University students back City of Culture campaign

Over 1,000 new university students have given their boisterous support to Durham’s bid to be the UK’s first City of Culture.

Teenagers from all parts of Britain and the world enthusiastically threw their weight behind the bid when they attended Durham University’s Freshers’ Fair in the Students’ Union. And now the whole of the Students’ Union is to be asked to campaign to bring the prize to Durham.

Marion Ingleby, interim project manager for the bid said:  “We’ve had a great time at the fair and the students have got behind us in a really big way.Their energetic and enthusiastic support has been fantastic. In just under two days, we’ve had 1,080 sign up to back the bid which is phenomenal. We submit our outline bid to the government in the middle of this month so to have the backing of the students is very timely,” she said.

Ben Robertson from Durham Students’ Union, said:  “We have over 140 different student societies, and many other sports teams and associations at the fair all providing fantastic cultural opportunities in Durham. We have theatre groups, dance societies, orchestras and bands and loads of groups putting on fantastic events in the university community and also out in the local areas.

“A motion to officially back the bid has been submitted to the next meeting of DSU stating that DSU will campaign to bring the City of Culture 2013 to Durham. Not only will this help the city and the county, but our societies and student groups will benefit from the increased awareness and the ever-increasing opportunities to work alongside the local community in staging events,” he said.