Annual Report 2015 by sadesign

CONTENTS .... INTRODUCTION . . . 1 - 6 foreword • sabbatical photograph • year in numbers • our mission • redevelopment

VOICE . . . 7 – 18 students’ representative council • accommodation • community relations • education • advocacy, elections • wellbeing

ACTIVITIES . . . 19 - 26 student services council • association projects • charities • debates • saints lgbt • mermaids • postgraduate society • volunteering • societies

PLACES . . . 27 – 32 weeks • design • ents • music • radio • entertainments

ANY OTHER BUSINESS . . . 33 - 36 annual general meeting • honorary life memberships • postword yourunion.net union@st-andrews.ac.uk fb.com/standrewsunion twitter.com/StAndrewsUnion

Foreword Welcome to the 2014-15 Student’s Association Annual Report. Here you will find information about our achievements and challenges throughout the past year, as well as a look towards the future of the Association. Words such as ‘ambition’, ‘progress’, and ‘change’ are the perennial residents of these pages. Seldom were they invoked more frequently than at the start of our year as sabbatical officers. With the onset of the University’s 7th century came the Union Redevelopment Project. The 12 million pound endeavour stands to be one of the most fundamental shifts in our operations and capabilities in decades. And in light of this transformation, we have strived to dedicate the last twelve months towards goals befitting the ‘new era’ of the Students’ Association. The first of these objectives can be seen simply in the picture that adorns this letter. The partnership between the Athletic Union and the Students’ Association is the strongest in recent memory. Long an afterthought as the 5th sabbatical, AU President Sarah Thompson has proved an integral member of the SA team. Among many achievements, this has enabled a tectonic shift in our efforts toward alumni engagement, culminating in the first ever student-led Alumni Festival this past April and the establishment of an Alumni Relations Subcommittee. We have also made further strides in our engagement with the postgraduate community. A core objective of the 2014-17 strategic plan, the Students’ Association Board has recently agreed to appoint a postgraduate trustee. It is our hope this move will not only ensure that we continue to serve the full breadth of the interests and needs within the student body, but also offer valuable insight in our long term planning and governance. Student representation continues to soar with our largest class representative cohort to date and more student members than ever sitting on the St Andrews Community Council. Furthermore we continue to lead with the highest election turnout across the UK. However, much like the aforementioned buzzwords, much of the Association remains the same. At the heart of our efforts remains a dedicated and passionate volunteer base. To this end, we have launched a new volunteer strategy to help manage, protect and grow this vital resource. And of course, none of this would be possible without the tremendous efforts of our permanent staff, close partnership with the university, and support of the local community. We look forward to the year ahead and wish the incoming sabbaticals the best of luck in all of their endeavours. May they continue to exhaust the ideas of ambition, progress, and change for all St Andreans.

sabb team

YEAR BY THE NUMBERS

Our Mission The University of St Andrew Students’ Association is student-led and student-run. We are dedicated to supporting the St Andrews student experience, while fostering a positive and inclusive community among students of the University. Better known as ‘Your Union’, we carry out three main roles:

YOUR VOICE YOUR ACTIVITIES

YOUR PLACES

Representing students to the University and wider community. Supporting student development through our wide range of subcommittees and societies. Running and supporting a wide range of events and facilities for students.

The University of St Andrews Students’ Association is an independent, registered charity SC019883. As a charity, we are governed by a group of thirteen trustees with a student majority. We would like to thank each trustee for their time, commitment, and dedication in supporting the aims of the Students’ Association this year:

Chris Marks Fiona Bell Jacqueline Cassidy Zara Evans Andy Goor Anna Kennedy-O’Brian Ondrej Hajda Patrick Mathewson Professor Lorna Milne Fay Morrice Leon O’Rourke David Scott Joseph Tantillo

Chair of Board Lay Member Lay Member SRC Senior Officer University Director of Finance SSC Senior Officer Director of Representation Association President Vice Principal (Proctor) Director of Student Development & Activities Director of Events & Services Lay Member Association Chair

redevelopment Redevelopment of the Students’ Association began in July 2013 as a working build over five phases, so that the building could continue to operate while the redevelopment took place. These five phases were later condensed into 4 phases with operations still able to function and completion of the build, projected to occur sooner than in the original plans. Phase 1 covers the front of the building – containing the new café, shop, and Blackwells and was completed in early March of 2014 and proved to be a huge improvement both in the aesthetics of the building and also with the café offering a social, study and performance space for students and locals alike.

Phase 2 looked at the Main Bar, with new kitchen facilities and Sandy’s Bar. This phase was completed early June with the Main Bar being used over the summer and during Graduation Week. Over the course of the year we have seen the student population really take to the new bar spaces with the Main Bar in use regularly including DJs on multiple nights of the weeks and regular student society functions. Sandy’s Bar has also enjoyed similar success with nights such as Karaoke on Friday and the beverages on offer proving popular among students.

