Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Students raise the roof with fundraising events
A total of 320 students, all in their second year of the BA (Hons) Events Management and BA (Hons) Sports Events Management courses at Leeds Met, organised charity events this year as part of a formal assessment which gives them the experience of working with a real client to specified brief.
One team of students created a dragon outline in Millennium Square on St George's Day, inviting passers-by to fill in the figure with their coppers and raising more than £1,000 for St George's Crypt. Another team created a youth arm for children's charity, Variety Yorkshire, and launched it at an event with live music, entertainment and street food at the Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen; whilst another staged a dance flash mob in Trinity Leeds for Making Memories, a charity for terminally ill adults with small children. The flash mob event also aided collaboration across university courses with the event being recorded by students at the University's Northern Film School.
Glenn Bowdin, Head of the UK Centre for Events Management, said: "Our events and sports events management students have organised a diverse range of events this year that have ranged from fundraising through to awareness raising and showcasing. Over £22,000 has been raised for good causes including many local charities and our students can rightly be proud of this achievement.
"Even more impressive, many of our clients have been introduced to new customer groups or had new event products developed through some very innovative event ideas from our students.
"The PES (Professional Event Solutions) Celebration Event showcased the diverse range of events and clients and allowed our students, clients and other guests to learn about the professional events and key employability skills developed through this innovative assessment."
Further clients that the students have worked with this year include: Leeds Better Communities, St Gemma's Hospice, Meanwood Urban Valley Farm, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, St George's Crypt, Cancer Research and Simon on the Streets; with events spanning open mic nights, a dog show, brunch in your bra, Great British Bingo, Blind Football, and running the Live at Leeds wristband exchange.