Alex Harries's diary

The Freshers' Ball line-up - happening on Saturday 20th October - was announced today and I have to say that, with its diverse and slightly eclectic line-up, I'm actually pretty excited about the night. (Sorry for the little plug, but I'm only saying it 'cos I think it's true...!)

The main Freshers' Ball headline act is a Scissor Sisterz tribute band which, having listened to the tunes on their website, should make for a brilliantly messy one in Lux, while CO2 is being themed in a Bhangra style, with Eastern sounds, visuals and even some Eastern flavour in the form of special cocktails. In five years of being here at the Union, I don't think I've ever know such a random and eclectic event take place, and that alone should make it one of the most fun nights of the year. Brucie Bonus: £15 is nothing to pay for a ticket to the best way to end your first few freshers weeks! (Check out the Freshers' Ball event listing for more info if you've got a minute free).

It's been a while since I've written anything here, and that's mainly thanks to spending a ridiculous amount of time on the launch of our new student newspaper, Pugwash News/Purple Wednesdays, which was swiftly followed by the traumatic workload associated with the fun of Freshers' Fayre. Since then, for the last few days I've been running around putting all our archived Pugwash content onto the iMacs so the bods who get involved in meeja this year have plenty of material to refer to - we've got Pugwashes going back to 1997, and I even found a dusty old copy of the Portsmouth Student Guide from '79 down the back of a filing cabinet - random...

I think the newspaper has been an amazing success: we printed 3,000 copies of the 12-page Pugwash News/Purple Wednesdays, and in the space of 48 hours at Freshers' Fayre and around campus, almost 2,700 copies were handed out to students. Despite having a huge range of content I want more, so every other sentence I've been uttering for the last few days has been about recruiting more people to help with the paper, and to get more ideas and content for it (interested? mediaofficer@upsu.net!).

Freshers' Fayre, while I remember, was really good - more than 200 people signed up to Pugwash! Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the people who got to see me being gaffer-taped to a tent pole. Many videos and photos were taken and, since self-embarrassment is something I'm so good at,  I'll put them online as soon as we can edit them down.

We've also taken on two new pixel munkis, and UPEL (the trading bods who run the bars) have also been spending some time on their Social:Life section: Tom Worman (aka the Union's photographer) and Nathan Sweeney (a bars supervisor in a former life), to take up some of the workload on the website now I've got less time free to push pixels around. Mind you, I never did that much hard work really, so it's not like they're going to find it particularly hard or anything... ;o)

I should mention the Sabb team a bit, since I'm supposed to be promoting their work and all that: loads of students signed up at Freshers' Fayre to take part in clubs, societies and the Union's support and training groups, including STAND, RAG and VIP. The new Equality, Ethics and Diversity committee was elected yesterday, which is a very positive step for the Union's democratic aims, and Andy Machin's Course Rep posters have been appearing all over the place (including, worryingly, in my shower cubicle...).

The last couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy, and with the new Pugwash team being brought together for the first time on Monday - and the editorial team being elected - I can't see any sign of things getting any easier over the coming months. Still, that's probably a good thing as it'll keep me out of trouble (err, I hope); the only downside being that, every day at 4.30pm for the last few weeks, I've had to face the horrible realisation that it's once again too late in the day to go and get my ridiculously shaggy barnet cut. If I don't get it trimmed down soon, I'm going to end up being refused entry into my own Sabb office because I'm too scruffy...

I hope everyone out there in student land is enjoying the first few weeks of term, and (time for a shameless plug) that you know who to call if you have any questions about anything at all, at any time (except maybe after 8pm Wednesday night. Maybe...). One last plug: don't forget, you can join up with Pugwash any time you like and send in your news, reviews, features, ideas, photos, and much more - just drop me a line.

/al

p.s. All I want for Christmas is a lie-in... ;o) 

Comments have been closed for this article

 

 

The only hard thing about the job is working with you, its like drawing blood from a stone !!! Love u man !!

thomas worman - Thu, 11 Oct 2007

 

 

Oh ta, you're off my Christmas card list then! ;o)

Alex Harries - Fri, 12 Oct 2007

 

 

"traumatic workload associated with the fun of Freshers' Fayre" 
 
WHAT????

jacob - Fri, 12 Oct 2007

 

 

Oit! There's a helluva lot to organise! Cheeky fresher...

Alex Harries - Fri, 12 Oct 2007

 

 

Fresher? 
 
Don't you start that or I'll give you the same treatment as the cricket team

Jacob Leverett - Fri, 12 Oct 2007