Phase 3 saw the completion of the top two floors of the Students’ Association building and was completed and in operation by November 2014. Staff and sabbatical officers were able to move back into the building, into the offices on the second floor, decanting over from the portakabins within which they’d been operating over the course of the construction. As part of the top floor’s completion, student society spaces, rehearsal rooms, the SRC/SSC offices, a student kitchen, meeting rooms and the Beacon Bar - a cocktail bar - were made available to students. These have once again been well received by students with the Beacon Bar proving to be very popular.

Phase 4 will be due for completion at the end of July having started in early December and will encompass the transformation of Venue 1 into two new spaces and the landscaping around the outside of the building. One space will be a performance space with new stage and retractable seating for 130 people. The other space will be a purpose built nightclub space with a smaller capacity, which will fit better with our regular events. A removable wall between them will allow us to continue to hold the major events throughout the year. The landscaping around the outside of the building will be to make the garden more accessible and appealing, with direct access from the Main Bar.

VOICE

INTRODUCTION With nearly 400 elected representatives across our Students’ Representative Council (SRC), School Presidents, Class Representatives, and Senior Students, we have a great and passionate team that ensures the student voice is heard at the University and beyond. More importantly, students are increasingly engaging in our representation activities. The Students’ Association Elections 2015 were our healthiest elections in the history of the Students’ Association, with more candidates running and more votes cast than ever before. We have changed the way the SRC functions this year and gave more power to subcommittees to represent our students, lead campaigns, and organise events. Amongst many others, members of the SRC produced an International Students’ Welcome Guide (Fàilte), raised awareness about our Zero Tolerance Policy, organized our very first Enterprise Week, celebrated the Black History Month, encouraged bike safety, lobbied for better accommodation and study space, supported student wellbeing through student-led groups like Nightline and Student Minds, and took part in the Green Week 2015. Our Class Representatives were elected at the beginning of Semester 1 in the most successful Class Rep Elections in the history of the Students’ Association in which we nearly doubled the number of votes from last year. We built on last year’s successful training for School Presidents and Class Representatives ensuring that over 90% of our academic representatives are trained by the Students’ Association and know where to ask for help. To support our proactive system of student representation, we created a new Education & Representation Coordinator staff role. In Semester 2, we recruited Ilaria Gidoro to this position and she will support the Director of Representation and other SRC members in their roles, and serve as the first point of contact for student academic representatives at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. I am incredibly proud of all we have achieved this year but our work is not finished. I hope that the Students’ Association becomes even better at representing the University of St Andrews students under Joe’s leadership! Ondrej Hajda DIRECTOR OF REPRESENTATION

SRC The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is the legally recognised voice of students at the University of St Andrews since 1889. Over the past year, the 28 members of the SRC met regularly every fortnight to discuss issues important to students. 2014-15 was a year of change for the SRC: we changed our membership by adding a new role and eliminating others, we changed the standing orders, and gave more power and responsibilities to SRC subcommittees. In line with our strategic aims, we created a new position of Association Alumni Officer to head our Alumni Committee and take a joint responsibility for organizing the Alumni Festival. We also discussed and acted on several motions brought to the SRC by petition from students. In Semester 1, our Association Chair – Joe Tantillo – led the That’s Union campaign to give students an opportunity to find out more about how the Union works and how to get involved. At the beginning of Semester 2, we launched a Petition to Protect Scottish Education after the publication of the Counter Terrorism and Security Bill and the Scottish Government’s Prevent Guidance.

Association Council 2014-15

We would like to thank the members of this year’s SRC for their hard work and dedication to student representation:

Association President Director of Events & Services Director of Representation Director of Student Development & Activities Athletic Union President Association Chair Arts/Divinity Faculty President Science/Medicine Faculty President Postgraduate Convenor Accommodation Officer Community Relations Officer Education Officer Employability Officer Environment & Ethics Officer Equal Opportunities Officer External Campaigns Officer LGBT Officer Wellbeing Officer Member for First Years Member for Gender Equality Member for International Students Member for Mature Students Member for Private Accommodation Member for Racial Equality Member for Students with Disabilities Member for University Accommodation Member for Widening Access and Participation Principal Ambassador Rector’s Assessor

Pat Mathewson Leon O’Rourke Ondrej Hajda Fay Morrice Sarah Thompson Joe Tantillo Charlotte Potter Katy Rae Tania Strützel Sarah Gimont Zara Evans Darya Smirnova Lydia Bowden Madeline Belt Roddy McGlynn Walt Andrews Fallon Sheffield David Norris Jo Boon Annie Newman Omar Ali Mel Turner Verity Baynton Sium Ghberu Alasdair Maclennan Alexandre Ciric Nicola Kennedy Bryony Shepherd Annie Newman

Accommodation The last year has seen enormous strides in our efforts to improve the student accommodation experience. In July 2014, we launched the Private Accommodation Viewing Service (PAVS) which enabled students to secure private accommodation remotely with the help of a dedicated volunteer team. This was particularly effective in easing the burden on incoming international students and addressing a postgraduate accommodation shortage. In the interest of both widening access and accommodation we successfully secured a ÂŁ450,000 pound increase in accommodation bursaries over the next two years. Furthermore, we advocated for the launch of the University Bus Service, more commonly known as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;night bus,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; now a fixture in student life and enabling students to live in distant halls of residence or private accommodation with ease. Finally, we have continued to advocate for a robust building plan from the University in order to ease supply side pressures on the local housing market, and entered into extensive dialogue with incoming private halls to ensure they work to meet the pastoral needs of our student community.

Community Relations We have continued to work in partnership with the local community to further enhance town gown relations. Together with the local residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; association we launched the Student-Resident Compact, encouraging good practice and warm relations amongst neighbours. We responded proactively to concerns from the Community Council regarding bike safety by subsidising and distributing several hundred bike lights amongst student cyclists alongside a campaign aimed at promoting cycle safety. Furthermore, we now have the most students in recent memory sitting on the Community Council, ensuring an active and productive dialogue continues to the benefit of all St Andreans. And finally, we have been successful in encouraging the use of our commercial spaces by the local community, particularly through the new Rectorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CafĂŠ.

EDUCATION We worked on a number of issues affecting learning and teaching across the University. Our big focus this year was on the quality and quantity of study spaces across St Andrews. We successfully lobbied the University to extend the Main Library opening hours to 8am-2am each day of the week during term time and to add power sockets to the majority of desks in the Main Library. We encouraged the University Library to give taught postgraduate students access to the Martyrs Kirk Postgraduate Research Library on weekends and after 5pm on weekdays. Together with Library staff, we have been strong advocates to the University for further redevelopment of the Main Library to increase the provision of study spaces by 300+ seats. Our Faculty Presidents drove forward a project on early information to ensure that students have access to module handbooks and reading lists at the point of pre-advising. Together with Student Services, we continue to advocate for accessible learning at the University and allow students to audio record lectures and get access to lecture outlines at least 24 hours in advance. Over the past year, we ran focus groups with students in each School and as a result we changed the University policy on feedback to ensure all students receive feedback on their coursework. Winners of the Students’ Association Teaching Awards 2015:

Dissertation/Project Supervisor (Arts/Divinity) Dissertation/Project Supervisor (Science/Medicine) Postgraduate Research Thesis Supervisor: Excellence in Teaching – Sub-Honours (Arts/Divinity) Excellence in Teaching – Sub-Honours (Science/Medicine) Excellence in Teaching – Honours (Arts/Divinity) Excellence in Teaching – Honours (Science/Medicine) Excellence in Teaching – Postgraduate Teaching Excellence by a Postgraduate Tutor Commitment by a Support Staff Member Innovating in Teaching

Jasmine Gani Akira O’Connor Peter Mackay Ian Smith Paula Miles Faye Donnelly Jane Wishart Sandra Romenska Matthew Pauley Stuart Allison Peter Cameron

Academic Representatives Our 330+ Class Representatives are at the core of academic representation at the University of St Andrews For the first time, and thanks to the efforts of Tania Strützel, our Postgraduate Convenor, we standardized the system of Postgraduate Representatives and established the Postgraduate Executive Forums, which bring together Postgraduate Reps from all Schools to discuss issues faced by postgraduate taught and research students alike. We built on last year’s success of the Proctor’s Award to recognize amazing commitment by students in enhancing learning and teaching at the University of St Andrews. This year’s winner was Martin Eide for his exceptional commitment as a Class Rep in both International Relations and Modern Languages. Congratulations! We would like to thank our amazing team of 21 School Presidents who made all these successes possible. Art History Biology Chemistry Classics Computer Science Divinity Earth & Environmental Sciences Economics & Finance English Film Studies & Music Geography & Sustainable Development History International Relations Management Mathematics & Statistics Medicine Modern Languages Philosophy Physics & Astronomy Psychology & Neuroscience Social Anthropology

Hannah Chinn Louise Cameron Rhiann Ferguson Maxwell Fabiszewski Alexey Sazonov Alex Taylor Katy Relph Oliver Harrison Hannah Smith Marcin Kupiecki George King Jack Carr Ainikki Riikonen Yeung Cheung Kelly Johnston Dawnn Khoo Janine Gallagher Eleanor Mullin Louise McCaul Mary Kempnich Danielle Polemeni-Hegarty

ELECTIONS 2014 Rectorial Election Every 3 years, students at the University of St Andrews elect a Rector who is the president of the University Court and traditionally acts as a staunch student advocate. Catherine Stihler, MEP, was elected unopposed in November 2014 and was officially installed on 20 February 2015. Since her election, Catherine has been an active member of the St Andrews community together with her Assessor, Annie Newman, and the Rector’s Committee. She spoke up on accommodation issues, established the Rector Inspirer Series, and successfully fundraised for the Rector’s Fund that provides financial support for student internships. 2015 Students’ Association Elections Our 2015 Students’ Association Elections were the most active student elections in our history with: • valid nominations received for each of the 63 elected positions • the most students being encouraged by their peers to stand for election via our nudge portal • the most candidates standing for election (138) • the highest number of unique votes cast (4,654) With a turnout of 48.96%, we have held the title of the highest turnout in any student elections in the United Kingdom for four years running.

