After being out of the office for so long I was happy to be spending at least some time back in it working my way through the mountain of post and usually e-mails that invariably piles up when your away.

On Monday we had a strategic management meeting where we all debate what is going on and where we are up to in turning our organisation around. These meetings are invaluable and a big step in the right direction for NUS. As a sabb from what I think is an excellent Union I can now see that I took the strength of the organisation around me for granted and realise that many officers don’t have the same luxuries as those from well developed Union’s. I have had two very different experiences in terms of the organisations I have represented.

So I was in the office until Thursday afternoon when I visited Thames Valley SU to talk to the sabbs about NUS Extra and immediately after Queen Mary to talk to the Exec on the same issue. I can definitely say that both audiences were very open to the idea and looked at it on its merits rather than on prejudices which is very refreshing.

I headed up to Teesside that night to see my girlfriend but also to go to Martyn Williams’ leaving do who has joined Northumbria as GM after around 8 years at Teesside. It was a sad and happy day all at the same time. Martyn has been an inspiration to me and a constant confidante. He also helped us out at NUS for some time alongside Ian King. I wish him all the best and know I’ll be in contact with him still anyway and I also wish the new GM Jon Berg the best of luck.

I had to come back down Saturday so I could go to Compositing for Conference on the Sunday which was an extraordinary affair. It literally is cutting words and full stops out of one motion and sticking it in another to get a new one and other peoples support therefore. All the usual officers and hacks were there in force and I’m sure thrived on the experience much more than I who only went to sort NUS Extra out.

The next Monday I went up to Keele to talk to there sabbs and a staff member about Extra where again I was greeted with a warm welcome and some serious issues and questions. That night I travelled down to Cardiff to do work on the referendum and managed to lock myself out of my room and have to get broken back in by one of the hotel staff which was annoying! The Cardiff referendum itself was littered with lots of misleading info and there was a serious amount of time and resource put into the disaffiliation campaign by the Union itself which I am glad to say was wasted as their students voted overwhelmingly to stay in even though the question was phrased in such a way that you had to say ‘no to disaffiliation’ rather than ‘yes to NUS’.

The next morning I shot up to Warwick to recruit a new National Director. I was really worried that they wouldn’t perform in the interview and I’d be underwhelmed but we had a really strong calibre of applicants and appointed someone who I hope to be an awesome addition to NUS and more than capable of taking us forward and making us into the organisation that we need to be. It was a two day process and on the Thursday I went down to BUGS Council to present on Extra yet again. I was very impressed by the council itself – a proper old fashioned chamber and a huge attendance which was great.

I ended the week in the office yet again with another Strategic Management team meeting before shooting off on the Saturday to Liverpool for NUSSL Convention and a mad few weeks!

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