Sports and Societies – The Orbital

Through The Lens of a Camera: Comedy Virgins

30Nov

By Lina PavlovaNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Through The Lens of a Camera: Comedy Virgins

On Thursday November 15, Royal Holloway’s very own Comedy Society had their first show of the year, and what a blast it was! Going to a comedy show is always exciting, and a great night full of fun and laughter is almost always guaranteed. But what happens when you’re not just there as an audience member? I attended as a videographer to film the event, and while you might assume the excitement would be pretty much non-existent due to the mere fact that I was there to do my job and be ‘professional’, this was not the case! Just seeing the enthusiastic faces of the people performing on the stage, even if only from behind my camera, was enough to make me happy for days and days to follow. From the name of the performance itself - ‘The Comedy Virgin Show’ - which immediately stirs up cur...

10Jun

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Sports & Socs

‘I AM’ Invictus

Spearheaded by Prince Harry, The Invictus Games uses sport as a form of rehabilitation for Servicemen and Women who find the transition back to civilian life difficult. Following the first games held in London in 2014, the second instalment was hosted by the USA in Orlando, Florida from May 8th-12th 2016. Over these four days more than 500 competitors from 14 countries took part in Paralympic styled sporting events. As Patron, Prince Harry used the opening ceremony as a platform to speak on the stigma of mental illness for servicemen and women: “you will see people who, by rights, should have died on the battle field but instead are going for gold on the track or in the pull... I hope you see the bravery of our Invictus champions who have confronted invisible injuries and I hope you are...

17Feb

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Sports & Socs

Spotlight on Circus Society

You may have seen Circus society around last term blazing their trail on the local scene and establishing themselves as a performing arts society. I ambled in to one of their training sessions to catch them in their element. Almost immediately after walking in I could feel the sense of community and togetherness that Circus emanated. With background music boosting the energy, Circus made a creative space to express themselves in. During the session I spoke to the President of the society Humarrah Shiekh. What was a highlight from last term? I think a highlight was the big gig that we had on bonfire night at Foresters Arms as we got to join the locals in the pub; we had a huge turnout and it was really good fun. We ended up getting loads of new people so it was great. Any events plan...

19Sep

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Features

The Freshers Guide to University

So you’ve now been dumped by your parents in this enormous and frankly, quite picturesque campus and are now officially a student of Royal Holloway, University of London. Feels weird right? Being a Fresher will undoubtedly be the best time of your life. You are guaranteed to have masses of fun, learning curves and questionable experiences throughout your time at university, and all will fall into place as you settle in, find your feet and grow as a person. But for now, everything is up in the air, right? That’s quite normal. This guide will help you make the most of your year as a Fresher, and take it from us, you’ll be fine! 1. Join Sports and Society Teams Sports and Societies are the best way to get involved in campus life. Whether you are living in halls, off campus or commuti...

7Jun

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Sports & Socs

Debating Society

Royal Holloway’s Debating Society is a society that provides a space where people can learn the art of debating and public speaking. As well as having a friendly and supportive atmosphere and ethos, they also compete against other universities in both national and international debating competitions. This year, the Royal Holloway home competition was attended by around thirty teams from universities across the country, including Warwick, Cambridge and Oxford. Team Royal Holloway competed and had an enjoyable, educational day. Royal Holloway hope to enter more teams into such competitions next year. Since the debating society is relatively small, the newly elected Co-President, Oliver Kynaston-de Guyer’s, is aiming to expand the membership. During freshers week, the society is looking to ...

Women’s Football – Still Walking on Water

26Nov

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Sports & Socs

Women’s Football – Still Walking on Water

Currently undefeated and top of their BUCS league, Women’s Football’s first team faced Portsmouth in the first round of the South Eastern Conference Cup this Bears day, and were keen to maintain their winning streak! There was no question it would be a fast paced game, with right midfielder Alicia Lyne making some impressive runs down the wing, and setting up a beautiful cross for striker Flora Green making it 1-0 to Holloway in the 22nd minute! Krissie Glover set up Portsmouth’s subsequent own goal from an on point corner and went on to assist yet another Holloway goal placed neatly in the back of the net by Michelle Iversen Badiane in the second half! With Portsmouth having lost one of their best players to injury, as well as their keeper, who casually popped her shoulder back into pl...

26Nov

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Sports & Socs

#BearsDay- Rowing? Paddle-happy winners!

The rowing club, over the last few months, has had a great start to the academic year, and we are all really excited to show our potential at BUCS too. We’ve had a brilliant intake of freshers, and it’s great to see the team spirit continue from last year. We are aiming to maintain the high levels of enthusiasm as well through the frosty winter mornings we all love so much! We have been taking on more opportunities to train, work out and improve our standards. In October the senior squad competed at Cambridge Autumn Head. Both the Men's 8+ IM3 and the Women's 4+ IM3 won their category, whilst the other boats competing on the day (two more women's and one more men's boat) were able to gain very respectable times providing us with a lot of confidence for the rest of the year. Lastly, we ha...

26Nov

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Sports & Socs

In Your Socs- Drama Society’s Poetic Charity

On Thursday the 6th of November, the Drama Society provided the opportunity to take part in a Poetry Workshop run by their chosen charity, Safe Ground. Safe Ground works to decrease the stigma faced by families of people in prison, and strives to promote a social change by connecting communities and rehabilitating the prisoners’ relationships with their families through the use of drama, dialogue and debate. The workshop took place at the South Bank University and was run by the writer and performance poet, Dean Atta. I found the workshop particularly engaging because I was familiar with his work. However, Atta made it clear that a keen interest in poetry was not required, as he successfully involved each participant in a captivating three-hour session. All the exercises were conduct...

26Nov

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Sports & Socs

In Your Socs – BioSoc welcomes Sassy Scientists

BioSoc have had a tremendous start, our Inaugurations being the most memorable! A great turnout and a great night! Sassy scientists working those white lab coats (although they weren’t so white after… Sorry!). Thank you to those who volunteered during our BioMentoring week, your guidance was appreciated. We welcomed a new partnership with TEACH FIRST this term and with their support we will be hosting various events for you to learn more about the organisation. We are also backing ACTION DUCHENNE this year! A charity that raises money towards Duchenne muscular dystrophy research and provides support to those affected. What’s next? A few things we’d really love for you all to get involved in, LOVE IN A BOX, organised by the Community Action team and our BIG charity event this term, “LIGHTS...

26Nov

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Sports & Socs

In Your Socs- Rocking the Games

The Lyell Geoscience Society hosted our first sports event of the year 'The Rock Games'. The tournament featured games such as football, rounders, handball, touch rugby and tug-of-war, where post-grads and lecturers were up against under-grads. A total of 8 teams attended the event, which was held on Sunday 19th October on Founders Field. Throughout the day cakes were being sold at the Kayleigh Sugar Fund Cake Sale. On top of cake sales, half of the sign-up costs for the teams were donated to the Kayleigh Sugar Fund. A total of £47.50 was raised for charity. The event was a huge success. UCL’s Dr Fabio Crameri presented the second lecture in the Lyell Geoscience Society’s Lecture Series on Thursday 23rd October. The title of his presentation was 'Numerical Modeling of Global Mantle Convec...