What we did last year: Socials

Hi all.

I thought I'd kick start the new blog with a review of the socials we did last year (2011/2012), to give people an idea on the sorts of things we did and (Hopefully!) make people look forward to the year to come.You'll see in my next blog post that we'll have an even larger range of things to do, which is why I'm excited about the forthcoming year.

I'll point out now that I'm not a 'blogger' so you might have to bear with me with the layout etc. But there is a first time for everything!

Before the November march

As we have done for the past few years and plan to for the first social this year. We kicked off the year on the Thursday of freshers week in Scholars. Which does seem to be one of our more favourable pubs in Aber. The first social has always been a good one, it's a good way of getting to know a few more people and having a laugh. It's one of those where there is no real structure we'll gather together, go to a few pubs, maybe play some games and get to know each another. You'll probably find that you find out things that you didn't know about the other people, the party and politics in general as well as having a good time. I remember from my first social, a couple of years ago, everyone was really welcoming and enjoyed a good bit of socialising. I believe last year was similar as well. This forms the basis of the regular Thursday night socials which run throughout the year. Expect a mix of debate, general conversation, humour, and sometimes even outright ridiculousness.

As some will know, and others will find out very quickly. I'm quite a big sports fan. So when the weather was improving last year, we came up with the idea that we should play some old school style 'jumpers for goalposts' style football. This was quite popular. So we made a regular thing of it. We even had a day down to Ynyslas (near Borth) to attempt some beach football. This had to be cut short due to someones idea to not wear shoes which culminated in an injury. Wonder whose idea that was... My attempts to “save the day” was foiled by my driving and some wet sand but it is something that we all look back fondly on (except the person who got injured, presumably. Ed). We also competed in a cross party football tournament. Special thanks have to be given to Heff and Huw who dropped everything to help out. We managed to reach the final due to a questionable decision by the Lib Dems to force the Greens to pull out of the final. My hope is that we can do one better and win it fairly this year!

AULS football team, pre-final

One of the most enjoyable socials we did was the trip to the cinema to watch The Iron Lady. Odd choice, I know, as many don't think highly of Thatcher (Justice for the 96! is one thing that springs to my mind given recent events). It gave us the excuse to talk politics and to talk recent history. We have done a few one off socials such as this, as well as a couple of curry nights, just to mix things up a bit. The November 30^th protest springs to mind. We'd got up early in the morning and made our way to the top of the hill to march in solidarity with those who were on strike. While this wasn't essentially a social event, it is one that I'll remember fondly. Like most of the events we will lay on, I'd like to incorporate a social aspect to it. Be it going for a meal after wards or even a coffee so we get a chance to have a good old talk about the days events, something we did after the N30 protest.

After the Iron Lady

Another thing which was almost a mainstay of last year was the pub quiz. We've trialled many around Aber and one of our members even created one. It's always a good laugh with some reasonably intelligent discussion, but sometimes that discussion has bordered on the ridiculous! We've also got a pretty good record of wins/ second places in many quizzes. This culminated in our 2nd place result in the Cwrt Mawr bar quiz, and us winning a rather large bottle of vodka. This was re-invested into the society, something that I barely remember. Rumour has it that our own chair, Tom Keane, had to crawl home after that reinvestment (something he likes to be reminded of).

Tom responsibly enjoys his quiz victory

Two dates to fix on the calendar (when I know them) will be the Christmas meal and end of year meal. This is an excuse to get suited and booted, put on that fancy dress and have a jolly time. The Christmas meal is always a popular one. A mix of good food, some nice wine and a rendition of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air rap, which spontaneously happened at the last one. Not sure if the members of staff at the restaurant were too impressed with us after that... We normally put together a secret santa, as you do. This is something which normally gets people in the christmas spirit, and any excuse to wear those paper hats is good for me! The end of year meal is a bit like the christmas meal but without the presents and the paper hats (which is a bit sad).

Union events are something we did quite a bit last year. Comedy Works in the union gets a big crowd. Whilst some of the comedians have been somewhat questionable, on the whole it's normally an event worth going to. The yearly event which normally gets a good attendance from us, and one of my favourite events, is Ginesis. I was gutted I couldn't make it last year. Bloody essay deadlines! But it's a mix of a wide varieties of gin and a questionable Phil Collins tribute act. What is not to love! Back in the day (last year), Reload used to run pretty much every week. For any fan of cheesy music of the past few decades, it's one that should be attended. It normally incorporates some shocking attempts at dancing from well.. most people.

The last thing I'll mention is the cross party socials. We normally do one a semester. They provide an opportunity to question/ argue with the other parties and show that we are clearly the best political society on campus. Not that we need to prove that! The one we did in the first semester last year was a dress up social. We each could dress up as someone stereotypical of the other parties. So of course some of us dressed up in typical Tory attire, such as a top hat and cane. My Boris Johnson face mask was also passed to around to pretty much everyone. The second semester cross party social was a white T-shirt affair, each party had to bring pens in their own party colours. As you can imagine our t-shirts filled up with questionable statements, even some from our own members! These socials are all done in good humour, even if the debates can get a bit heated at times.

Myself and Hyw, stereotypical Tories

That's just some of the social things we did last year. I hope that by this time next year, whoever takes the realm of social secretary will have a much longer list, with a wider variety of activities to include on this blog. We've got many things that we want to do. One thing that I'm excited about is attempting to do a treasure hunt! It's something we've never done before and I hope it makes it onto the list next year as just one of hopefully many new and different activities we'll do throughout the year. If anyone has any suggestions don't hesitate to let me know. Also any feedback, constructive or otherwise is much appreciated.


Here's to a very enjoyable 2012-2013!

Adam.
Social Secretary
(adw6@aber.ac.uk)