Media Centre

19 November 2009

Medical students don fancy dress for charity

Medical students from the University of Sheffield donned their scrubs and fancy dress costumes to spend a week fundraising for the Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity.

81 students from the University´s Medical Society took part in the collections, which raised a total of £1938.86 for the charity. The students worked in teams with one member dressed in a big animal costume, and the other members in scrubs, to collect money at four different sites across the city centre and University.

In addition to the collections, the students also hosted a series of events to raise money, including socials, cake sales, events in Bar One and a Film night. The fundraising week, which happens annually, sees all the Medical students from the University come together to raise as much money as possible for their chosen charity.

In total the Students raised £5655.24 from the events and collections that were organised during the Medical Society´s Charity Week. The University of Sheffield Medical Society is the largest society in the university with approximately 1400 members.

Ben Holden, who organised the Medical Society Charity Week, said: "It´s been a fantastic week, if anybody had told me before it all started that we would raise over £5500 – I wouldn´t have believed them. I think it´s really important for these events to happen especially because we´ve got so many students in our society that really want to do something to help.

"Every year we let all our members decide what our annual charity should be. Several charities are nominated and then every member votes on the one they would like to support. This year Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity was chosen and the support has been outstanding."

"This week would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance from Sheffield RAG and the Union of Student´s Entertainments Department. Their help ensured our fundraising success and that we all had a fantastic time doing it."

Lyndsey Raynor, Fundraiser from Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, said: "We are extremely grateful to the University´s Medical Society for their continued generous support of the Cancer Charity. This is fun fundraising helping to put a smile on people´s faces and raising vital funds to support research and improve treatments and care for people living with cancer in our region."

For further information please contact: Lauren Anderson, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 or email l.h.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk

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