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"Weekly Info", Summer Week 9: Ladies and Gentlemen, Ducks Are On Their Way
I have just finished a phone call with a wonderful duck breeder, and I’m proud to announce that the lake’s two new ruddy shelducks will be released onto the lake this Tuesday afternoon. The exact details are still to be decided - and I’m afraid that, much as I wanted to turn this into a big ceremony, it’ll be a small and quiet event for the sake of the ducks’ welfare.
But nevertheless, one final piece of Union General Meeting policy will be fulfilled, and Trevor II and his as-yet-unnamed companion will be floating about in time for Summer Ball, Big D and the end of term. It’s a rather nice way to cap off my term in office, I think.
My thanks to the Alumni Office and the York Annual Fund, who’ve made the whole thing possible.
THIS WEEK
So for the penultimate time, I’ll wrap up the meetings I’ve been in this week: I’ve briefed the team that’ll be running YUSU Fair in October, in the hope that they can make it even better next year. One improvement that’s already planned is reversing the flow of people through Physics - next year, you’ll queue under a covered walkway in case of rain, and the societies in the Roger Kirk Centre and Goodricke College won’t have to try and drag people back from the far side of the Exhibition Centre.
I’ve been in the final Campus Services meeting of term, where - among other things - Rory presented several of the Big Ideas that you’ve submitted over the last couple of weeks. I’m happy to report that they’re going forward: more plug sockets in the library may be happening soon, the Roger Kirk Centre may choose better music than ABBA, and there’s a plan that the current toilet roll dispensers - slowly but surely - will get replaced with better models as the annual service-and-replace cycle runs round the colleges. It’s not going to be quick, but it is going to happen. The Big Ideas are making their way up the university hierarchy fast - there’s never been anything like this before, and the Powers That Be really are listening.
Most importantly, I’ve been in my final University Council - along with my successor Tim! It’s the highest decision-making body in the university, save the the mostly-ceremonial Court.
Oh, and I was on Have I Got News For York too.
WOODSTOCK
Woodstock’s going to be brilliant. It’s on Saturday, on Vanbrugh Paradise... you know what, here’s the Facebook event, just go, it’ll be ace. And tune in to URY for the 24 hours beforehand - there’s a marathon radio show fronted by me, my friend Toast, and Scott Bryan with loads of the bands from Woodstock doing acoustic sets. Tune in from noon on Friday!
OH, AND PLEASE NOTE
I refrained from using any duck-based puns in this article.