With gongs to announce the start of three-course dinners, perfectly arranged flowers in college courts, and bedders cleaning rooms, students enjoy many privileges during their studies. In the face of the comparatively luxurious lifestyle that we experience as students here, it can be hard to escape the “Cambridge bubble” and appreciate the comfortable position that we find ourselves in. Student charity can be a great way to burst that bubble.
Whilst encouragements of charity donations are common when buying a ticket to a ball or to support pink week by going to a nice dinner, I’ve found some examples in the archives of some far more interesting ways that previous students carried out their benevolent duties. The first example of student fundraising that caught my attention involved a strict regime of “punt training” at 6:30 in the morning. Whilst rowers were busy down by Midsummer Common and beyond, the other end of the Cam saw four students training for their ambitious feat to punt from Oxford to Cambridge.
Inspired by three Oxonians from 2004, these students set out to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes by recreating the journey in 2010. With some direction from Scudamores, these students aimed to “[turn] the laziest pastime in Cambridge into an adventure”, all whilst raising money for a good cause. “These students aimed to ‘[turn] the laziest pastime in Cambridge into an adventure’” In another quintessentially Cambridge manner, money was rais.
