Hi All
This will be my last post on this blog…. If you’re interested, I’ve started a new one here (but it’s only useful if you really love Higher Education, or me. I’m fine with either)
Below is the transcript for my leaving speech delivered to UPSU and University Colleagues on my last day at the Union. It won’t be as good in your head as it was when I delivered it, but that’s life.
Enjoy, it’s been a pleasure.
James
___________________________________ Read the rest of this entry »
Things I said I’d do…and how I’ve done!
After two years, you’d expect me to have done some work, and you elected me two years running on a manifesto of promises…. here’s what I’ve done to deliver on these manifesto promises. (I’d also like to point out though that I’ve done a few other things too!)
The Knowledge: I wanted a more accessible paper, and more student leadership
What I did: In my first year in office we had a huge increase in writers, particularly from the Clubs and Societies, but ready for this year I created the position of Student Editor, a role which will no doubt develop over the years to push the paper forward!
Societies: I wanted more regular meetings with committees, and offer them more support
What I did: Throughout my term of office I have had an open door policy to societies’ committees, and have also offered open drop-in sessions for support. Furthermore myself and the VP Sports reformed the Societies Committee to make it more engaging and worthwhile. We have rewarded societies for their dedication and achievements through the new Societies & UPSU Awards
Feedback on Officers’ Work: I wanted more accessible information about what we the officers have been up to, and how we are working for you
What I did: Throughout the last two years we have tried a variety of different methods, but by now you should be able to reach officers through the sabbs office, Twitter, Facebook, upsu.com, mobiles, and by checking the sabbs noticeboard in the Union entrance area.
Re-start Cam:Cru: I wanted to get more students involved in the old photography society from several years ago – to get photos from nights out on to the website
What I did: I recruited students at Freshers’ Fairs, purchased a new camera and held a few meetings…however if I’m honest I haven’t been able to dedicate enough time to this project to make real progress – one for Abi next year!!
Extra Funding for Volunteering: Two years ago we were faced with a national cut in Higher Education Funding for Volunteering. I wanted to make sure our funding continued, and that we expanded our volunteering offer.
What I did: I can’t take all the glory in this, but I have supported the Volunteering department in all their work to seek extra funding. Last year this took the form of lobbying the University to ensure our funding continued (and we secured an uplift!). We also secured RELAYS funding and were able to employ two new staff. This year we also secured extra funding and were able to employ ANOTHER member of staff. I also helped write a bid to vinspired for our £10k grant supporting students with disabilities to get involved with Volunteering Projects.
Developing UPSU Media: I wanted to develop UPSU media, looking specifically at the idea of a student-led Radio station
What I did: This year has seen the most progress here. Over the summer I purchased a range of equipment and took over a room in the Union building. Since then I have worked on developing a podcast-based student radio station, working with the University and other Union radio stations to research best practice. I recruited a small team of volunteer students and together we have created some pilot podcasts (www.upsu.com/radio). This should be ready for full launch very quickly in the new academic year. (Another one for Abi!)
Informal Learning: I wanted more recognition from the University for students who have done work (and undertaken learning!) outside of their formal curriculum.
What I did: I supported University colleagues in pushing through proposals to support this, for this year the ‘Learning through Volunteering’ scheme, and ready for next year a wide-ranging award – the ‘Plymouth Award.’ This will be launched by the University in September for a trail year, and will be a great opportunity for students to gain extra recognition for extra-curricular activities.
I hope this pleases you…. but if you’d like to read about the other work I’ve been doing I can send you my annual reports (fun!) – just email me: vpactivities@upsu.com
As part of our ongoing work with the local Police, we were invited by Devon and Cornwall Police to join Sergeant Mike Giarchi-Faulkner for a night shift on Friday 30th October. The aim of the night was firstly for us to learn a bit about the work of the Police, and secondly to see first-hand some of the issues caused by the night-time economy on North Hill and Mutley, and in particular any issues surrounding University of Plymouth students. Key issues here are obviously the safety of our students, but also problems of noise or disorderly behaviour, particularly around residential areas.
