SCA WEEK - 11-17 February
In line with the nationwide Student Volunteering Week, SCA Week gave students a new chance to get involved with their local community. We served up a number of one-off volunteering events, allowing everyone to try something new.
On top of that, it also offered a chance for everyone’s work to be rewarded. We ran a successful Rewarding Volunteering afternoon for our most dedicated volunteers – and at the end of the week, our volunteers let their hair down at our annual Comedy & Cocktails evening!
The events included:
- Monday - SCA Open Afternoon, 2-4 pm, Kingsgate Bar (DSU) – a chance to find out about the work SCA does, how to get involved, and how to join our leadership team next year.
- Wednesday - Cathedral Woodland Clearing, 1.15-3.30 pm, Prebends Bridge – conservation work in the beautiful surroundings of the Durham Cathedral Woodlands and Riverbanks. Activities included woodland management, clearing invasive vegetation, building a fence, and repairing a footpath, all of which helped to enhance the woodlands for visitors and the wildlife that lives there.
- Thursday - Tree planting at Old Durham Gardens, 12.30-4 pm, Old Durham Gardens – now that the snow has thawed, we offered the perfect opportunity to get outside and plant some trees ready for the spring time.
- Friday - Rewarding Volunteering, 2-4 pm, Kingsgate Bar- to celebrate the hard work of SCA’s volunteers, we treated them to tea and cake, offering awards to our most dedicated.
- Saturday - Tea and Tales with the elderly, morning, Hatfield College – students were given a chance to get to know another generation by helping us to run a tea party. Befrienders, musicians, and bakers made the morning a great success!
- Saturday - Hedgerow Planting with the Woodland Burial Trust, 10-11.45 am, Josephine Butler College Reception – the Durham City Woodland Burial Ground is a beautiful and natural area set aside within the existing South Road cemetery. Volunteers helped us prepare the site for generations to come.
- Sunday - Comedy & Cocktails!
Comedy & Cocktails
Following on from Michaelmas term’s successful Jazz & Wine night, Comedy & Cocktails is SCA’s biggest social event of Epiphany term. The DSU’s newly refurbished Riverside Bar put on an exclusive menu of SCA-themed cocktails, whilst some of the university’s finest wits, including Shellshock! and Just Deserts, were on hand to entertain our audience throughout the evening.
With a hilarious comedy photo booth, and a number of games to get our guests socialising and winning fantastic prizes, this was one of SCA’s most successful events yet – and it raised enough money to fund multiple SCA projects for a year!
Jazz & Wine
SCA’s Jazz & Wine is the long-standing highlight in SCA’s Michaelmas events calendar. This black-tie evening was a sophisticated affair, designed to give SCA’s volunteers and their guests a chance to kick back with some fine wine and celebrate all their hard volunteering work.
The evening opened with a wine reception in the fabulously atmospheric Joachim Room at Hild Bede. There were nibbles for guests enjoy whilst being serenaded by our smooth jazz bands. Our exclusive bar offered further refreshment, at the prices you would expect from a college bar.
Throughout the night a number of musical acts performed, including Cuth’s Big Band, Basement Jazz, Kinky Jeff, Durham University Ballet, and Lindy Jazz.
The night brought together both SCA volunteers and those who are not members of SCA. We’d like to thank everyone who came along and made the night such a success – and we look forward to seeing you at next year’s event!
