‘Run for Redfern’: more than 60 joggers join Leicester fundraising challenge in memory of much-loved former DMU student

March 6, 2023 by Leave a Comment

By Alfie Linville-Sibley

The second annual ‘Run for Redfern’ arrived at the steps of the De Montfort University student union at the weekend as scores of joggers honoured the memory of much-loved DMU alumnus Adam Redfern.

The air was filled with cheers and applause on Sunday as students, staff, and Adam’s friends crossed the finish line, blazing red in their ‘Run for Redfern’ tees, after the completing the 5km course across Leicester from Victoria Park to the heart of the DMU campus. 

More than 60 runners took part in the run, raising up to £1,500 for the Adam Redfern Memorial Fund, which provides a student scholarship and aims to make DMU a ‘heart safe campus’. Adam died of a sudden heart attack while out jogging in March 2021. He was just 28.

After starting at 11am, all the runners were over the line by noon. Following the race, Adam’s parents, Christine and Ian Redfern, gave a short speech to the runners in the DSU in front of a banner bearing a picture of their son.

“We wanted to give everybody a chance to run and remember Adam this year, and seeing this growth in just one year is amazing,” Ian said.

The first ‘Run for Redfern was held in 2022, with eight of Adam’s friends running on a sponsorship basis. Between them, they raised £3,000 for the memorial fund.

Elgan Hughes, one of those original eight, said: “Seeing so many students sat in the Union on a cold Sunday morning like this is amazing. After last year we realised Adam deserved something bigger to remember him, so we decided to open it up to everyone this year.”

“Hopefully next year everyone that’s here today will bring a friend along, and then the same will happen the year after, that’s the ultimate goal,” Elgan said.

“It was a big job to organise this, between the council and the staff at the Union and De Montfort everybody involved was fantastic. Hopefully, we’ll see you all again next March for an even bigger Run for Redfern,” Ian Redfern said.

Adam Redfern

The memorial fund keeps Adam’s memory alive by creating opportunities for students with a flair for journalism, media or sport through a scholarship, allowing third-year students the chance to pursue their passions.

Adam, who has been described as “the best of DMU in one person”, was a Journalism (BA) graduate who went on to work as part of the Student Union and later joined DMU’s social media team.

Christine Redfern said: “The first scholarship has gone out this year to a film student, and seeing what she’s doing with the opportunity is amazing.”

The memorial foundation is also aiming to fund the installation and related training for on-campus defibrillators to make DMU ‘heart safe’ and raise awareness for SADS (sudden arrhythmic death syndrome), when someone dies following an unexplained cardiac arrest.

Runner Richard Bowden, a former colleague of Adam’s, said: “Adam was always looking for opportunities to support students. He made lots of DSU roles paid so students would be more rewarded and the DSU would be better staffed.”

Click here to make a donation to the Adam Redfern Memorial Fund.

Filed Under: Today's Top Story, Alumni, Latest, Univerisity Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Game review: SpongeBob SquarePants The Cosmic Shake

January 30, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Review by John Perry

If you’re looking for a brand-new platforming adventure that comes complete with an intoxicating hit of nostalgia, look no further than The Cosmic Shake.

This single-player video game from publishers THQ Nordic encompasses classic platform gameplay, goofy but creative combat, feelgood comedy and SpongeBob’s signature dry wit in one amazingly animated package to delight fans young and old.

The story is simple, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. After all the key demographic for Cosmic Shake is mostly children, fans of the series and potential parents playing the game with their sprogs. It opens with SpongeBob causing a ruckus in Bikini Bottom after a good idea, in theory, ends up releasing an evil jelly cataclysm from King Neptune himself. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I would write.

This transports all the characters you know and love – Mr Krabs, Patrick, Sandy, Plankton and more – into bizarre alternative dimensions that you’re tasked with exploring, before rescuing them to save the day. There are seven of these distinct worlds you’ll encounter on your spongetastic travels, ranging from a western-like land, a movie set, a sea of pirates and more. Let’s not spoil all the surprises, as some of them are a joy to experience for the first time.

All the original voice actors return to lend their nuance comedic and childish whimsy to the narrative. And visually, the game is striking, to say the least, with great artistic styling to rival – if not better – most modern platformers available on the market. The cutscenes stand out in particular, and they would grace an actual SpongeBob movie.

