The Scene - December 2011

www.thestudentsunion.org.uk |1

312/2011 free

UCSU is now on

@Cumbriasu

@Lorricumbriasu

@RachelUCSU

@Liamcumbriasu

@Tomcumbriasu

Follow Your SabbsYou can now follow your Sabbatical officers on twitter to know

exactly where they are and when you can talk to them. You

can also contact them through their twitter accounts to make

suggestions on how they can help you!

follow UCSU on facebook at facebook.com/CumbriaSU


Submit your artwork for our front cover

each cover of The Scene has

a theme, the next issue’s is the

number 4. If you feel you can

illustrate the number 4 in an

interesting and creative way,

or if you have any existing work

that loosely ties in with the

theme then please email it to

[email protected]

and you could be featured on

the cover as well as inside the

magazine. It is a great chance

to have your work viewed by

13,000 of our members, as well

as getting a hard copy of The

Scene for your portfolio.

The ‘Success!’ Awards

Volunteering with the National Trust

Chlamydia Testing SU Advice

Two Whales with One ShadowA Poem by Alicia May Hughes

Unified The SU relationship Agreement

Lancaster Street reps

Yellow Door Lets

The Students Guide to Carlisle

Your County Needs Your Views

4

6

8

12

14

18

20

24

26


Has someone had a major positive impact on your student experience? Maybe a lecturer who you can’t wait to be taught by, a Student Rep who has changed things for the better, or a cleaner who makes you smile every day? Well this is your chance to celebrate them!

National Student Survey (NSS) award

Personal tutor award

Lecturer of the year award

Support Staff of the year award

Out of sight award

Community award

Student Academic rep of the Year

Volunteer of the Year

Student group leader of the Year

elected Student Union Officer of the Year

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Volunteering with the National TrustLast week saw the first one day volunteering event of the Academic year, bringing together students from the Penrith, Lancaster and Carlisle campuses for a Conservation Day with the National Trust.

We arrived at Arnside Knott, Cumbria Coast

and had a short walk down to Heathwaite

where we would be volunteering for the

day. Heathwaite is part of a Site of Special

Scientific Interest (designated by the

government), so as landowners the National

Trust has a responsibility to maintain the nature

conservation interest of the site. Much of this

interest relates to the mosaic of limestone

grassland, scrub and woodland habitats

which support many rare and threatened

species (eg. Green-winged Orchids, High

Brown fritillary butterflies, Southern Wood ants,

breeding Lesser Whitethroat and other varieties

of song bird).

Without management work, natural succession

would lead to the entire site becoming

covered in trees and the loss of many of

these species.

One of the main management tools is grazing

using cattle (which eat tree seedlings and help

to control the bramble), but this still has to be

helped by direct cutting work.

www.thestudentsunion.org.uk/volunteering


This meant the first part of the day was to have

the dreaded but needed Health and Safety

talk which was actually a lot of fun as we were

shown how to use hand saws and loppers and

were given safety advice on the huge bonfire

we were going to build.

The day consisted of volunteers working in

different areas, some would gather up the cut

material, some would cut it up even smaller

(although once the fire got going we could

throw huge parts of the trees on there) some

would manage the fire and it was a brilliant

production line that got everyone working

together as a team and spirits were very high

despite the slightly muggy weather and the

physical nature of the tasks. One volunteer

said “It was good fun and everyone was

really friendly”.

It was nice to be able to see the difference

our help made as we cleared a lot of material

throughout the day and we were informed

about the positive effects of our volunteering.

Another student said “really fun day, the

National Trust man was good and it was a

really nice place to spend the day doing

worthwhile work”.

If the cut material was left on the grassland,

it would rot down and add nutrients and

humus to the soil. Because the diversity of

the limestone flora relies on thin, nutrient-poor

soils this would result in the loss of many of the

special plants and the insects which rely on

them: therefore we had to remove the cut

material, and the most effective way of

doing this is to take any logs away to be used/

sold for firewood, and to burn up the smaller

branches. To avoid cooking the soil and

allowing ash to nutrify the ground, we burn this

brash on metal sheets raised off the ground on

a base of logs.

Overall, a brilliant day and a great way to start

the year’s volunteering projects.

The next volunteering event will take place on

Saturday 29th October with the Alzheimer’s

Society, doing activities with their service users

such as baking, painting and games, and also

just sitting talking with clients, perhaps looking

at a newspaper with them. It will take place

11am – 3pm in Carlisle and transport is being

provided from other campuses.

For more information please contact Kati Brown on 01228 616164Please visit our blog at http://ucsuvolunteering.wordpress.com/

www.thestudentsunion.org.uk/volunteering


...An iPod? A Laptop?

You may have seen the screening team around campus over the past year, we offer opportunistic Chlamydia testing.

If you have tested with us you may have

benefited from acquiring a fetching pair

of new undies, but more importantly you will

have found out whether or not you

had Chlamydia.

Chlamydia is the most common Sexually

Transmitted Infection amongst 15 – 24 year

olds. The thing about Chlamydia is that you

don’t always know that you have it. Over

three quarters of females and half of males

will have no signs and symptoms. So it is really

important that if you have been sexually

active you get tested, we also recommend

that you test again after each change in

partner. Last year around one in fourteen

people tested positive for Chlamydia.

If you do have Chlamydia and you don’t get

treated, you may go on to develop Pelvic

inflammatory disease, certain types of arthritis,

ectopic pregnancy and Chlamydia can also

make you infertile.

The good news is that Chlamydia is easy to

treat with antibiotics.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

An STD?

You can test at a variety of venues locally;

contraceptive clinics, GP Surgeries, Sexual

health clinics. You can also pick up a postal

testing kit at the Students Union.

So – It’s easy to test, easy to treat,

it really is BeST2KNOW.

www.best2know.co.uk

All details correct at time of printing November 2011

can you afford not to?

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www.thestudentsunion.org.uk |11 www.thestudentsunion.org.uk |11 All details correct at time of printing November 2011

can you afford not to?

THIS CHRISTMASmy extra card boughtfor me...

ORDERBY1ST DEC

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TO GET T

HE

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Secret Santa

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Presents for famil

y £150 £120

Presents for frien

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Presents for me

£25

Toy mouse for Tid


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£4£4£

Present for Jonn

y Toy mouse for Tid

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For only £11 you can cut the cost of ChristmasVisit nus.org.uk

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UnisexHoodies£24.00 or

£21.60with an nus extra card!

Ladies Hoodies£28.00 or

£25.20with an nus extra card!

Hoodies and much more available in The Shop on Lancaster campus. You can also purchase hoodies from your local Students’ Union office or online at www.thestudentsunion.org.uk/shop.

The old SU Building

Toilets

Entrance

SmartiesLounge

Student SubmissionsWe love celebrating the successes of our

fellow students here at the Students’ Union.

One way we do that is by publishing work

from across the Uni. To see your work

featured in The Scene send examples to

[email protected]


Together they are so beautiful,

How gracefully they do dance,

In this mysterious ocean,

They are the art of romance.

They create a magnificent spiral,

Light bouncing off each other,

She twirls magically through the water,

Closely followed by her lover.

And they speak in their own language,

Sounds so precious and so clear,

They are in this world of nothingness,

And yet they are so near.

They swim in and out of the spotlights,

They are the only sound,

In a world completely private,

Never to be found.

They create a silhouette of love,

Of friendship and of life,

Two whales with one shadow,

Husband and Wife.

Two Whales with One ShadowA Poem by Alicia May Hughes

UNIFIED

SU Relationship Agreement

The partnership between the University of Cumbria’s Board of Governors and Students’ Union (SU) is blossoming, creating a better deal for students.

Two representatives from the Board and the

SU today launched the improved partnership

by signing a relationship agreement, one of

ten recommended actions in support of

strong governance.

The Good Governance Guide, supported by

the national group Committee of University

Chairs (CUC), recommends ten actions

to support the development of a strong

governance relationship between a university

board and its Students’ Union.

The aim of the agreement is to form the

basis of a strong and sustainable governance

relationship between the union and the

university. The ten recommendations, which

include a thorough induction to governance

for students and a mentoring scheme for

student representatives, will be delivered over

the next 12 months.

