So, where to begin? This is my first blog post as Vice President Student Activities, and I can’t believe it has been almost two months since I started the job. The time has absolutely flown by, and it doesn’t seem like two minutes ago since the handover day on 1 July. I’d like to quickly thank my predecessor and good friend, Matt Wheelton, who guided me through the process. He put a lot of hard-work and effort into ensuring that student activities at the Students’ Union continued to move forward and develop, and I’m looking to pick up where he left off.

Since the handover day it has been pretty non-stop for me and the Exec team! I’ve lost count of the number of different inductions, training sessions and meetings we’ve attended. However they’ve all been very informative and have really helped us find our feet quickly, so I would also like to thank all the Students’ Union staff members for their support. Much of the last couple of months have been spent with the other Exec Officers; however there have also been opportunities for the Exec to focus on our own individual portfolio-based project plans.

As VP Student Activities, not only does my role oversee our many sports clubs and societies, it covers pretty much everything else that students can get involved in outside of their studies – making my job extremely enjoyable and non-academic! The past couple of months have therefore meant that I’ve been working alongside Students’ Union staff on a number of different activities, events, and opportunities for students to get involved in in the upcoming year – and first on the menu is Freshers’.

Freshers' 

The day of the Freshers’ announcement was a weird one for the Exec as we were down in Leicester for a couple of days on a training course with Exec Officers from other Students’ Unions. The clock struck Midday and our Twitter feeds, Facebook notifications, and just messages in general were going wild. I’d like to say we managed to stay focused on the training but it really was impossible and we just ended up joining in with the #HudFreshers hype on Twitter!

After the success of last year’s Freshers’, the last two months have been greatly focused on trying to somehow top last years’ success, and to further ensure that our Freshers’ programme includes something for everyone! Not only have we announced an absolutely ridiculous line-up in the likes of DJ Fresh and Huw Stephens for HudLive on Friday 26 September, but we’ve also ensured that there are events throughout the week which cater for everyone. These include; HudMovies during International Orientation Week, HudCrawl on Monday 22, our Campus Tea Party on Wednesday 24, to HudComedy featuring Chris Ramsey and Nathan Caton on Thursday 25, and also Come Dine with Hud on Sunday 28!

In addition to all these events and more, Freshers’ Fair will be running on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 where you’ll be able to take advantage of free giveaways, discount offers, and it will also provide you with the chance to speak to our different activity groups and find out how to join them. So, click here to check out the full line-up and buy your tickets if you haven’t done so already... you really don’t want to miss out! That’s all from me. Enjoy the rest of your summer and take care of yourselves, and we’ll see you in September!

Jordan Aird

Vice President Student Activities