Gameplay is simplistic but rewarding, with new abilities being unlocked world-to-world, so there’s always something to work towards with a fresh feel to each stage. You can even return to those worlds to uncover things you did not have access to before, which is a nice touch. Purple Lamp Studios, the developers have clearly been inspired by the likes of Crash Bandicoot, Astro Bot and other great platformers. Keeping the moment-to-moment gameplay enjoyable is the aim, and they hit the target:  you never know quite what is coming next. I didn’t expect to be using an empty pizza box to glide around, for example, nor did I anticipate a fish hook could prove quite so handy. It has an in-universe use for everything.

During your world-hopping adventures, you will have more than 30 distinct, memorable and hilarious costumes to kit out SpongeBob himself. The majority of them are unlocked via gameplay but some were downloadable content for an additional price or with the “BFF Collector’s Edition” that Is available to pre-order now. Hardcore fans with extra cash to splash … knock yourselves out.

The music is also worth a mention here as it takes you back to watching the cartoon all those years ago, with around 100 songs from the original series to enjoy.

Every aspect has been carefully crafted by designers who love everything that makes SpongeBob, SpongeBob. Even the loading screens use the “A Few Hours Later” transitions.

It’s just a pure-hearted, wholesome, comedic piece of fun for all the family to enjoy. It has strong themes of positivity, learning from mistakes and when to trust strangers. That will teach its younger audience an important lesson. And for the rest of us, there are the twists and broken fourth walls to relish.

I couldn’t fault it. It’s well worth your time and money.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake lands on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch tomorrow (January 31) for the retail price of around £30, depending on the edition you buy.

Filed Under: Third Year, Features, Gaming Tagged With: , ,

Christmas events in Leicester this year

December 18, 2022 by Leave a Comment

By Vivek Julka

The festive period is here and there are plenty of things to do in Leicester to enjoy yourself over the holidays.

Christmas Wheel of Light – located on Jubilee Square. A ride on the 110ft Ferris wheel lasts about ten minutes with a standard ticket costing £7. It closes on the 2nd of January 2023.

Fun Fair – Humberstone Gate is where you will find this, with rides you can enjoy over the festive period, until 2nd of January.

Traditional Nativity Scene – in Town Hall Square, with free admission. Here you will see all the traditional characters such as Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, plus hear the nativity story. Closes on 6th January 2023.

Jubilee Square Ice Rink– Get your skates on and enjoy the annual rink. Closes on 2nd of January 2023.

Santa in the Square – in Town Hall Square, free admission, with all children getting a free gift from Santa himself. Closes on Friday, 23rd of December.

Leicester resident Elliot Turner said: “I went on the Ferris wheel for the first time and it was brilliant, I recommend trying it if you haven’t already.”

If you want any more information about these or more Christmas events in Leicester this year, visit www.christmasinleicester.co.uk/whats-on/

Filed Under: General, Christmas, Latest, Leisure, Local, News, Second Year

Review: The Wizard of Oz at Curve, Leicester. ‘Over the Rainbow, and above my expectations’

December 13, 2022 by Leave a Comment

By John Perry

The Wizard of Oz has seen many iterations since its conception into a novel by L. Frank Baum, most notably the 1939 Hollywood classic starring the late Judy Garland. Moving forward the best part of a century, Andrew Lloyd Webber redefined the classic into a stage production in 2011. Now in 2022, Curve Theatre has once again redefined what The Wizard of Oz is with their contemporary take on the tale involving deviations in characters and story to create an important version involving environmentalism.

Stepping into the Curve is an experience of its own, a modern building near the heart of Leicester, but I was still not expecting the sheer scale of production, talent, and technological achievement once I took my seat to view this fantastical performance.

The Wizard of Oz creative director Nikolai Foster brought his vision to the Curve theatre and it’s simply breathtaking. Inspired by Route 66 and the American dream, this is a new rendition of a classic that is a must-see. We all are aware of Dorothy’s adventure through Oz, her meeting characters representing her family, friends and learning to understand the importance of home through a magical experience. Here, we still get that core story but with modern twists, comedy, and heart.

You are not merely transported there; you are part of Oz for the next two hours.

The boldest surprise to me was that in the blink of an eye, set pieces meld into the stage with brilliant light shows and 3D effects. Flashes of light, dazzling special effects and environments on stage evolving. You are not pulled into the world; you are immersed into it. You are not merely transported there; you are part of Oz and Dorothy’s adventure for the next two hours.

