WAMGO Update #2

It's been a while since my last update, so here's a quick run through of what I've been up to over the past month...

1.

This is the poster for Love Your Body week which was last week. Bar the Let's Talk About Porn which was organized by our Sabb officer Sidonie Bertrand-Shelton, these were all events I put together to try and get us talking about and thinking about body image a bit more. You can read about what we talked about in the Let's Talk About Body Image here, and pick up one of the zines we made from upstairs in the SU!

2. Gym Introductions and Self Defense. No I haven't forgotten these are on my manifesto, I've got a sign up sheet for women-only gym inductions here, which we'll be organising once we've got enough sign-ups. I've also been starting to talk to RHUL sports clubs about organising self defense classes for womena and marginalised genders. Hopefully we'll be getting lots of these next term, and set them up so they carry on after my year is over! Pretty soon I should be able to give you a list of gym classes with female instructors too.

3.

Campus connect currently only has 2 gender options. As of next year a third option will be added! I'm sorry it couldn't happen this year but it's a lot to change the system half way through.


4.

So the LGBT+ Officers have been getting the college to get some more gender neutral toilets. I thought it would be great if we a) help people understand why we need them and b) make sure people aren't judgemental of others in the meantime. This brilliant poster from University of Bristol LGBT+ Society is something we're hoping to replicate. As well as this we've been designing posters for outside the Gender Neutral Toilet in the SU.

 5.

 Liberation Station has been going well! I've been helping out with shows and this week we're discussing topics to do with SHAG week, specifically Virginity and LGBT+ issues.


6. Sub-Committee! This last GM I had a Sub Committee elected! You'll be hearing lots more about them over the coming months and hopefully meet them at the next few event. We've already got a lot of stuff planned for the future and set up this page to tackle Sexism on campus.

Upcoming Events

Transgender Awareness Week
This week may be SHAG week but it's also Transgender awareness week. We have stickers available from either me or the LGBT+ Committee.

SHAG Week
As I mentioned it's also SHAG week. I was busy on Friday helping to pack bags which you can pick up from the SU reception.

Everything going on can be found on this poster:

Reclaim the Night

This Saturday is Reclaim the Night in London and RHUL are travelling up together from Egham. For more details join this event page: and for information on the event as a whole see this.

16 Days of Activism #ReclaimYourCampus
This will run from 25th November to 10th December, watch this space for more details!

Zine Making!

This Tuesday we had a zine making session for Love Your Body week. They are available to pick up from upstairs in the SU for free! Here's a sneak peak into some of them...

Let's Talk About Body Image

This Monday I hosted a discussion talking about Body Image as part of Love Your Body Week. The idea was to have speakers talk about aspects of body image we don't always consider e.g. body hair, BME women, make up, and from there start a discussion with everyone there about what we think about body image.

It started off with Natasha Barrett, the president of Femsoc, and H, the recently elected women and marginalised genders' events and initiatives rep, talking about body hair. This set the tone for the entire talk, it was chatty and welcoming, and they talked about everything from awkward shaving experiences to shaving and relationships, to not shaving at all.

Why do we always zoom in on celebs under arms?

After that we heard from Garen Abel Unokan who talked about BME body image, in particular the representation of Black Women. For those who came to the screening of Dark Girls in October or have seen this documentary before, you will be aware of the racism within their own community which black women face. This was something Garen emphasised in her talk; having worked for a beauty magazine specifically for a black audience, she was surprised how many skin lightening ads she found, and how many articles on 'relaxing' your hair- a proccess of straightening hair that is particular wavy or curly, as is typical of BME women.

Why are we made to think the hair on the right is 'better'

The final speaker was Antonia King. She approached me wanting to talk about make up a few days before the talk was to happen as I was searching for a few speakers, having had a couple pull out. I am so glad she spoke about this issue because it wasn't one that many people had considered. People were really interested in discussing this, as she brought up how we can't shame people who wear too much or too little make up; if that's what people like to do, that's fine.

Why do we feel like we can comment on the amount of make up someone wears? Especially if it's what makes them feel good.

The discussion afterwards was brilliant. Everyone chipped in, sharing experience. We discovered we had a lot in common. Like knowing we had to shave our legs without ever being told to do so. Like having parents tell us how we should look. Like having an interview and getting told how to look good for it when our male counterparts were offered valuable advice for the job. Like how when we wear make up people talk to us more, how people feel like they have a right to comment on our bodies, and most importantly how important it is to have a supportive group of friends.


