Editorial

Dear Readers,

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

It is a great honour to pen an address to you in this, the most joyous of mediums, publication in the Black Bag! In a year where you’ve had plenty of emails, messages and video briefings about the ‘unprecedented times,’ I’m glad to be part of the light-hearted fun of the Black Bag. It is itself an example of precedented times; long-standing Bristol Medical School humour that won’t be interrupted by the pandemic and will continue to provide hard-worked medical students a break between clerkings, LT1.4 lectures or nights in Lounge (even if it those breaks now exist between accuRx consultations, blackboard collaborate lectures and Zoom quizzes – remember drinking on Zoom doesn’t count as drinking alone). I can only hope that this presidential address will be significantly more enjoyable for you than hearing a dishevelled Boris Johnson announce yet another lockdown.

In some ways it is a slightly unusual time for this – we are now in the twilight stage of our term as a committee, a term that’s delivered mixed emotions. We’ve had a great deal of responsibility for ours and the Medical School’s COVID response but have all been tinged with sadness seeing ambitious plans going unrealised as a result of the pandemic. However, I have this year been inspired by many previous presidential addresses in the Black Bag and have used them to understand the history of Galenicals and the committees that have led it in the past. Therefore, I use this address to celebrate the seventeen excellent individuals I have had the pleasure of working with on committee this year. Each of you, through your commitment and hard work, in spite of many disappointments, has ensured that our society truly weathered the pandemic storm. Should this address ever fall upon the eyes of future committees (I surely can’t be the only one who gets lost in a rabbit hole of Black Bag reading...) then I urge you to remember your predecessors and those who have gone before in Galenicals. Past committees will be here to support and advise you – heed Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice – “learn from the mistakes of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Perhaps my longing for this committee to be a part of the history of Galenicals is because this year marked the 85th anniversary of the founding of Galenicals. It’s quite remarkable to think of the many world events and the changes that have happened during the existence of our society. In 1935, when Galenicals was formed, penicillin was recently discovered and those who were in our shoes back then wouldn’t have been able to prescribe it. Our celebrations of this anniversary were subdued with another national lockdown, and plans of cake in the Academies and a formal dinner had to go – yet more to celebrate when we finally can after the end of the pandemic.

When starting our term, the committee agreed on seven priorities: improving the profile of Galenicals; delivering exciting, diverse events and campaigns; improving the transparency of our student voice work and representation; strengthening relations with both Bristol Medical School and Bristol SU; continuing our commitment to welfare and equality, diversity and inclusivity; and ensuring we are sustainable. I believe that as we approach the end, we’re in a good place to deliver these priorities by handover. We have made Galenicals more visible and useful to the members, are in a very healthy financial position and are more transparent with minutes and the Constitution online. We’ve worked well with the Medical School and SU this year and are currently analysing data for our EDI Analysis, working to become more