Apologies

There will be afternoon tea in the reception lobby between 2 and 5 pm this Sunday (27/09).

Unfortunately I will only be able to attend right at the end of afternoon tea as I have to work in my emergency department at short notice this weekend. I will dine in Hall this Sunday so if you wanted to talk to me at afternoon tea, come and find at dinner instead. I will also be at afternoon tea on Sunday 4 October as planned.

My next open office session is at 5 pm on Saturday 3 October.

Welcome & fitness room

It's been a pleasure to meet some of the first wave of new residents to move in this weekend. I hope you are all starting to settle in and looking forward to lots more arrivals over the next two weeks.

Quite a few people have been asking about the gym / fitness room.

The University has asked us to close the gym on insurance / health & safety grounds: if we kept the gym open and someone hurt themself, our insurers would not pay out, which would cause problems for the injured resident, the hall finances, and all the other residents whose facilities would suffer as a result of the hall having to foot the compensation bill.

I do really think this is a shame but the truth is that the fitness room was only ever used by a small minority of residents and its closure opens up the possibility of us creating a new, exciting social space in the basement that should be more widely used. This is a project that the elected Residents' Club Committee for 2009-10 will enjoy.

Be sure to let us know if you have any ideas for how we could use the old fitness room in future.

Welcome podcast

I just posted a welcome message on the Connaught Hall YouTube channel:
podcasts.connaught-hall.org.uk

Welcome events

Sunday 27th September & Sunday 4th October, 2pm to 5pm
in the reception lobby

Afternoon tea hosted by the Warden and Senior Members: tea & cakes and an opporunity to meet the staff and other residents; families and friends also welcome to take a break from moving in!

Wednesday 7th October, 6pm
in the dining hall

Welcome buffet supper: a special buffet-style supper with wine, a formal welcome from the Warden, introductions to the staff, and another chance to mingle with other residents.

Wednesday 14th October, 6pm
in the dining hall
(provisional date)

Residents' Club Committee elections and General Meeting: candidates standing for election to the Residents' Club Committee make their speeches and residents can vote for their preferred candidates. Residents will also be asked to vote on proposed amendments to the Club Constitution - draft copy available to download at constitution.connaught-hall.org.uk.

The closure

Connaught Hall is closed from 21 August to 6 September. The exterior doors are all locked and only a handful of staff members who have the front door key can get in and out. There is no receptionist and no catering. From outside, the windows, normally beacons of warmth from the illuminated rooms within, are empty and dark. The Hall always has an eerie feel to it during closure, especially at night.

But inside preparations gather apace for meeting new students who will start arriving from the day we re-open our doors. Most students won't arrive until the last weekend in September or even the first in October, but we still need to be ready for when we open on the 6th.

The Residents' Handbook and this year's welcome letter must be finalised and printed, and I need to record my welcome podcast; posters, forms, leaflets, and stationery updated to reflect the staff changes that have taken place in the past 3 months; all the rooms must be fully cleaned; and this is the period when most major building / redecorating work takes place, so as not to interfere with residents' studies dring term time.

Soon after the closure are the University of London Open Days, to which Connaught Hall will be contributing this year.

And looking forward to early October, we must arrange welcome receptions (afternoon tea), a welcome buffet, and elections to the Residents' Club Committee. And they may want to organise a welcome party for everyone.

It'll be Christmas soon. Better get to it!

Pandemic influenza information

I put together a list of the most useful official UK information about the influenza pandemic.

We will have a policy in place before the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year for dealing with residents who contract influenza and for reducing transmission of flu within the Hall. Further, specific information is to follow from the University of London, and I will post details as soon as they are available.

For now, these are the best sources of information:

HM Government pandemic flu service
Information about pandemic flu and a symptom assessment tool; if you have symptoms of flu, you will be prescribed antiviral
medication from this website.

HM Government leaflet about influenza A/H1N1v
Leaflet delivered to every household in the UK.

UK Health Protection Agency
Information
for the public and answers to frequently asked questions.

NHS Choices detailed information about swine flu
Details of
symptoms, signs, tests, treatment, and diagnosis.

NHS Direct
Health advice via the internet or by phone: 08 45 46 47.

Connaught Hall local healthcare facilities
Connaught Hall leaflet with details of local medical facilities and reliable
online sources of health advice.