Overall, I was incredibly pleased with the talk and I've realised how important it is for us to keep talking about these things in safe spaces, and make sure we create a campus that is the most open and supportive it can be.

Leg hair: Is it worth the fuss?

The first time I shaved my legs I was in year 10. I didn’t do it because I wanted to. I did it because I thought to myself, these girls in my year already think I’m a bit odd...I wonder what they’d do if they noticed my leg hair too?

I never really liked the feel of shaving. Sometimes I’d try waxing, although anyone who has ever tried waxing themselves with cold wax will understand the difficulties here- I mostly just ended up stuck to various things around my room. I experimented with hair removal cream which I actually found ok, if a little scary when your leg hair starts to disintegrate, and after a while my legs started reacting badly to it. All in all, I really wasn’t a fan of hair removal techniques.

The thing is, I shouldn’t have felt I needed to be a fan of them. Nowhere is there a contractual obligation for me, as a woman, to shave my legs once a week. Yet many people get into this routine without questioning why they’re doing it. We fork out on razors promising us a smooth finish, on shaving cream to avoid getting a rash. But we don’t ask why we’re doing this, or at least we don’t ask it often enough.

PIcture Source

Contrary to some people’s misguided opinions, you don’t have to shave your legs to be a feminist, or to be a woman who can make her own decisions. If you’re shaving because you’ve made the conscious decision to, and you’re not doing it for anyone else, then that’s fine. But I always found it was really hard to tell who I was shaving for.

Picture Source

If I was going out I’d argue I was doing it because I liked the feel of it and I should make myself feel good. However, no doubt it was also because I knew people might take notice of my legs, or take photos, and making myself feel good was, in part, knowing that my legs were ‘acceptable’. So one summer, I decided not to shave. I didn’t shave often anyway (and really I mean like never in the winter and maybe once a month each summer at most), but for this I went full on no razor. I decided if I could do this then if I felt the urge to shave my legs afterwards, I would know that it would be for myself and no one else.

All in all, I learnt a lot of things about myself. Like the fact my natural leg hair is really light, so nobody noticed I hadn’t shaved until I mentioned it. I became more confident, being able to walk into shops in my home town, where I knew the same girls I was scared of in school would be, with my legs out and standing tall. I also found out that when you don’t shave for a while, your leg hair actually becomes quite soft and cuddly.

This November, I call on you to try what I did in the summer. Let’s ditch the razors together and see what it’s like to stop shaving for a month*. After the month is up you can get rid of the hair straight away, or you can leave it for a while. But hopefully you’ll have learnt more about yourself and thought about the reasons you started to shave in the first place, knowing that when you do it again, it’s for you. This is all part of a Winter Warmer campaign and we’ll be encouraged to raise money by not shaving for a charity called Woman at the Well, who provide a safe and supportive space for vulnerable women.

Follow RHUL women’s and marginalised genders’ network on Facebook for more details.

Picture Source

*This doesn't have to just be leg hair, if you feel like growing more than go get those armpits!

WAMGO Update #1

Hey everyone! This is my first update of the year, you can find out all that I've been doing so far and things that I'm currently planning. If you want to know more feel free to contact me. In between updates I'll be making general blog posts about the women and marginalised genders community :)


Fresher's Week
After a busy weekend moving people in, I headed to the supermarket to stock up on cupcakes and decorations for the first meet and greet session in Imagine. This was great fun, and it was lovely to meet some new faces and eat cake.

I also emailed the SU about having a safe space in the Union for event nights for anyone to go to if they need it, whether it's from anxiety, harassment or needing a quiet place to sit in. They managed to make that happen all of last week which I'm extremely grateful for!

RHUL Sport
We've now got an Inclusions Officer at RHUL Sport, and I met up with her to chat about what can be done to improve facilities and classes for women and marginalised genders. We are looking in to women's only gym introductions, the possibility of gender neutral changing rooms, having women's only classes and maybe even starting a running group! I'll keep you updated on progress made here so watch this space!


Film Screenings
Every few weeks this year I'll be showing films relating to women and marginalised genders. The first one is on the 12th October and as it's Black History Month I'll be showing Dark Girls. It's a brilliant movie so I hope to see you all there! I've got a couple more films to pick this term, but before Christmas I'm hoping to screen But I'm a Cheerleader, and Hysteria.

