Dear ,

Welcome to our second alumni newsletter of the year! Although the year is young we are delighted to have caught up with many members of our alumni community across West Yorkshire.

One visit took us into the centre of Leeds to the offices of Protect Group, a global provider of Membership Programmes. Protect Group host our students on placement and also have several of our recent graduates working for them, including Alex Thurston and Hasan Ibrar (pictured above).

We have also travelled across the county to undertake photo shoots with many alumni who have excelled in sport as players or coaches. 

Thank you to all the alumni who we've caught up with. We love spending time with you and are extremely proud of all your achievements.

Now in its 16th year, the Leeds Trinity Writers' Festival welcomes members of the local writing community, emerging and established writers, for an inspirational day of writing.

It is taking place on Tuesday 17 March from 10.00am - 5.00pm and alumni can attend for free. Book your place here.

We would like to find out how many alumni who studied here in the 1960s would be interested in coming to a reunion on Saturday 5 September 2020. 

Former SU President, Peter Lawson, got in touch as he believed there was significant interest. We've provisionally booked this event and reserved 40 rooms on campus. Please email the Alumni Office if this event is of interest to you. Feel free to make any suggestions about the running of the event and do let us know if you would like to help organise it.

Please also share this with your fellow sixties alumni!

The Alumni Office, in partnership with the Chaplaincy, have mounted a Remembrance Tree in the Chapel.

The tree holds leaves to remember those who have passed away and is open to everyone.

If you have someone that you'd like to remember, we've designed a form you can complete here.

The Leeds Trinity community got together for a staff and alumni versus students football match to raise nearly £100 for our Inspiring Futures Programme and MIND.

An unbeaten staff team will take on the Women's Football Club on Wednesday 11 March to raise money for Macmillan.

Stephen graduated from Sport, Health, Exercise and Nutrition in 2010. He played professional Rugby League for Warrington Wolves until a shoulder replacement halted his career. He met his wife Sarah during Freshers Week at Leeds Trinity and played for the Titans Rugby League team throughout his three years.

Stephen has worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach for Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls and the Scottish Exiles Team, and has been an Officer in the Royal Marines Reserve. He left the Marines after his second child was on the way to devote his time to his family. He then put everything in to his businesses.

"I was really missing the sense of camaraderie, brotherhood and physical training of being in the Marines. After hitting my 30th birthday I wanted to do something meaningful that could support others. So I decided to raise £30,000 for Help the Heroes."

This involved a minimum of two races or events every month including five triathlons, five marathons and an ironman triathlon. The races took place all over the world including Paris, Berlin and Sweden. The fundraising concluded with a dinner and auction at Rudding Park, in Harrogate. In total, in 2019, Stephen raised £35,540.11, which all went to the charity. 

In recognition of his incredible efforts he has been nominated for four awards at the 2020 Yorkshire Choice Awards and will find out on Saturday 14 March if he has been successful.

He is now undertaking a new challenge to raise £40,000 this year.