QMSU Newsletter - December 2011

QMSU Newsletter Find out what we’re doing for you

Volume: 2 December 2011

QMSU and the Olympic Games - Get Involved The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are just around the corner and QMSU are busy planning lots of London 2012 themed activities for you to get involved in next term.

QMSU has been awarded a Bronze Be A Champion award from NUS for our work in engaging students in activities inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games to date. Our aim is to get Gold and we need your help and involvement to make this happen!

To find out what we have done so far, make sure you visit www.qmsu.org.

Future Union plans include a London 2012 week with a whole host of events including lots of sporting challenges and ways for you to embrace the excitement of the Olympics here on campus. Keep an eye on your emails for updates on what’s going on and how you can get involved, by organising your own events and volunteering on the day to help make these activities happen.

• Volunteering as interviewers at London 2012 volunteer selection events for the Games Maker Programme.

• Registering your interest in getting involved in the 2012 Olympic Ceremonies – a very exciting opportunity so sign up now!

• Sign up as a London 2012 Local Leader and organise events for your friends and family to be part of the celebrations in summer 2012.

• Telling QMSU you have applied/been interviewed/ offered a place to volunteer as a London 2012 Games Maker or London Ambassador and receiving up to £35 of Amazon vouchers, just by letting us know!

• Attending a QMSU focus group

with other students to help us

direct our London 2012 activity.

We want your thoughts, views and ideas on what you want to see happen at Queen Mary next year.

More details on all of the above opportunities are detailed on www.qmsu.org/provide2012 so take a look to get involved!

Other ways you can get involved now include:

QMSU Gets Festive - Mary Christmas!

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ho’s looking forward to Christmas, the first snowy day of winter, or maybe just some time off University to relax inside in the warmth? To help keep everyone cheery in these last few weeks before the winter break we’ve arrange for lots of winter treats.

MSU is getting into the Christmas spirit with free mince pies at Drapers Bar, as well as special food and drink available. Christmas treats on offer include Winter Cider, Homemade soup, Turkey and Stuffing Wraps, Brie wedges and cranberry dip and Chocolate Yule log.

The Learning Cafe and Ground

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will also have winter offers of White chocolate hot chocolate, Mint chocolate frappes, Toasted marshmallow hot chocolate, Gingerbread lattes and Christmas sandwiches. Both cafes will also have delicious mince pies on sale! ur events team is also going all out at Drapers to turn the venue into a winter wonderland, all in time for our Snow Party on 9th December. he days may be getting shorter and shorter, but here at QMSU we’re determined to combat those winter blues with festive merriment!

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The Blomeley Centre has decked the halls so stop by to see the tree and our festive Mary!

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Volunteer Fair & CADS (Community Action Days)

The fair featured fifty charities, five hundred students and a ferret! full list of charities on Provide’s Facebook page. If you like the look of any, email jay. downs@qmsu.org to get involved.

Loads of students have gotten involved and volunteered on one of our Community Action Days (CADs) this semester. To volunteer for a couple of hours, search for CAD on the Provide website and get involved! We have loads of Christmassy CADs coming up, including a penguin dash and carol singing amongst

others. We have more CADs available than ever before, so check the website regularly and sign up!

Last month’s volunteer fair was a fantastic event with over fifty charities and five hundred students. If you couldn’t make it to the volunteer fair, check out the

Emmet McCalliona 3rd year Business Management student and member of TEAM Provide wrote the following on his experience of volunteering: “The skills that employers look for can be gained through volunteering. Whether it is building on your team working skills through cleaning out the Regent’s Canal with a group of other volunteers,

or improving your time management by working volunteering around your learning schedule, volunteering is a great way to prepare you for the world of work. AND it looks great on CVs and applications.

If you do anything this year, show that you can use your initiative and undertake some form of voluntary work. Provide is the best hub for you to begin exploring different volunteering opportunities in London.”

Check out the website at www. providevolunteering.org and sign up today. Also visit us on facebook at: www.facebook.com/ providevolunteering

Your Opportunity To Take the Lead...

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ueen Mary Students’ Union is run by students for students, and your opportunity to be the next Union leader is just around the corner. As of this semester the positions that will be running the Union for the next academic year were changed by a General Meeting and Student Council to ensure a more representative Union. The new Sabbatical Trustee positions include the President, the Vice President Education, the Vice President Welfare and the Vice President Barts and The London. These four full time paid positions will make up the Executive Committee. Other major changes include a new Student Council which has a more academic and welfare focus to ensure the Union is concentrating on the

real issues you are dealing with on a day to day basis. Student Council is made up of 36 Part Time Officers, with 18 from the Mile End Campus and 18 from the Whitechapel Campus.

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aking an active role in the Union, whether as a Sabbatical Trustee or Part Time Officer, is a great way for you to make a dif-

ference for your fellow students as well as gain skills and develop whilst studying here at Queen Mary.

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he nominations for the Sabbatical Trustees, Part Time Officers, Student Trustees and NUS Delegates will open after Christmas and close in February.

The voting period will take place

before the February reading week. More information about the election, the positions and how you can get involved will be released soon at: www.qmsu.org/elections.

If you have any questions in the meantime contact: philip.gilks@qmsu.org.

2011 Elections

Do you want to be the next Students’ Union President?

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Participants in the first Get Active Cricket Tournament

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et Active held its first Indoor Cricket Tournament on Saturday the 5th of November at Qmotion. Three teams – The Incredibles, The Vela Boys

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ere at Club Sport, we’re not just about the dull aspects of running a Sports Club, such as finance, constitutions and development plans; we’ve also taken the opportunity in a new era of Sport and Fitness at QMSU to look at two of the more tangible elements of playing sport: Team Photography and coordinated kit across all sports clubs. e are working with Take That Photography to provide us with team and club photos - fun shots as well as the formal ones! We will be consulting with clubs as to the best time to have the photos, and they are likely to happen in February. ithin the last week we have also met with Kukri Sports, who supply playing,

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and Pakistan - competed in a triangular format playing an exciting, fast paced adaption of Cricket designed for sports halls. Teams consist of 6

training and social sports kits.

We plan to work with them to design and provide a coordinated range of kit across Club Sport at QMSU and BLSA, Get Active and Qmotion. Kukri Sports have a history of working with universities and can provide high quality playing kit across a wide range of sports.

As well as this, they can design matching training and social kit – and kit for supporters too! n the meantime, we are looking to roll out a limited range of Club Sport apparel, which you will be able to buy directly from Kukri. The aim is to make this available before Christmas, and we will be meeting with representatives from all our clubs about this very soon.

players with every player bowling an over in each innings. There was some really high quality play from all three teams but in the end ‘The Incredibles’ came out as tournament winners. Overall the event was a huge success, well done to all the teams that competed! hese Indoor Cricket Tournaments will be running regularly every other Saturday throughout the year as part of the Get Active programme.

All tournaments will run from

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2-7pm at Qmotion and teams need to enter in advance. If you are interested in playing but don’t have a team, don’t worry you can book an individual place and we will find a team for you. The entry cost is just £5 per player. Upcoming tournaments are on the 3rd December. For more details and entry forms go to www. qmsu.org/getactive and look in the leagues section, or email get.active@qmsu.org.

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Kukri (kit), the future for Club Sport at QM and BL?

New Sport & Society Advisory Boards The recent introduction of two advisory boards gives students interested in developing Societies and Club Sport the opportunity to get inside the workings of these two programmes and effect the decision making of the activities’ officers.

These new boards open up a formal dialogue with more students, which gives students the opportunity to be better

informed and become empowered, and allows QMSU to become more member led.

Breaking down Club Sport and Societies into its interest areas helps develop the different kinds of activities students are engaged in, while opening up the student groups to collaboration within their group-type.

If you think you’d be a good advisor and are interested in

a position that is still vacant, send in a nomination to vpactivities@qmsu.org.

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Members of the advisory boards can be seen above.

Student Council Update - Whats your problem?

At the November 23rd meeting, Student Council voted overwhelmingly to express no-confidence in David Willets, the Government’s Minster for Universities and Science.

Members of Student Council, the Union’s Part-time Officers and Student Representatives, also supported a position against the government’s ‘chaotic and unsustainable’ universities policy which has included 80% cuts to the University teaching grant and a tripling of University fees. The Union will now go on to lobby members of Queen Mary’s Senate, one of the governing bodies of the

College, to do the same.

Over a dozen students attended the meeting that agreed to call for the National Union of Students (NUS) to organise a National Demonstration against increases to University fees and cuts to Higher Education and to campaign against prospective redundancies in the numbers of library staff.

Other motions that were discussed but did not pass were a motion to mandate members of Student Council to bring a guest, to affiliate to the campaigning groups Unite Against Fascism and the Education Activist Network, to support

You Said, We Did...

the suspended Queen Mary branch secretary of the Trade Union Unison and to establish reserved budget for new Union societies and sport clubs.

Any students can attend Student Council, submit an issue or motion to be discussed and take part in the debate. To find out more about submitting a motion, this semester’s meeting dates, agendas and minutes of meetings go to www.qmsu.org/studentcouncil.

The next Student Council meeting will be held on December 13th in the David Sizer Lecture Theatre, 6:30pm.

Student Council exists to change things for you. To find out more and get your issues discussed go to:

qmsu.org/studentcouncil

Whats On?

We value your opinions and are always looking for feedback whether its from comment cards, emails, focus groups, surveys or advisory boards. Here are some of the recent issues we picked up on: You Said: Mondays Calling should have a DJ to keep the music fresh and current.

We Did: We’ve scheduled guest DJs, starting with a DJ from XFM on Monday 28th November!

You Said: You want to see more joint events between QMSU and BLSA We Did: We organised a whole week of joint events at Drapers Bar from 5th-9th December You Said: You want Societies to be searchable by areas of interest and types of activities.

We Did: We grouped Societies under the following types: religious, political, cultural, performance, academic, campaigning, special interest and support.

You Said: Student Council should be focused on representing my views and opinions.

We Did: Proposals have been passed to make all positions on Student Council representative, rather than administrative, from next year’s elections.

r a e h o t e v o l d We’ om you! fr ck a b d e fe / g r o . su m q . w .org u s ww m q @ k c a feedb

Week 1 Friday 2nd Dec – FND Where’s Wally @ Drapers

Week 2 - QMSU & BLSA present: Monday 5th Dec – Pounded Meets Mondays Calling @ Drapers Tuesday 6th Dec – The Big Quiz & Rock ‘n’ Roll Bingo @ Drapers Wednesday 7th Dec – Play On meets BLu Cheese – The Sportswear Party @ Drapers Friday 9th Dec – Matron Meets FND – The Snow Party! @ Drapers

Week 3 Monday 12th Dec – Mondays Calling Live @ Drapers Tuesday 13th Dec – The Big Quiz & Rock n Roll Bingo @ Drapers Wednesday 14th Dec – Hail Mary @ Drapers; BLu Cheese @ New Globe Friday 16th Dec – End of Term Party For more info on events join our Facebook groups: Queen Mary, QMUL, QMSU Freshers 2011 - 2012 Barts and the London / Barts / BLSA BL Events and Info BBPIN: 215C5ADE Entertainment Info Line: 07944 746 432

If you’ve been snapped at one of our events check out some of our pics on our facebook group.

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org