Day: June 11, 2014

Edinburgh College students have raised a whopping £5,000 for charity by organising a series of enterprising events, including a tropical-themed party.

As part of their coursework, the group of events students put their heads together and organised an imaginative programme of events to raise thousands of pounds for the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) and children’s charity When You Wish Upon A Star. As well as raising money, the projects gave them practical experience in managing real-life events.

HNC Events Management student Sonia Gruszczynska was part of the Tropical Escape team that organised the party, transporting guests to a tropical paradise in the city with the help of fruit headpieces, a full reggae and ska band, limbo competitions and Hawaiian hula dancing!

Sonia said: “It was fantastic to use our practical experience as events students to raise money for these worthwhile charities. You learn so much more about the practicalities of organising events when working on large-scale fundraisers such as this.

“The night before our event, the venue we had booked cancelled on us due to technical problems. Despite this massive dilemma, we found another venue within 24 hours and managed to tell our guests in time. The night was a success and, despite the enormous difficulties faced with the venue cancellation, we managed to pull off a great party and raised a lot of money for charity.”

Scottish SPCA animal rescue officer Lee Williams said: “We’re extremely grateful to the students from Edinburgh College’s HND Events Management course, who have decided to donate this money to us.

“As we rely solely on the generosity of the public to help us care for abused, abandoned and neglected animals each year, we’re very appreciative of every donation we receive. This was a fantastic gesture and we’d like to offer our sincere thanks to the students for choosing to donate half of the funds raised to the Scottish SPCA.”

Stephanie Donaghey, the Scotland regional fundraiser for When You Wish Upon A Star, said: “All of the events we attended were really well organised and it was great to be able to communicate our purpose as a charity to such a wide and diverse audience. The significant donation from the college will enable us to grant more special wishes to children in Scotland with life threatening illnesses. We were extremely grateful for the opportunity.”

Edinburgh College events lecturer Caroline Patterson said: “We believe it’s crucial to give our students first-hand experience in organising and managing their own events. The events industry in Scotland is expanding and is incredibly fast paced, so in order to give our students the competitive edge when they graduate we know it’s important to make sure they have this valuable experience under their belts. We’re very proud of them all for raising so much money for charity and we have every faith that they will succeed in the future.”

As well as the tropical-themed party, the HNC Events Management students organised a host of events including a tapas bar crawl, a 90s-themed night, an art exhibition, the Wee Gig Night, a masquerade ball, a prohibition-themed night, a country hoedown, a ceilidh, a scavenger hunt and a late-night screening of the Rocky Horror Show. Over the last five years, the HNC Events Management students have raised more than £16,000 for a variety of different charities.