After each film we'll be having a casual discussion in a safe space about what we thought about the topics discussed in each film.


Love Your Body Week
This will run from the 10th to the 14th of November and I'm in the process of planning lots of activities that will not only teach us how to be more comfortable in our skin but will also challenge perceptions of beauty.

On the 6th November I've organised a Let's Talk About Body Image event. The line up at the moment includes Becky Barnes, a plus size fashion blogger; Kelly Knox, a disabled model and advocate for models of diversity; Garen Abel Unokan, former RHUL student who will speak about BME representation and body image; Natasha Mitchell Barrett, RHUL femsoc president, who will speak about body hair issues.

As well as this, I'm hoping to run some life drawing sessions, some 'know your body' sessions or online activities, zine making workshops, challenge gender binary views of ourselves, and also, on the 12th November, Classics lecturer Richard Hawley will present a talk on body image, looking at modern perceptions of beauty and how they are affected by the ancient world.


Winter Warmer Campaign
It's time for us to grow our body hair! This will run through the whole of November, coinciding with Love Your Body week. It's for everyone to get involved in and we'll be raising money for vulnerable women and marginalised genders in the winter (I'll give you an update on the charity in a later post). You can do it as an individual or a club/society and whoever raises the most will win a prize!

I'll be encouraging people to share experiences throughout this campaign so we can begin to think more about what society makes us think is right. Afterwards you can go back to shaving straight away, but I hope that then you'll have a greater understanding of why you're doing it and know that it's all for you.


Gender Pay Gap
I've had a meeting with our UCU representative Clare Bradley and discussed what to do about the gender pay gap at Royal Holloway. I found out some shocking figures and information. I'll be relating this to the careers events in second term, and hopefully running a campaign around it all!



Bonus: Free Condoms 

So it occurred to me that to get free condoms I had to go into Egham and sign up to the Get It On Scheme in Boots, while the university, though providing free STI testing kits, was doing nothing to prevent this in the first place. After a quick meeting in the health centre and finding out where all the condoms were, I managed to find out the university can indeed provide this, and thanks to the lovely Sid, the CoPres Welfare and Diversity, we now have free condoms AND dental dams at Royal Holloway!

That's all the updates for now!
Imogen x

Quick Tips for Freshers: A liberation perspective

You've just arrived at university. You've finally got the chance to be the activist you always dreamed of being. Or maybe you just identify within a liberation group and want to be part of the movement. But where do you start? And how do you find others that think similarly?

Look no further you fantastic liberation people, you can find out all (or some) of what you need to know right here.

Before you meet any of our liberation team at Royal Holloway, you'll probably want to get to know your flatmates on a night out or during the day sometime. It will most likely be a great experience and you'll make some fantastic friendships. But remember, you don't have to do anything you feel uncomfortable with, and that's fine. If the group isn't your fit you'll be bound to meet a ton more people over the course of the week and find people you love to hang out with. And don't be afraid of calling people out if they say something offensive; most likely there will be others their who felt the same but didn't want to speak out.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2014/1/6/1389028479238/The-Who-Needs-Feminism-ca-012.jpg

Something to remember on a night out: If you identify outside binary genders or just don't feel comfortable using male/female toilets, we've got gender neutral toilets in the SU on the first floor, which are always open!

For some other useful tips, check out the guardians' feminist guide to freshers' week.

During welcome week, each liberation officer will be holding events for their caucus. Here's a quick list of each one so you can plan your week:

LGBT+ 'pub quiz' in Imagine. Non Alcholic and great way to meet people. Tuesday 23rd at 6pm.

Women and Marginalised Genders cake decorating meet and greet in Imagine. Wednesday 24th 3-5pm.

Disabled Students Campus Tour Wednesday 24th 5pm (I'll update this with a place one I know where it is)

BME Cultures and Ethnicities Meet and Greet, Thursday 25th 3-5pm (Again I'll pop a place on here as soon as it's confirmed)

Remember to go along to the Fresher's Fayre on the Thursday and Friday as well to join any socities relevant to your interests. In terms of liberation we've got some great ones including Amnesty International, Feminist Society, LGBT+ Society, African-Caribbean Society, and lots of societies relating to faith and culture! Check them all out here.

