December 23, 2014, by offcampus

The Best of the Blog: 2014

2014 has been a bumper year for the Off Campus blog – with new campaigns, guest writers and lots of news, there’s been no shortage of things to share. As the year draws to a close, we thought we’d gather together some of our highlights from the last year in a festive cornucopia of off campus delights.

In January we were lucky enough to be invited to the launch of Sobar – Nottingham’s new alcohol-free bar and restaurant, run by Double Impact, a local drugs and alcohol charity. Since its launch, Sobar has been going from strength to strength, offering a great alternative night out.

February came round and we were delighted to welcome the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire to the blog, sharing his thoughts about the Police and students in the city.

The spring was a busy time for our department – in March we launched our new Love Where You Live campaign, sharing messages about effective waste management and recycling and working with enthusiastic teams of student ambassadors to spread the word about Nottingham City Council’s handy (and free!) Binformation text service. In April our focus turned to personal safety and we launched the You Go Together campaign – Batman and Robin could be spotted across our campuses giving out commonsense advice about sticking together on a night out (along with some goodies).

May brought with it the fantastic MayFest – a great opportunity for us to speak to people from all around Nottingham and beyond about why they love where they live. We built a fantastic multicoloured wall of appreciation for local communities and really enjoyed speaking to so many people.

In the summer we were pleased to be able to share some of the great work that goes on via our SU’s Student Volunteer Centre, as well as a steady flow on information about what was going on in the area for students who were still in Nottingham out of term time.

September was upon us, and there was a flurry of activity on the blog with welcomes from the Divisional Commander of Nottinghamshire Police and the PCC. October arrived and it was time for lots of events – starting with our second annual Moving In Moving On event, and followed up by the brand new This Is Beeston.

November was all about being a good neighbour, and we shared some handy hints about how to do it as part of our Love Where You Live campaign. We also launched our new In The Hotseat blog series and provided some feedback on our attendance at the National Community Conference.

And now here we are in December – we shared our Festive Tips Tree to make sure your house is safe and secure while you’re away over Christmas and plenty of information about festive fun in the city.

We do hope our readers have found the blog helpful and of interest this year – we’re always very open to feedback and suggestions for content, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment or drop us a line on Twitter. May we take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the festive season, and a very happy 2015.

Posted in CampaignsNews