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Lifesaving Community Week - March Round Up Part 2!

King Yee Cheung
Apr 21, 2019
4 min read

By now you will have read about all our successes at BULSCA National Student Championships in Part 1 of the March Round Up! We're really proud of the club's sporting achievements, individually and as a squad, and we can't wait to see everyone progress and develop at future competitions.

Another one of the club's notable achievements from March was not related to sport at all. The committee had organised the club's first charity fundraising and volunteering week - a.k.a. Lifesaving Community Week! This consisted of 6 various activities to raise money for our chosen charities, as well as to raise awareness for fundamental drowning prevention and lifesaving skills through community outreach projects. Here are some of our main highlights which ultimately led to us being shortlisted for Fundraising Initiative Award at the Sports Awards!

Day 1 - The Rainbow Cards Project

We kicked off Community Week by making and decorating Christmas cards for The Rainbow Cards Project. This charity fights prejudice and isolation that LGBTQ+ individuals face on a daily basis by simple acts of kindness - this is a great cause which our club supports. If you would also like to get involved with supporting and making a difference in the LGBTQ+ community, visit www.therainbowcardsproject.org

Day 2 & 3 - 24-Hour CPR Marathon

The second event of Community Week took place from 7am until 7am the following day on the SU concourse. We completed an impressive 24-Hour CPR Marathon! 9 dedicated lifesavers (and friends) took it in turns to do compressions for the entire 24 hours with no breaks! Money raised was donated to worthwhile charities that mean a lot to our club.

The Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) is the UK's leading provider of water safety and drowning prevention education. Nile Swimmers aim to prevent drowning in Africa through education about the dangers associated with water and teaching important lifesaving and first aid skills. They are currently working in Sudan.

A special shout out to Megan, Katie, Dan, Helena, Rosy, Peter and Ben for giving up their time to volunteer and do CPR for prolonged periods of time; to Jennifer, Annabel and Niall who popped along to support their friends in Lifesaving Club; to Club Secretary Ellie who crazily completed the whole 24 hours (!!!); and finally to Club Captain King Yee who managed to organise this whole event with the SU despite being bed-ridden with whooping cough and flu, and pulling through to do a total of two cycles at midnight!

A big thank you to everyone who donated to this great cause - especially choc ice man and our anonymous £100 donor! Overall we have raised over £800 including gift aid from cash and online donations. This is the largest amount our club has ever raised at a single event. 45% of donations will be going to each of the charities mentioned above, while 10% will be going towards Sheffield RAG who helped us organise this event.

If you would still like to donate and can spare a penny, it's not too late! Please follow the link:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/UoSheffieldLifesaving - thank you.

Check out a selection of photos from the 24-hour CPR marathon and visit our Facebook page to read the live updates!

Day 4 - Swimathon

By day 4, our club were already exhausted from the 24-hour CPR marathon. However, that didn't stop us from completing a non-stop 15km swim! We took part in the national Swimathon last year, raising over £540. It was so fun and successful we were determined to do it again as part of Community Week! The money donated went towards Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie UK - two charities which both do amazing work nationally.

A big well done to Helena, Peter, Megan, Ellie, Ben, Jake, Fred, Rosy, Emma, Luciana, Christy, Katie, Elliot, and Dan who did a great job.

Again, if you'd still like to donate to these worthwhile charities, the donation link is still available: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/uoslsc2019 - thank you!

Day 5 - 'How to look after your drunk friend' Training Session

As a Lifesaving Club, one of our main aims is to promote vital lifesaving and first aid skills. As part of our Community Week, Peter and Michael organised a training session open to all university students about looking after friends on a night out. These skills were incredibly useful to all university students and included advice on how to deal with hypothermia, choking and vomiting.

"The session made students aware of the potential risks associated with excessive drinking and how to identify the signs and symptoms of conditions someone may develop on a night out such as; hypothermia, choking, vomiting and loss of consciousness. With the large population of students who drink in Sheffield, it's vital that students learn these incredibly useful skills should they come across these life-threatening conditions on a night out." - Peter, SERC Training Officer & Treasurer.

Day 6 - Volunteering with U18s Sheffield Lifesaving Club

As part of our community outreach project, King Yee, Ellie and Peter volunteered at the Sheffield Lifesaving Club training session. We taught university-level lifesaving sport skills to encourage fitness and future participation in lifesaving. The kids, ranging from 11-18, thought it was really fun and we would be excited to do another session with them! Well done to everyone involved!

Day 7 - Pub Quiz & Food Bank Collection

On the final day of Community Week, we hosted a charity pub quiz! It was a great way to hang out with fellow lifesavers and get competitive with the quiz! More importantly, the club was also collecting essential food and toiletry items for the S6 Food Bank. This is for a great local cause and we're extremely proud of what everyone has donated.

Whilst it's been hard work organising, co-ordinating, and running this Community Week, it has been absolutely one of the most rewarding things we've done as a club. Thank you to everyone who took part and who have supported us - we couldn't have done it without you all! We are absolutely delighted with the results and to have been shortlisted for the Fundraising Initiative Award. We are looking forward to Sports Awards night - fingers crossed! Additionally, well done to Rowing Club and Men's Rugby Union Club for also being shortlisted for their amazing charity work.

Lifesaving Love x