Charity fund-raisers are far from leisurely

Leisure Management students at the University of Teesside really are a charitable lot. As part of the final year in their BA (Hons) degree students plan and deliver a community event. In 2002, three groups of students decided to stage separate charity events, raising a collective total of nearly £3,000.

The charity events were:

A social evening at the Oxbridge Social Club, Stockton, which raised £1,005 for the breast cancer reconstruction unit at the University Hospital of North Tees.

An evening at Guisborough Quoits Club, raising £1,700 for leukaemia research.

A student night at the Dickens Inn, Middlesbrough, raising £189 for a special baby care unit at South Cleveland Hospital.

Claire Wellings, Lecturer on the Leisure Management degree, said: "Raising nearly £3,000 is a great effort, and it's good to see our students working so closely with local communities."

Laura Fyfe, 20, from Yarm was part of the group of four who raised money for leukaemia research group. She said: "We decided to raise money for this cause as Eleanor Watson, one of the group has a relative with leukaemia. Half of the money raised went go to Middlesbrough General Hospital's haemoglobin day unit and the rest went to the leukaemia research charity fund. We couldn't believe we raised so much money."

Terry Ainsley, 21, from Thornaby, part of the North Tees Hospital group, said: "Our group felt the night was a great success due to the very friendly and party atmosphere all in aid of a very worthy cause. It was nice to see a community coming together to raise money for a cause that affects so many women on Teesside. We are over the moon with the amount raised and at the planning stages we never expected to raise half of what we eventually did. Cancer is a massive problem in the world so anything that we could do to help cancer sufferers is very rewarding."

Michael Jamalizadeh, 22, from Middlesbrough and part of the Dickens Inn team, said: "We devised a basic night for students and friends, hiring a resident DJ with drinks promotions. The special baby care unit at South Cleveland Hospital is such a worthy cause."

For more details on the BA (Honours) degree in Leisure Management please call 01642 342807 or check the University of Teesside's web site at www.tees.ac.uk

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