Results of the Residents' Club election on Tuesday 7th October 2014

Last night, Connaught Hall residents voted for their Club committee officers. 13 candidates stood for election to the five positions available. The results are shown in the table below:

All thirteen candidates made a speech at the hustings meeting in the dining hall last night. All of them did very well to address such a large audience and they all had some great ideas for the year ahead.

So I offer my congratulations not only to the five elected candidates, but also to the eight others who were not elected, but who should still be proud of their achievement for standing up and being active participants in our Hall community. There are many opportunities throughout the year to get involved in planning and organising social, sports, and community events - and I hope we will see much more of Amoli, Nick, Maud, Rosie, Lucy, Michela, Jose, and Nicole getting involved in this way.

There is more information about what the committee will be doing next at http://election.connaught-hall.org.uk. At their first meeting, they will decide who will take up which roles - President, Secretary, Treasurer, Entertainment, and Sports.

I look forward to working with this new committee towards achieving their election pledges and making this year unforgettable (for good reasons) for everyone.

       

Register online at your new Connaught Hall address to vote in local (council), national (parliamentary), and European elections

www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

The following is an important message from the Electoral Registration Office:

Registering to vote - Students

In June 2014, the way we register students changed. Where we would previously ask for a list of residents from your hall of residence and then register everyone who qualifies, the onus is now on you, the individual student, to register yourself. 

The registering process can now be done online and is simple and straightforward. You will need to enter your date of birth and your national insurance number. The registering process will take less than three minutes.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR ROOM NUMBER IN HALL.

The new register will be published on the 1st December 2014, so please don't delay your registration. Failure to register, whether it be online or in paper form, will result in a canvasser coming to your door to help you complete a form.
You could exercise your right to vote as early as the 7th May 2015 (if you qualify to vote for this election) as we will be holding Parliamentary Elections on that day. 

Please click the link below and you will be taken to the online portal where you can register.

www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Who is eligible to vote?


You can register to vote if you are:

1) at least 16 years old; and 
2) (a) a British citizen or 
    (b) an Irish, qualifying Commonwealth or European Union citizen who is resident in the UK.

If you are 16 or 17, you can only register if you will be 18 within the lifetime of the electoral register. You cannot vote until you are 18.

If you are a citizen of a European Union or Commonwealth country, and resident in the UK, you are eligible to register to vote in UK elections. To qualify, Commonwealth citizens must be resident in the UK and either have leave to enter or remain in the UK or not require such leave. The definition of a 'Commonwealth citizen' includes citizens of British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories.

Citizens of the European Union (who are not Commonwealth citizens or Citizens of the Republic of Ireland) can vote in European and local elections in the UK, and some referendums (based on the rules for the particular referendum) but are not able to vote in UK Parliamentary general elections.

See more at http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/who_can_register_to_vote.aspx

October update

Dear resident

It's been a busy few weeks in Hall and there are a few more things coming up in the next week or so. I thought it might be useful for you to have an update on everything in one place.


1. Residents' Club elections - 08/10/13 

At dinner time on Tuesday 8th October, you will be able to elect five new representatives to the Residents' Club Committee. The people you choose will organise many of the social events in Hall this year, run the bar, and spend up to £6500 of your money - so listen to what they have to say and what they are going to do for you. At the time of writing, only two residents have put themselves forward for the election. If fewer than five people stand, there will be no election and those who have nominated themselves will be appointed automatically. More of you must have ideas for how we can make this year amazing for everyone: stand for election and share your ideas; if you get enough votes, you will be able to put them into practice! Visit election.connaught-hall.org.uk for more information about the Club and the election, and to nominate yourself. My "letter to candidates" tells you exactly what's involved, and what you can expect from us in return. Or speak to me, a Senior Member, or one of the outgoing members from last year's Committee. The deadline for nominations is midday on Saturday 5 October: it's an automatic system that will close at exactly midday. 


2. "Anything but clothes" party - 04/10/13 

Friday night is our freshers' ABC party in the bar, 8pm till 2am (bar serves alcohol until 1am). You are invited to be creative with your outfit and wear absolutely anything - except clothes. Maybe some photos of previous ABC parties at Connaught will provide you with inspiration: flickr.com/photos/connaughthall/tags/anythingbutclothes. 

