Merry Christmas to all!

The Guild has now closed for Christmas and will re-open on Thursday the 3rd of January.

Have a great holiday everyone and good luck with all of your essay work!

Here's a few Christmas facts...

• Traditionally, German children are not allowed to see the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve.
• The rumour that Santa's red and white outfit was created by Coca-Cola is actually false. The red and white Santa was around in the 1920s, a whole decade before Coca-Cola advertising.
• In Russia, Santa Claus is called Dedushka Moroz, meaning Grandfather Frost.
• Boxing Day is so-called because the day after Christmas is also known as St Stephen's Day, when certain families go to Church and donate money in the collection boxes.
• Only six Christmas Number Ones in the past forty-seven years have had the word Christmas or Xmas in the title.

Feel free to plagiarise the above facts and bore your families over the holidays.

Let me end by saying, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! See you in the New Year!

A Weekend with the RAs

Last weekend, Student Development took the newly-elected RAs on a weekend of training, rope-climbing and bridge-building at an activity park in the Shropshire woods. It was a great few days of flipcharts, marker pens, group-bonding and new experiences.

Here are a few of my highlights:-

1) negotiating an assault course whilst wearing a blindfold (top right).
2) hopping across suspended platforms with Tennis Court RAs.
3) supervising Maple Bank building a bridge over a pond.
4) getting RAs excited about Guild Council!
5) being dressed in tin foil, toilet paper and bin bags for the winning game suggestion.
6) hiking for an hour in the dark in search of the pub.
7) rediscovering basketball on the court outside.
8) actually having the RAs cheer at the mention of the word 'Referendum.'
9) watching Hot Fuzz with the gang (can't believe I missed out on Children of Men though).
10) climbing the high ropes with the Presidents.

The curly fries on Monday were pretty special too :D

RAs, if you're reading this, it was a joy meeting you all and I'm excited about working with you over the next year! Good luck guys! x

The Sound Impact Award Workbook -> Done!

Step One... done!

Yesterday, we filled out the Sound Impact Award Workbook and sent it back to NUSSL. We have now assessed ourselves against the criteria and we believe we have achieved 307 out of the 466 points available. This could potentially be marked down when we are visited by the auditors next Semester but it is a promising start.

Last year, a score of 307 would have achieved a Gold Award (pictured right and made out of recycled glass by artist Adele Billinghay), however Student Unions are likely to have improved their game since the 2006/07 Sound Impact Award season.

The deadline for the Workbooks passed at noon today and all Unions' Workbooks will be assessed over Christmas. Dates for the audits will be released over the next few weeks, so I'll keep you all posted as always.

The quest to save the planet continues!

How to Look Good in a Mortarboard

Graduation ceremonies are being held this week for post-graduates and students who did not graduate in the summer. It is tradition for two Guild representatives to be present at each ceremony and therefore myself and Laura attended the Humanities ceremony on Wednesday.

Here is a picture of me in the Guild Presidential robes (see right) complete with mortarboard and the Guild medallion.

It was great to be seeing the ceremony from the other side. Back in July, I was one of the excited Graduands sitting amongst the crowd and hoping my parents didn't scream too loudly when I got my 2.1 (and hoping even more that I didn't trip on the steps when I collected my degree from the Chancellor!)

But this time I attended as a Graduate. Me & Laura were part of the procession, marching down the aisle with the Professors and Chancellors. It was a great experience and I was genuinely proud to be representing the Guild up on the stage, as students received the qualifications for all of their hard work.

However, one thing had not changed since my own ceremony back in July -> I will always have trouble keeping a mortarboard balanced on my head. So when you guys graduate in the summer, remember to bring hair clips. Lots of hair clips :)

SUEi -> Are you a Non-Involved Student?

We made a lot of progress with SUEi today.

(SUEi is the Student Union Evaluation Initiative, which I introduced yesterday. See my post yesterday for more details).

All of the line managers, along with cameos from myself and Lizzy, were locked in a room where they scoured the organisation and their memories for evidence for each of the SUEi criteria. I'm relieved to say that the evidence folders were looking mighty full by 4pm today.

50% of the audit will assess the content of these evidence folders. The other 50% will be assessed through interviews. And it is here, dear reader, where you students can help us :)

We need 15 non-involved students to take part in a 45-minute interview, at some point in March. These non-involved students will be asked questions about the Guild's performance in various areas and will be paid for their involvement in the audit.

What do you mean by non-involved students? According to SUEi, a non-involved student must not be part of a Union Committee, Student Staff or have a Committee position in a society. However, if you are part of a society but do not have an official position then you can participate.

If you are interested in helping us achieve this accreditation, please e-mail "I am a Non-Involved Student!" to s.fairbanks@guild.bham.ac.uk.

For more on SUEi, you can visit their website at http://www.sueinitiative.co.uk/ Enjoy!

Blogs are Bloomin'!

It's early days yet but the Exec blogs are beginning to bloom!

Alex Wright (LGBTQO) has given feedback on both the Homophobia is Gay bar crawl and his thoughts on the last Guild Council. He has even included an opinion poll about the bar crawl! Did you enjoy Homophobia is Gay? Let Alex know by visiting his blog!

http://alexwrightlgbtqo.blogspot.com/

Want to see a picture of the President's mum? Check out the Rhea Keehn (President) blog for snaps of the Frankfurt Christmas Market and Rhea's thoughts on the Great Gatsby, our last Guild Council and working on a Sunday :)

http://rheakeehnthepresident.blogspot.com/

And if you want to see Will Bastin (VPS) in action, check out his blog and witness the skills of our ex-basketball captain. Dunk that badboy! Nothing but net!

http://willbastinvps.blogspot.com/

Point is, the blogs are taking off in a big way. Watch this space because Lizzy Ralph (VPSAD) is working on a photo album blog of all her recent activites.

The future's bright, the future's blogging!

Simon Fairbanks, Carbon Ambassador

On Friday, I attended Carbon Trust training at Manchester Student Union.

This is part of the NUSSL Carbon Academy scheme, which sends Carbon Ambassadors (of which I am 1 of the 12) to different Student Unions to locate areas in which they could save energy and therefore money.

It was an activity-fuelled day of presentations and team exercises (like all NUS training!) The day ended with us looking around Manchester Union and assessing areas in which it could save money.

Everything from a broken diary-deck blind on a fridge in their shop, to leaving the door wide open on their beer cellar, contributes to wasting energy and it is these little improvements that will save a Union thousands of pounds in the long run.

I promised to keep my blogs interactive so below I have added a link to an interesting and thought-provoking debate about the environment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBro4dANNGU

And if you have any further interest in the Carbon Trust, then here is their website:

http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/default.ct