Students made their way back to Bath from Paignton Beach with no money and phones!
Fayyaz, Bath Mt Kilimanjaro Team Challenge Leader provides an update on the latest fundraising challenge FREEEDOM!
The Freedom! Event we held on 22 March 2025 was one of the most intense fundraising events we’ve organised so far. The idea for participants was simple: get from Paignton Beach back to campus with no money and no phones. Teams had to find their own way back, relying on strangers, public transport, or just walking. Some got lucky early, others were out there for over 12 hours.
With the help of the incredible Freedom! Committee (Amy, Hayley, Emma, Edward, and Aadhav), the SU staff, and all the students who participated, we collectively raised £9,000 from that one weekend, and I am confident that it will set the tone for us for the rest of the year.
Since September 2024, our Kilimanjaro team at Bath has been putting in serious effort. We’ve got over 30 students all climbing for the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF), and it’s been impressive watching people step up with ideas and raise money in all kinds of ways. We’ve run everything. Bake sales, bar crawls, fitness challenges, pub events, street collections, busking, and soon a football tournament. Our team have gone to any length to raise money for this incredible cause, with some of us even shaving our heads to boost donations. Everyone’s found their own way to fundraise and the energy across the team has stayed high.
As of now, we’ve raised over £50,000 for MRF, and we’re aiming to hit £70,000 before the academic year ends. It’s been a full-on few months for the team, balancing fundraising with Uni and everything else going on in their lives. The progress they’ve made is something they should all be so happy with. It is difficult to say how proud I am of them.
We’ve still got many more fundraisers lined up this year, and I know all of the team are working hard to make them a success.
We want to sincerely thank everyone on and off campus that have supported us immensely for the last 7 months. We’re proud to be representing Bath and MRF when we climb Mt Kilimanjaro this August.
Here’s our team’s fundraising link if you’d like to support: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bathkili25
