Week 6: Northern Society confirmation and Ice Skating

Firstly, a meeting with the Guild on Friday confirmed that the Northern Society is a good idea. Our section of the meeting lasted no longer than five minutes with a simple question to answer: what do you want to do with your society? After a brief explanation, emphasising the aim to get rid of the North/South divide within home students, there was a unanimous agreement and we were given a document to give to the office in Student Development. Bish bash bosh! We were told that in about a week or two there will be a training session and start up meeting that we will have to book and attend, dates for which will be emailed to us soon. With that under our belt, we went on a search for another one or two committee members (as the minimum is three and the average is four) through Facebook in a group message. Three people replied, one of which was in mind anyway, and the decision will be made soon. The first social for the Northern Society should happen in two weeks or so. Good news, good news indeed.

In other news, after a weekend away in Sheffield to see the Winter Varsity Ice Hockey game between Hallam and Uni, a childhood want was reborn: I've always wanted to be able to ice skate, with even a very young dream to be a figure skater (this is before the hype of Dancing On Ice... in fact it was before Popstars). I knew already that there are no ice rinks in Birmingham. Ironically, the Birmingham rink was burnt down a few years ago. There is a rink in Solihull, though, which can be accessed by bus from Birmingham Moor Street. Lessons are in five week blocks at £36 plus skate hire (£2 per session). Though this seems a bit steep to me, having known a cheaper block in Doncaster which includes skate hire, Solihull Blue Ice rink do include the invitation to the extended session afterwards for free. For those who become or are already competent skaters, the University of Birmingham has an Ice Hockey society which includes access to the Birmingham Eagles, the team with players from UoB, Aston and City.