So, on Friday 30th October at 8pm after a full day of work at UPSU, we found ourselves sat in a briefing for the Friday night shift – operation ‘Talon.’ After the briefing we were planning to go and see a local resident to follow up on a series of complaints made to Mike, but as soon as we reached North Hill we received a call to support some PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) and were plunged into our first “blue light” driving experience. Speeding down Alexandra Road at 75mph in a transit van was fairly exciting but we were certainly glad when it was over. After that, we did manage to talk to the local residents, who were very pleased to see us getting involved with the work of the Police. Likewise, it was good to hear some stories and ideas from people outside of our usual contacts.
During the course of the night we also visited the Shekinah Mission, just off Union Street, which on a Friday and Saturday night is a base for Paramedics to provide first aid and the Police to take statements quickly and easily as soon as an incident takes place, to enable people to get on with their night out if they were a witness. We also visited the CCTV control centre for the city, which covered everywhere from the Barbican to Efford. One thing that it did highlight was a lack of coverage of North Hill on the main Police network of cameras, which is a significant concern as far as student safety goes. The University liaises with the Police, and can share footage, but this can sometimes take time. Mike told us that the Police had put up half of the money, and have requested the second half from the University. We have pledged to lobby the University on your behalf for this, as we can see real value in the installation of a camera on North Hill – especially as there has been a rise in violent crime on North Hill recently.
Overall, it was quite a quiet night on North Hill and around Campus, which Mike and Jim put down to the horrible weather and the fact that Halloween was the following day! However, we did discuss a number of issues with regards to the high density of student residents in the area, particularly noise and student safety.
But what it boils down to is that students have to take a bit of responsibility for themselves – at the end of the day there is only so much that the Police and UPSU can do, both to protect students and to maintain healthy relationships with the non-student community.
UPSU volunteers, Sports Clubs and Societies do a lot of great work in the local community and for charity, but that is little consolation to an elderly resident of Winifred Baker Court Residential Home (it’s behind Cuba…) who is kept awake until 5am by irresponsibly drunk people.
It’s also about your safety. If you drink so much that you lose control of your body, how can you be sure you’ll get home safely?
Here’s a little video from the night:
I guess the take home messages that we would like to pass on from our experience that night are:
- Drink Responsibly! I know you hear it often enough, but ultimately you’re more safe if you are alert to what is going on around you…and actually, your friends probably aren’t big fans of carrying you home!
- Be aware of local residents – There are many people, both students and non students, who are asleep whilst you are out on the town. Please be aware of this, and keep the noise down when you are out walking between venues.
- Respect the Police – We saw first-hand how dedicated the Police are to keeping both students and non-students safe on busy Friday and Saturday nights. If you are asked to move on, or quieten down, please do so!
If you want to contact any of us…
Mike – michael.giarchi-faulkner@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk
Aleshia – president@upsu.com
James – vpactivites@upsu.com
www.drinkaware.co.uk
James
Hi Everyone!
Sorry for a lack of posts over the last couple of weeks – it’s been a manic time here!
Welcome Week has finished now though, which means I’ve finally got a chance to gather my thoughts, and catch up on things like emails and blogs!
So what’s been going on here since my last post?
Answer: Lots! And here are some highlights…
Sabbatical Teambuilding Training!
On the 7th and 8th September, the UPSU Sabbatical Team headed off into the unknown for a couple of days of teambuilding. We had a few tasks to complete, including sourcing accommodation and heading off canoeing. In the end, to save money for food we ended up camping after a brief visit to Boscastle. On the second day we paddled from Wadebridge to Rock, which was a lot of fun, if a bit cold! It was really good to get away and socialise with the new team before the madness of Welcome Week kicked off!
UPSU Angels
This was my fourth and final year of involvement with the Angels – and to be honest I’m pretty sad to see it finishing, as the Angels scheme was what got me involved with the Students’ Union in the first place!