Number of candidates over the past four years:

48.96% turnout in 2015 Students’ Association Elections

2012

107

2013

116

2014

138

2015

Advocacy Centre Accommodation Advocacy We recognize that accommodation is an issue for many students in St Andrews. Our Accommodation Advocate, Naomi Edwards, is employed to help students with individual cases by providing non-directive support and advice and by attending meetings with them when necessary. She also supports student representatives with accommodation remit. Any student can get help from Naomi on a wide range of accommodation issues in her drop in sessions or via email. Naomi is also responsible for producing how to rent guides, advice on landlords and letting agents, advice on saving money and lots more. She helps to run hall talks in Semester 1 about renting in the private market in St Andrews. Education Advocacy Iain Cupples is our full-time Education Advocate who provides free and confidential advice to students whenever they have a problem in the University. He can help students with academic appeals, academic alerts, and academic misconduct cases, and also in making complaints, in non-academic discipline cases, and in a range of other problems too. Over the summer, we produced an online student guide to academic appeals to give students an easy-to-access guidance for making an academic appeal. Our advocacy continues to be regularly used by students and over the past year, we saw a significant increase in the number of appointments and answered queries by both our Accommodation and Education Advocates.

Wellbeing In the second year of the Wellbeing Committee, we again brought together the Students’ Association, Nightline, Student Minds, Athletic Union, and Student Services to support student wellbeing in St Andrews. We worked closely with the Athletic Union to have our efforts recognized as a part of the Healthy Body Healthy Mind scheme. We revived the Sexual Health Awareness & Guidance Week in Semester 1 with a number of successful events to encourage a discussion about sexual health and safe sex in St Andrews. We cooperated with Student Services and lobbied the NHS Sexual Health Fife to increase the provision and accessibility of the student-only Sexual Health Clinic in Eden Court. We worked closely together with Nightline, Student Services, and CAPOD to create an online exam support hub with plenty of advice and resources on hand to help students stay calm and effective. We helped St Andrews Nightline to put together and distribute over 1,000 revision and exam packs. In Semester 1, we ran a campaign to encourage a safe and fun Raisin Weekend and protect the amazing tradition for years to come. At the end of Semester 2, we helped to ensure everyone was safe at another St Andrews tradition – the May Dip. As a part of our healthy living working group, we successfully lobbied the University to provide an option of alcohol-free accommodation. During the year, we revived the John Honey Award – the most prestigious award given out by the Students’ Association – in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to student welfare. We want to congratulate to Upile Mtitimila who received the John Honey Award this academic year for his tireless commitment to St Andrews Nightline.

ACTIVITIES

INTRODUCTION This has been another really excellent year for our blossoming student activities. Our subcommittees, societies and association projects continue to be endlessly ambitious and generous with each undertaking. I am continually astounded by the achievements of our students, who are always dreaming up bigger and better events, and carrying them out to the highest standards, alongside their studies. The Freshers’ and Re-freshers’ Fayres were a challenge with the limited space available, but we still managed to get huge numbers of students through the doors and our societies were able to bump up their membership numbers. We’ve really appreciated the patience with which all of the societies have dealt with the redevelopment process, and glad they’ve stuck around to reap the benefits of our fully redeveloped spaces. With the opening of the society space on the second and third floors, it has been incredibly exciting to watch the Union become a hub of activity once more, and when the reigns are handed over in time for the new academic year, the Students’ Association will be back to full strength once more, and will be a place to watch. We could not do any of this without the support of our permanent staff, our Board members, our key contacts in the University, or, most importantly, our student volunteers. I can’t thank them all enough. I hope that everyone who is involved in the Students’ Association appreciates the enormous amount of value that they add to the student experience, and continue to support it. We are absolutely delighted that the Byre Theatre has reopened under the care of the University and we have already had two sell-out shows go up in the main auditorium. The first semester saw the student production of Wilde’s classic, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, which opened to excellent audiences and was well received by all, and at the beginning of the second semester, Larry Kramer’s powerful show, ‘The Normal Heart’, was performed with great success. The Byre also acted as the hub for the On the Rocks Festival, which was a wonderful collaboration and can hopefully be continued in future years. Students are clearly thriving with the return of this professional space, and embracing the opportunities that such a theatre offers. I cannot wait to see what is achieved in the coming years, with the building in full swing. In the words of The Terminator, ‘I’ll be back’. Fay Morrice Director of Student Development & Activities

SSC This year’s Student Services Council (SSC) members have been incredibly busy heading up our incredible student activities, and we thank them all for their amazing energy and commitment. As a charity that relies so heavily on its volunteers, we are excited to be introducing our Volunteer Recognition Scheme at the start of the next academic year, to log how much quality time our volunteers give to the Students’ Association throughout their time in St Andrews.

