Friday 17 August 2007

The Big Breakfast

Hi

Wow this week has been immense. Mostly I've spent it in my office arranging things for Freshers week with lots of different events still to be organised. Whats more is that it has been a time of change not lost on any of us. Whilst many are away from Sheffield you can't see that the Union is taking shape ready for September with the hole next to the Source desk being filled in and with Fusion and Foundry being redeveloped over the summer. Literally we're working in a building site. however change isn't just in the physical sense with many other changes taking place- the website being only one which you can see at the moment.

The most fun part of my job this week has though been to go and see the Nursery down in Broomhall. Most don't know about it but part of the history of the Union saw babies being taken into lectures by their parents in order to persuade the University to set up a Nursery. Today, 31 years later that Nursery is still a part of the Union and on Wednesday i went down to have breakfast with the staff, kids and parents. I attempted to go for the healthy choice to start off with and ate some yogurt and fruit however I gave in to the croissants and pain au chocolat especially once i saw the small seats I had to sit on.

What this did get me thinking about is how fantastic the staff are who set up the breakfast and played with the kids and when you spoke to them many had been up since 6 to make sure they were here and had ate breakfast themselves before they arrived. Thanks you to all of the staff of the Nursery for organising such an event.

The second thought that came to mind was how diverse this Union is. 25,000 students made up not of just Under-graduates or 18-21 year old's, but a diverse set of students from all backgrounds and cultures. I mean just look at our society and activity list and you realise how diverse this Union is and how many opportunities there are for you to get involved. For all those who got the grades this week Sheffield looks forward to welcoming you to its community and no doubt you will all find something to get involved with when you get here.

Best Wishes

Tom

Friday 10 August 2007

The Demon blogmaster

Good morning everyone

I hope your summer is going well and now the sun has surely come up we can begin to slap on the suntan lotion and fly off to somewhere hotter. That is certainly the case in the officer currently. With so much to do some have taken just a few days off rather than a couple of weeks so that we are refreshed for Freashers' week and ready for the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.

Pete, our finance officer (or money bags as I affectionately call him) has been one to refresh his batteries in the last couple of weeks. Before he went gallavantin however, Pete, ever ready to stop my communication with your good selves changed my blog password. Hilarity ensued as I tried to sign in and couldn't however now Pete is back and so is my password.

However this isn't the first time Pete has played havoc with the blogs of fellow officers. I can reveal now that he has logged on as Mark Foster and Bryony Shanks only to do their first blog for them. Disgraceful.

I can tell you however that we haven't just been up to fun and jollity as a team and it has been a incredibly packed and vibrant few weeks. From setting our objectives to talking about future campaigns, the last few weeks we are laying the foundations for the our coming year in office. Personally I've also renewing the Disabled Students' Guide which gives a great overview of Sheffield and handy tips on life here in the steel city.

So as you can see it has been very busy and in the coming weeks we will all be telling you about the objectives we have for the next year. For now I can reveal what Pete really thinks of me- he changed my password to 'I am a moron'. Humbling.

Tom