Students get naked for charity

A student charity from Edinburgh University has been asking fellow societies to get naked and pose in its fundraiser calendar.

READ International Edinburgh is student-run and one of over 45 university projects across the UK who collect disused books from surrounding schools and ship them to East Africa.

The charity made national headlines earlier this month when the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall delivered READ International’s millionth book to a school in Tanzania.

The team at Edinburgh University photographed 12 societies who all agreed to get completely naked for the charity calendar which is expected to raise around £4,000.

Leah Sellars, Fundraising Project Leader of the Edinburgh project told The Journal: “The naked calendar last year raised around £4000 and took us half way towards out target of £8000 so it is probably the most important event of the year in terms of fundraising.

“From my experience with READ International and knowledge of their history I think student led charities are really effective. They may be a lot smaller than a lot of the big famous charities but I think their impact is just as big and often more direct.”

Societies taking part included sporting clubs such as rugby, football, swimming and hockey alongside more recreational societies including the chamber orchestra and Winesoc.

Ms Sellars added: “Student volunteers are always really keen and with READ we get to see the positive effect we have in East Africa first hand when we go out and deliver the books in the summer.

“I think the charity is really important for students to be involved in because we are passionate about getting a good education and we have really good facilities and I think that most students would agree that everyone has the right to a good education with good resources.

"READ enables students to address the inequality of education in Tanzania compared to the UK and actively do something about it!"

The calendar is now in its third year of production and has proven very popular with many societies competing for one of the 12 spots available. All proceeds raised from the launch night and subsequent sales will go towards shipping costs of around 30,000 books collected throughout the academic year.

The project also hosts other popular student events such as their own version of the ITV1 show Take Me Out which raised over £2000 in February. The calendar launch night will be held on Wednesday 23 November at Silk, a new night-club on Grassmarket.