Sports & Socs – Page 12 of 23

Acapalooza with Absolute Harmony: An A Cappella Festival!

18Jan

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Sports & Socs

Acapalooza with Absolute Harmony: An A Cappella Festival!

Absolute Harmony will be kicking off Term 2 with Acapalooza: a festival celebrating all things A cappella! As Royal Holloway’s only A cappella choir, we believe in fun, un-auditioned music and variety. With that in mind Acapalooza will be a great event drawing on all of the best parts of musical enjoyment and performing. The festival will be taking place between January 21st-28th and each day Absolute Harmony will be hosting an exciting event. Acapalooza will be bringing in collaborators from other performing arts societies to make it the best one yet! Events to be expected include an ‘Open Rehearsal’ on the Monday 23rd followed by a ‘Lip Sync’ at Stumble Out, a ‘film night’, an ‘MD swap’ with Voices and ‘Absolute Harmony takes over Stumble Live’! These are just some of the events to ex...

Veganuary with Vegetarian and Vegan Society

14Dec

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Sports & Socs

Veganuary with Vegetarian and Vegan Society

It’s already been a busy year for Royal Holloway’s Vegetarian and Vegan Society; a society comprised of vegetarians and vegans dedicated to creating a welcoming and accepting community focused on animal rights and environmental sustainability. The Vegetarian and Vegan Society have been working hard to educate students on the benefits of a cruelty free lifestyle as well as exposing the harsh realities of the meat and dairy industries. In recent years, there has been a rise in the popularity of a vegan lifestyle as the concept of eating clean has exploded into a worldwide trend. At the beginning of November the Vegetarian and Vegan Society joined 2500 others in the EU’s biggest official animal rights march from Hyde Park to Parliament Square. Those involved called for politicians and b...

Feminism Society and the Festival of Choice celebrating International Safe Abortion Day

1Nov

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Feminism Society and the Festival of Choice celebrating International Safe Abortion Day

*Trigger Warning: Contains mentions of rape and abuse Across the globe it remains the case even in today’s progressive society that a woman’s access to legal and safe abortion is greatly restricted by government legislation. In places such as Chile and Nicaragua there is a complete and conclusive ban on the procedure. Even in Ireland, we witness a situation in which abortion is not legalised, even in cases of rape or incest. It may seem here in the UK, that we are far removed from these matters and that they need not concern us. As current UK law stipulates under the Abortion Act of 1967, abortion, if medically consented by two doctors, is legal. However, in the introducing of this act, previous legislation does concurrently remain. The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which made ...

1Nov

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Sports & Socs

Swimming Soc Conquers Kilimanjaro

This summer the Royal Holloway Swimming Club took to the sky, flying all the way out to Africa to take on the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The dormant volcano in Tanzania reaches a staggering height of 5895m, as the highest mountain in Africa it has become a popular climb since it was first ascended in 1889. Kilimanjaro is the world’s highest free standing mountain, to climb it is physically and mentally gruelling, it really is an incredible feat. I spoke with Swimming Club President, Isaac Kenyon about their incredible achievement, the journey they made and how it felt to reach the highest peak of Kilimanjaro. “In September, we just decided off the beat, lets do something as a club. We worked with Challenges Abroad and the FutureSense Foundation. There were 10 of us t...

Bears Night: £2000 Raised for Sports and Societies

20Oct

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Sports & Socs

Bears Night: £2000 Raised for Sports and Societies

‘Bears Night’, a fundraising night ran by the SU, was back for the second year running this October, and this time it was bigger than ever before. With 1000 of you through the door on the night, meaning over 1000 bears t-shirts sold and worn, 2016 has started off promising for clubs and societies, where over £2000 was raised through tickets sales to be directly invested back into the numerous sports and societies on campus. Vice-President Sports and Development, Steff Milne said of the event: “This is an amazing thing to have achieved and it’s all down to you guys! We smashed last year in terms of sales of tickets and the general event”. As well as being a key fundraising event, the night acted as a launch for the Royal Holloway Bears branding, which covers sports, fitness and act...

Nick Perryman talks careers in the financial sector, uncertainty and a post-Brexit Britain

19Oct

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Sports & Socs

Nick Perryman talks careers in the financial sector, uncertainty and a post-Brexit Britain

This week is Business and Finance week at Royal Holloway and on the 18th of October, Nick Perryman, Royal Holloway council member and managing director of wealth management at the global financial services firm UBS, came to talk to students regarding Brexit and careers in finance. Nick is soon to be vice chair of Royal Holloway’s council, the governing body that oversees decisions, and opened his talk with a brief history of his 20 year career in finance and banking, talking about his experience in banking despite not having a traditional economics, finance or accounting degree (he graduated in 1997 with a BSc in Psychology). Nick emphasised that both a grasp for quantitative data and a well-rounded skillset was integral to getting a foot in the door in the banking sector, quick to dism...

11Jun

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Sports & Socs

Riding: Club of the Year

What is your position within the club? I’m Captain, which means that my main focus is the competitive side of Riding. I look after our three competitive teams, organise competitions, and liaise with BUCS. How did it feel to win ‘Club of the Year’ at Colours Ball? It was absolutely thrilling. It had been on our minds all year, but to actually win the award was just amazing. In September, it seemed such a remote possibility, but the club has made so many positive changes in the last few months and grown hugely. To have this formally recognised was really the cherry on top of a fantastic year for Riding. What has been your club’s biggest achievement this year? There have been so many highlights, but I’ll narrow it down to two main achievements. The first has been the developmen...

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...

7Jun

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Sports & Socs

Savoy Opera Society Celebrates 50 Years

It's been an exciting year for the Savoy Opera Society who are celebrating their 50th birthday and have now taken on the title of the oldest society on campus. I sat down with members, Katie Dale and Will Davidson to find out just what it is about the society that has made it so popular all these years. Katie: Opera can be a scary word, but we're more than just that. Will: We're a really friendly and open community, a family. Our society is made up of people studying a range of degrees; we even had a member of staff perform in Pirates of Penzance. They describe the past struggles the society faced in securing its future, and give credit to an influx of first year members in making a massive impact on the success it has seen this year. Will: We've taken big leaps and strides this ...

4Apr

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Sports & Socs

SPOTLIGHT ON: THE 80s SOCIETY.

With the 80s Society grooving into their very successful first year, nominated for ‘Best New Society’ at this year’s Societies ball, I speak to the 80s Society committee to find out more. President: Leah Hewerdine Treasurer: Max Lawson Secretary: Laura Shipp Social secretary: Kiran Hayre How has your first year been as a society? It’s been great – so much fun! We’ve been really overwhelmed with the interest in The 80s Society. So far we’ve got around 50 members, which is so much more than we expected. Getting nominated for ‘Best New Society’ at this year’s Societies Ball, as well as our Treasurer Max Lawson receiving a Crest award for his contribution to the SU, was even better! What are you most proud of? Gaining so many members in just our first year has got to be one o...