Tutors take to stage for hardship fund

Always wanted to know what your tutors get up to in their spare time? Next Thursday, the 8th March, will see many of our finest Arts lecturers taking to the stage in Venue One in a musical bid to raise money for a new student hardship fund, to be officially launched that night. Dry Island Buffalo Jump, the staff band consisting of lecturers from English, Medieval History, French and a Special Collections Librarian, will play from 8:30PM and will be joined by second year ‘everyone’s favourite low-energy sea-shanty singer’ Andrew Pearson.

As mentioned, the gig is in aid of a new hardship fund, set up by Dry Island’s front-man Chris Jones. The fund exists to help students from less privileged backgrounds that might be struggling to meet the costs of living and studying in this highly expensive town. While the fund is only to be launched next Thursday, Dry Island have been working to contribute towards this for some time, having already raised approximately £2000 from the sales of their single “The Credit Crunch Song”, and from money made gigging. Nor is this the last fundraiser they’ve got lined up: they are currently just about to record an album, whose profits will also go straight to the fund. This idea is one which Andrew Pearson has adopted, who plans to sell his second album “There’ll Be Flowers Come The Spring” when it comes out later this year for the cause.

Dry Island Buffalo Jump’s gig promises to be fantastic, with the band unveiling some new material concerning, among other things, our very own St. Andrews and the park in America sharing their name. Andrew Pearson promises, in his words, ‘an electrifying set, complete with clarinet and full-frontal nudity’ (Not so sure about that last one…). If that’s not enough for you, there will also be compilation CDs available, showcasing the best of St. Andrews’ student song-writing. All in all – a great night, and for a truly great cause: hopefully just one of many future student/staff collaborative efforts to ensure that all who deserve to study here can afford to.

Dry Island Buffalo Jump and Andrew Pearson will play from 8:30PM on Thursday 8th March in Venue One. Entry fee: £4, all money will go straight to the Hardship Fund.