We speak to Pip this week, who is not only part of the University’s RAG society but is also heading over to America for a semester exchange abroad! Read on to find out exactly what she’s been up to in RAG Week, as well as a few inside tips on how to get involved with charity and volunteering around Manchester.
1) Pip, you’ve been busy these past few weeks! Tell us what you’ve been up to…
Well getting it all down in a short space is ambitious… so here’s a few highlights!
- I dressed up as a leopard and took 40 volunteers to the Old Trafford grounds in Manchester, where we raised £2,300+ for Francis House Hospice.
- I managed to get a free ticket to the game and cheered along with all the locals at the back of the stadium!
- I played Matchmaker by running a RAG Week Take Me Out and Blind Date
- I sold a ridiculous amount of raffle tickets…
- We managed to beat the old RAG Week total amount raised!
2) So what is RAG? And why is there an entire week dedicated to it?
RAG stands for Raise and Give, so it’s the University’s fundraising society. There’s a week dedicated to it for quite a few reasons… Firstly, just to raise awareness and to try and get lots of different students involved. In my RAG Week we had students doing all sorts of things with us from busking, to collecting money with us at the Manchester United football grounds, which was really, really fun. Secondly, it’s a big tradition for University RAGs across the country – and so Manchester has to have its own RAG week to stay in the loop of course!
3) The Blind Date Night – we’re all looking for that Prince Charming… So how did it go? Did you find your Prince Charming?!
Blind Date was HILARIOUS. It’s a new idea I introduced to RAG Week after hearing about how successfully Cambridge runs it. We designed silly forms that applicants had to fill out which asked really random questions from height, drink of choice, to drawing your own portrait and that of your ideal date. We mimicked the Match.com promotion video and had our RAG publicity officers star in it – I’m not sure Emily has quite forgiven me yet for how desperate I made her look in it but it was so funny! We spent all Wednesday morning matching the pairs up – I tell you, some of the things that were written on those forms…! We had a really decent turnout on the night and we had FUSE TV filming the couple’s reactions, which was brilliant. Here’s the RAG Blind Date video if you want to check out, yes, it includes ‘Rate Your Date!’ BUT we did encounter a few problems. For starters we had way too many boys so I had to rope a few ladies from the committee, housemates, and various friends into going on dates. The Manchester RAG Facebook status update that afternoon was: ‘BLIND DATE HAS TOO MANY MEN! Girls, we have too many sexy, eligible bachelors looking to spoil you tonight – so we need you!’ I can honestly say I’ve never laughed so much in one afternoon/evening and everyone had a really good time. Keep an eye out ladies because I’m sure Blind Date will be back in February!
4) What attracts you to charity and volunteer work?
Well I guess with volunteer work I thought this would just be a really good project for me to take on. I learned a hell of a lot to be honest. Although a lot went well, much went wrong too, and so it was a really good experience for me to learn to deal with problems. The mistakes I made in the process are only going to help me improve in managing projects in the future! For example we had a disastrous club night. Everything was well set up for it – we had great DJs and a great venue. But the timing was completely wrong and we could find barely anyone to buy tickets, as it was the first Saturday of Reading Week. That combined with the pipes bursting and the venue having to be shut down by half twelve… Well I can safely say it just wasn’t our night.
With running charity projects as well it’s really satisfying to see how people want to help you. With the club night I had the Jammin’ Beats guys ready to DJ at it, they did the art work for me and they helped to promote it all for free. My mate Keeno, who’s becoming a well established DJ, and his producer Whiney also agreed to play for free. I had a lot of Manchester companies donating really good prizes, including two package holidays to Ibiza (oh yeah) and all-year entry passes from Rough Hill and Social Junkies too. I still haven’t drawn the raffle yet so girls if you’ve entered, keep those fingers crossed!
5) You said you’re heading off to America in January, that’s amazing!
Hells YES I’m really excited – North Carolina as well, which is a fantastic state. I might do the generic and start up a blog so my pals back at home can hear about what I’m up to. One of my predecessors who did the same exchange as me wrote a hilarious blog about her time at NCSU, which got me really in the mood for going. From what I can gather I’ve got funny accents, bad fashion sense, basketball fever, good weather, spring break, and frat parties to look forward to. I’ll have to keep reminding myself while out there that I actually have to do some work as well…
6) So tell us, any good-looking boys hanging around in the RAG society? Any tips for those looking to volunteer around Manchester?
Hahaha WELL sadly, the RAG society is pretty female orientated. We do have three eligible bachelors, although I’m not sure that’s the right way to describe them… One’s taken, one’s nickname is Leggings (need I say more) and the other really isn’t interested in women. But they are lovely guys and obviously they’re all devilishly handsome (can you tell that I’m worried they might be reading this?) For those looking to volunteer, actually just get straight in touch with RAG. I had a serious lack of volunteers for RAG Week which was a real shame, so all help is appreciated and you get to do some really fun things! For example – my next task is flavoured vodka tasting prior to Beerfest in December. Could be worse, I guess?
For more information about UoM RAG Society check out their SU page!
(Photo credits to Pip Blunden)