Angels Training 2009
The training for the Angels took place on the 14th September, where I met the team of nearly 50 volunteers for the first time. I knew a few, but was really happy to see a lot of new faces, who were getting involved with the Union’s activities for the first time. I’m hoping that these people will stay in touch, and maybe even end up in my position in a few years!
Overall the scheme was once again a great success, with the Angels on hand during the day for advice, tours of the campus, and generally being a friendly face! In the evenings, we had a good time meeting new students, and making sure they knew where’s best to go for a night out in Plymouth.
I want to thank all the Angels for their commitment and dedication to the cause over the last couple of weeks – it’s certainly helped to make people’s university experience start on a really positive note!
The Knowledge!
This term we decided to re-launch the Knowledge in a new, smaller size, with a bit of re-branding thrown in too! I hope you like it! This is part of a wider plan of changes to the Knowledge – next up is the election of a Student Editor for the paper – drop me a line if you want to know more!
Sports and Societies Fair
This event took place on the 27th September – the first time we have held the fair on just one day. The reasons behind this were mostly logistical, because it was a lot of work to set up and clear away 100 tables and associated mess twice in a week. It also saved us a bit of money that we can now invest further into individual clubs and societies!
Overall I think it was a great success. There was a bit of a worry that clubs and societies would find it difficult to recruit as many members as usual, but as yet there has been no indication that this was the case.
As always – any comments, please post below or drop me an email…
There’s been loads going on, too much to report on here… but maybe I’ll write another post soon looking back!
In the meantime I’ll be working on:
- Preparations for the Volunteering Induction Evening on the 14th October – Be there!
- Plans for the Radio Station – we have a studio now, all we need is some students and a plan! (email if you’re interested)
- Mature Students Society (held a meeting on the 22nd Sept, now need to take things forward)
- Sports and Societies Committee – lots of technicalities to work on here, and loads of new societies to approve
Thanks for reading – Now I’m off to the first meeting of the Volunteering Committee!
James
vpactivities@upsu.com
Hi
I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful British summer!
Here at UPSU we’re still working away, preparing for the new year and organising events and activities for the Induction Period.
We have welcomed Tom and Ed to the sabbatical officer team, and have been doing a lot of teambuilding and training with them so that we can be well prepared to continue representing students in the new academic year. Plans are coming on well for the year, though it’s clear how quickly the year fills up! (In post-it form anyway!)
Planning the year as a new team
Illusion is having a bit of a make-over, it’s got a new coat of paint and the long ramp has been removed – making the room more flexible for bands/events etc
Planning for Welcome week is going well, we have made plans for the Freshers’ Ball on the 29th September, and Chris and I have been hard at work putting the plans together for sports and societies fair on the 27th. From today it is exactly 1 month until the start of Arrivals week, when I will be running training for the Angels, who will be helping new students settle in to life at the University of Plymouth.
We also have an exciting new development in the form of UPSU’s very first venture into Student Radio. We still need a name for this – so if you have any ideas, please let me know (vpactivities@upsu.com). The idea is to start off this year with some podcasts, run by students for students as with all things UPSU – so get in touch if you think you have the gift of the gab/face for radio!
Look out for the first podcasts (probably all about welcome week!) coming soon!
That’s all from me for today
See you in September
James
Background
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, building engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. This trip, consisting of 100 young political and business leaders was part of an exchange programme of 400 British and 400 Chinese young people, supported by Prime Ministers of both countries.
The trip was funded in the most part by the British Council and the All China Youth Federation, but a contribution of £300 was paid by UPSU to support my visit. This report aims to identify the benefits that can be brought to the UPSU membership as a result of this trip.
Programme
My Group in Nanjing
The programme of events for the trip was fairly intensive, with an average day starting with meetings at 9:30am and finishing at 6pm. These were often followed my banquets or dinners where our hosts were available to ask more informal questions. The group of 100 was split into four groups visiting different organisations in Beijing, and different provinces – My destination: Jiangsu province (Nanjing and Yan Cheng). The trip aimed to give delegates a broad overview of Chinese political culture, from Central Government to individual families. To this end, I visited the Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a training centre for Communist Party elite, met student leaders, and attended several city-level and regional planning offices.
