Apologies for not having this ready sooner but here are my highlights for the month of August:

Active Political Leadership:
I attended APL down in London and played the role of a finance director trying to takeover the union services etc and generally not give much to the students’ union. It was good to see the light bulbs clicking for officers as we set them up for the year ahead and meeting the new intake of student leaders. I have to say I was especially pleased to see a wide range of officers, including activities sabbs, on APL this year to take the tools back to their students.

Activities In Action:
I attended Activities in Action in UWE and was delighted to see how much the course had developed from when I first started off as a sabb way back taking part in ‘participate and develop’ as it was then called. The course allows activities sabbs to explore ways of increasing participation and looking at barriers that can be apparent in student activities. I especially enjoyed sessions on disability and sport, a priority for the disabled students campaign this year, and the results so far that have come from this are very positive with unions such as Kent dedicating a slot to ‘give it a go’ around disability sports.

WMANUS Unionise Project:
I went up to the WMANUS offices in Birmingham to discuss the project and campaign they are running this year entitled Unionise. It builds links with the TUC in the midlands as well as different trade unions with regards to the working student. It was good to see Ryan Slaughter, WMANUS Campaigns and Communications Convenor, putting into practice the Activist Academy skills and this project has so far been very successful and highlights what can be done with a national issue, on a local level.

Train the Trainer:
I attended the midlands and east ‘train the trainer’ event where we equip student officers, staff members, trainers, and students to deliver a wide range of training to their students. Now this course has come in for some flack in the past but what I like about it is that not only are we training sabbs but also students who can then get active in their union.

Also in the month of August I attended a Strong and Active and Welfare zone meeting, was representing NUS at London’s city hall for the Mayor’s launch of discounted oyster travel for people on income support and attended a short but sweet NEC meeting.

Any questions chuck me a line on 07740 334184 or email bubble@nus.org.uk

Cheers

Richard ‘Bubble’ Budden

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