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

The Grad Ball!

Ok, ok, I know it seems like a long way off, but as with all good events, planning is already underway for the GradBall 2009. In previous years, the Grad Ball has been held at Coombe Abbey Park in Warwickshire, which is about 40 minutes drive away from the Guild. However, due to the fact that it takes a long time to get there, and the ticket costs are high, we are looking at moving the event back to Birmingham. Hopefully we will be able to hold this on campus to make it as local as possible, and to allow people to celebrate their time at Birmingham.

But the most important thing is what you think about it - if you have been before, what did you think of it being held at Coombe Abbey? Would you rather it be held there still, or somewhere else?

If you are going this year, or thinking of going, would you rather go out to Coombe Abbey, or would you rather go elsewhere? And what sort of price would you like to pay for it?

Please remember, this is very much in the planning stages at the moment and nothing is definate - but we want to hear your opinions!

Get your NUS Extra Card!

Do you have your NUS extra card? If not, then get to the Guild between now and December 1st to buy it - and if you are one of the first 50 people who buy it from the Guild then you will be entitled to a free goody bag!

The NUS extra card is provided in conjunction with the NUS (National Union of Students), is valid until August 2009 and costs just £10. Discounts are available at a wide range of places such as Superdrug, amazon.co.uk, La Senza and BB's muffins. It is important to remember that more and more places are asking for NUS extra cards as the university moves to the "one card" system. So in short, it is well worth getting one!

Whilst £10 seems like a lot of money, £4 of this goes back to the Guild which means that there will be more money for the services you use - meaning that we can become a bigger and better union!

The stall in the Guild is by Spar, and is open until December 1st. Opening times are between 11am - 2pm. If you can't get to the Guild at this time then go to www.nus.org.uk.

Travel Survey!

The university are doing a travel survey of students - fill it out and get the chance to win an ipod! It doesn't take long and will help the university in setting up a sustainable travel plan.
The survey can be found here http://www.views.org.uk/bham/

Another update - what I have been doing..!

First off, I apologise for the lack of pictures on my blog. I am working on it, promise!

Lots has been going on since I last wrote....despite the fact I was meant to be on Jury Service all this week! Luckily they gave me Tuesday off for the NUS regional conference and then dismissed me on Wednesday lunchtime. I didn't even get to do a trial though, and it was really quite boring sitting and waiting around! Oh well...

1) Attended the first GC of the year. It was good to see debate and new faces, and well done to the new Independent Chairs for doing a good job in running the meeting.

2) Went on the Guild/HAS Away Day. HAS stands for Hospitality and Accommodation Services, who are responsible for a wide range of things here such as catering and halls of residence. It was an opportunity for us all to understand what one another do better and to look for opportunities to work together more closely on both existing and new projects.

3) I've been working on the Sound Impact Award with Pippa Calver, the EEO. This involves collecting lots of information about what we are doing to be environmentally sound so to speak, and is proving to be pretty interesting! Last year we got a Bronze Award and we are looking to achieve a silver this year.

4) Been working on a short term strategy for satellite sites with Chris Nash, SSO, and the Director of Membership.

5) Went to NUS Regional Conference in Leicester. This brings all the member unions of the NUS together in one place once every term, and has workshops and other sessions to get us all thinking about how to act on certain issues. We had a really useful session on Broke and Broken, which allowed us to think about proposals for the alternative funding model that the NUS wishes to submit. Aside from that it was nice to talk to other officers and students from the Midlands and East about what they do at their unions.

6) Attended the first Trustee Board meeting on Monday evening - exciting!

7) Went up to Queens Hosptial Close to help out with their RA election! A massive congratulations to the winners, but also to Ed Sparkes, Pippa Calver, Cath Taylor and James Ogden for putting so much work into this hall which ultimately resulted in a 50% turnout! It was like a real party and community event, and I am very proud of them. This means that QHC now has an RA to organise all the fun stuff that the other halls are getting...

8) Represented a student on an appeal.

9) Carried on work for the Guild Council Review..

...and all this whilst being on Jury Service (well, for two days at least!)

I will try and make my blogs more exciting in future with links and photos and such, but until then bear with me!

The US election event!

Hey guys,
This is on the website but I thought I would update you here too!
At the request of students, we are holding an event for the US election results on November 4th (and 5th!). It will be in Joes in the Guild and will start at midnight and go on until 7am. Tickets cost £5 and are available from Joes. This money goes to cover costs on the night - although we really wanted to do it for free, we couldn't find the money for it....
It should be a lot of fun and will provide an opportunity to watch what will probably be a historic night with lots of other like minded people.
Any questions? Ask away either here or via h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk