Think you know the Union?

If so, you'll know that not only do we have over 100 Clubs and Societies, but we also have an award winning volunteering team; an Ethics, Equality and Diversity Committee making sure that your Union is relevant to the diverse range of students that we have here; a Campaign Coalition, fighting for your student rights; a team of students taking part in RAG, raising loads of money for some great charities; training programmes so that you have the opportunity to build your CVs; a number of Executive Committees, run by students, for students, holding regular meetings so that you have your opportunity to have a say in how the Union is run; and much much more.

This is the REAL Union.  It is not a bar, it is not a nightclub, and it is not owned by the University.  It is owned by YOU, the Students.  Students are the Union.  Without students, there would be no Union.

Since coming to Study at Portsmouth, I've been involved in all the aspects of the Union mentioned above, and more.  Last year, I received an award for my voluntary work in the Union, and this year, I have continued to make sure that the Union stays relevant to the students body.  I hope to continue my efforts by becoming your Student Support Officer, who facilitates Raising and Giving, helps students to run campaigns that they are passionate about, and increases the diversity of the Union by making sure there is something there for everyone, including YOU.

Next week, from Wednesday to Friday, you have a choice to make - there are 6 Sabbatical Officers who make all of this possible, and you will need to choose a team for next that you believe is worthy of your money.  Almost £100,000 of your money will be used to pay their salaries, so make a wise choice.  On top of this, they will decide how the rest of the money that the Union receives from you will be used.  Make sure you are informed about these candidates, so that you elect a team that will ensure you get the most out of the Union while you are here.

Two of the positions are uncontested, but the other four have a total of 12 candidates running.  Four of these candidates have been working hard to make sure that your voice is listened to, and between them, have been heavily involved in all aspects of the Union.  If you elect them, they will give you the Union that you deserve. 

They are: Myself - Sarah Blatchford, running for Student Support Officer; Ben Norman, your current Student Activities and Development Officer (SADO), running for President; Jenny Leggott, running for SADO; and Steve Topazio, running for Education and Representation Officer.

We only ask that you judge us by our achievements, and our obvious dedication to making the Union a better place for you.  A better Union is possible, so make an informed choice and vote for us all next week.

So I was up pretty early yesterday - and in the Union by 9am, setting up for Refreshers'!  Once I'd got my society's stall set up, it was a question of getting the Union's publicity boards assembled with Elle.  And boy, are they a nightmare!  I've been told that they cost a rather large amount of money, a sum that you could quite easily go out and buy a reasonable car with, and so on the basis of that, you'd think that they'd go together quite well!  But no, I was wrong - I'd put up the smaller ones before, with relative ease, but the large one that you'd have seen at the right of the stage is one that I won't be volunteering to help put up again in a hurry!!

Anywho, after some re-jigging of tables and a few extension leads later, I went off to my seminar to go and learn about 'Management Futures'.  And I was very happy to learn that my seminar tutor is our lecturer for the unit, and she's extremely knowledgeable on the subject, which always helps!  After that hour, it was a jog (okay, I didn't jog, it was a walk) back to the Union and saw our fantastic new Wall Art Society (of the University of Portsmouth - WASUP) having a few problems with finding something that they could show off their talent with.  So I went and dropped my bag off up in Lux and went out to the yard to raid the bins (ooh the things I have do for this Union!); the society seemed to be pretty happy with my liberation, so I went back upstairs to join the rest of the societies.

Steph and Simon on the 101 Things Stall had been busy making plenty of balloon models, and in the short hour I'd been gone, lux was packed, with said balloon models being found all over the club!  One of my first stops was at the Islamic Society's stall, where I was plied with toffee eclairs (yum) and told about all the things that have been organised for Islamic Awareness Week, including talks by converts to the faith, the purpose of life, and the history and science of Islam.  It looks to be a packed week for them all, and I hope that some of you can find some time to go and have a listen - details of all the events happening can be found on isop.co.uk

Just a few stalls down, Devinder Singh, of the Sikh society was finishing setting up their projecter and next to him, Nick of the Student Respect Society was inviting all students along to a Stop the War Demonstration, which, if you want to take part in, will be taking place tomorrow (Friday 15th Feb), starting out the front of Eldon Building at midday - bring banners and placards!

