What is Red Nose Day?

Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1985 in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day.  The charity states that its aim is to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people, which we believe requires investing in work that addresses people's immediate needs as well as tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice".


Red Nose Day is a day like no other when the whole country gets together to do something funny for money and change countless lives in the process.
It all culminates in a night of cracking TV on the BBC with some of the biggest names in comedy and entertainment. And the best bit? All the fun and mayhem helps to raise cash and transform lives across the UK and Africa.  Last year's Red Nose Day raised a fantastic £108,436,227. That money is doing incredible things!!

This year we are inviting YOU to take part in our 'Make yourself look Funny for Money' competition.

To enter you need to ...

1. Pay £2

2. Provide a photo of yourself - looking funny, obviously!!

PLEASE NOTE - that we will provide wigs and make up at our World Cafe on Wednesday, March 4th and again at TABLEtalk on Tuesday, March 10th.

ALL entries must be submitted no later than 12noon on Wednesday, March 11th.  The winner, who will be announced on RED NOSE DAY itself (Friday, March 13th). The winner will receive 1/3 of all money raised and the remainder will go to Comic Relief.

DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY!!

On a personal note ...

My one and only New Year's resolution was to buy myself flowers more often :-)

Valentine's Day

Usually, at TABLEtalk, students are used to me insisting that they mix nationalities and don't sit in groups with their fellow countrymen (or women). But last night we went against that unwritten rule and had students gather in their ethnic groupings; at least for the first activity which had us thinking about our ideal husband or wife.

Each student was given a list of 16 possible characteristics or issues affecting their choice of spouse. Individually they had to choose 8 of the 16 that were most important to them personally. Then, as a group, they were asked to reduce their list to FIVE things and to number those five in order of importance. 

It was pointed out to me that for some students the issue of marrying someone of the same religion was not so much a matter of choice but of expectation.

After mixing up nationalities each group then entered into a lot of lively discussion about relationships, prompted by such questions as ...
* Do you believe in love at first sight?
* Is it ok for a woman to propose to a man?
* What are your thoughts about internet dating?
* Do you think that getting married means giving up your freedom?
This last question resulted in a LOT of discussion about the meaning of the word freedom.

We continued our theme of Valentine's at the World Cafe today and many students engaged with our Love is ... graffitti board. 

We even had heart-shaped shortbread :-)

Hmmmm ... interesting!!!

Not entirely sure I understand this one -
an engineering student I believe :-)

Suzie's fiance :-)

I didn't pay anyone  ...  honest!!