Before July 1st when I officially took over as National Secretary I spent about three weeks in hand-over with James. I met with all the staff, went to regional officers meetings, a staff meeting, the first ever SEANUS (South East area NUS) conference and tried to find my way around the building. To be honest it’s a good job we’re relocating because after a month or so I still can’t find my way round! We also had NEC induction which was the best one I have been to so far, everyone really got on and I feel like people put aside differences to try to get to know each other and find some common ground. I think it helped that it was fabulous weather and that there was mini golf and a pool available for us to de-stress! In between all this I was up and down to Liverpool trying to relocate to London, I am still staying with friends but am desperately hoping to get my own space soon. I also had to allocate NEC to summer training, it sounds a hell of a lot easier than it actually is believe me, and surprisingly I didn’t get too many complaints!

Since I officially took over I have been on North East Manifesto to Action course 30 June to the 1 July in Scarborough, I had a good couple of days and I hope the delegates got a lot out of it. On the 2nd I attended the FOSIS conference in Leicester and spoke to delegates about NUS with Wes Streeting and Joe Rukin. I also spent the weekend writing a priority campaign proposal about student activities based on conference policy from April.

I also attended an educational Islam awareness day at the East London Mosque this week, which was really interesting and informative and gave me lots to think about. Thank you to all those who organised it for the whole NEC.

July the 4th, 5th and 6th I was in the office trying to sort out emails, mailings, NEC papers for the meeting, meeting with management about recruitment, helping Ellie settle in, attending campaigns launch meeting, and writing to lots of inspirational speakers to get them to our campaigns launch, and the one hundred and one other things that seem to be my responsibility!! There are not enough hours in the day it seems. The 6th was an emergency NEC about the progress of the inquiry into the allegations of anti-Semitism. Big news though, London won the Olympic bid, I was the complete cynic and didn’t believe we’d do it, but we did and I’m so pleased for the future sporting ability of our nation, the regeneration and the pride that it will bring is immeasurable.

July the 7th and 8th I spent in Birmingham for Regional Officer recruitment. July 7th was of course when the despicable bombings occurred in London, Kat and I did not find out until 11 thirty am when we went for a coffee break, I had dozens of missed calls on my mobile from anxious friends and family thinking I was in London. We were really concerned about all the staff, NEC and officers on their way to one of our training events, whilst trying to contact all friends and family in London. I can’t image the horror of being trapped underground in that situation nor the fear and panic. That day was a bit of a blur to me, one minute having to focus on recruitment, the next remembering what had happened and feeling such a sense of sadness and fear. The way that the NEC united around this issue (after the NEC meeting on the 11th) and pulled together must be commended, the statement and the information sent out in the aftermath was the work of each and everyone of us. But, huge recognition must be given to Jamal and all his hard work around the vigil and ensuring we were supporting students against any backlash that may occur. He has proven himself to be a team player and exceptionally hard working and co-operative and didn’t call for all the credit, so giving credit where credit is due…well done Jamal. Information sent out from NUS can be found at www.officeronline.co.uk

The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students.

All links in blogs will open in a new browser window.

The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/gemmatumelty/271098.aspx