This weekend will kick off the first ‘Sussex Pink Week’ (happening this November 14th-18th). Pink Week is a week of events aimed at raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer amongst the student body and the next generation of leaders and inspirers.

Inspired by the activism of the late Dina Rabinovitch, Pink Week ran for the first time in Haberdashers’ Aske’s school in 2011. Since then, Pink Week has gone from strength to strength, launching at Clare College, Cambridge in 2014. It went Cambridge-wide in 2015, and this year will run at universities across the UK, as well as arriving on USA shores. We are also putting on events both on campus and in Brighton to get the whole of the community involved.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with approximately 50,000 women and 350 men diagnosed each year. Due to innovative new research and fundraisers such as Pink Week, more people are surviving than ever before. Through spreading awareness of the disease and encouraging early detection, organisations such as this bring us that much closer to ending breast cancer forever.

Starting off the week will be a funk and soul music night at Komedia in collaboration with Brighton based music collective ‘Banging Lemz’ (Sat 11pm-3am).

On Sunday November 15th there will be a day of creativity at Patterns. Well known illustrators and artists from around Brighton and Sussex will be leading creative workshops and selling work, with live acoustic sets from Brighton based musicians, as well as healthy food stalls, art sales and clothes sales, even a bike that powers a smoothie machine to cycle your own smoothie!

There will then be on campus events for both students and the public – including a doctor giving a talk on the risks and causes of breast cancer and what to do if you find a lump on Wednesday November 18th. There will be movie screenings of films like ‘Pretty in Pink’, bake sales and yoga workshops.

Speaking to the organiser, Georgia Lewis, about the week revealed genuine passion for the cause:

Did you face any challenges when planning the week?

Pink Week was not challenging to set up! Sussex is the perfect place to set up a charity project, everybody was very accepting and excited about the idea. The only issues we have faced is getting boys involved!

What do you think is exceptional about student-led campaigns? 

Students have so much to say, and once they put their heads together magic really does happen! They are way to be creative outside of your degree, a way for students to use their innovative and power to do good. We have such a wide support from the University that we could never get in the real world, so it feels like there are no boundaries to what we can do creatively. 

What do you hope people will take away from Pink Week? 

To always check yourself, to be aware of living a healthy lifestyle, and to start having regular mammograms in your early/mid 20s. To appreciate your health and live life to the full! That charities events can be fun, creative and current, and your interests can be adapted to helping the community, for example we are creating a ‘zine’ full of interviews, photographs, illustrations and creative writing to raise money for Breast Cancer. To make the most of your time at University to do good – the student body is a powerful force.

Georgia Lewis

Alice Nettleship

Categories: News

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