Benefits / Highlights
There were many meetings and visits that were of great interest to me personally; however there were also several highlights from the perspective of the Students’ Union. Meeting student leaders was of obvious relevance, where the topic of discussion was student leadership and youth engagement. This led to a great deal of interesting topics being raised, and there were both similarities and differences between ourselves and our Chinese counterparts. For example according to the Chinese students, one of the greatest issues being faced by young people in China is a lack of teaching resources, and great importance is placed on encouraging students to take part in voluntary work. However, we also discussed the issue of censorship within Chinese media, which led to some slightly defensive answers.
In Nanjing we each spent a day with a host family. I personally was partnered with a gentleman who worked for the YMCA in Nanjing, which meant a trip to Anglican church first thing. After this, we visited the YMCA centre, and talked about their work and the work of the Students’ Union. This was extremely rewarding, not only to see the results of some UK-based fundraising that I had previously been aware of (for the charity TOUCH), but also to see that their young volunteers undertake much of the same work as volunteers from UPSU. We therefore talked a great deal about the possibilities of a future exchange of volunteers (if we can find funding!) where our students could visit rural schools close to Nanjing to teach English. I can say with some certainty that we will stay in touch, and I will attempt to follow up on these discussions by looking into potential funding options.
The membership of the British delegation itself consisted of a huge range of people, from students to local Councillors. I have made several good contacts through the delegation with whom I will be staying in touch and building potential links. There may be advantages for student training, the radio station and keeping up with relevant policy.
Finally, I cannot deny that the trip was of great benefit to me personally – having to get used to adapting quickly to changing situations, learning about Chinese culture, and of course seeing some sights. However, through informal discussions with our hosts and with student leaders, I have some good ideas on how to better engage with our Chinese student membership.
If you want to know more about the trip – get in touch in the usual way (vpactivities@upsu.com) or leave a comment below!
James
Hi All!
Hopefully most students at the University of Plymouth will be aware that last weekend saw the very first On-Campus Summer Ball by UPSU. The culmination of many many meetings with the University, over a year of planning, and outstanding dedication from our staff, it was a resounding success!
In a dramatic change from previous UPSU Summer Balls, this one featured Dodgems, food stalls, an acoustic tent, outdoor seating and a midnight cinema!
Not to mention the usual big name acts such as Scott Mills, Nihal, The Automatic and The Holloways.
For me though, the best part of the event was the fact that it was on campus, and I think (despite some initial scepticism) most people would agree with me. It was great to see the campus transformed, with festival-style flags and lighting – plus the obvious fair ground rides and marquee. But it was also great to have a great night out in the sunshine in the same place where you have spent so much time studying and relaxing over the year – it felt much more… personal than in previous years.
The Union itself was transformed too, with SinSation sponsoring Sub:Lime and a couple of new staff appearing in The Snug…
My favourite part was the outside stage – featuring DJs such as BBC Radio 1′s Nihal and Scott Mills, the very legendary (he thinks!) Clint from SinSation and of course, the Headphone Disco. Every time I walked through the Outside Stage area, I couldn’t help smiling as I saw people enjoying themselves, and using the area as it was intended! Scott Mills went down very well…but the Headphone Disco was perhaps the most amusing to watch! Seeing people dancing in silence as the sun came up over Portland Square at 5am was certainly a…unique experience.
So, I hope everyone had a great time at the Ball – and will support us in putting it on on campus next year too!
- Let me know what you thought – comment below, or drop me an email on vpactivities@upsu.com
- See more photos at www.upsu.com/gallery
See you next time!
James
Hi all
Here is the article I wrote for the May issue of the Knowledge newspaper. You can read articles from the other officers, and the rest of the paper here
Hi All
Below is the brief report I will be submitting to Student Parliament on the 12th May. Enjoy!
