Hello everyone, I hope that everyones first semester is going well and
people are looking forward to Xmas in Aber, the snow is surely on the way!
Anyway here is what I've been up to over the past couple of months:
I am in ongoing positive discussions with the university about increasing
our funding and positive steps are being taken in moving the organisation
forward and with this we are developing a consultation process to include
you guys in the way we take things forward.
Martyn our previous membership services manager and Geraint our previous
CEO are no longer with us and we are very grateful for all they have done
for the union over the years.
At the same time I'm happy to announce the appointment of John Glasby who
originally took the role of Commercial Services Director, but after
discussions with the union board of trustees I am pleased to announce he
will be taking the role of interim CEO for a period of 6 months. This will
allow John to implement the new strategic plan and the aber experience
plan over the coming months, obviously with further student consultation
as both those documents were created last academic year.
In other exciting news, we have restarted the starbucks development and if
all goes well starbucks will be offered some time after xmas, we're also
looking at expanding our food offering in the union, so watch out for the
possibility of Pizzas! I'm working with Ioan who is arranging the semester forums with clubs and
societies so that they can shape the way Union events moves forward,
making nights completely shaped by students, both in sports clubs AND
societies as we both recognise that we've left societies out in the past.
Thanks to Laura D (Student Support) and the Aber Student Media crew who
ran University Challenge and I'm happy to say that we have put together a
team for next years challenge, the team is: Andrew Gordon, Simon David
Thomas, Matthew Campbell, Daniel Guy and Ned Bishop-Harper.
I'm also in discussion with the university about starting a cycling scheme
in the university, similar to Boris Bikes in london, but where students
can hire a bike for a day or up to a year to get around Aber at a minimal
cost and with free servicing. We're looking to use recycled bikes for this
that have been left by former students over the years.
It's also exciting to see the student allotment start to come together and
thanks to all those involved especially Dan Zoppellini who has started
building a greenhouse which will be made from plastic bottles recycled
from within the union, continuing our push to a greener union.