Hi All,
This is likely to be my penultimate one of these, and I've got a few important bits to cover before I go.
Handover
We've entered June! This year has been a whirlwind and it certainly isn't winding down to the end. This month, myself and Jo Lea are working with Union and University staff to coordinate an effective transition for the 3 returning officers (Ela, Nat and Nick) and welcoming in Emily Horsfall as Union Development and Democracy Officer and Jeff Wiltshire as Education Officer.
There's lots for us to do and plenty of meetings and training sessions for the new guys, as well as some fun stuff to help them bond as a new team. The emails for Officers are also changing with the new job titles, although the old ones will forward for the next 6 months.
EU Referendum Registration Deadline - 7th June
Deadline day to register to vote in the EU Referendum is Tuesday 7th June. Yes, as I am writing this, you have 4 days to register - and only 5 to sign up for a postal vote if you need one.
This referendum may go down to the wire, don't miss out on making sure that your opinion is counted!
AU Clubs - Coaching and Strength & Conditioning
It has recently come to light that a budget proposal from the Sports Centre that included funding for Strength & Conditioning (S&C) coaching and for individual club-level coaching has been rejected by the University Budget Review Group, after it was agreed in principle earlier in the year and trialled this semester. This trial saw S&C coaching made available to AU clubs, so that they could properly use the brand new S&C room in the sports centre.
Pulling this funding means that clubs will plateau, if not go backwards, in terms of performance, member recruitment/retention and enjoyment. The position of Keele at 70th in the BUCS table will not improve without an injection of expertise from professional coaches. There are a host of other impacts this funding would have, on widening access to sport, improved mental health of our students through exercise, attracting higher numbers of talented athletes to Keele, to name but a few.
There is a petition being circulated to show opposition to this decision - https://www.change.org/p/craig-heath-su-president-secure-continued-funding-for-keele-au-s-s-c-coaching-staff
I am also in the beginnings of communication with the University to hopefully discuss this issue and we shall see where that takes us.
If you or your club use the S&C room, have benefited from the coaching or have related comments that you would like to make on this issue, send a message to a member of the AU Committee.
Accommodation on Campus
On a different University topic, there have recently been a series of open sessions for students and the public to view University plans for the future of accommodation on campus. These also enabled students to ask questions of the designers, University Estates and representatives from UPP.
Updates on the feedback received from these sessions, along with digitised versions of the plans themselves is now available on the University website. Please keep an eye on the pages here for updates on the progression of these plans over the summer and fill in the Google Form with any feedback you may have.
So yes, as you can see, things are really not winding up for a quiet end to the year.
Yours (for the rest of the month),
Craig