Help us Evaluate Reclaim the Night Exeter 2012

To anyone who attended Reclaim the Night Exeter 2012 at the Cathedral Green on Sunday 10th June 2012, please could you fill on our questionnaire to help us evaluate how successful the event was or not and what we might be able to improve on the next time.

The questionnaire can be done online and it consists of only 10 short questions so it should take no more than five minutes and your input is invaluable. To complete the questionnaire just click on this link and it should open a new window in your internet browser for you: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YJC6M78
Dont forget to click 'Done' on the survey once it's finished! The survey is anonymous.

If you already filled in a paper version of the questionnaire at the event itself, please DO NOT fill out another one online because it is the same one and it would make the results inaccurate.

If you have any other comments you wanted to make, please email Alexa Sage at gender-equality@hotmail.co.uk.

In the mean time, I leave you with some pictures from what was a very heartfelt night:

Reclaim the Night Weekend

Saturday 9^th June: Children’s glass lantern painting and poster making workshop in preparation for Reclaim the Night

Today at St. Sidwell’s Community Centre from 11am-3pm in Exeter we held a fantastically successful art workshop for children to paint glass lanterns and placards.  An expertly conducted Twitter, Facebook, emailing and flyering campaign saw around 50 children come through the doors today to paint glass lanterns which will be put on display at the Reclaim the Night vigil and placards and posters which will be used during the Reclaim the Night walk.  A wonderful team of nine volunteers from Exeter Students’ Guild helped oversee the workshop and explain the message of Reclaim the Night – that of the importance of respect, kindness, love and solidarity so we can live in a happy and safe world any time of the day or night to children as young as 5.  The event also saw a lot of parents being persuaded to let some of their children stay up past their bed time for one night only to be part of Reclaim the Night! And it wasn’t just the children getting involved – teenagers, university students, adults, parents and grandparents all wanted to contribute something artistic to the Reclaim the Night event and did their fair share of glass painting, placard and banner making too!

Left: Part of the team of the fantastic Reclaim the Night volunteers gearing up for the art workshop!

Sunday 10^th June: Reclaim the Night speeches, walk and vigil

The actual Reclaim the Night walk and vigil takes place tomorrow on Sunday 10^th June.  The event begins at the Cathedral Green at 9pm with three speakers who are all prestigious members of the local community.  At 9.30pm there will be a walk from the Cathedral Green up the High Street to the top of Sidwell Street and back to protest against violence and harassment for women and girls on the streets at night.  Then just after 10pm we will return to the cathedral for a candlelit vigil to commemorate the suffering of women and girls across the globe.  There will also be the opportunity at the event to donate money to Devon Rape Crisis Services who see the devastating effects of sexual violence against women every day and work tirelessly to help mend women’s lives.  Please join us be you woman, man, child or animal in solidarity and support of women’s safety on the streets at night and don’t forget the banners and placards!

Vote for Devon Rape Crisis Services to be a RAG charity

To students and staff at Exeter University - please vote for Devon Rape Crisis Services to be a RAG (Raising and Giving) charity so we can help raise lots of money for an extremely worthwhile cause and a much (sadly) needed service. Devon RCS have also worked tirelessly with the Guild throughout the year and are currently coordinating a sexual violence awareness campaign for staff and students - probably time we give them something back! You can vote to nominate them by following this link on the Student Guild website: http://www.exeterguild.org/organisation/haveyoursay/elections/

Incidentally up until last year there was no rape crisis service in the whole of Devon. As a female victim of rape in Devon in early 2011 you would have had to go to Cornwall to receive this specialist support, if you were lucky enough to have afforded the travel and time and to have had the confidence to... Getting Devon's first rape crisis centre was a huge achievement and was the result of a lot of hard work from a group of extremely committed women and men. Let's help this service keep going for as long as it is needed. Hopefully one day we can eliminate the need but for now rape crisis services are a potential lifeline to the thousands of women and girls who are victims of rape and sexual abuse across the UK.

The closing date for voting is 14th June and you must be a member of the university to vote.