FLUX500

Several weeks ago I competed in MMU's inter-faculty Flux competition and was
selected to join a team to compete in the finals. I've just returned from the Flux500 Inter-University Business Competition in Nottingham. 33 Universities, 43 Industry experts, 1 Business challenge and.....about 30 hours.

I'm absolutely exhausted after a brilliant and intense three days in Nottingham. Our MMU team performed extremely well amongst strong competition. Where do I even start? The event is one of a kind and offers individuals the opportunity to develop key skills which overall build employability. These skills include communication, presentation, team work, creative problem solving, business plan development, negotiation, selling and leadership.

All 33 teams were handed the exact same business scenario, using an existing business and a current and relevant topic (developing training and working opportunities for the disabled.) At the end of the 30 hours each team pitched their entire business idea in a five minute pitch to an audience and several industry experts ('dragons'.)Followed by seven minutes of questions ('grilling'.)

The top four teams then went onto compete in and extended challenge, resulting in the winners taking the title of The FLUX500 National Champions of 2010, oh and also £3,000, cash. Most importantly for me it boosted my confidence and self-belief. It was a great experience and I gained valuable skills, met some great people and contacts and discovered things I didn't think I was capable of.

The Fantastic Mr.Fox!

Oh my god, I was so lucky to go to the opening night of The Fantastic Mr. Fox!! I worked with Mackinnon & Saunders back in 2008 starting off with just one day a week whilst I was at Uni. I did that for a few months and once we finished Uni they kindly took me on full time! I loved being part of the Mackinnon and Saunders family! Mackinnon and Saunders have worked on so many films and animations, the puppets they are incredible! They've done Corpse Bride, FiFi and the Flowerpots, Bob the Builder, Pingu, Mars Attack and Frankensteins Cat!
Seeing all our hard work up there, on screen god I love the feeling I've been part of something so big! If anyone manages to see it, please tell me what you thought of the film...??

I was employed as a costume department assistant and my main jobs involved dying fabrics to match an exact pantone! which is a very long process and taught me a lot about patience! I also helped with a lot of the screenprinting (like Mrs. Fox's yellow dress with the strawberries and Beavers son's number 8 top) I helped with odd jobs such as painting buttons, making headscarves, belts, painting patterns etc. Its great to see it all up there. The one big thing I helped with was the knitting of Ash's cardigan which you can see below. It was such a detailed process. We had to order special wool which was probably the finest, thinnest wool ever! I machine knitted pieces and then this was shrunk and then Michele would knit these pannels into the minute white cardigan! So proud!