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Leeds students fundraise for research through flagship fashion show

The Leeds RAG Fashion Show – the annual flagship event in the calendar of Leeds University Union’s charity fundraising society – takes place on 28 February 2019, with PCRF as one of its nominated charities.

The Leeds RAG (Raising and Giving) society is run by a committee of students who volunteer their time and skills to organise a calendar of charity events on top of their university studies. Each year the committee picks one national and one local charity to support.

The show features beautiful pieces donated from the collections of established national and international fashion designers. Alongside these, up-and-coming undergraduate and postgraduate student fashion designers from universities in Leeds are selected to showcase their own pieces, often produced for their final year projects.

The theme for this year’s show is ‘The Collection’, and will feature art themes from throughout history: Romanticism, Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Pop Art.

Last year, the event raised over £10,000 for charity and was itself nominated for two National Student Fundraising Association awards. This year, the RAG committee is determined to break LRFS records with the amount raised.

Charlotte Copperthwaite, Leeds RAG Head of Charity, says: “Tickets are already sold out and we’re very excited. Thanks to the talents of the designers, stylists, make-up artists, models and a whole host of other creatives, this is going to be a stunning event that encompasses high fashion, music, art and performance.”

Maggie Blanks, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund said: “We’re extremely honoured to be chosen as one of the charities of the year by the RAG committee and are full of admiration for the energy and determination of those involved. We have no doubt that the event will be a spectacular success!”

The University of Leeds already has a connection with PCRF through the cutting-edge research funded by the charity. In 2016, Professor Alex Breeze, in the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology was awarded £180k for a project which aims to develop new drugs to block a vicious cycle of signals between two proteins that are implicated in the growth of pancreatic tumours. (http://www.pcrf.org.uk/pages/professor-alex-breeze.html)