As you can see, it's totally fine if you want to come to the party in actual clothes: we'd rather have you there in clothes than not there in not-clothes! 

As with all our late parties, you may sign in a maximum of two guests for the duration of the event (8 till 2). 

Please try and keep the party confined to the bar and Bell room so that residents who don't want to attend the party are not disturbed. I regret that we strictly cannot allow any "after-parties" in bedrooms or corridors after 2am, and we must keep noise outside the front of the Hall to a minimum so our hotel & residential neighbours don't complain and stop us from having more parties in future. 


3. Fire drill - 04/10/13 

Weather permitting, a fire drill will be held on Friday evening.

When you hear the fire alarm: 

Evacuate the building immediately.
Close all doors and windows behind you.
Leave by the shortest route.
Do not use the lift.
Assemble on the pavement outside Passfield Hall on Endsleigh Place.

Follow the green exit signs to find your nearest escape route. Hall staff will help you. Remember it is possible that there may be a real fire alarm on the day, so for your own safety never ignore the alarm because you assume it is a drill. Your Licence Agreement obliges you to participate in fire drills. If the total evacuation time is too long, more fire drills will be held over the next few weeks – so don’t let everyone else down! 


4. Have you taken some good photos of our freshers' events? 

We love our photos at Connaught. If you have any shots you're proud of from any of our welcome events (afternoon teas, grand bar opening, welcome dinner, speed meeting, or of course from tomorrow's party), I'd be really delighted if you sent me some that I can upload at photos.connaught-hall.org.uk or at instagram.com/connaughthall. Email me one or two pictures at warden@connaught-hall.org.uk, send me a link to your photos on your own Flickr, or ask me about lending you a memory stick if you have lots to share. 


5. Join the Facilities Committee and/or Multicultural Students' Forum (McSF) 

I posted a message about how to join these committees a few days ago: democracy-feedback-and-student. 

Both committees meet three or four times a year for about an hour. If you haven't been on a committee before, it will be good experience of how meetings work. And whatever your level of previous committee experience, your input to making Connaught Hall better for everybody will be greatly valued. Please follow the instructions in my previous post and join up as soon as possible if you're interested. 


6. Room swaps

I have been asked frequently about room swaps in the last few weeks. If you are thinking about asking for a room change, please take note of the following advice from our Residents' Handbook:

Requests for room swaps are dealt with exclusively by the Reservations Office based at ULU, and will only be considered after the middle of October when everyone has moved in: email info.halls@london.ac.uk. 

We regret that the staff at Connaught Hall cannot approve requests for room swaps.

The Reservations Team are the best people to answer all your questions on this subject, including things like "are there currently any empty rooms?" or "is there anyone who hasn't moved in when they should?". I regret that the Senior Members and I do not routinely have access to the information that would allow us to give you an accurate answer to these questions.


7. Access [H]all Areas 

This private, invitation-only online social network for the intercollegiate halls of residence was new this year. It already has almost 800 members so it's a good platform for sharing ideas for sports meet-ups, outings, and clubs, especially where there may be benefits in the numbers gained from getting more than one hall involved. 

If you're not already a member, sign up with this link: uol-halls.ning.com/?xgi=3KprrvqzHofzOa - and remember to join the Connaught Hall group on the site!

Do remember to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as well: tweets.connaught-hall.org.uk and facebook.connaught-hall.org.uk.


8. Last reminder to check the Residents' Handbook! 

Our Residents' Handbook can be found at handbook.connaught-hall.org.uk.

It is long, so we don't expect you to read every page in detail. We do very much expect you to read the sections on noise and fire safety, and strongly advise you to have an idea of the contents pages, so you can dip into those bits that interest you now, and know what information is available for you to refer back to later in the year if you're not sure about anything.

So, one last time: please take a look at our Handbook!

Democracy, feedback, and student involvement: the Facilities Committee, Multicultural Students' Forum, and Residents' Club Committee

Join the Connaught Hall Facilities Committee and/or Multicultural Students' Forum (McSF)! 

Unlike the Residents' Club Committee, there are no elections to be a representative on the Facilities Committee or McSF.