The relationship agreement will work as a

benchmark to guide those involved in the

union’s governance in the future, ensuring

sustainability for the positive partnership.

For information:The Committee of University Chairs (CUC)

provides a forum for discussion for university

chairs. Its primary purpose is to enable chairs

to contribute their distinctive experience,

knowledge and perspective as laypersons and

to consider matters which concern all universities.

UNIFIED


look afteryour stuff

yourselflook after

more

keep your mobile, ipod, laptop & possessions safe.

when on a night out, drink responsibly, take care of yourself & each other.

scan the code below into your smart phone or visit:www.cumbria.police.uk

cumbriapolice

safety

The Union Community team hosted a

community event with the aim to get more

students and local residents to meet and get

to know each other. The event took place

on a Tuesday night at the Lancaster campus

and was well attended with around 40

attendees. residents in the streets surrounding

the University’s Lancaster campus, particularly

those in the John O’Gaunt ward, were invited

to come along to the event.

Activities during the evening included a

number of ‘stereotype’ breaking games, a

suggestion wall of how the Union and students

can help in the local community, refreshments,

a free raffle and a recycling & Waste

disposal stall prompted by feedback from our

previous event. We also took the opportunity

to showcase some of the brilliant work our

students do in the community and also to

promote new volunteering opportunities. The

event went well, with students and residents

talking to each other and putting themselves

forward as volunteer Street reps.

‘Street reps’ is an exciting new volunteering

project being set up by the University of

Cumbria Students’ Union. The main aim for the


ownership over their streets and work together

to achieve ideal solutions like lowering crime

rates, improving the street’s appearance and

the general cohesion and community feel.

Where there is a negative stimulus the scheme

can act in a similar way to restorative justice

by allowing the opportunity to those involved,

to talk in a controlled environment to resolve

the problems.

We are looking for as many people to put

themselves forward as possible. So if you

would like to help improve your street and

get involved I would love to hear from you!

Get in touch [email protected]@tomcumbriasu01524 590817

project is to ‘To Provide a new opportunity for

community members to interact in a positive

way’. We strongly believe the majority of issues

which may occur on your street are likely to

be due to a lack of communication between

community members; students and local

residents. We want to break down potential

barriers which stop people talking to one

another by recruiting both local and student

residents to the scheme.

The concept of the project is that within

each target street, ie. a street with a high

student and local resident population; there

is a student street rep and a local resident

street rep who both act as diplomats in trying

to resolve current issues on their streets. The

project provides an opportunity for local

residents and student residents to really take

Local residents are delighted with the antics of Union Community Sabb Tom Underwood.


Yellow DoorThe Easy ChoiceYour first year in University can mean a lot of

big decisions. Choose a university, choose

a course, choose your classes, choose your

mates, choose your landlord, choose where

to live, choose your insurance, choose your

furniture, choose your contents insurance,

choose your TV, choose your broadband,

choose a take away.

By Choosing Yellow Door Lets for your student

accommodation you can choose a much

simpler life. And simple is good. Yellow Door

Lets takes care of these hard choices for you

with the majority of their properties including

free broadband, free contents insurance,

free flat screen TV, they even include the

basic furniture you need. All you need to do

is sign up and settle in. In a recent survey 93%

of Yellow Doors tenants said that the state of

repairs were very good, good or ok. 88% of

tenants said they would recommend Yellow

doors to their mates.

As the name implies you can identify any

properties managed by Yellow Doors by

looking for the yellow doors which can be

found around Lancaster. Their properties are

conveniently close to both the University of

Cumbria, the city centre and also

Sugar House.

And sometimes things do go wrong. Yellow

Door Lets take their responsibilities to you very

seriously. Their track record speaks for itself,

100% of survey respondents had never had a

problem contacting Yellow Doors. Yellow Doors

deals with problems as quickly as possible.

They understand that being a student means

being busy, 98% responded positively when

asked if they had any problems with paying

their rent, or over the tenancy agreement,

how easy had it been to come to a

satisfactory arrangement.

Choosing Yellow Doors is choosing the easy

choice. All that you need to decide is, what

take-away to have tonight, which film to

watch on telly, and when to finish that essay.