Warden's team 2009-10

Warden (warden@connaught-hall.org.uk)

Dr. Adrian Clark
Specialty Registrar in Emergency Medicine
London Postgraduate Medical Deanery

Senior Members (firstname.lastname@connaught-hall.org.uk)

Hawa Abubakar
M.B., B.S. candidate in Medicine
King’s College London

Anton Alatsatianos
M.B., B.S. candidate in Medicine
King’s College London

Amy Lei
B.D.S. candidate in Dentistry
King’s College London

Ashleigh Melvin
Ph.D. candidate in History
Birkbeck College

Alyson Mercer
Ph.D. candidate in History
SAS Institute of Historical Research


Visit www.connaught-hall.org.uk/wardensteam for more information.

Contacting the Warden's team

The Senior Members and I are resident in Hall, so you will often see us around the building. The team member living on your floor is often a good first point of contact. You are welcome to approach us whenever you see us in Hall; if we are not immediately available, we will arrange a time to meet.

Leave a note at reception or email me (warden@connaught-hall.org.uk) if you would like an appointment to see me, or look out for posters advertising my next open office session, when you can drop in to see me in my office without an appointment.

If you don’t need to discuss things in person, you can just write to us about the problem. You can email all the team at the same time using wardens.team@connaught-hall.org.uk, or use our online contact page at http://warden.connaught-hall.org.uk/, which will guide you through all the information we need to be best able to deal with your query quickly and efficiently. Individual Senior Members can be contacted by email using the format firstname.lastname@connaught-hall.org.uk.

We also have a dedicated email address for reporting noise problems as this is probably the thing we deal with most: noise@connaught-hall.org.uk.

There is an on-call Duty Officer from the Warden’s team available whenever the Bursar’s Office is closed, to help with any emergencies that arise in Hall (e.g. fire, lost keys, intruders, medical emergencies, injuries, disciplinary problems, emergency maintenance needs, etc.). The person on duty can always be contacted via reception.

Welcome to Connaught Hall

This is adapted from the welcome text in the Hall handbook. I thought it was a good place to start this new blog.

Connaught Hall is a fully catered University of London intercollegiate hall of residence for full-time students from all the colleges and institutes of the University. We aim to provide a secure, supportive, friendly, and tolerant environment in which our residents can study, relax, and socialise.

Connaught Hall was established in 1919 by HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn — the third son of Queen Victoria — at 18 Torrington Square as a private hall of residence for male students, a memorial to the Duchess of Connaught, who died in 1917. The Duke gave the Hall to the University of London in 1928, but it was not until 1961 that Connaught Hall moved out of Torrington Square to its present location in Tavistock Square: a converted Georgian terrace with a Grade II listed façade. Women have been admitted since 2001.

One of eight intercollegiate halls of residence, Connaught Hall now accommodates 211 students. There is an even mix of men and women and a great diversity of cultural and social backgrounds. Most residents are first-year undergraduates, with around 20% being allowed to return for a second year at the Warden’s discretion; approximately 10% are postgraduates, and about a third are overseas students.

Most accommodation is in single study-bedrooms; there is room for ten students in twin rooms. There is a washbasin in every room, but toilet and shower facilities are all shared. Every room has telephone and internet connections. Amenities include a fitness room, laundrette, common rooms with TV, computer room, library, private courtyard garden, and a bar managed and staffed by Hall residents. Numerous meeting rooms are available, which are hired out during the day and early evening; in the summer, residential courses and conferences are held in the Hall. These activities make a direct financial contribution towards keeping student fees down and facilitating improvements throughout the Hall.

Many of the residents in Hall are experiencing life away from home for the first time; for some, home is on the other side of the world. And whilst London is undoubtedly a vibrant and exciting place, it can sometimes be a lonely and impersonal city in which to live. So at Connaught Hall we hope to be a warm and welcoming "home from home".

As the Warden, I am resident within the Hall; assisted by five student Senior Members, I deal with community matters and issues concerning residents’ welfare and discipline. We can offer advice and assistance on academic and pastoral matters, and help with any disputes between residents (including, most commonly, noise complaints).

The elected Residents’ Club Committee, meanwhile, organises social events and runs the Hall bar on behalf of the residents, under my supervision. Please do get to know me and my team and participate in the activities of the Residents’ Club Committee to shape the social programme to your requirements.

I and all the staff wish you an enjoyable and successful time at Connaught Hall. We look forward to meeting you and encourage you to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.