Durham students in £45,000 naked booze and drug rampage
Durham University's Champagne Society has been investigated - after police reported students taking cocaine and jumping naked into a lake.
It's emerged police had to break up a booze and drug fuelled party which saw Durham Uni students going on the rampage at a country house.
It happened at the Champagne Society's summer ball - where £45,000 was taken behind the bar in just one night.
There've been concerns raised over the revellers skinny dipping in the lake - just months after three Durham Uni students drowned in the River Weir.
Organisers say things got out of hand when magnums were delivered by accident instead of single bottles.
In response to the claims, the society said:
“No society has ever thrown a ball as big, grand and expensive as the summer ball that was held on the June 5.
“Many students felt that this event was the best event that they had been to in the entirety of their time in Durham.
"However, due to the scale of the event amongst other factors, we do recognise that there were problems at the ball.
“As a new executive committee we are fully committed to working in close alliance with both the police and the DSU in order to create events which are fundamentally safe for the student body."
The society was founded in 2011 in order to introduce students to the culture of champagne tasting.
BUT the venue say they didn't see any of what was going on.
Hardwick Hall's a country house in Derbyshire:
“Hardwick Hall Hotel completely refutes the claims made in the Durham University report, and in the Northern Echo about the Durham University Champagne Society Dinner. “Staff at the hotel saw absolutely no evidence of any of the alleged activities and it wasn’t until much later after the event that we were informed that two people had entered the lake. “There were more than 1000 people at this event and the majority of them were well behaved and had an enjoyable, incident free evening “The insinuation that this event was out of control is, as far as the hotel is concerned, a complete fabrication. “Hardwick Hall hosts hundreds of large scale events - including many for Durham University - and these are highly successful and pass without incident.”
The Champagne Society's now been investigated by the Students' Union and put on probation.