Naked ambition for charity
Saturday, 23 December, 2006
Southampton News As Christmas approaches so does the excitement regarding RAG (Raise and Give) Charity action. Two years ago RAG delivered a splendid fashion show involving many of the University’s lovely students wearing as little as possible. It has escalated from there: there has been the charity standard baked bean baths, the sponsored silences and so forth. But now the AU and RAG have united to deliver the ultimate in charity chic: The Naked Calendar.
That’s right, this year Southampton University’s students will not have to saunter down to Jesters to see the best looking students in Southampton strip naked in a moment of alcohol-induced euphoria. Now for the small price of £5 anyone can marvel at the fine figures of the AU members twelve months of the year.
The RAG committee invited all the AU clubs to attend a photo shoot in the Students’ Union building on 14 November and many clubs seized the opportunity, club-wide emails from club captains inviting members to get naked saw hundreds replying, hoping to strut their stuff.
The AU has had a long association with charity work, not only in support of RAG but for their own nominated charities. The Boat Club has held countless ergothons to raise funds for charities such as The British Heart Foundation.
The Ladies’ Hockey Club has chosen to resurrect an old favourite and reintroduce the Bra Match. Alas it is not a series of one-on-one bouts to see who can strip their opponent down to their knickers first, but an eleven-a-side game played wearing only black or white bras. The SULHC will field two teams made up of players from across the club all uniting in their common love of partial nudity and will to give.
The fixture was last held four years ago at Wellington Sports Ground and will surely attract hundreds of supporters and raise a great deal for charity at the new home of Wessex Sport, Wide Lane.
The football club hold a charity ‘slave’ auction twice a year and the event develops into a game of one-up-manship as attendees volunteer to do more and more outrageous things to raise some funds. Last year began with ‘slaves’ auctioned off to clean houses, take the ‘owner’ out for a meal and so forth, then escalated into members of rival clubs proving they were more bizarre than each other with pledges to have men kiss men, strip and much more!
The Rugby Club has decided to do a great deal of community action volunteer work this semester while the martial arts clubs have set the bench mark when it comes to charity drives.
From 13 December the Martial Arts Marathon is scheduled to commence and will cover a seven day period in which members of different marital arts clubs try to master fourteen different martial arts. It will serve as a test of skill, stamina and conviction as well as provide spectators with a rare opportunity to see Southampton University’s championship-winning martial arts teams. The clubs are also organizing competitions where entry fees are used to make donations to charities. The event shall be held at Jubilee Sports Centre and spectators are welcome.
As part of Healthy Living Week the AU is running the annual swimathon on 13 December at the Jubilee Sports Centre, the event is reguarly contested by halls teams, societies and even rival AU clubs. Last year saw most halls enter the event and a number of outstanding performances by members of the Officer Training Corp.
The relatively young Dodgeball Club are running the first ever Southampton Univerisy dodgeball tournament at the sports centre with all proceeds going to charity. Again all clubs and societies are welcome to join in and entrants are strongly advised to practice their ‘dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge’ before 11 December.
The RAG calendar is £5 and is available from the Student Union shop at Highfield Campus.
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