Quickly - what have I been doing?!

I apologise for the lack of blogging!
Firstly, I seem to have spent a lot of time lately in meetings. I don't like this very much - I find it hard to sit still at the best of times and I also feel that endless meetings make me lose touch with what students want and what I am here for!

A brief update though:

Elections - it's RA election time! Myself, Oggy (VPHC) and Emma (LGBTQO) doorknocked Pritchatts Park to advertise the elections. We have received approx 122 nominations and the results will be announced on Saturday night. I was also a candidate in the NUS delegate elections.

Environment - As well as ongoing work on the Sound Impact workbook (which has to be submitted at the end of term) I have been asked to attend various meetings regarding environmental issues over at the university. If you want to know more please email h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk

Guild Council Review - I will write more about this in a seperate post, but it is all very exciting! I have mainly been busy with 121s with Officers

Visits - I went to Leeds and Sheffield to look at their unions, as they have very good reputations nationally. Leeds has amazing commercial services which we looked at for our building redevelopment, particularly how they do their clothing store. At Leeds, I was particularly impressed with how the had stickers to promote the "its easy" campaign - which is essentially a campaign to get people more involved in student groups. Every time someone buys something from one of their shops, they will see this sticker! Sheffield had a very good "social learning space" which is basically a space that combines the ability to study and socialise.

NUS - I went on the Activists Academy which was in Coventry, and this was centred about creating a campaigning culture in the Guild. I was really inspired by it but I know that it will be difficult to make all the changes I would like in the space of time I have left! I also went to NUS extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton.

Thats all for now - I'm also running around trying to sort out elections and such!

As usual I want questions etc - email h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk

Hannah

PMSA elections

The PMSA (the Postgraduate and Mature Students' Association), which have been inactive for the last year, are holding elections tomorrow (December 2nd) to get a new committee and hopefully create a more active community of postgraduate and mature students!

The election takes place at 1pm (and should last no longer than an hour) and will be held in the Postgraduate Space, which is underneath Spar in the Guild.

There are four positions available, which are listed below:
Chair: The Chair is responsible for the overall running and direction of the association
Vice Chair: Supports the chair in the day to day running of the society
Secretary: The secretary communicates with members and publicises events and the society as a whole
Treasurer: The treasurer is responsible for managing the Association’s bank accounts and the financial well-being of the society.

Once these have been elected it will be up to them and the association to create new positions. Candidates will be asked to talk briefly on why they want to stand and why they would be good at it.

In the past the PMSA has been a social network - organising weekly drinks in staff house, trips out and any other activities that are wanted!

For more information please email me on h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk