Garrett Gorman and Rich Payne from our Finance Department have completed a 220-mile cycle ride to Paris, and raised nearly £2,400 for charity.

Garrett and Rich joined 70 students (seven from Kent) for the Breast Cancer Now London to Paris from 5 to 7 July. They were keen to support Breast Cancer Now as they have both had family members and friends affected by the disease.

Garrett said: ‘We wanted to do something to support a charity that is actively researching a cure for this disease. More recently, myself and Rich have had a very close friend and work colleague fighting this disease – she was especially in our thoughts as we completed this challenge and we wish her the very best as she gets through this.’

The three-day cycle, which raised a total of over £90,000, started in Waltham upon Thames and stopped off at Portsmouth, Caen and Evreux en route to Paris.

Garrett said: ‘Emotions were running high as we came around the road under the Eiffel Tower. There was family, friends and strangers cheering us on and cars tooting their horns in encouragement for the final stretch. Both of us appreciated just how much our family and our work colleagues did to support us – without them, we don’t believe we would have managed to raise the full amount.’

In an extra boost to their fundraising, Garrett and Rich held a raffle and cake sale on campus during March ahead of the cycle ride.

There’s still time to support them by clicking on Garrett’s sponsorship page or Rich’s sponsorship page.

The Centre for English and World Languages has two spare tickets for the 2pm performance of As You Like It at the Globe Theatre (Lower Gallery) on 22 August.

Face value is £47. If you would like the tickets, please email englishshortcourses@kent.ac.uk by 5pm on 31 July and make us an offer. 

Dr Patty Baker, Senior Lecturer in Classical & Archaeological Studies, was invited to take part in the Summer School for Greek and Latin at University College London (UCL) to speak at a round table session about ‘Disability in Antiquity’.

Patty spoke about conceptions of mental disability or learning disability, and how this topic can be used as a prompt for difficult classroom discussions about modern issues of equity and inclusion for those who identify as such.

The round table session was made up of a panel of four experts who research the topic of disability in the past. Patty’s talk explored how adults with mental impairments were defined and treated in the Greco-Roman world, arguing that they were seen as incomplete adults and cared for as if they were children. The second part of her talk explained how information about disability in the ancient world can be used as a platform to evoke difficult classroom discussions in consideration of modern issues related to disability rights.

Patty described the event by saying: ‘The summer school was a mix of academics and students from around the world. Students focused on translating Homer in the morning and early afternoon and then attended an afternoon round-table on topics covered in their reading. The event led to a lively discussion between the audience and the panelists.’

Catriona Blackburn, currently studying on the MA in Film with Practice, has had her short film The Cracks selected for submission to five film festivals: One-Reeler Short Film Competition, the WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, Lisbon Film Rendezvous, Lift-Off Global Network Sessions, and KinoDUEL International Film Festival. In addition, Catriona’s film has been selected as a semi-finalist at Lisbon Film Rendezvous and for the Award of Excellence at One-Reeler Short Film Festival.

The Cracks follows the emotional journey of Anna (Katherine Hall) as she copes with a violation; of her body, of her trust, and of her mind. As the cracks begin to show, only her little love, Tio, can save her from total self-destruction.

Catriona’s time at Kent started in 2011, first studying a BSc (Hons) in Anthropology, for which she received first-class honours. After a year of working with academics within the university and beyond as a visual anthropologist, Catriona came back to Kent to study for an MA in Film with Practice in the School of Arts.

Catriona says: ‘It was an incredible learning experience, our lecturers always discussed with a level and respect and humility that meant our opinions felt recognised and relevant. I have always felt that Kent offered me a freedom to speak my mind and explore my creativity. I felt I had found my niche in Visual Anthropology after my undergraduate studies, but with the support of the School of Arts, in particular my supervisor for the final production Richard Misek, and technician Daniel Haywood, I see many more opportunities for myself in the future. Completing this course has given me confidence in my abilities not only as an independent film maker but as a producer and distributor. I cannot quite believe how much positive feedback my first fiction film has received, and before it has even been graded!’

