This was a MAMMOTH day. We kept ourselves entertained from the outset by joking about being in WMANUS (or warm anus) country, which got us past the 8 o’clock mark and into our big day!

We arrived at Birmingham University Guild of Students to be greeted by president Gary Hughes, academic Peter Mason and financial Sabrina Francis. We set up our stand, collected some tickets for sale and left the building to hunt down some students just in time for a torrential downpour. It really pissed it down, but did we flinch? Did we cower? Did we find shelter from the rain?

No.

We’re harder than that and our hoodies provided all the warmth we needed (with Gemma satisfied that her hood was frizz proof!). We spoke to the radio station, student newspaper and set out finding students wherever we could – in the IT suite, around the Guild and out by the library. Again, BUGS seemed really sorted in terms of demo planning, sign ups and general satisfaction with NUS since almost 90% of students had voted Yes to NUS in a recent referendum!

We then drove over to Aston. We got lost. Again. We hate Sat Nav and at least we can agree that it’s all Sat Nav’s fault – so at least it serves some purpose in stopping arguments over the AA Routemap. Matt Daley seemed to have a great campaign underway already, with a great stall and a brilliant photo on display of local school kids backing the campaign! We went around the Guild collecting some more sign ups for the demo in what was just our first trip to Aston that day!!!

We had to leave to head over to Coventry University Students’ Union (home to distinguished alumni such as former VP Education Julian Nicholds, National Treasurer Joe Rukin and current Block member Amarachi Uzowuru!) for their General Meeting where they passed some great policy in support of the campaign and we were given a chance to get on our soapboxes and plug the national campaign. We also saw some really enthusiastic and promising faces elected onto various campaign committees. We then went around CUSU signing up some more people to the demo, eyeing up their local NUS Extra materials and hearing about their planned development.

Back in the van, which has now done more than 2,000 miles, we drove over to Warwick University whilst pondering how on earth we’re going to offset our carbon emissions for this trip! Please email with any suggestions greenies!

Once at Warwick, we got prime position outside the union on their piazza. With our trendy beats pumping from our van, we set about running around signing up students for the demo. We want to say a special thanks to Warwick Labour Club for turning out volunteers to support us, as well as the sabbs. We found lots of support around campus, especially for international students who were keen for NUS to call for the capping and regulation of their fees.

We did come across one or two people who thought that the cap should be lifted and I’m afraid we view them with the disdain as we do those Members of Parliament and well-paid, well-fed vice-chancellors who enjoyed a free education and are now pulling up the ladder for future generations. One student made a silly faux pas by telling Gemma that mickey mouse degrees like psychology offered at mickey mouse ‘new’ universities were worthless and devaluing HE. Gemma, a psychology graduate from Liverpool John Moores, had a thing or two to say about that!

It seems some people are ignorant to the views of the CBI, the TUC, the Treasury and the OECD who tell us that Britain’s economy needs MORE graduates! It also seems that some people are ignorant to the barriers to participation faced by people less fortunate (or rich, to put it bluntly) than themselves. When it comes to widening participation, in many ways it’s not the views of current students that matter – it’s the opinions of those that don’t make it that do!

We delivered some of those themes back at Aston that evening where they were holding the first council of term. Gemma introduced the work of NUS and the benefits of membership and Wes gave a brief overview of the campaign before taking questions.

We then went our separate ways – Gemma faced a long drive up to Macclesfield for NUSSL Board and Wes faced a long, long, long, train back to London – having missed the last fast train back to London :-(

Still, we had a great day campaigning, supporting officers on the ground delivering and feeling sorry for Gemma who was about to spend her birthday at the NUSSL Board meeting. We won’t mention how old she is! See if you can guess on Regional Conferences!!! ;-)

Gemma and Wes

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