This year’s Student Services Council were:

Association President Director of Events and Services Director of Representation Director of Student Development & Activities Association Chair Association Community Relations Officer Association Environment and Ethics Officer Association LGBT Officer Broadcasting Officer (STAR) Charities Officer (Charities Campaign) External Funding Officer Debates Officer (UDS) Design Team Convenor Ents Convenor Member without Portfolio Music Officer (Music is Love) Performing Arts Officer (Mermaids) Postgraduate Officer (Postgraduate Society) Societies Officer Volunteering Officer (SVS)

Pat Matthewson Leon O’Rourke Ondrej Hajda Fay Morrice Joe Tantillo Zara Evans Madeline Belt Fallon Sheffield Sean McDonald Kyle Blain Michael Thadani Charlotte Andrew Nathalie Mitchell Lavin Tian Anna Kennedy-O’Brien Anna Merryfield Ben Anderson David van Brussel Courtney Lewis Nicole Timpone

ASSOCIATION PROJECTS These projects continue to be a key and worthwhile addition to the term-time calendar, and we have enjoyed supporting, and working with, them. On the Rocks This year’s fabulous student-run arts festival, On the Rocks saw more going on than ever before with a packed out programme of events for both students and the community, including a line-up of art, fashion, theatre, photography, music and film. On the Rocks started raising its profile in the first semester, with the return of the Zombie Apocalypse at Cambo Estate, and built up a huge fan base throughout the year, till the festival proper went off with a bang in April. The community events team has thrived this year, contributing many innovative ideas to the festival, and bringing town and gown closer together. On the Rocks continues to have strong bonds with their patrons, including Helen Mirren and Crispin BonhamCarter. The Students’ Association would like to thank the entire committee for all their hard work.

Scott Lang Dinner The Scott Lang Dinner was introduced in 2012 as a revival of the Common Dinners, which were held by Peter Redford Scott Lang, the man who fundraised for the first Union building in the 1880s. The original purpose of the dinners was to enable students to have a “decent and varied diet,” but ended up meaning much more than that to some. This year saw another sell-out Scott Lang dinner, organised by Mark Tomlinson, the Dinner Chair, and his team. The mystery guest, Francesco da Mosto, and his wife joined a packed out Lower College Hall for a three-course dinner, after a drinks reception and introduction from Principal Richardson in Upper College Hall.

SUBCOMMITTEES Every member of the Students’ Association (all students) is automatically a member of our subcommittees, and for good reason, as they offer some incredible activities, which improve year on year. Charities Campaign The University of St Andrews Charities Campaign continues to thrive and support a variety of local, national and international charities in collaboration with numerous charitable societies. In 2013 - 2014, the Campaign raised over £100,000 for charity, which added to the £1million already raised for charity over the last twenty years. This past year, the student body nominated Families First, Macmillan Cancer Support and Médecins Sans Frontières as the primary beneficiaries of the Campaign’s fundraising efforts. Fundraising events over the year consisted of a jumble sale, cloakrooms, bake sales and much more. The majority of funds were raised through the annual Race2 charity hitchhike in January and Raising and Giving (RAG) Week in February. Both were a huge successes. Over two hundred students raced as part of Race2 Madrid while raising over £50,000 for charity. RAG Week was split between semester one and two with a variety of new events to fit the new spaces and included the community-focused Fife Food Fayre hosted by The Fine Food and Dining Society. The Charities Campaign will close its fundraising year with their annual Big Top Ball on Lower College Hall lawn, preceded by the Charities Campaign alumni dinner.

Debates The Union Debating Society, the oldest (and some might say the finest) debating society in the UK,  has continued to succeed on the national and international competitive debating stage, alongside hosting weekly public debates. Public debates in 2014/15 featured many notable guest speakers alongside student speakers from the society. Public debates remain free to all students to encourage lively debate on critical issues – restriction of artistic expression, fashion shows, fair trade, and the European union, to name just a few. This year UDS hosted The John Smith Memorial Mace, a prestigious two-day event with chief adjudicators that included the Scottish Mace champion, and international Mace champion, Ben Adams (St Andrews alumnus, MA 2013), and included the pre-prepared motion “This House, as India, would cease its practice of violating pharmaceutical patents”. We are incredibly pleased to say that our very own Alex Don and Ruairidh Macintosh won the Scottish Mace. Saints LGBT Saints LGBT had an incredibly successful year with an increasing number of LGBT+ students and allies involved in their activities and events. We saw a revival of the popular Queer Question Time hosted in conjunction with the Union Debating Society. In February, Saints LGBT hosted the very first Queer Fest with the famous dRAG Walk (which alone raised £1,300 for the Terrance Higgins Trust), a talk by the human rights activist Panti Bliss, and an amazing Mermaids production of the ‘Normal Heart’ in the Byre Theatre. A highlight of the year was the sell-out Glitterball. Saints LGBT also launched two big welfare projects this year: • The anonymous welfare support email (saintslgbtwelfare@st-andrews.ac.uk) which provides anonymous, and non-directive listening and guidance. • The Open Door initiative in the School of International Relations directed at supporting LGBT+ people.

