Day three of the Admission: Impossible roadshow saw another early start – but not as early as we’d expected! Having stayed in postgrad halls at York University the night before, we were pleasantly surprised (if somewhat blurry eyed) when we met a new postgraduate student from Canada at Breakfast. Not only was he already familiar with NUS, but he knew exactly what the Admission: Impossible campaign was about and had already decided to come on the demo!

Perhaps his sympathy for our cause had been fuelled by the situation he’d already witnessed in Canada, where the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) have been fighting similar battles for some time. Good to see some international and postgrad solidarity anyway!

We then boarded the battle van for York St. John SU, where we arrived at 8.30am with staff from NUS North and a busload of materials. It was clear that the previous Wednesday night had taken its toll on our members; the campus was a bit quiet until students began flooding in, clearly hungover, for some greasy hangover cures. I’m not sure we provided that, but we did provide some great reasons to come on the national demo.

We met a number of students on occupational health courses and – like many students on NHS courses – they don’t pay top-up fees! So it was a refreshing experience to find that they were so outraged by the experience of some of their friends, along with cuts in NHS bursary places, they were willing to join us on the demo in full medical uniform! This pledge was matched by one of the sports teams we met. Good start to the day!

We then drove through to Leeds, arriving at Trinity & All Saints College where term is now in full swing. Having spent some time at TASC the previous year, Gemma was really impressed at how far they’d moved forward with freshers’ activities and materials. They’re now having a big push for the national demo over the next three weeks, armed with the extra materials we were able to deliver. TASC have also made fantastic gains from NUS Extra sales, having sold over 1,000 cards already! More money for students, more money for campaigns and more money for the movement.

After stopping for a quick roll and some juice to stave off our rumbling stomachs, we drove over to Leeds University Union, where we received a warm welcome from the staff and officers and were overawed by their amazing new hub, promoting union democracy and involvement and providing some great IT facilities. We worked the busy lunchtime bar in the Union, flyering, stickering and signing students up to the buses that they’re putting on! We also started stoking some rivalry between students at LUU and students down at Leeds Met to get some friendly competition going around who can get more bums on seats down to the demo.

It was a shame we couldn’t stay longer, but we were off to Leeds Met next where the union had put an event on in the bar, with drinks offers and promotions to flog some more demo tickets. It was funny seeing the Tumelty dynasty in action together – Gemma’s sister Jodie is the president at Leeds Met and along with Jo and Rachel gave us a really warm welcome. We’ve definitely found so far that approaching students in bars is one of the hardest ways to recruit for the demo, compared, say, with hall knocks, lecture shout outs and promotional stalls in the union. We also felt a bit brow beaten by some politics students who seem to like reading about politics, but don’t do politics in practice! It made us both grateful that we studied Psychology (Gemma) and History (Wes)! Nonetheless, the sabbs have been really successful elsewhere in generating interest and the extra pair of helping hands from Louise Sweeney from the Block of 12 were invaluable in signing up some more interest from those we met. One group of students told Wes he should go into sales following a hard pitch for the demo to them!

Absolutely knackered at the end of the most exhausting day so far, we went out for a spot of tapas and a well needed drink with Met Sabbs past and present! We then went back to Gemma’s sister’s house for some much needed rest. Wes slept in Jodie’s bed with Gemma – you heard it first ednet! No, not the start of some sordid affair, but an effort to save NUS some cash by avoiding unnecessary hotel bills. We haven’t forgotten how to rough it, though to be honest Jodie’s bed was so comfortable we slept like babies and managed to avoid kicking eachother once! Thanks so much to Jodie and her housemates for putting us up (or up with us!)

Blogging on the road with Gemma at the wheel, we’re on our way to Newcastle for day 4 of the roadshow. Our day began at 6am and we were on the road at 7am. We thought we’d be absolutely shattered after yesterday, but it’s 8.29am, the day’s barely begun and we can’t wait to find out what’s in store at Newcastle Uni, Newcastle College and Northumbria later today.

Tune in to our next roadshow blog to find out what fun and frolics we get up to on the Tyne!

Have a good weekend,

Wes and Gemma

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