Facilities Committee

We need six student reps on the committee. Members meet with hall staff and contractors to improve the facilities and services in hall, such as catering, cleaning, maintenance, and security.

Email facilities.committee@connaught-hall.org.uk ASAP with your name and room number to join.

Visit http://www.connaught-hall.org.uk/pages/facilities/facilitiescommittee.html for more information. If more than six residents apply, we will choose six names randomly.


Multicultural Students' Forum

We need student representatives from any and all cultures, religions, countries, and backgrounds to act as advisors to the Warden, Residents' Club, and Hall Management on matters of interest to international, overseas, and ethnic minority students. Everyone is welcome (including white British "home" students): all that's needed is that you share the ideals of the McSF.

Follow this link for more information: http://www.connaught-hall.org.uk/pages/community/mcsf.html

You can join the McSF mailing list at the link above. If you are on the mailing list, you will be invited to meetings of the McSF three times a year. Our first meeting will be in October, so make sure you sign up ASAP!


Residents' Club Committee

Remember there will be elections for five Officers of the Residents' Club Committee on Tuesday 8th October. For more information, and to stand for election, visit http://www.connaught-hall.org.uk/pages/community/clubelections.html.

Nominations close at midday on Saturday 5th October.

Congratulations to the new Committee

Many congratualtions to Kat Pierce, elected as President last night, and the other new Officers of the Committee: Chris Madden, Daisy Bartlett, Christopher Wongsosaputro, and Jaiminee Patel. They will decide who will take the roles of Secretary, Treasurer, Entertainment Officer, and Sports Officer at their first meeting.

The Residents' Club pages on the Hall website have now been updated: http://committee.connaught-hall.org.uk.

Well done also to everyone who stood as a candidate in the election. Each and every one of you spent the time to sign up and write a manifesto, and stood up to speak in front of more than 150 of your peers at last night's hustings. I enormously appreciate your interest and enthusiasm for your Hall and our community, and I truly hope that you will get fully involved in helping us to organise activities and events this year. Not being on the Committee is no bar - is not even a disadvantage - to being a big player in the Hall community. We need people like you!

Some the matters the new Committee will need to consider early this term include:

1. The common room TVs
2. A Hallowe'en party in Hall to complement the boat party?
3. Repairing or replacing the table football
4. New table tennis equipment

They will also be keen to start implementing some of their manifesto commitments, which you can still view here: http://www.connaught-hall.org.uk/documents/election/Connaught-Hall-election-manifestos.pdf.

I greatly look forward to working with the new Committee and making this year at Connaught Hall even better than any before!

Photographs of last night's election are on our Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/connaughthall/tags/election2012/.

A video of highlights from the night will be released on ConnaughtTV soon.

Finally, I should like to express and put on record my sincere thanks to the outgoing members of the Residents' Club Committee for their work over the last 12 months: Neaty Soopaul and Matthew Bovingdon-Downe (President), Chris Madden (Secretary, re-elected this year), Adam Lupták (Treasurer), Tim Phedon (Entertainment Officer), Hafez Salameh (Sports Officer). I am sure those of you who have returned to the Hall this year will continue to contribute generously to Hall life.

Why stand for election to the Residents' Club Committee?

Connaught Hall has a reputation as one of the most sociable halls of residence in London and that reputation is owed in large part to residents who are willing to give their some of their time and enthusiasm to contribute to our Hall community. One of the main ways you can contribute is by being a member of the Residents' Club Committee.

There are benefits to being a member of the Committee:

• You will meet almost everyone in the Hall and have the opportunity to earn the respect of your peers.
• A learning experience that will stand you in good stead for committee work in other organisations.
• A very good point to add to your CV and a talking point at interviews.
• A boost to your internship and job applications.
• I can write character references for Committee members. This can mean a lot more than a reference from your college tutor, since they will only see you for an hour a week or so and can only write about your academic side: I can comment on much broader aspects of your personality and suitability for a job.
• If you do a good job, I will guarantee you a room in Hall next year.
• If you do a very good job, I will try to get you your choice of room next year.

If you feel you have the necessary time and commitment to devote to a role on the Committee, please make sure you submit your written manifesto no later than midday on Sunday 14 October, using the online nominations system accessible from election.connaught-hall.org.uk.

