RAG to riches: students raise money in aid of charity

Week 9 celebrated the return of the charity fundraiser “RAG week”, with many events and deliveries marking another successful year.

The annual event, organised by the Raising and Giving (RAG) society, is a significant feature of the Warwick calendar, helping to raise money for a number of charitable causes.

The week’s most notorious and successful aspect was the ongoing deliveries organised by the RAG team, providing an unusual opportunity for students to have pints of beer, chocolates and other items delivered to their lectures.

Deliveries ranged from shots of tequila and roses, to a student’s whole bedroom, including their bed.

Charlie Bury, who had the entire contents of his kitchen cupboards delivered to his English lecture on Thursday, said “the whole week gives students so many opportunities to play jokes on their friends”, adding that “now, because of my friend’s delivery, I have to carry this all the way back to Claycroft!”.

Also returning this year were the infamous “gnomings”, opportunities for students to have their friends covered in water, flour and baked beans.

Valentin Avila Rivera, a first year International Management student, was successfully “king gnomed” on Tuesday, which, as well as being the features of “gnoming”, involves being tied to a tree, covered in shaving foam and wrapped in cling film.

She said that, aside from the “extreme coldness of being stood outside for so long with hardly any clothes on”, and “being slightly annoyed” at his friends who organised the gnoming, he believed the tradition was “a good laugh to raise money for charity”.

In addition to the continual deliveries and “gnomings” during the week, the RAG team also held a scavenger hunt, an opportunity for students to search around campus in order to find various objects, people and places in order to win prizes.

Highlights included the 25 teams re-enacting the scene from “Titanic” on the Dirty Duck balcony and a team that made a tower taller than Rootes.

The “RAG Sleepout”, held on Tuesday night, was also a great success, with nine people signing up to sleep outside on the piazza to raise awareness for the homeless charity Shelter.

On Wednesday night, the RAG team held their Traffic Light Disco in POP! in the Copper Rooms, with this year’s event using a text system to enable students to send messages to the big screen . RAG also ran the cloakroom, sweet stall and the request service for the DJ.

Stuart Stanley, RAG Week Coordinator, commented that “It’s been fantastic to see such a rise in participation and awareness during this year’s RAG Week”

“The event has been a massive success with thousands of pounds raised for many good causes, although it’s too early to tell if we’ve beaten last year just yet”.

The week raised money for local, national and international charities, including Bath Place community centre in Leamington, Shelter, which combats homelessness, Zisize, which helps orphans gain a better quality of life in Ingwavuma in South Africa and Shape, a charity which is improving access to culture and the arts for people with disabilities.

Stanley said “We think it’s important to support the local charities which affect the communities our students live in as much as the international charities that do fantastic work all over the world”.

RAG’s Sabbatical Auction in Top Banana on Monday night was another successful highlight of the week, raising a total of £750, the most a sabbatical auction has ever raised. Alex Twiss, the Sports Officer, went for a record 130 pounds, while Andrew Bradley, the Student Union President, was sold for 125 pounds.

Stanley said that “RAG would like to say a big thank you to everyone who bid on our sabbatical team. Everyone had a great night, and we haven’t managed to sell all of the team for many years”.

Other events during the week included the RAG and Rave Society’s “Insomnia UV Rave” in the Copper Rooms on Thursday, and the familiar RAG Quiz, which was held on Sunday to a full Copper Room 2.

The RAG Society operate throughout the year to raise money for charity, with the pub quiz returning next term to its weekly slot, and street collections every few weeks all over the country.

To find out more about the RAG society, email rag@warwickrag.co.uk, visit www.warwickrag.co.uk, or visit the RAG Office in SUHQ.