FAUX NEW YEARS THURSDAY 15TH DECEMBER

CONCRETE, LOWTHER STREET, CARLISLETEL:01228 52400

WWW.CLUBCONCRETE.COM

2 FOR 1 ON ALL FAUX FURS’DAYS COCKTAILS ALL NIGHT

YOUR OFFICIAL UCSU NIGHT!

FURS’DAYS

contact us by popping into any of our SU

offices located at the fusehill Street and

Brampton road campuses or email me on

[email protected] and I will be

happy to help anyone set up a society

where possible. Don’t forget there are a

number of activities to do around Carlisle for

instance an American football team,

www.cumbriabafl.co.uk/REIVERS/ has been

set up and currently trains on Sundays at

Sheep Mount Sports Complex just behind

Bitts Park. If you take a look around Carlisle

there is so much to do you just may not of

noticed them yet, it is definitely worth

a look around.

Bars and nights out and entz

As I am sure you all know by now the SU have

two bars associated with us for students nights,

these are Walkabout and Concrete. So what

do they offer? Both bars offer an awesome

night with I LOVe TOM’S MUM on the Tuesday at

walkabout and faux furs’day on at Concrete.

The Students Guide to Carlisle Shopping

I know there are plenty of you who are

shopaholics, Carlisle is a nice and easy place

to shop and with the NUS deals and discounts

flying around everywhere why not make the

most of it. The Lanes shopping centre offers a

wide range of shops ranging from accessories

through to sports clothing and equipment. As

well as 50 other places to spend your pennies.

And when you are all done you can even

wash it all down with a milkshake. Advice to

all is to not be afraid to ask if each store does

NUS discount, if you don’t ask you won’t get!!!

If you haven’t got yourself an NUS card

yet get on it… just visit www.nus.org.uk

Clubs and societies

Here at the Students Union we put a lot of

effort into providing the best experience for all

of our students. In Carlisle we have a number

of societies and sports teams available for

your enjoyment, these range from societies

such as the music appreciation society

which is currently being set up as well as

the basketball, football and netball teams.

However we are fully aware that we cannot

accommodate everyone. If you are looking

to get involved in societies please see our

website (which has just been revamped). If

there is something you fancy doing which

we do not currently have available please


I LOVe TOM’S mum was launched as the

students night this year and it offers great

music and various themed nights throughout

the year, including games nights and night

such like Mexican night. Concrete offers a

club atmosphere with two rooms available

with two different styles of music to tickle

everyone’s fancy.

What does Carlisle have to offer on Entertainment?

Carlisle plays host to a number of great acts

ranging from comedians to plays through

to pantomimes every year various acts walk

through the doors of the sand centre t6o

see whats on throughout the year visit

www.thesandscentre.co.uk/what-s-on/.

A Cumbria research organisation is recruiting young people to join their online panel and share their views in return for Amazon vouchers.

Wildwood research and Marketing are

looking for people aged 18-24 to sign up to

a new initiative, where they can have their

opinions heard. Once established, the panel

members will receive surveys on a variety of

topics and will be rewarded for their time.

Wildwood hopes to collect a diverse number

of thoughts and opinions, giving an accurate

representation of the views young people

have in the county. Whether in fulltime

employment, studying or currently out of work,

everyone within the specified age bracket is

invited to apply.

Andrew Woods, Director of Wildwood said

“we’re looking for all young people’s views on

a wide variety of topics, but most importantly

about the things that mean a lot to the young

people who live and work in Cumbria. The

surveys will be short and will cover all kinds of

subjects such as green issues, employment

prospects, celebrity culture, music and politics

– just about anything!”

Once the Youth Panel has developed it is

intended to invite its members to future focus

groups and other engagement events.

“The views of young people are sought out by

both businesses and public bodies throughout

the county – so joining this panel may well

influence the way these services

are provided”

If you would like to join the

panel you can sign up at

www.wildwood-research.co.uk/panel or for further information contact:

Andrew Woods 01228 711325

Your County Needs Your Views!

A BRAND NEW NIGHT MIXING INDIE ANTHEMS, R’N’B

EARLY BIRDS

WEDNESDAY 7TH DECEMBER


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The Scene - December 2011

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Transcript of The Scene - December 2011