End of Year Round Up 2023!

Another year is drawing to a close, so we just wanted to take a moment to look back over the first busy semester here at the SU. We can’t believe how fast the first semester has flown by it has definitely been an eventful one, filled with achievements, a lot of hard work, passion, and emotions, as well as throwing up some challenges.

 

Have a quick listen to our festive message from SU President Jimena, and let’s take a look back at one of our highlights so far, as well as look forward to what’s in store for 2024.

 

We started off the Semester with one of our most diverse Freshers’ Weeks to date! Students partied for at the Plug and Tub and our huge purpose built Arena. Backstage put on an insane light show to kick off Freshers’ Week and we had some huge names like Vikkstar, Jack Maynard, and Loek (along with more!) joining us to party the night away. But during Freshers’ Week, your days were as packed as your nights as we held over 60 individual SU led events- we ran Bath city tours, visits to Bristol, the Roman Baths, and the Holburne Museum. But we didn’t stop there – we also had slacklining sessions, T-shirt upcycling, mixers to bring together communities of students with similar backgrounds, a street food market, mini golf and so much more! We even had a designated timetable just for postgraduate students, which included Quiz Nights and Cheese and Wine evenings.

 

Student groups held countless Give it a Go sessions and hundreds of students flocked to our Freshers’ Fair, Sports Day and Groups Day where 150 different groups ran stalls and collectively signed up over 4,000 new members to sports, societies and volunteering groups!

We also recruited and trained over 100 Freshers’ Week Captains who, alongside the Freshers’ Week Managers, helped the week run as smoothly as it did!

 

Towards the start of the semester, we also held numerous mixers. We had specific postgraduate and undergraduate mixers and even held a Cereal Dating event where you could pop along and eat your favourite cereal while meeting new people (and raising money for RAG at the same time!).

 

We held several Street Food Markets throughout the semester, where we were joined by pop ups serving Spanish paella, burritos, Greek food and others! These have been super popular throughout Semester one and we can’t wait to keep bringing you delicious reasons you leave your sandwiches at home throughout Semesters two and three.

 

We finished off the Semester by getting into the festive spirit! We held our very own Christmas Fair, where we were joined by numerous stallholders ranging from vintage clothes and crochet to baked goods from our very own Edgie Eats. We even had some student groups joining us – the Crochet Society was providing handmade gifts and RAG were there selling second hand goods and raising important money for our Big Four. We also had performances from members of CHAOS and URB was there all day providing the Christmas tunes to get us all into the festive spirit.

 

We also held three huge sell out events to finish off the year – two Snowball’s and the Masquerade Ball, both of which sold out in record time. The Masquerade Ball was held in the historic Guild Hall, while the Plug and Tub was transformed into a winter wonderland for the Snowball. It was amazing seeing you all dressed up and we already can’t wait for next year! Photos are on our Facebook page if you haven’t found them yet!

 

The Plug and Tub has also been hugely busy this semester with the introduction of the new SCORE Home and Away which has led to consistently sold-out events on and off campus! (Make sure you get your tickets early for SCORE the Second Half in 2024!). Our very own Starbucks in the SU (the cheapest place to get Starbucks in the city) has started working with Alumni Edgie Eats to provide cakes and we’ve also had a brand-new menu which has been really popular all semester.

 

The Plug and Tub introduced new daily deals on drinks and food, and also continued our ever popular weekly events like the Plug Quiz every Tuesday and Mixology every Thursday. Alongside these weekly set events, we’ve also held one-off Saturday nights under The Tub Presents, like Drag Bingo, the Exchange, and the Big Christmas Present. We have also installed a brand new interactive Darts Table and Ice Hockey table which is the perfect addition to the existing pool tables.

 

This term, we have also officially launched 213 The Salon, located downstairs in The SU. We’ve had a brand-new barber and next semester will see the return of a dedicated hairdresser who specialises in Afro-Caribbean hair.

 

There have also been some truly amazing fundraising events across the first semester. RAG supported a huge fireworks show at the Rec in the city centre, raising an amazing £3,300, and the entire month of November was dedicated to Movember, with students running, rowing, and cycling their way to raising over £30,000! There were too many Movember events to possibly name them all, but some notable highlights were Rugby’s Movember Ball, the Canoe Club holding a 24-hour straight canoe, and some ambitious students who ran 48 miles in 48 hours!

 

We’ve also been really busy with sport in Semester one. We held Interhall sports where our hall groups could compete against each other in a series of sports including football, darts, and pool, and we celebrated another huge win for Bath against Cardiff Met at Rugby at the Rec. Wales definitely brought the weather with them on the day, but we still had a huge crowd of over 6,000 supporters, creating a truly amazing atmosphere!

 

If you are feeling inspired by all this sport chat and looking to get more into fitness in the new year, remember that Bath Active also relaunched their Bath Active schedule this semester. Pop along to try out some new sport and activity sessions – all for absolutely free!

 

Semester 1 has been a very busy first term for groups! We’ve had over 160 groups host hundreds of events for their members – some highlights have been BathMUN traveling to their first international conference in Madrid, before hosting their very own conference in Bath, Latin and Ballroom hosting their Annual Winter Friendly Programme, and the Indian Society holding an amazing ball for Diwalli.

 

There are so many, we can’t possibly list them now, but we want you to know we’re so proud of what’s been achieved.

Thousands of you have taken on different roles this year, whether that’s as a committee member of a student group, an Academic Rep or a Peer Mentor and it’s been amazing to see communities of students coming together to work on shared goals and passions.

The SU Officers have had a busy first semester- we’ve been sharing fortnightly updates on our Instagram page to keep you updated on everything they’ve been working on, and the Officers have also been writing regular blogs with more details. They’ve also been hard at work on the Top Ten and have already made some really good progress towards achieving their goals.

