b-RAGging Rights

Want to know how to raise money for charity in Cambridge? MADDY LAWSON is here to help.

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It turns out that it’s surprisingly easy to shoehorn a bungee jump into a conversation. Who knew?

But while we’re on the subject, have I mentioned that on the 12th September I threw myself (okay so I was pushed… dramatic license, much like peer pressure, is a powerful force for good) off a 180ft crane? No? Well I did.

Continuing the egotistical theme of this article so far, instead of giving you my ‘what is RAG?’ spiel, I’ll tell you about RAG and me. It’s a bit like Marley and Me, only less dog, less Jennifer Aniston and less likely to drive you into a deep and lasting depression.

Pre-Cambridge, I wasn’t planning to get involved with student fundraising. The moral high-ground is only fun for so long, and the rest of it sounded dull, frankly; bake sales, sponsored walks and the occasional barn dance were not part of The University Experience. Though obviously I would have gone along to the barn dances. Barn dances are excellent.

Then someone mentioned Jailbreak: getting out of the bubble, doing something a bit mental which I’d be able to talk about for a while afterwards (noticing a theme here?) and all with faintly criminal undertones – I was sold.

A few weeks of hectic fundraising and 36 hours of hitching, begging and (inept) flirting later, I found myself in Portugal, eating pizza by the sea and sleeping in a shop attic, feeling much more positive about the whole RAG thing.

What I wasn’t expecting was that it was not only the adventure, but the money we raised for charity which would get me hooked on RAG. The idea that something Good with a capital G can come out of something fun is what RAGs around the country are all about.

Since getting more involved with RAG, I have raced rubber ducks down the Cam, been on two blind dates, bungee jumped (wait… did I mention that already?) and met some of the most engaged, kind and mental people I know at Cambridge. There was also that month I spent dressed as a cow… but that’s another story.

To sum up: RAG is great. Get involved – eat at another college in Formal Freedom, send a candy cane to a friend, get Lost, sky dive, climb Kilimanjaro. These events, and many others, are all coming up this year. We might even have a bake sale.

Come and see us at the Freshers Fair tomorrow, check out http://www.cambridgerag.org.uk/ or just look for someone in the street shaking a bucket and wearing a onesie to find out more.