Just remember when you come to university it's not compulsory to suddenly have the best time of your life, though often you will feel the most liberated, and it might be the most understood you've been in your life so far. As well as trying out sport to keep a positive mental attitude (head down to the sport's hall during fresher's fayre to find out more), you'll also have access to all the university's (free!) welfare schemes including counselling, disability and dyslexia services, and the health centre. These can all be found here https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/ecampus/welfare/home.aspx, so check it out and make sure you know who to contact, they are all there to help :)

We also have Tina, a welfare advisor in the SU, who you can pop in and see or call up on 01784 246700, and any out of hours support or for anything that goes outside of what the college offers, check out this webpage http://www.su.rhul.ac.uk/advice/wellbeing/.


Where are all these places anyway?
Here's a quick guide to finding some of the places I've mentioned. To get to Imagine, you need to head to the back of the Hub and down the stairs, for disabled access, you can head down the ramp behind the hub and enter through a door on the same level as Imagine. (If you want to know about other buildings check out this access guide https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studentlife/documents/pdf/accessguide.pdf)

I hope this has been useful to a few of you, for more general Freshers advice check out this post from The Orbital, our student magazine http://theorbital.co.uk/advice-freshers-wont-tell-welcome-pack/


Remember to find your relevant liberation pages on Facebook and Twitter for more news, and I'll see you during freshers!

Imogen x

Anti- Rape Nail Polish: Ignoring the problem

Four students in America all know women who have been sexually assaulted, as most students anywhere do. But instead of sitting around and saying something bad is happening they've decided to d something about it. Introducing anti-rape nail polish, which won't do exactly as it says on the tin, but it will alert the wearer if their drink has been spiked. The invention has received a lot of praise, winning $11, 250 at a local entrepreneurial competition and a donation of $100, 000 for the product, being an area not yet studied in large by the scientific community or commercial companies.

Although at first glance this seems to many a great way to empower women and make them feel safe on a night out, and some people have criticised the product saying that it is not something currently needed, with only 2.3% of a group of sexual assault victims questioned believed they had been given drugs. Furthermore, as most crimes of this sort are committed by known and trusted men, many women feel that even if they had the nail polish on, they would not have thought to stir a drink given to them by a friend or family member.

The main problem I see with this product is the fact that it is accepting rapists and the fear of them. It’s great that it will empower women to feel safe on a night out, but how long until we start telling people who were sexually assaulted that they should have been wearing the nail polish, and it becomes just another way of controlling the way women look? Will it become that we can only wear a short skirt if we also have this nail polish on so we can avoid getting attacked with blame and have the crime taken seriously?

All in all, encouraging people to wear this nail polish without addressing the issue of sexual assault will not reduce the number of incidents, it will just change who it happens to. Not everyone in a club will be wearing anti-rape nail polish. It takes a long time to work, so if you’re noticed, the suspect can move on.

As part of my role next year, I will be working to make sure the campus and surrounding area stay safe, providing information on Zero Tolerance and Consent on campus throughout the year.

One great service you can use to report any sexual assault on campus and the surrounding area is Hollaback! The link to Royal Holloway's one is here: http://ulu.ihollaback.org/hollaback-campus/surhul/ and you can download it to your phone or use the web page to post what has happened to you. If you need any help regarding this issue, contacts for support and advisory services can also be found on this page.

See you in Fresher's!
Imogen x

ENGLAND WIN THE RUGBY WORLD CUP

The last time we won the Rugby world cup I was 1. I'm now 21 and yesterday victory was ours once again. The final was against Canada who we had drawn 13 all with in the pool stages, but we took to a flying start in this match, ending the first half with a lead of 11 points, and putting further distance between us as Canada started catching up, finishing on a total of 21-9.

At this point, you may be wondering what I'm talking about- wasn't it the football world cup this year? And didn't we get knocked out of that pretty early on? Or maybe you already know, due to the sudden interest of newspapers now that we've won it. If they only reported victory for men's sport most of the general public would be wondering what was up. Although that would be because most of the general public would know there was a match on. Flags would be out, TVs would be on, pubs would be full. But this wasn't men's sport. This was the women's rugby world cup.

Celebrating their victory: Source

Female sport is still massively underrepresented in media- only making up 2% of the content of sports coverage in the UK. The women participating in the rugby world cup came from many different professions, most taking unpaid leave to participate in the tournament, while it was reported that the men's England team were paid £41, 666 per man up to the quarter-finals during their world cup.

