New Online Wellbeing Spaces for Cambridge Students 

The University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University have partnered with the local mental health charity CPSL Mind to establish a series of online wellbeing spaces to help students during the lockdown weeks ahead. 

The initiative will see a mix of online ‘Open Door Calm Spaces’, which will provide students with the opportunity to “learn self-help techniques such as breathing exercise and mindfulness”, and ‘Good Mood Cafes’, which aim to “offer an opportunity to meet other like-minded students in a friendly and informal space.” 

Both sessions hope to foster an environment in which students can “build connections with other students, learn self-help techniques and connect to personal strengths.” 

The Open Door Calm Spaces will run every Wednesday at 15:00, while the Good Mood Cafes will run every Thursday at 14:00. 

King’s Launches Gender Expression Fund 

Students at King’s voted to establish a Gender Expression Fund at the College on Thursday (5/11), the third of its kind amongst Cambridge colleges. 

Outlined in a motion submitted to King’s College Student Union (KCSU), the fund will be used to “reimburse students who purchase items to make them more comfortable with their gender presentation, including but not limited to binders, packers, concealing underwear, wigs, and breast forms.” 

Students will also be eligible for reimbursement of travel expenses when travelling to gender identity clinics. Funds will be allocated on a case-by-case basis, with a dedicated mechanism in place to preserve the privacy and anonymity of students requesting to use the fund. 

Botanic Gardens Open despite Museum Closures  

As many public venues have now closed, it will likely be of relief to many Cambridge students to know that the University’s Botanic Gardens will remain open. 

With either one other person not from your household or with any number of people from your household / support bubble, the Botanic Gardens will be offering space to socialise and to admire the setting. You will, however, need to book a ticket in advance. 

The glasshouses will be closed for the lockdown period, though the garden café will continue to offer items on a takeaway basis. 

Unfortunately, Cambridge University Museums will be closed for the foreseeable future as a result of lockdown regulations. 

However, there remains a selection of Collections from the museums still available to explore online, including features on the evolution of chimpanzees, the Botanic Gardens’ ‘stinky corpse flower’, a rude Roman pot and drawings of voyaging Arctic whalers.