What’s next for Catriona? ‘I plan to complete my current projects this coming year; ‘Ableism in Academia’, ‘Embodied Reflection’ with Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, and ‘Exploring Embodied Academic Identity through creative research methods’. Moving forward I hope to have the opportunity to produce films and documentaries, find funding for an experimental short using puppetry to speak about bereavement. I also have plans to make a feature documentary, showcasing the lack of support for new mothers and the onus on the mother’s responsibility within pregnancy and through to new motherhood, by following a group of pregnant women from different socio-economic backgrounds through into new motherhood’.

More of Catriona’s work can be viewed on her website: www.catrionablackburn.com

More information about The Cracks can be found here.

Dr Oliver Double, Reader in the Department of Drama and Theatre, was referenced by journalist Alan Beattie in the Financial Times last Saturday, 20 July 2019.

The article, entitled ‘Calling Boris Johnson a Clown is Unfair to Clowns’, argues that to compare the celebrity politician to a clown does a disservice to the clowning profession, which is an art form requiring skill and integrity.

The article reports Olly’s observation that ‘Johnson has carefully developed a persona as would a stand-up comic, complete with performative habit of constantly dishevelling his hair. But instead of using it simply to get laughs, he employs it to further his career.’

To read the full article (subscription required), please see the page here.

This summer the campus shops are being redeveloped as part of Kent Union’s partnership with Co-op.

As a result the Park Wood shop is closed until Thursday 25 July when it will reopen as Kent Union’s Park Wood Co-op, and the main Student Union Shop will close on Thursday 25 July reopening as Kent Union’s Co-op on Thursday 29 August.

While the main SU Shop is closed there will be a pop-up store on the Plaza selling meal deal sandwiches, drinks and crisps, confectionary, tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits, newspapers, fresh fruit, bread and some groceries. The pop-up will open daily from 24 July until 28 August, 10.00- 20.00.

Summer might be the ideal time to focus on our health and wellbeing needs.  The University is still busy but some of the pressures of the processes of the Academic Year have reduced giving staff an opportunity to take a breath, pause and consider their own needs.

Signing up to the University of Kent Staff Wellbeing Zone is exactly what you need to help you focus on your own wellbeing needs:

• It has a simple Wellbeing Assessment Tool
• Guidance in how to formulate wellbeing goals
• Exercise and Diet programmes to follow that have been put together to work
• Recipes to tempt you to eat more healthily
• Lots and lots of informative articles on all aspects of wellbeing:
  • Health Eating
  • Activity
  • Alcohol intake
  • Mental Health
  • Meditation

It’s all completely confidential and free.  And you can connect it to other fitness trackers or wearables that you already use.

You don’t need to register; simply hit the Log In button and use the university login.

Once again, congratulations to the Kent Hospitality Housekeeping department for winning two awards at the British Association of Cleaning in Higher Education (BACHE) Awards on the 8 and 9 July at Keele University.

Continuing their winning streak, the team were awarded the ‘Best Practice Award 2019’ at this year’s ceremony. The award recognised new housekeeping initiatives that helped maximise staff skills. This included producing their own best practice training videos, which have been utilised across the department.

Making the event a double win, Ratna Rai won the ‘Cleaning Operative of the Year Award 2019’. Ratna, who works as a Domestic Assistant in Park Wood, was recognised for her consistently high standards of cleaning and for improving the student experience by building positive relationships with Kent students.

Gary Sayles, Executive Housekeeping Manager, Kent Hospitality said: “we are absolutely thrilled at our success at the BACHE Awards. To be recognised again by a national association for our team’s consistent hard work is fantastic, and special congratulations are also due to Ratna on winning the Cleaning Operative award. As a team we are proud to deliver a consistently high standard of service here at the University of Kent.”

The awards recognise the importance of professional cleaning activities in higher education institutions. BACHE aims to standardise training for cleaning staff, improve cleaning standards, and professionalise the delivery of cleaning and associated services on campus.