NESCol students Sparkle in fundraising efforts

January 23, 2020

NESCol Students from Fraserburgh Campus have provided a welcome boost to the funds of two local charities through a fund raising effort as part of a 3 day winter festival event, #sparkle, held in December where a total of £1537 was raised.

Students and staff at the Campus voted for both Charlie House and Y Suffer in Silence to be the chosen charities to benefit from this seasonal fundraising event. Activities included a staff pantomime; sponsored soulsa; sports “Chrisfit”; Makaton; songs from the NESCol nursery and the NESCol choir; bingo and many raffles.

Welding and Fabrication student Michael Edwards helped design and manufacture alternative Christmas decorations made from 2mm mild steel sheet metal and used horseshoes.

Michael explains, “This was a great experience to be involved with – a real group effort involving students and lecturers. We used various machinery and welding equipment to create the festive tree decorations. I’m already designing more at home on an AutoCAD system for next year.”

Lecturer Martin Summers said, “This has been really popular with everyone, in fact the demand was so great we had to create more. Over £400 was raised from these items alone which has been a wonderful result for all of the students involved.”

Level 2 Beauty student Nicole Tonks was part of the Beauty team who raised over £500 through offering a mixture of treatments and hamper raffles.

Nicole said, “The class is pleased that this event was such a success and we are happy to have been able to raise so much money for good causes.”

Lecturer Sarah Skakle added, “The Level 2 Beauty class took this fundraising to another level running activities beyond designated festival times and promoting their raffles in their own personal time out with College hours.”

Presentations of the donated funds to the charities were recently held at Fraserburgh Campus.

North East based charity Charlie House supports babies, children and young people with complex disabilities and life limiting conditions.

Lynn Laing, Friends of Charlie House group said, “Our fundraising group Building Funds for Charlie House is delighted to receive this support from NESCol.  We are a Friends of Group supporting the Big Build Appeal raising funds towards a purpose built specialist support centre in Aberdeen. Thank you so much to the staff and students at NESCol for the amazing donation!”

Fraserburgh based charity Y suffer in Silence helps people suffering from anxiety, depression and stress. As well as offering one-to-one support, the charity also operates a helpline, and it is now aiming to assist people under the age of 16.
Paul Greenall, founder and Chairman of Y Suffer in Silence said,” We would like to thank everybody that has supported our Charity and contributed towards this donation. It means so much to all of the team. Y Suffer in Silence offers a safe, confidential and non-judgemental service with fully trained accredited volunteers for those who require support. We look forward shortly to extending our service to those under the age of 16. This support will be called TEENS – Teenagers Expressing an Emotional Need for Support.”