Organisation Details

CONGRATULATIONS to BakeSoc for winning Society of the Month for December. Here's what they had to say about the event they ran that bagged them the award.

#1 What was the objective of your event?

Guide dogs is an important charity to support as it helps many partially sighted and blind people live their lives normally. It is also popular among our members, with one of our committee members having sponsored a guide dog for more than two years. We organised a Christmas bake sale and did our best to advertise it around the uni so we could raise a lot of awareness for the charity. We organised for Graham and his guide dog Bassey to be with us throughout the day so people could ask him questions and found out more about the charity from someone that knows a lot about it.

#2 When did your event take place?

Our event took place on the 9th of December from 9am to 5pm.

#3 Where did your event take place?

Our event took place opposite the SU office in Cockcroft.

#4 How many people came?

We had around 10 members involved in the bake sale and around 200-350 people buy bakes and knitted goods, as well as visiting Bassey and donating.

#5 How did the attendees participate?

Our members baked for the sale as well as helping run the stall. Everyone else was involved either by buying baked goods, knitted items or participating in our lucky dip. And of course, everyone was very interested in petting Bassey and giving him lots of love and attention. A lot of people wanted to donate to Guide Dogs, even if they hadn't bought anything, and this amounted to a grand total of £376.94 which is a Baking Society record!

#6 What did you learn?

We learned that raising awareness for the charity is very important as donations are vital for it to run smoothly. We also learned how to organise the space efficiently when there are large numbers of people around and how to deal with situations when animals are present i.e. having hand sanitizer available and making sure he has enough room to be comfortable. We found that selling home made things, such as hats and hot chocolate cones, were very popular and people enjoyed them. We trialled selling ticketed events for our next session and found this to work effectively. We realised how important team work and communication between members is as we would not have been able to carry this out as well as we did without leaning on each other for support. Because of the amount we raised, we have now learnt how much we can aim to raise for next time.

#7 How does your event benefit students?

We found that people were very happy to see us celebrating the holidays. They enjoyed interacting with us such as participating in the lucky dip, they were particularly excited to discover what they picked. They also enjoyed all the home made treats, one lecturer bought 10 of the same item so his students could enjoy them! And of course, everyone enjoyed seeing Bassey and giving him lots of love. We also feel this was good because it allowed students to momentarily de-stress and forget about their upcoming assignments/exams.