Photo Diary - Spring Fling

On the 23rd of March we had our inaugural Spring Fling in Ma Bells. After what was a pretty concerning round of ticket sales I was more than a little worried about the event, and so we spent a couple of days selling tickets outside the Union and the Library. Anyway, as the photos show the event was a great success, and I had a fabulous time.

Thanks to all those who helped out on the ticket front, and to the Alleycats and Brass Monkey for two stonking sets!

The Stall

We played catch (the venue was supposed to be Bar Catch) and one landed perfectly!

What a night! Thanks to Dee for organising the event, and for taking all the great photos on the night!

Photo Diary - Rectorial Drag, Torchlight Procession, Installation and Closing Party

Last week Alistair 'The Beard' Moffat was installed as the 51st Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews in two days of events. As part of his campaign team I was also on the Installation Committee, and so was very busy in the week leading up to the big days!

We ready Flora, my pony, for the drag in the Principal's garden. From left to right- Rollo (DoES), Dave {DoSDA), Patrick (Pres), Kate (Rector's Assessor) and Sam (DoRep)

Me leading in Flora and Kate

Patrick leading in Alistair on Ewan (Achnacarry Highland Ponies)

Alistair addresses the assembled students

Alistair is dragged around town in a carriage with Rory the lion

We meet the SVS penguin at the Library

Meeting Mermaids at the Barron Theatre

Kate, Sam and I

 

A drag is always a good excuse to gown up

Alistair at the torchlight procession

Torchlight procession

Members of the SRC post-installation

Ben, me, Charlotte, Charlotte's friend and Olivia at the closing party

Welcoming the new Lord Rector to the closing party

With Olivia and the lovely Chloe

Hmmm...

That's all folks!

Succession

Apologies for the deluge of posts, the past few weeks have been so busy there's quite a lot of updates to catch up on!

Unless you were living in a cave, conscientiously objecting or on fieldwork over the past month, you'll have realised that the Students Association elections were held. I was a bit stifled with my involvement this year, mainly because I had a number of friends who were running against each other. Alas, my time was also limited through trying to find time to stimulate a level of interest in the PG student body about the PG President elections!

With the introduction of a scholarship for the incoming PG President, this year saw more candidates than ever run for the post. The idea of the scholarship was to take away the financial barriers that might prevent a worthy candidate from applying for the (now fairly substantial) role, and we were pleased to see this reflected in the number of candidates- 6!

Throughout the week we arranged interviews with all the candidates and conducted a specific PG hecklings at Deans Court- giving the candidates plenty of opportunities to get their message and enthusiasm through to the student body. You can read all the interviews on our webpage.

We were all really impressed with the calibre of the candidates, we had a variety of experience levels from across the university- and each of them would have made a fine president in their own right.

The eventual winner was Dani Berrow, a first year PhD student from Modern Languages. I have found experience with the workings of St Andrews to be a very important quality that enhances my ability to navigate university systems, so I was delighted to find out that Dani also studied at St Andrews for her undergraduate degree. She has also worked for a number of years in the private sector, so I'm sure the inevitable politics of the Students Association will be par for the course for her!

Dani will take over as PG President in June/July.

Spring Fling

This past week saw us throwing our big event of candlemas semester- Spring Fling! After more than a little unintentional miscommunication with the original venue (Bar Catch) we ended up throwing the event in Ma Bells on the 23rd of March.

Despite the slightly panic-stricken few minutes when I wasn't sure whether we were going to be able to find an alternative venue or not, the run up to the event was great, with us selling tickets online and outside the library/union.

The event itself went better than any of us had imagined, with a great turnout and some absolutely fabulous entertainment from the Hummingbirds, Brass Monkey and a great DJ from Dundee. Here are some pics of the night:

So all in all a great night- Thanks to Dee (Social Events) for organising the event and for taking some great pics on the night!

Scottish Deer Centre

On the 17th of December I had the great job of accompanying a group of PGs and their families to the Scottish Deer Centre at Rankeillour Park, just outside Cupar.

You surely remember the 17th, it was pretty much the coldest Saturday of December- so everyone did very well with the wrapping up of fingers and toes and thankfully we had no cases of frostbite!

The pictures from the day out are below, and I can really recommend the place if you have kids, they do excellent tours, theirs quite a lot to get around (different animals and activities) and there's plenty of indoor play space for poor weather!

We're really keen to hold more child friendly events for PGs as the weather improves into spring- so please get in touch if you have any ideas for things your kids (or just you) would love to do!

And, finally, how cute is this fawn (possible future St Leonards College mascot...?)