On Friday 25 October, the college hosted the ‘Great Pink College Bake Off’ as part of a coffee morning in the Monson Room. There were three competition categories: best dressed, best cake and ‘guess the number of sweets in the jar.’ The event managed to raise £422.29 for Breast Cancer Campaign and occurred as part of a ‘Wear It Pink Day’ campaign.
‘Wear It Pink Day’ is a nationwide charity initiative to raise money for Breast Cancer Research where people dress in pink and host fundraising events.
Sammi Rosser, who came second in the baking competition, said, “The atmosphere at the event was lovely with students and staff coming together to have a cuppa and ogle the amazing spread of pink puds.”
A particularly fortunate member of staff was Elaine Kemp, the ICY Technical Services Officer, who won the competition to guess the number of sweets in the jar. She told Cherwell, “My teenage children were very impressed that I won the ‘guess the number of sweets in the jar competition… the sweets disappeared very fast!”
The Vice President of the Lady Margaret Hall JCR said that the strength of the event lay in getting MCR and college staff involved as well as students.
The success of the event fits perfectly with the college motto ‘I always remember my duty’ as well as the college values of community, fairness and equality. Indeed LMH’s celebration of ‘Wear It Pink Day’ fits more broadly into their wider charity initiative.
The HR manager Jenni Collins, who organizes charitable events at the college, said, “In practical terms this means LMH piggy-backing on local and national charity days by holding events in the College such as coffee morning, cake sales and quizzes.”
Jenni explained how she asks the students at the college what sort of events they would like to host in order to raise money for good causes. With people reporting that the cakes were absolutely delicious, Jenni pointed out that, “Including an element of personal incentive is important for any charity initiative in the workplace.”