 

All the Officers attended an NUS Conference in Roehampton where they discussed emerging issues for the year and took part in workshops about problems such as the cost-of-living crisis and housing. They also attended a Southwest meet up at UWE, where they discussed plans for the year and exchanged ideas about how to solve emerging issues in higher education.

 

Community Officer Hanna spoke about housing issues at a local authority meeting and also met with political figures like the Major of Bath, local council members and local MP Wera Hobhouse.

 

Postgraduate Officer Jura has been very focused on running new PG specific events this semester, as well as championing for equal SU opportunities for our Postgraduate Student Community- from a jam-packed freshers' week full of events for Postgraduate students, to regular Doctoral Lunches and Tea & Talk events, right through to PG Board Games. Jura continued to attend meetings with both students and university staff and has championed for our Distance Learners through our SU Top 10. 

 

Alongside all this, the Officers recently called a referenda on two issues – should The SU Bath be affiliated to the National Union of Students UK, and Should The SU Bath support industrial action called by the UCU during the 23/24 academic year. The student community voted to remain affiliated with the NUS and voted to support industrial action called by UCA. Big thanks to everyone who had their say and voted!

 

SUmmit, a committee of student leaders brought together to shape the political direction of The SU, has already had several meetings, with rounds of standpoints being created and our Officers giving detailed updates on what they have been working on. It has already been amazing to see the broad range of topics and issues that students are facing right now, and to have the opportunity to work together to find solutions, make decisions, and create change.

 

In recognition of our amazing students and their hard work, the VC has also held several VC Breakfasts – the first was held back in October when Activities Officer David invited the Freshers’ Week Event Managers, some stand out Freshers’ Week Captains, key members of the student media team and the bars teams for their contributions towards making Freshers’ Week such a success.

In November, Community Officer Hanna invited members of the Diversity and Support Executive Committee and Hall Representatives from Norwood House to recognise student leaders for their hard work and dedication, and the last VC Breakfast of the term was held in mid-December, when Activities Officer David invited members of Faith and Cultural Groups. We can’t wait to hold more of these events in 2024.

 

If you would like to get more involved in the SU and shaping experiences for future students, then

don’t forget that Officer Elections are officially open right now! Read more about the different roles and what they entail on our website.

 

This semester has already included a lot of celebrations for different groups. V Team won Bath and North East Somerset Community Award and Bath STAR won STAR Campaign award. Nightline also won at the Nightline association Awards and the SU was awarded ‘Very Good’ at the NUS Green Impact Awards!

 

We have introduced several new initiatives this Semester – the introduction of MENtion, which is a new group formed to be a safe space for men to come together and we have also hosted a weekly Drug and Alcohol Advice stand in the SU every Thursday.

 

Peer Mentoring has been busier than ever with almost 680 Peer Mentors, 50 Lead Peer mentors, and 40 Doctoral Peer Mentors. We have also had students sign up as Exercise Buddies, who are mentors to students on the Prescription for Exercise Scheme within the University and over 200 students register interest in the PGT Buddy Scheme.

 

It’s been a busy period for our SU Advice Team who continually support students through any academic, housing, or personal issues they have.

 

There has been a huge amount of development across the first semester, with plenty of students giving up their time to take on new initiatives, attend training and networking sessions, and putting themselves forward for new challenges.

 

To help with more CV and personal development, we recently held a part-time Jobs Fair in the SU where we promoted countless part-time jobs. This was a really fun and successful event, and definitely one which we look forward to putting on again in the future!

 

There have been countless volunteering projects that have taken place already this semester; Santa Dash by V Run sold 43 tickets and raised £360, V Schools worked with a local primary school to help clear their flower beds, V Collect are running an on-campus food collection (which will be running until December 18!), V Repair ran a successful repair café with three more lined up for next year, STAR held a walkathon which raised £185 for Young Roots - and many more! We can’t express how impressed we are by our students’ dedication and hard work.

Of course, things don’t always go as planned and it’s just as important to take a look back at some of the challenges you have faced this semester. The cost of living crisis is a topic that will likely still be concerning all of us in the upcoming year. The buses have been another consistent issue on the agenda this year and although things have appeared to improve, buses remain a top priority for the academic year. We are excited to announce though that the GPS system has been confirmed that it will be improved which will make a vast amount of difference for many. 

 

Issues surrounding housing have also been highlighted – this is addressed in the Top Ten issues, and Community Officer Hanna also recently attended a B&NES local meeting to discuss the housing.

 

There has been ongoing conflict around the world which has had a huge impact on many of our students and their families. We have seen some amazing fundraising initiatives and been impressed with how our students have come together to offer support to their members and beyond. A beautiful moment that saw our community come together was the silent moment of reflection held on campus. 

As one year comes to an end, the next one begins and it already looks like 2024 will be packed full of fantastic events and activities! We are hitting the ground running with Refresh Week which will feature events such as student group fairs and sport and society tasters, then in March we’ll be going head-to-head against Cardiff Met again for the annual Varsity (can we manage seven year winning streak?!), quickly followed by the Blues Awards where we champion all your sporting success!

 

Okay, that’s it for the year! There is just so much to look forward to for next year- remember to keep an eye on our Whats On page and look out for regular emails hitting your inbox! Don’t forget that if you are planning on staying in Bath over the festive period then we have a full winter programme available for you to enjoy! You can also check out the SU’s opening hours on our website.

 

We couldn’t have achieved all these huge wins and overcome so many obstacles without your support and dedication. You are what makes the SU so special and we can’t wait to see what 2024 has to offer. Have a wonderful festive period, a happy new year, and here’s to 2024!