Men vs. Women sport coverage in 2012: Source

Despite having jobs and living all over the country, England's women team did not let this jeapordise their chances of victory. Captain Katy Mclean told Sky Sports, "We've worked so hard for this, and there are so many great legends that have gone before us that haven't won in an England shirt, and that's for all of them who are here today" 

Katy Mclean, England's captain, works as a primary school teacher in Sunderland: Source

Hopefully there will now be a bit more of an interest in women's sport. We saw a growth after the Olympics, and now we've won the rugby world cup perhaps we'll see even more. Next year sees the women's football world cup taking place in Canada. It's a big sport in some countries now, and I hope this means there will be coverage of it in the UK.

Having women's sport televised more is important, not just because they should be represented as much as men are (although yeah that's pretty much it), but also because it gives young girls role models, it lets them know it's not just boys who get to play football, it gives them confidence to pursue sports they want. 

Remember, there are some brilliant women's sports teams at Royal Holloway, make sure to visit the sports fayre and get involved!

Hello!

Hey everyone!

I'm Imogen and I'll be your Women and Marginalised Genders' officer for the next academic year. I thought I'd start off with a little post to let you know a bit about myself, my ideas, and how to get in contact with me.

Who am I?
I'm about to start an MRes in the Classics department. But don't worry, I'm not new to Royal Holloway; I've been around for 3 years doing my undergraduate degree, so I'm familiar with the campus, the SU, and student life in the area.

I was an active member of the Amnesty International Society for three years and was on the committee for two of them, so activism isn't a new thing to me. When you bring problems to me I will do all that I can to help you.

For reference, here is a picture of me and some goats.

Why did I run?
I guess this question could have a lot of different answers, but really I just want to continue working towards a more inclusive campus where everyone feels safe. I really enjoy organising and campaigning for issues I'm passionate about and I'm looking forward to working with the other liberation officers to help achieve a campus where everyone feels welcome and cared for.

So...what do I plan to do?
I want create a campus where students are educated about their rights and issues that concern them. I want women and marginalised genders to feel represented in this on campus and by the end of the year to walk around more confident in expressing themselves and making a change.

Throughout the year I'll be holding talks on topics such as trans media awareness, consent, and equal pay among many more, I'll also be creating stronger links between the SU, the health centre and the counseling service so you know where to go if something's up. I'm hoping to organise self-defense workshops and women and marginalised genders gym introductions, and if there's anything else you need there will be regular forums where you can come and have your say.

You can view my election manifesto here.

How can you get in contact with me?
Facebook: RHUL women's and marginalised genders' network
Twitter: @rhulwmg
Email: rhulwmgo@gmail.com

You'll also be able to see me at the Fresher's Fayre with the other liberation officers.
The first forum will be on Wednesday the 8th October, and the first film screening will be on Sunday 12th October :)

Summary and goodbye

Well folks, it's been a ride. I'm just about to hand over this blog (and the email address, and everything else) to our new WMGO, Imogen, who I'm sure you'll be seeing around a lot. I've been elected (together with Josephine) to be your new LGBT+ Officer next year, so you're not shot of me yet!

I thought I'd leave a brief summary of what I'd been up since I last wrote:

• Organised and attended the women-only self-defense seminar, which was enjoyed very much by all who attended. Hopefully we'll see a re-run of that next year.

• Agreed on some women-only gym introduction session in the third term, as a stop gap until w-only gym classes come in next year. I also wrote some questions for a gym survey which was planned for third term but will go forward next term instead.

• Made sure the leaflets on non-binary gender and sexual harassment are available at the SU, although the latter needs updating again already because...

• ...I instigated and attended a meeting between SU and Security to improve the day-to-day application guidelines of our Zero Tolerance policy, which they since took further and for which they have developed a detailed procedure (though there'll be some tweaking still on the SU side).

• Continued collaborating with FemSoc to put on a variety of events, which mostly went down very well.

• Got nominated for a Laurel, which made me happy, and did not win, which made me happy, because as a PGR student I wasn't able to move as much forward in my officer role as I would have liked and it wouldn't have felt fair to receive the award. However, both Matt (Disabled Students' Officer) and Violet (BME Officer) got their Laurels which was fantastic and made me even more happy (the food at the ceremony didn't, though).

• Went to LGBT conference because I couldn't make it to Womens' conference and brought back bucket-loads of ideas for next year.