SUBCOMMITTEES Mermaids at the Fringe Our performing arts groups continue to succeed, both in ‘the Bubble’ and beyond - most notably at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In August of 2014 we saw a range of talent sent down to the largest arts festival in world, with a strong focus on new student writing. Recent alumnus Susie Coreth took her play ‘Giulietta’ which was inspired by her family history and based on the true story behind Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. ‘Newton’s Cauldron’, a play by Tim Foley (recent alumnus), was directed by the current Mermaid’s President and received excellent reviews, and we are thrilled to hear that the playwright has his new work, ‘The Dogs of War’, going up in the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in June. ‘Wolf Whistle’, new writing by current student, Joanna Alpern, transferred from a five-star run in St Andrews to the Fringe, where it also received high praise. Once again, our improvised comedy group Blind Mirth performed with great success, and they shall be returning this summer. This August we are also sending two student-written shows; ‘The Patriots’ by Alexander Gillespie, and ‘Bear Hug’ by Rory Mackenzie, as well as the Gilbert and Sullivan favourite, ‘Pirates of Penzance’. We wish them all well, and recommend getting a ticket to any/all of the productions if you find yourself in Edinburgh during August. Postgraduate Society Our Postgraduate Society was very active over the past year and organized two balls, numerous socials, film screenings, bus trips, and sell-out dinners for the postgraduate community at the University of St Andrews. The Postgraduate Society Committee also enhanced the collaboration with other SSC subcommittees and societies. The highlights of the year were Freshers’ Week social, Postgraduate Gala Dinner, December Graduation Ball, bus trip to Edinburgh Christmas Market, and the St Leonard’s Dinner. One of our strategic aims is to promote engagement with taught and research postgraduates and we are delighted that more and more postgraduate students are getting involved in the Students’ Association. St Andrews Voluntary Service This year saw the inaugural Give Back Week put on by SVS with lots of one-off events aimed at raising awareness of the great volunteering effort that is made by our subcommittee. Events over the week ranged from bake sales to craft sessions at Madras College, and even included a ‘Bums Off Seats’ walk for members of the local community. 25

SOCIETIES With over 150 affiliated societies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a number that is hard to accurately track, as we are constantly adding new ones â&#x20AC;&#x201C; almost every student will be involved in a society at some point in their studies. Our societies work incredibly hard throughout the year to put on amazing events and increase their membership, so we were pleased to be able to reward their efforts at the Societies Awards, the results of which follow. Best Society Investment Society - winner STAAG - runner up Best Contribution to Student Wellbeing Student Minds - winner Catholic Society - runner up Most Innovative Society Medsin - winner Yogisoc - runner up Town and Gown Award Gilbert and Sullivan Society - winner Teddy Bear Hospital - runner up Best Event Bute Medical Society - winner STACS - runner up Best New Society Karaoke Society - winner STASH - runner up Most Charitable Society UNICEF - winner Coppafeel! - runner up Best On-Going Activity Breakaway - winner Pool and Cue Soc - runner up 26

PLACES

INTRODUCTION This year we welcomed the redevelopment of our Main Bar and saw our new spaces Sandy’s Bar and Beacon Bar open to the students who took to them really well. While we have seen some real advancement in what we were able to offer, the year was not without its trials as an increasingly outdated Venue 1 was taken into construction at the end of Semester 1. Comparatively over the course of Semester 1, not including Freshers’ Week, Venue 1 suffered as a space when students were offered the choice of the Main Bar or Sandy’s Bar. As a result of this, we found ourselves opening the Venue to student groups and sports teams who tried to utilise the space with good results overall. Having said this we can look on this year as having been incredibly successful – due to the most commercially successful Freshers’ Week ever, increased footfall in all our bar spaces compared to the previous two years, and consistently well received bar entertainments. With all the changes we’ve seen the Students’ Association grow into the hub of the student community. Rector’s Café has gone from strength to strength with it being utilised as a social and study space. The café was also used weekly for small music events provided by The Coffee House Sessions which will hopefully continue to prove successful. Throughout the year we’ve seen our bars become not just the final stop on a night out but a place that students are regularly using not only for its bars at night but also as a study space, meeting location, and society hub. Our aim over the past couple of years was to develop the brand of our bars and spaces to go along with the redevelopment of our Students’ Association as a whole. Increasing our presence on social media with Facebook campaigns for Freshers’ Week, Rector’s Café, and an event specific page helped to get the word out to students. Introducing weekly photographers on our Fridays and Saturdays as well as larger events meant students could then tag themselves. This small inclusion raised the profile of our nights and has resulted in some events, such as Karaoke, now growing to such an extent as to warrant moving to a larger capacity space. As said by my predecessor, redevelopment is at the core of both our problems and opportunities. For the most part, this year has seen those opportunities work out extremely well and given the students a truly impressive union to be a part of. There will always be problems present but as our enigmatic building supervisor always reminds me: “Snaggings, they’re just snaggings that can be fixed”. Leon O’Rourke Director of Events & Services

