With end of term celebrations across campus on hold, Pendle College made sure students could still mark the end of the year in style.

The Stay at Homestrav was attended – virtually – by hundreds of final-year students, and raised more than £1,400 for Bay Hospitals Charity.

Celebrity alum and former music student James May hosted the live event from his home, sharing stories from his time at Lancaster.

Final-year student Daisy Richmond, Pendle College’s VP Events and Engagement, organised the virtual Extrav which allowed students to celebrate with their friends over video call, and also to showcase the talent and musical skills of people from across the University.

She said: “We were surprised with how well it took off. The event on Facebook had a lot of students click ‘going’ within the first day and that’s when we realised it was going to be more popular than we expected.

“On the night there were 2,000 people watching at one point which was really exciting and lots of people got involved with watching it at home on calls with their friends. It was so nice to have such a positive response and we’re super grateful to everyone who donated!”

The event took about a month to organise, along with the help of fellow students and staff. Daisy said: “The organisation side of things was a huge task. I worked alongside our AV Tech, Fraser Benjamin, and Media and Communications Officer, Jacob Ackerley, to promote and create the video. I reached out to a wide range of musical talent across Lancaster and the local area to gauge who would be interested in taking part. The event ended up being so long as I didn’t realise how many people would be willing to take part! I reached out to James May on Pendle Twitter as well and it was so exciting that he agreed to be involved.”

The event itself took place on YouTube and had two parts – the Extrav – consisting of different bands and artists playing a mixture of covers and original material, and the Afterparty with DJs, and all the acts were introduced by James May. More than 4,000 people have now watched the video and £1,442 has so far been raised for the Bay Hospitals Charity – exceeding the £1,000 target. You can watch the video again, and donate to the charity.