Opposite all that business, Harri at the Feminist Society was promoting a discussion that will be held in the Union next Monday (18th February) at 4pm: Is sexy always sexist?  As with all these events, all are welcome, so get yourself along there and discover for yourself what the answer to this question is!  Harri is also our Womens' Officer on the Ethics, Equality and Diversity Committee and is part of the International Women's Day Committee, who have organised a rally on Saturday 8th March in Guildhall Square at 1.30pm, with speakers talking about Equal Pay and Abortion Rights, amongst others.

Round the corner from them, we had the Gaming Society, who are organising a 96 player gaming day and further up the stalls, Sean Baker at our all new Politics Society was giving away free cake and taking new sign-ups for "A relaxed, informal umbrella society that promotes free thinking political discussion amongst the student body and the wider University community".  Check out their group on facebook.

And then back round to the other side, where the Campaign Coalition were starting to build the wall of debt - a collage of photos of individual students and how much debt they are in due to the rising top-up fees of Universities.  And next to the Campaign Coalition were the Socialist Students, who championed the recent lobbying of John Denham...

Okay, well not really, but I've made it onto TV twice this week - how's about that eh?!

My debut was on Wednesday, on ITV's Meridian News, where I was interviewed on Tuesday night before the Sleep-out in Ravelin Park.  This was to raise awareness for the homeless sleeping rough in Portsmouth, and raising money for the charity Central Point, who provide advice and support for them.   We've probably all seen them around, but take differing views on their presence: some will say a quick hello, or good morning (I think these may be few and far between), while others choose to pass them by and ignore their very being.  It was really interesting to talk to those that had been homeless and had managed to get themselves off the street - for many this meant overcoming a drug addiction; one of the guys admitted that his income for his habit came from selling the Big Issue:  I reflected on all the times that I'd bought a copy and wandered whether I had inadvertently been feeding someones addiction?  I've since decided that I'm not going to let this stop me buying it, as it's a bloody good read!

A number of years ago, I befriended a homeless couple, who once invited me spend the night with with them in their mocked-up tipi in Shalford Park in Guildford.  It was really interesting to see how they'd adapted to living there, and I had a good nights sleep on a bed fashioned out of a couple of wooden pallettes found nearby and plenty of blankets given to them by their local homeless shelter - but this was in the middle of summer; they said it was certainly a bit different and not nearly so cosy in winter.  And I discovered this myself on Tuesday: With the rain lashing down and the wind ripping the tarpaulin in the middle of the night, I managed to get about 2 hours sleep:  Something I don't want to be doing again in a hurry.  But we're the lucky ones:  We have a choice.  So next time you're walking along and see a homeless person ahead of you; at least give them the courtesy of acknowledging they're there.

My second TV appearance came today, on BBC South Today, which, although I knew was being filmed, I didn't expect to be seeing only a couple of hours later while sitting in the very packed Union between the afternoons Rugby games.  This time, was only a minor screen appearance in the crowd of students from Portsmouth, Southampton and Oxford gathered in Bitterne to lobby John Denham on top-up fees, while Elle Gray and Alex Kimber shone in their interviews.  Alex had the opportunity to speak directly to Denham, who evaded our student's questions on the subject of fees.  During the demonstration, Ben Norman was in his element, with his hard-hitting speech on the state of today's education, as was Adam Sunman with the rallying cry of 'Don't Spend the money on Occupation, Spend it on Education!'.  As Denham walked off much to our disappointment, we continued our protest, then gathered for a meeting, chaired by Toby, a Socialist Student from Oxford University.  We really hope now that Denham will take on board what we presented as a real argument against rising fees - but believe us: This isn't the last he's heard from us!!!