WEEKS Freshers’ Week This year we had a fantastically varied Freshers’ line-up of high quality acts and big nights. Our biggest nights included one of Britain’s top comedians Jon Richardson of “8 out of 10 cats”, chart topping Indy rock band Scouting For Girls and Edinburgh Fringe favourite Hot Dub Time Machine. On top of these stellar acts we also included nights that we ran ourselves such as the ever popular Clan Warfare, Welcome to the Bubble and our revamped Friday night. For those wanting to enjoy slightly calmer events we had the Big Scottish Ceilidh and A Cappella concerts to round the week off. • Most commercially successful Freshers’ Week of all time • Tied for most number of events of any Freshers’ Week (10) • Profit on tickets alone of over £33,000 Our Golden Ticket passes sold out in record time of 11 hours and 24 minutes, vastly surpassing all previous years. For the first time, we also sold out all events of Freshers’ Week in our main venue with top reviews for all events proving the students felt they got a lot for their money. We also had a range of events in Sandy’s Bar, including student comedy, open mic night and introducing our new weekly events such as karaoke and pub quiz. The week would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of a highly determined and motivated Ents Crew who worked tirelessly throughout the week and received high praise on their professionalism from some of our big acts. The support we received from Student Services and their army of blue shirted Freshers’ volunteers and duty managers cannot go without thanks either as they helped to make the week a real success. Refreshers’ Week and RAG Week This year we had to circumnavigate the problem of having no Venue 1 for our Refreshers’ and RAG week line-ups. As a result of this, both the Charities Campaign and our own entertainments team had to come up with creative solutions in order to provide the best experience for our students. For Refreshers’, in order to combat the lack of Venue 1, we introduced more events into Sandy’s Bar, DJs in our Main Bar and tried the introduction of live bands into our Main Bar. Overall the week was received well and the students seemed happy with what we provided. RAG Week also had the issue of no Venue 1 to deal with so they came up with the solution of hosting their largest events in first semester in order to utilise Venue 1. We noticed that this move did not have the desired effect compared to previous years but will doubtlessly have provided a strong charitable donation nonetheless.

SUBCOMMITTEES Design Team A small team with disproportionate talent, Design Team have kept up with the ever increasing demand for publicity from our affiliated societies. Expanding with both new software and hardware, Design Team also trialled a PR Team for the second year to try and organise creative marketing for union events. Design Team have also helped with various projects that were undertaken by the SRC and SSC with poster and design help. Ents Crew Every single event in the Union, including Freshers’ Week, Refreshers’ Week, RAG Week and all our bar entertainments, are run by our student volunteer tech crew. This includes all society events, as well as those run by the DoES, meaning it spans from club and DJ nights, to student comedy and stage shows. Ranging from special effects to routine maintenance, the crew put together a fantastic Freshers’ and have been resilient during the redevelopment. We can quite honestly say that without the hard work of the Ents Crew, none of what we achieved during Freshers’ Week, or subsequently any of the student run events, could have happened. Music is Love Music is Love have had a packed year, with events across as wide a range as the previous year and some new projects too. The enjoyed success once again with Messenger Sound System – a reggae outfit who built on the success of last year’s Mungo’s Hi-Fi. They have formed a key part of the St Andrews entertainment lineup with open mic nights, regular performances at student events, music cafes as part of On The Rocks and gigs in the botanical gardens. STAR (St Andrews Radio) This year was a tough one for St Andrews Radio. As part of the redevelopment, the radio station was displaced from its place in the Students’ Association and moved to the Gateway building for first semester. Even with this set back, STAR was still able to broadcast seven days a week and keep a strong broadcasting roster in place with over 90 shows. They also continued to drum up support for their station by hosting a multitude of events and broadcasting or podcasting from various student events, ensuring they had a constant presence in the student minds. STAR have big plans for going forward in their expansion with a live music evening set up for the future in Rector’s Café, more input into their news outlet though radio and over their website, as well as expansion of their website and Hearing Aid. 30

