‘Conscious’: The Oxbridge Mental Health Charity Ball returns for a 2nd year after an incredible night last year which saw us raise a staggering amount of money. This year, we are supporting a wide range of charities both national and local which have all done amazing work for mental health activism and treatment. We also hope to raise awareness amongst the student bodies at Cambridge and Oxford of the various issues surrounding mental health, as well as flag these issues to the universities themselves.

Conscious is all about having fun while raising money for charity. It’s not just about taking a typical Oxbridge ball and putting it on in a different location, it’s about bringing together people to maximise enjoyment and donations. There are so many balls out there, but this is one with a purpose. While the food, drink and entertainment will be outstanding, we hope to extend this celebrated element of Oxbridge tradition and harness this towards a socially impactful objective. You don’t need to worry about travel as transport to and from the venue is included.

Join us on 3rd November, as we whisk you off for a night dancing and delight.

Our cause is clear - UK mental health statistics are unacceptable. Although mental health issues have been brought more into the spotlight recently, there is still a long way to go with regards to changing attitudes towards mental health and providing adequate mental health treatment and provisions on a national scale - reports suggest that only 1 in 8 adults in the UK with a mental health problem are currently receiving treatment. We have chosen to support Mind, Samaritans and Movember in their efforts to combat this.

Moreover, the mental health statistics here at the Oxbridge universities and at other universities are of grave concern. Students are being put under increasing amounts of pressure from a young age and are not being given adequate education or provision for dealing with this. University policy often lags behind current thinking and often treats the University as the victim and not the student who needs help. Our other charities, Student Minds Cambridge and Oxford along with Nightline, are attempting to address these issues at grass roots levels.

From grime to house to pop, drum & bass to ambient - whatever your taste in music, we have got you covered. We have so many talented and exciting artists on board who we can’t wait to announce to you. Please keep an eye on our Facebook for those announcements, we really do have some very special things in the works.

As well as music we have a great variety of other unique entertainment options to keep you smiling for the whole night.

A massive part of any Oxbridge ball is the food and drink and we promise to bring to you the finest array of food and drink at Conscious. We will be serving you a mixture of your favourite classic dishes and more unique interesting delicacies all while having paid special attention to providing many exciting options for people with dietary requirements and allergies. Many of our dishes are vegan, gluten- and nut-free, which doesn't mean that there won't be any highlights for meat-lovers. We have also made a special effort to provide a good selection of soft drink options so that those of you who don’t want to drink alcohol will not be neglected as can often happen at other such balls!

We have a number of different drinks and catering sponsors who will be running the various bars and food stalls around the ball. We will be revealing more about them in the coming few weeks on our Facebook, so please watch this space!

Tickets are available to members and alumni of the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford at £85 from 8am on 10th October 2018. Coaches to and from the Ball will be provided and will leave central Cambridge and Oxford in the late afternoon. Further details will be sent to ticket holders by email shortly before the Ball.

Before you can purchase the tickets, you must register for an account on our ticketing system using your @cam.ac.uk, @cantab.net or @ox.ac.uk email. Each university member/alumnus is allowed to purchase a maximum of 4 guest tickets.

Please note that a name change fee applies if you wish to change the name of the guest after ticket purchase:
Before Sunday 21st October - £10
After Sunday 21st October - £15
After Sunday 28th October no name changes will be processed. The full terms and conditions is available here.

If you have any queries, please email Hennie, the Head of Ticketing at ticketing@consciousball.co.uk!