Christmas Spirit at Newman

It has been a busy month at the College with lots of festive events organised to help to get everyone into the Christmas spirit. We started the festive season with an Advent Vigil on Tuesday 4th December in the College Chapel, which was an opportunity for the College community to come together in quiet prayer and reflection. We then held our annual Christmas party for the local elderly on Thursday 13th December, which is an opportunity for local elderly residents to visit the College where they were treated to a Christmas lunch provided by Servest Food Co. and music from a variety of student performers! After lunch, there were also games of bingo and a raffle with some fabulous prizes to be won and even a visit from Santa! At the end of the party, everyone was given a Christmas hamper to take away with them, which had been made up from donations brought in by staff and students at the College!

Festive Fundraising

Charity fundraising is a big part of life at Cardinal Newman and particularly so at this time of year. This year the College joined in with Christmas Jumper Day with lots of students and staff coming dressed in their best Christmas Jumpers on Friday 14th December. Many also then took their festive spirit on the road and headed out for our second ever Santa Stroll in aid of the Jordan Grant Memorial Fund and Cardiac Risk in the Young. Organised by our Newman Active Team, who with the help of Sport England funding, are tackling inactivity in staff and students by arranging a variety of events and free sessions such as Yoga and Clubbercise. The now annual Santa Stroll saw approximately 700 staff and students taking to Avenham park to join the 3K walk, raising a fantastic £715! Thanks to all who took part and well done!
We have also been supporting Rock FM’s Cash for Kids ‘Mission Christmas’ Campaign, collecting toys and gifts for children of all ages. As one in four children in the UK live in poverty, for many, Christmas presents are simply a luxury that their families can’t afford. That is why initiatives like this are so important, to help brighten the lives of those less fortunate at this Christmas time.
Many departments across the college have also been collecting for a variety of good causes, through reverse advent calendars, where people bring things in each day during advent to donate to a good cause. The causes range from Luv Preston to the Foxton Centre and local food banks to name a few. Thank you to all involved for their generous contributions.

Cardinal Carols

On Sunday 16th December our beautiful College choir took part in the annual Christmas Carol Service at St Wilfrid’s Church. It was a lovely service with the choir singing a mixture of traditional carols which left everyone feeling very festive and in the Christmas spirit. This was followed by our Modern Foreign Languages Carol Concert on Monday 17th December where our language department lead staff and students in song with traditional carols sung in a variety of languages, including Silent Night in German and We Wish You a Merry Christmas with a verse sung in each of our A Level languages.
Wishing all our staff and students a very Merry Christmas!