ENTERTAINMENTS The Entertainment line-up was as varied as ever, and while the loss of Venue 1 effected our capacity and limited us somewhat as to what was feasible, we were still able to offer consistent entertainment throughout both Semester 1 and Semester 2. Having said this we did however note a downward trend in attendance to Venue 1’s standard events through Semester 1, resulting in an external promoter having to back out of their investment in the venue. In answer to the loss of Venue 1, and sometimes while it was still in operation, our main focus became offering the best entertainment possible in our bars. This encompassed DJ nights three to four nights a week, karaoke on Fridays, pub quizzes on Sundays and for Semester 1, an open mic night on Mondays. These bar ents were supplemented by regular student user group events in both Sandy’s Bar and the Main Bar. Mermaids, On The Rocks, and shows that had previously used Venue 1, such as comedy show Bubble Bath, found a new home in Sandy’s which proved just as popular. Our biggest nights were once again those which were worked in tandem with the Athletic Union. Sinners proved once again its popularity and the inclusion of a one-off booking of The Vengaboys gave people another reason to reminisce and dance. Our sports clubs, especially those with which we have sponsor agreements also utilised the space well with each having their own fundraising night in Venue 1 raising significantly more than had previously been raised with other sponsor organisations. The introduction of more live music was an important one this year in order to show the capabilities of the new building and to give our Ents Crew more and more interesting nights to work on. The hosting of live bands in the Main Bar proved very successful with great variety; from solo artists, to 4 and 5 piece cover bands, to a 7 piece folk and traditional music group, we saw it all this year. Further to these bands in our Main Bar, Sandy’s hosted regular open mic nights and jamming sessions for some of our student music groups as well as a number of one-off gigs that while proving the limitations of the space, were all together very successful. Finally on the note of live music, we re-introduced the Coffee House Sessions in association with Coalition Talent into Rector’s Café. Its success has driven us to continue work with the sessions but to also start our own in association with STAR, offering student musicians more opportunities to perform. This year has felt like a massive improvement on the last few in terms of bringing people into the building. The improvement is no doubt due to the fantastic new environment we now offer since the main phases of the redevelopment. Yet in addition to this we have been able to offer more and more variety, consistent strongly supported weekly bar entertainment and a host of student run events which have proved once again the initiative of our student populous. 31

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Each officer of the Students’ Representative Council and the Student Service Council, including all five sabbatical officers, submit a written report for publication before the Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Association. This year, the AGM was held on 22 February in the Beacon Bar and you can read the reports on the Students’ Association website.

WWW.YOURUNION.NET/AGM2015

HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS Each year, the Students’ Association awards a limited number of Honorary Life Memberships to graduating students (and other exceptional individuals) who made outstanding contributions to enhancing the St Andrews student experience. This year’s recipients are:

Adam Pope Ainikki Riikonen Alex Don Alex Taylor Amanda Hollinger Anna Kennedy-O’Brien Anna Merryfield Becca Cairns Ben Anderson Bryony Shepherd Calum Hawley Catherine Haslam Catrina Randall Catriona Furlong Charlotte Branfield Charlotte Potter Chris Lusk Christopher (CJ) Davies Courtney Kaye Daisy Osborne Danielle Polemeni-Hegarty David Norris David van Brussel Elizabeth Stone Ellie Tonks Elliot Davies

Emily Dick Emily Hallinan Emily Rogers Emma Robertson Emma Taylor Emmy Wassenius Erica Deffebach Eve Holden Fallon Sheffield Fiona Lewis Frazer Hadfield Gareth Munro George King Hanna Rennie Hannah Chinn Hannah Deans Hannah Meikle Janine Gallagher Jenny Stewart Jocelyn Cox Jonas Kollmann Joseph Tantillo Josh Gumbley Kaitlyn Vasconcellos Kate Thackery Katherine Skeels

Katy Rae Kay Kiladze Kyle Blain Lizzie Harrocks Lottie Barker Louise Cameron Marcin Kupiecki Martin Eide Mary Kempnich Matthew Knapp Maxwell Fabiszewski Min Chong Nathalie Mitchell Neil Christy Oliver Harrison Oliver Nott Ruairidh Macintosh Ruth Crawford Sam Peach Sara Cronin Shelley Talbot Stuart Charters Stewart Davidson Taylor Carey Upile Mtitimila Zieshan Karim

POSTWORD With the conclusion of the Union Redevelopment Project, it would be easy to suggest that our period of transition is coming to an end. However, many challenges still lay ahead that will demand a Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Association that is dynamic, responsive, and innovative as ever before. A growing student population over the coming years will increase pressures on nearly every aspect of our organisation. From the effectiveness of our representative structures, to the level of resource available to our student activities, to the efficient delivery of our commercial services, we will be tested in more ways than one. And furthermore, we will be working in partnership with our mother institution to continue to deliver the best student experience while operating in an increasingly competitive sector. However, there is another vision of these hurdles ahead. We can strive to ensure that our new building lives up to its full potential. We can work hard to ensure that our efforts towards representation and democracy give every student a voice in the place they have come to call home. We can endeavour to offer the widest array of actives and opportunities that offer countless avenues for learning and discovery outside of the classroom. We can seek to set the standard for service and entertainment both in St Andrews and beyond. It is this perspective that we have learned from our outgoing sabbaticals, our dedicated staff, and our tireless volunteers. We are indebted to their service, and will ensure that this ideal of embracing challenges remains at the heart of the Association for years to come.

Sabb Team 2015/16

sabb team

2015/16