fairtrade and CharComm united on Wednesday night in the form of The Great Chad’s Bake Off. Baking talent from across the college came out to produce an array of cakes and cookies the revered Paul and Mary would be proud of.

Judging started at 6:45, which involved Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Maryam Mahtob and Jack Angers trying everything from profiterole-decorated coffee cake to vegan banana loaf. Assessing for appearance, effort and taste, the ultimate prize of Chad’s Star Baker was well-deservedly given to Ayesha Mahmood for her visually impressive chocolate cake.

Following the announcement, donations were made to the Fairtrade Foundation in exchange for tasting the bakes, whilst the judges went for a lie down having eaten enough sweet food to last a life time. In total £53.23 was raised, and the turn out for both taking part in baking and consuming cake was brilliant. All in all, the night was a success, and congratulations to the winner of the actual Great British Bake Off!

Our three Judges: (l-r) Jack Angers, Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Maryam Mahtob

Tea Party with Age UK

26th June 2016Charities, College, Front-Page, NewsFront-PageVictoria Brown

The glimmering, sun lit afternoon of Monday, the 20th of June, saw the Quad hung with bunting, set up with small intimate tables and laid out with a delightful assortment of homemade cakes and refreshment. All was set up in preparation for the Tea Party with Age UK. It was a gathering not only to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, but also to bring together Chadsians and members of Age UK.

13498141_605491672947372_2678064138841015381_o — Tables laid out with dessert. Special thanks to the kitchen staff and students who baked beautiful and scrumptious cakes.

Throughout the afternoon, Chadsians and elderly members of Durham mingled over dessert and coffee, enjoyed resonating Welsh vocals of Dewi and jazzy instrumentals by the Chazz band, and worked in teams to partake in a light quiz.

13482949_605490369614169_8069917842277086672_o — Enjoying the performance by our very own Chazz Band

This year Charities Committee are placing great focus on extending Outreach Projects to provide volunteering opportunities across the local community for members of the college. The tea party is a kick start to one of these projects with Age UK, a charity that provides services to promote the wellbeing of people in later life. A big thank you to bakers, performers, and, most of all, the Charities Committee Outreach Officer, Katie, who worked hard to ensure that the Tea Party was a well planned and well attended success.

Katie, the Outreach Officer, with some members of Age UK

Charity Dodgeball Match

12th June 2016Charities, College, Front-Page, SportFront-PageVictoria Brown

In the midst of abundant sporting events over Easter Term, the 9th of June saw what some may consider the most vicious tournament of them all: the annual Charity Dodgeball Match, as traditionally organised by the Charities Committee.

In the lead up to the match, the film ‘Dodgeball’ was screened by the MCR in the Chapel, with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller laying down the rules of the game. On the day of the anticipated competition, the five D’s of dodgeball clearly manifested upon the courts – plenty of semi-successful Dodging, Ducking, Dipping, Diving and Dodging could be sighted.

Seven teams were pitted against each other. Amongst the flurry of balls flung in nearly every possible direction, Adam Howes notably displayed strength and frighteningly mathematical precision. Cormac Frazer did not lack in intensity nor competitive zeal. Alex Blakoe recovered from a particularly unfortunate blow with impressive swiftness. As one of the last ones standing, Tamara Bud braved through the barrage of balls that were catapulted at her.

All in all, the afternoon was great fun, and a charitable success. Congratulations to Team Gibbs for securing first place during the finals! Here are some of the teams who competed…

Chad’s Got Talent

20th March 2016Charities, Front-PageFront-PageVictoria Brown

For the first time ever, Charities Committee organised a ‘Chad’s Got Talent’ show, which put to performance a wide range of impressive acts by Chadsians.

Crowd enraptured by Cello performance by Harry Lampert accompied by Becca Rickwood on the piano — Crowd enraptured by Cello performance by Harry Lampert accompanied by Becca Rickwood on the piano

The show hit off and aptly demonstrated how truly multi-talented the college’s student body is – indeed, the sheer ‘diversity’ of talent is not to be underestimated. The acts ranged from brilliant singing voices, a spectacular show of speed-eating, a resonating cello concerto, the strength challenge of parallel dips done by the JCR’s very own Keeper of the Gym, and a hilarious, jaw-dropping lap-dance performed by two brave fellows with two lucky females (appropriately censored, of course).

The judging panel of James, Tom, Sarah and Stevie, with the MC of the show, SamThe showcase featured a panel of judges consisting of four members of the exec: James de Lusignan (Senior Man, otherwise known as Simon Cowell, lacking neither in attitude nor sass), Tom Govey (Social Secretary), Stevie Gibbs (Sports Officer), and Sarah Cottrill (Chair). The highly engaging MC, Sam Rawcliffe, mediated between performers, judges and the crowd, reeling in boundless energy.

Over 60 continuous parallel dips by our very own Gym Keeper

The fundraising took a creative turn by selling tokens to the audience, which people then used to place into boxes corresponding to each act, in a bid to see who would take to the final round. The two acts that accumulated the highest number of tokens were a singing and a dancing act; they performed once more for the expectant crowd, and eventually, the judgments of the winner were left in the hands of the judges. Alas, there was mixed opinion within the panel as to who deserved the prize. The result was a deadlock, with each act having two judges backing them. And so the MC decided to place the ultimate decision in the crowd’s hands – which act would elicit the loudest cheer? The winner was evident – Helena Morgan, with her flawless singing voice akin to Amy Winehouse, was crowned winner of Chad’s Got Talent.

The Charities Committee would like to thank the efforts of each performer, the judges and the MC for pulling together a night that turned out to be a huge success, marking the end of a busy Epiphany term with a bang!