Proposed amendments to Residents' Club Constitution September / October 2012

It is proposed to reform the voting system for officers of the Residents' Club Committee.

	Residents' Club Constitution as it is now
	Proposed amendments to section 11 (highlighted in red)

 

At present, there are five elected Officers: President, Treasurer, Secretary, Sports Officer, and Entertainment Officer. If a resident wants to be on the Committee, s/he must decide which post s/he would like and stand specifically for that role. His/her application must be proposed and seconded by two other residents. On election day, every resident has one vote in each of five separate ballots: one for each Officer. We believe this system may have contributed to declined numbers of nominations and the increasing number of uncontested posts (meaning that somebody wins by default).

 

The proposed reforms would mean that everyone who wanted to be on the Committee this year would simply stand as an "Officer". There would be no distinction in the election between President, Secretary, etc. Every resident will be allowed to vote for up to three candidates for the position of "Officer".

 

The top five candidates in this single poll will all be elected as Officers of the Club. The candidate with the greatest number of votes will automatically be President. The remaining four Officers must then decide between themselves who will take on the duties required on the Secretary, Treasurer, Entertainment, Officer, and Sports Officer.

 

Next year, a more thorough review of the Constitution may lead to the abolition of many of these separate titles all together.

 

We need your feedback. If you disagree with these proposed amendments, please email committee@connaught-hall.org.uk no later than 12 midday on Tuesday 2nd October. If objections are received from fewer than 5% of the resident community by that time, the amendments will be adopted.

 

You can visit the Residents' Club web page here: http://www.connaught-hall.org.uk/pages/community/committee.html

Residents' Club election results

The results at last night's election were as follows:

President
Hannes ANSORG: 16
William STANGER: 33
James WILSON: 88

Secretary
Michelle ANSAH: 98
Hannah EDWARDS: 42

Treasurer
Daniel ENG: 33
Jacob MURPHY: 43
Thomas STEWART: 63

Entertainment Officer
Freddie ELCOCK: 51
Zac ZURYBIDA: 86

Sports Officer
Harbhajan Singh BARYAH: 78
Jamie HURLEY: 59


The turnout was 140.

Election

Yesterday, I opened nominations for the Residents' Club Committee election to be held on Friday 15 October.

If you think you can help continue Connaught Hall's tradition of being the most sociable (and, frankly, the best) hall of residence in London, I would strongly encourage you to stand for election to one of the five positions: President, Secretary, Treasurer, Entertainment, or Sports (click on the titles to see an explanation of the role and what will be expected of the post-holder this year).

I've written a letter to all potential candidates and a statement on the Club's current financial position.

Visit election.connaught-hall.org.uk for more information and to submit your nomination or to view the real-time list of candidates along with their manifestos.

Good luck if you are standing for election!

Election night: Thursday 6th May 2010

There's been quite a lot of interest in the TV leaders' debates in the run-up to the UK general election, with a fair few residents watching the debates in the common rooms.

On election night (Thursday 6th May), we will move the large TV from the third-floor common room to the Bell Room and put some comfy sofas in there so you can watch the results as they come in.

Eight hours of live coverage starts on BBC 1 at 21.55, hosted by David Dimbleby. I hope to join you from about 00.30 when I get home from work!

Residents' Club Committee

Congratulations to the successful candidates in tonight's election to the Residents' Club Committee:

President - Matthew MacLachlan

Secretary - Polly McKinlay

Treasurer - Alastair Heggie

Entertainment - Aria Shafa

Sports - James Hemsley



The results in full:

134 ballot papers were returned (turnout 63.5%).
There was one spoiled ballot paper.


President

• Hugh Black - 35
• Matthew MacLachlan - 44
• Roland Nathaniel - 17
• David Whelan - 5
• James Wilson - 25

Secretary

• Ilona Brenninkmeijer - 53
• Polly McKinlay - 69

Treasurer

• Naaz Ahmed - 38
• Alastair Heggie - 65
• Chris Radford - 25

Entertainment

• Josh Lipworth - 47
• Aria Shafa - 82

Sports

• James Hemsley - 108

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.