Thanks goes out to all those that signed the petitions for free education - well done for letting Mr Denham know what he can do with his top-up fees!! (by the way; the answer's GET RID OF THEM!)

I've been a bit lame these first few weeks back at Uni, the Campaign Coalition, Societies Takeover and most importantly, my Uni work (!) have been taking centre-stage!

Things are going well for the Campaign Coalition; the petitions for free-education are getting out and about around the campus, and hopefully you've all signed it?  Well I know not all of you have, or we'd have almost 20,000 signatures!! And we're quite a few off that at the moment.  So if you haven't already signed it, pop into the Sabbatical Office (out the back of Via Lattea) next time you're near the Union and someone will shove one in front of your nose!  We're also off to see Mr John Denham in just under 2 weeks time, and we'll be shoving all those petitions under HIS nose!  Here's wishing we could have 20,000 of them to shower him with!!

Societies Takeover is going great-guns, with loads of societies now taking part...  I was invited along to the opening of the Film and Photo Society exhibition at Cafe P on Friday, and hopefully we might be able to get some of their pictures printed up to show on the night.  As well as that, we've got the School of Rock performing for us; Big Band taking up probably the whole of Lux!!; Juggle Pompey entertaining us around the Union; loads of DJs from Unsigned Talent, the Drum and Bass society, and possibly MIG; an acoustic cafe open in Via Lattea; some of the political societies taking part in debates in the function rooms.  All that and a Dance off with Street Salsa, Breakdance Society and Latino Dance Cocktail!!!!  It's certainly going to be an event not to be missed!!  Tickets will be on sale soon for just £3!!

Well I'm sure that there's lots more stuff I could ramble on about, but I didn't want to bore you all, and besides, I should probably get an early night before I have to meet with my tutor tomorrow morning!!  eek. 

Okay, I'm not talking fraud or anything like that.  I'm talking about that little part of it that we like to call 'getting involved'!

Last year I decided to explore what else the SU has to offer me other than a place to drink Snakebite, and boy was I surprised!  We have around 100 clubs and societies here, which I think a lot of people are aware of (if you've seen a freshers fayre).  But there's so much more going on than that.  Just go into the Sabbaticals office (next to the Union, behind Via Lattea) and you'll see a hive of activity with people chatting about campaigning, volunteering, free training courses (which those less fortunate non-students have to pay a lot of money for), fun activities to raise money for charity (yes, we're talking RAG here guys), academic course issues, journalism and general student banter (to name just a few!!!!).

I was overwhelmed by it all, especially to realise that all of these things came about because it's the students that make these things happen.  I was inspired, to say the least.  So what did I do?  I got in on anything and everything that took my fancy to enhance my 'student experience'.  That's why I'm here, isn't it?  It's not just about getting a bit of paper that says 'yes, Sarah can write five thousand words on the subject of native English badgers' (which I might be able to do, except that I'm on a business degree).

A few months down the line and I'm at it again, trying to get students to realise what their Union has to offer.  And lo, what is this?  An offer to meet students from other Universities and find out how I'm going to get more people excited about the Union?  Hell yeah!  So they sent me off in my little car with Ben Norman to Worthing for the NUS' Activists Academy (which sounded a little scary by the title - I don't want to be an activist, I just want students to enjoy themselves and have as much fun as me).  It was an eye opener.  I'm not entirely sure what I expected, but 2 days later, I have come back from meeting a load of great students and Sabbs from across the south of England, who are just like me - they want to show others what University is REALLY all about.

I've rambled on for a while already, so I won't go on about everything I learnt except this... you people reading this are obviously already taking an interest in your Union on some scale (or else why have you clicked on my blog), so get out and talk to your friends and your course mates, and find out what they like and dislike about their University and their Union.  Get them to understand that if there's something they don't like, they CAN do something about it: if the issue is widely felt by others then why don't we CHANGE it?!