• Got elected LGBT Officer together with the awesome Josephine Chick and have already started cunning plots together with a liberation officers to make next year flipping fantastic.

So. That's it. That's me. In this role, anyway. Take it away, Imogen!

All the best,

Alexandra

Year of the Duck

Hello all, a (very) belated Happy New Year to you - or a recent one, if you celebrate Chinese New Year. It's been almost two months since my last update, and that's because this academic year is my own personal year of the duck. Calm on top, high-speed paddling under the surface.

If you'll remember, we last saw each other when I was setting myself up to tackle my priority #2. Here are my first two priorities in case you don't remember (I wouldn't blame you):

#1 - talk to people in the WMG caucus and find out what they want/need

#2 - supporting and representing the WMG caucus in attaining their goals

#1 went well, but #2 was stressing me out. One long night during my winter holiday time, off work and in a different country, I lay awake at night trying to figure out how I was going to work full tilt in my PhD, be on a society committee, have an active social life, and not disappoint anyone in my caucus while doing my very best to revolutionize campus and make it the perfect safe space for all concerned.

Unsurprisingly, I wasn't getting very far. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the system at the RHUL SU, there are several (many) part-time officers (liberation-related and otherwise) who are meant to do a good job in the free time that studying leaves them. This may work alright in some UG courses, but when you're working full-time in a lab-based PhD, it gets a little tough.

I'm not telling you this to be pitied, I figured I knew what I was signing up for. I was going to do as much as possible. What I hadn't figured in was my desperate perfectionism and need to do everything all the time. Turns out that really doesn't work. So when I couldn't sleep the second night in a row because I was drawing up time-tables in my mind and finding more and more things I should do, I made a decision. At 3am, I sat on the floor and wrote down all the ideas I had - both from what I could come up with and what people said in the fora last term.

Here's the list:

W-only swimming, W-only self-defense, W in Science (event/online), non-binary leaflet, sexual harassment leaflet, trans* leaflet, sexual harassment posters for campus venues, emotional abuse leaflet, W intro gym sessions, film screenings, podcasts/blog posts, "Girls' night out" W evening event, LGBT* Soc events (x2), MG awareness campaign (poster/online), MG training for SU employees, W body image session, W sports events, SU motion for WMGO sub-committee, hold W & MG fora in the spring term, write a WMGO handbook for the next officer

I then prioritised them and gave myself one thing to do each month. Not that I've stuck to that, but this way I don't feel pressured to do more than I can manage. Here's what I've done so far this year:

• Put the motion to form a WMGO subcommittee through the GM. At the last general meeting, the WMGO was granted a sub-committee, made up of two positions (to be elected at the next GM):
• WMG awareness & communications rep.
• WMG events & initiatives rep.

• Finished the non-binary gender leaflet. It's been OK-ed by the SU and it's now available on this blog! Have a look under the new "Resources" tab. I'm working on getting it in print in the SU.

• Finished the sexual/general harassment leaflet. This has also been OK-ed, is available under "Resources" and I will also get those into print ASAP.

• Talked to Ian, our VPSA, about women's gym intro sessions. He's spoken to the Sports Centre and they seem fairly interested, so hopefully those will be a thing, if not this year then next.

• Started organising Women's Only Self-Defense sessions. These will take place in May and there will be two opportunities to attend a course. The course will be held by the same instructor who visited ULU last term to great success (thanks to ULU Women's Officer Susuana for putting us in touch).

• Tried to organise Women's Only Swimming. It's not been easy, I've now chased up two separate schools twice each to try and get in touch with the person in charge to just discuss what kind of options we have. This is currently on the back burner.

• Started organising a body confidence session via my role in FemSoc with Body Gossip. The session will be held in March and will be open to FemSoc non-members too, exact date to be confirmed.

So. The plan is to work slowly, and steadily, and get done what I can, with the aim being to establish and secure events and campaigns before moving on to new projects. We'll see what I can squeeze in! Thanks for all those supporting me, particularly our VP Education and Welfare Sidonie, who is spectacularly amazing and supportive.

I'll close now, as this blog post is getting long - I hope to be in touch more regularly over the remainder of the term. If you've any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at rhulwmgo[at]gmail.com - also please get in touch if you're thinking of running for one of the two subcommittee positions! I'd love to work with you.

#justkeepswimming