The cast of the Wizard of Oz at Curve, Leicester. Photograph by Marc Brenner

The acting and vocal talent of the entire cast is brilliant but particularly in Dorothy (Georgina Onuorah), Scarecrow (Jonny Fines) and Glinda (Christina Bianco), phenomenal voices reverberate around the theatre space. They truly know how to pick artists here; the production team is a character of their own too. As is the band hidden beneath the stage – a live orchestra that many wouldn’t even believe was there. To the naked eye it’s simply a musical track playing unless you have the opportunity during the interval or a lucky seat at the front to peer below the stage into a pit of experienced musicians bringing Oz to life.

West End quality without the need for a trip to London is how best to describe it what is witnessed here. It features genuinely funny moments. Hearing a cast member saying “I’m a friend of Dorothy” – we all know the connotations – made the adults erupt in laughter, while Scarecrow simply leaping, falling, and rolling around the set during his introduction had the kids giggling like a pack of hyenas. An addition I did not expect was a puppet version of Toto that was handled entirely by a single crew member on stage, practical to avoid a real dog.

Aesthetically, it deviates heavily from the original to be in line more with its environmentalist take and contemporary vision, which includes Munchkin land being an industrial and dilapidated town, Emerald City representing a New York landscape and the witches of Oz riding motorcycles instead of brooms. It could have done more in terms of altering the narrative to fit this, but I expect it was a creative choice to stay truer to the original in its script.

Ben Thompson (Toto) and Georgina Onuorah (Dorothy). Photograph by Marc Brenner
Charlotte Jaconelli (The Wicked Witch of the West). Photograph by Marc Brenner

As the second half began it truly showcased more of the time and money that went into this daring new take on the classic. The production value and realism they went for was breathtaking: Emerald City having small Easter eggs on the large LED screen at the back, parodies of McDonald’s, Starbucks and even a nod to Garland herself in a Times Square-like billboard. The little things were not ignored.

The pinnacle of the entire performance must be Onuorah’s rendition of Over the Rainbow as Dorothy. A bright, positive, and soulful take on the theme to the original movie. It gave us goosebumps, and earned a standing ovation from many of the audience.

It’s for everyone. A modern take on a classical tale. A fantastic musical, with amazing vocal talent, technical expertise, music that just engulfs the audience in the moment. It was also wholesome to see a sign language interpreter present on stage for accessibility of disabled audience members. Inclusivity is important to Curve.

This production is incredible. After a pandemic delay, to find its feet like this and still be a powerhouse of entertainment. It is special. A true five-star experience and a must see for all the family this Christmas. It certainly went over the rainbow and above my expectations.

The Wizard of Oz runs at the Curve Theatre in Leicester until January 8.

Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Christmas, Cultural, Entertainment, Features, Leisure, Local, Music, Reviews, Theatre, Third Year

Students discuss their experiences with antidepressants and deduce the stigma surrounding dependency and reliance 

November 20, 2022 by Leave a Comment

By Kelly Gowe

The prevalence of antidepressant prescription is astounding with 70 million prescriptions written last year for the 7 million adults who used them.  

It is time to take a more nuanced approach: Antidepressants can be lifesaving for some people while having no effect on others.  

But who are we to say that someone is wrong if they see it as a last resort or something to make them feel better? The stigma must be lifted. 

I interviewed two students about their university experiences with SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) to see how the medication affected their lives. 

Valuable: Abubakr Razak (left) and Heebah Hussain found antidepressants helped them

Abubakr Razak, 19, began taking SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) while studying law.  

He had struggled with anxiety and depression throughout college, which led him to being prescribed an SSRI called Sertraline. 

“I often had anxiety in social situations,” he said. “But very traumatic situations as a child eventually built up to this. My SSRIs were paired with talking therapy, which helped massively.” 

He said they made him feel “level” throughout university and found dealing with difficulties a lot easier. 

Heebah Hussain, 18, said: “I’d encourage anyone in a dark place to think ‘If I were really physically unwell, would I take medicine to help me feel better?’” 

Unfortunately, many people are still reluctant to take medication for their mental health because society has often portrayed it as a sign of failure.  

In fact, making such a decision for yourself is a sign of strength. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you require some additional assistance. 

So, even if you are aware of the risks, your only option is to take it or leave it; our mental health system lacks ambition. 

If you are a student who is struggling, I strongly advise you to reach out to others, even if it is just one person.  

If you know a loved one who is struggling, you can  find out more about how to help here. 

You can contact the Mind helpline by calling 0300 123 3393.  

Filed Under: Mental Health, First Year, First year assessment, Latest, Lifestyle, Relationships, Univerisity Life Tagged With: , , , ,
Next Page»