West Nottinghamshire College’s health and welfare team staged a health event yesterday to highlight a range of health matters to students.

A number of external organisations joined students at the college’s Derby Road campus to pass on health advice. These included the New Leaf smoking cessation service, Sexions NHS sexual health service, the Let’s Talk Wellbeing service and Hetty’s – the drug and alcohol misuse service.

Staff were on hand to offer free graze pots of fruit, nuts and seeds as well as vitamin-packed fruit juices, while students from the college’s lifestyle academy offered mini stress-busting shoulder massages.

Students also took part in a debate with representatives from the North Notts Substance Misuse Service and Nottinghamshire Police about the myths, dangers and misconceptions about cannabis use.

The panel were posed questions from the floor and they offered advice about the health risks around cannabis use as well as the effects on driving while under the influence of substances, the effects of drugs on the body and mind as well as the effects on society.

Team leader of the college’s health and welfare team, Andrew Wainman, said: “The health debate was a great success and it was areal cross-college effort. It was a good experience to use our media students to film the event so that it gave a more professional edge.

“The Question Time-style debate was good as both panel and audience had the chance to express facts and views in a controlled environment. The audience challenged the panel of experts with some serious but relevant questions and overall feedback has been that the event was educating, interesting and students have asked for more debates in the future.”

Catering student Jay Tyler-Watson and health adviser Mark Cantrill with a selection of healthy food.