James Redfearn – VP Activities and Communications
Monthly Parliament Report: March – May
________________________________________________________
Societies
A great deal of my time has been taken up recently by planning and hosting the UPSU and Societies Awards. These were held at the National Marine Aquarium and were a great success. The Deputy Lord Mayor, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students were all in attendance, giving great recognition to the huge amount of work done within Societies and other areas of UPSU.
Volunteering
This month I have focussed on Volunteering Accreditation in a big way. I have been to various meetings: eg Informal Learning Sub-Committee, met with Anita Jellings (Dean of Students) and with Stephen Gomez (Head of Work Based Learning) . I also attended the recent Work Based Learning Conference to listen to the keynote speech on this topic. We are hoping to enable students to gain academic credits outside of their formal curriculum soon. Good times.
Communications
We are still doing a fair amount of work on the new build of the UPSU website – which should go live in the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled! The penultimate issue of the Knowledge also came out last week.
With the recent building work at the North end of the building, we have freed some space in sub:lime which has potential to be a temporary media room – so I will be looking into purchasing some radio equipment soon.
Other
As I mentioned above, work on the Informal Learning Agenda and PebblePad promotion is still ongoing in a big way. The PebblePad pilot is drawing to a close and we are now thinking of best ways to promote the tool and look to integrate it into what we do in the Union.
The Governanace process, as you will know, is still ongoing and I have been working on the details for the referendum. Please make sure you vote, and encourage all your friends and course-mates to vote too!. Don’t forget to consider becoming a student trustee too!
Over Easter I attended the NUS Services Ltd Convention and AGM. Here I attended a number of workshops and talks around the commercial side of NUS operations which were very informative. I was also elected by the AGM as a non-executive student Director of the Board for NUS Services Ltd. This raises the profile of UPSU on a national level, and will enable us to keep at the cutting edge of Commercial Services within NUS.
I have also been recruiting for Freshers’ Angels – so far about 70 students have emailed me expressing an interest, which is great. Email me if you would like more information.
Lots of other meetings with no major outcomes, and also attended the Sports Awards, the Volunteering Awards and the Yacht Club end-of-year Dinner.
As always, if you have any questions about any of the above, feel free to ask either by email, in person or at Parliament – 6pm on the 12th May
James
vpactivities@upsu.com
Hello Again!
Just thought I’d better post something to this blog before I write a lot more tomorrow about the recent set of awards!
So back at the start of the Easter Holidays myself and a few staff (Rob, Ronnie and Brian) headed up to Liverpool for 3 days to the NUS Services Ltd (NUSSL) AGM and Convention. This meant attending a lot of (generally) informative sessions on topics from Entertainments to Bars.
NUS Services Ltd is a company owned by NUS and member Unions (such as UPSU) which enables us to buy stock for the shop and bar at a cheaper cost, and keep value for money high. They also offer a lot of support and training for our staff.
At the AGM there was the opportunity to get elected as a student director of the board for NUSSL. I thought it was about time UPSU was represented within this organisation, so decided to run for election – and you’ll be delighted to know I was elected! Training for this is in May – so more on this to follow!
Next up was the annual dinner and Awards Ceremony, where we to find out how we did in the Sound Impact Awards and the Best Bar None Awards. Well you’ll be pleased to know that UPSU was accredited once again in both these categories – but that’s not all. In the Sound Impact Awards we went from “Working towards accreditation” to achieving Silver status – also winning us the “Most Improved Students’ Union” Award. Congratulations to Darren and Brian who did most of the work for this!
We also shone in the Best Bar None category – being awarded “Best in the South West and Wales!” A great achievement, and one to be very proud of. This means our bars are some of the safest in the entire region!
I’ll update you on all the other goings on over Easter in my next post
As always, please let me know what you think about this or anything at all by commenting below, or by emailing me – vpactivites@upsu.com
James
