Hello!

I’ve just updated by ‘about me’ bit but apparently I have to do a blog too so here goes..

You will all be aware that last night was Lost property with BBC Introducing, no doubt the rest of the committee will be blogging this also, but I would just like to say how amazing it was, congratualtions to Jo and Jess! It’s been good exposure for me too, I got a mention on Radio 1, a picture with and a tweet from Soft Toy Emergency and Bethan, the Radio 1 Introducing DJ.

The week before was Fruit Salad, I hope you all went, I for one enjoyed Cheryl and Whitney Houston, even if no one else did. The fact it also managed to raise £500 for Aids charities is amazing!

I’m not sure what else to blog about, my life isn’t that interesting right now, I hereby promise to have more chat in my next blog, see you soon!

Aaron

Committee members present:

-      Emily

-       Jo

-       Jez

-       Liam

-       Aaron

-       Emma

-       Jess

-       Georgia

Apologies:

-      Jake

Committee Reports:

-       Liam: Collected t-shirts and researched Stonewall, after looking into it, it appears that it costs a lot more than £2000 to join.

-       Emma: Sorted posters for the Safe-Sex campaign, more posters to come.

-       Georgia: Posters worked on wit Jo are pretty much done. Has been talking to Amnesty and we can do a talk at an Amnesty meeting if wanted. Attended World Aids Day meeting.

-       Dave: Converted website, content can now start to be put on.

-       Jess: Enquired with an Aids Charity in Liverpool, sorted out some stuff for next Fruit Salad, will be meeting with Debbie to rearrange next date.

-       Jo: Sorted Safe-Sex posters, posters for Georgia, Fruit Salad promotion to follow soon.

-       Jez: Met with Spencer for World Aids Day.

-       Emily: Got attacked on Facebook.

Matter arising:

-      It is still not known when the Activist Training is yet, as soon as this happens members will be informed.

Fruit Salad:

-      For World’s Aids Day, ideas so far include a red themed FS, making the event more of a fundraiser with most or majority of money made going to WAD or other charities.

-      Jess is meeting with Debbie to rearrange the date of the event and to secure longer opening hours.

-      Jess is looking into acoustic acts, these include Switch, Joe, Beardwood, Kev Fox and Sam Kearney.

-      Academi will help to distribute posters.

SU Society Cards and membership fee:

-      We aren’t expected to pay for society cards or membership as we don’t need to have them. Committee members however will need society cards to cover insurance on trips etc.

World Aid’s Day:

-      There will be a big evening service in the cathedral, if anyone wants to get involved then get in touch.

-      There are also plans for a formal concert in the University.

-      The November Fruit Salad will be a fundraising event, ideas include donation boxes, selling ribbons, making videos for the TV screens, advertising statistics and charities that work with orphaned children. Jess will also be looking into a special lantern.

Jobs for this week:

-      Liam: Meet Unity Guides and attend GM.

-      Jez: Invoice DJ Riv.

-      Dave: Attend GM, give members passwords to the Unity website and link it with Facebook.

-      Georgia: Talk with Dave to put links to things that are happening on the website, and distribute posters.

-      Emma: Meet Jess, Jo and Georgia to discuss World Aids Day and the idea of cross advertising the events, Fruit Salad, concert etc.

-      Jess: Speak and book acoustic acts for Fruit Salad, meet Debbie to discuss issues from the last FS, (Opening times etc), chat with the Liverpool charity.

-      Jo: Design World Aids Day posters, FS posters and Safe-Sex.

-      Emily: Attend GM, stand for Independent Senator, and violate new website with content.

Any other business:

-      Poster distribution needed, please get in touch and help!

-      Sub committee needed for the Unity scheme, as is a business plan so that Union support and funds/resources can be acquired.

-      If there are any issues that members want advertised, please get in touch with Jo.

Committee members present:

-      Emily

-       Jo

-       Jez

-       Liam

-       Jake

-       Aaron

-       Emma

-       Jess

Apologies:

-      Georgia

Committee Reports:

-      Jake: Attended Senate and made contacts with members, discussed the Queer Guide t-shirts issue and received positive responses. Jake will email Spencer George to find more information on where the Uni/SU stands.

-       Liam: Organised the pre Fruit Salad pub crawl which was a success, this will now happen for every Fruit Salad.

-       Emma: Helped to decorate Fruit Salad, has been researching the next campaign World Aid’s Day, plans for fundraising.

-       Jez: Helped decorate Fruit Salad, emailed various people about various things, collected money from Fruit Salad.

-       Emily: Helped decorate Fruit Salad and met with Jenny from Stonewall.

Matter arising: None.

Fruit Salad:

-      For World’s Aids Day, ideas so far include a red themed FS, making the event more of a fundraiser with most or majority of money made going to WAD or other charities.

-      Jess is meeting with Debbie who runs Academi to see if we can get longer/later opening times as there were people being turned away.

-      349 attended FS!!! We made £420 with £140 of this going to Nightline for working the door.

-      Jess is also thinking of potential acoustic bands for the cocktail lounge.

SU Society Cards and membership fee:

-      There is no fee for Unity membership but you do need a society card to cover insurance etc if any trips or events happen. At the moment, these aren’t necessary.

Activist Training:

-      It is £20 to attend the training day but Unity will cover any reasonable travelling costs.

-      The dates are the Monday 16^th November (Cardiff) or Tuesday 24^th November (London).

-      If anyone would like to go send me an email!

World Aid’s Day:

-      Spencer wants to make WAD more of a union thing.

-      The main idea this year is for us to fundraise for the event.

-      Jez had an email from THT asking if we want to do any fundraising, this could tie in with Fruit Salad?

-      The service is on the 1^st December, in the Cathedral at 5pm.

Stonewall:

-      Emily AND JEZ met with Jenny from Stonewall.

-      They received reports and other information on the Stonewall Championships.

-      Basically, the Uni pays £2,000 to be part of the championship and there is a points system for the most LGBT friendly.

-      The members feel that £2,000 would be better spent elsewhere.

Wristbands:

-      Idea for Unity Wristbands which would tie in with Unity’s plans for equality for equality friendly businesses.

-      We could try and get discounted entry for Fruit Salad or businesses on the Unity website, however it is felt that this would also confuse with awareness.

-      A business plan for the Unity scheme is needed.

-      Cost implications also need to be discussed.

-      If anyone has any other ideas then get in touch.

-      At the next Unity meeting a separate meeting will be arranged to discuss this further.

Jobs for this week:

-      Liam: Collecting Unity t-shirts on Friday.

-      Jake: Getting more information from Spencer and the SU, ask more senators about the issue regarding Queer Guides, attending next Tuesday at 6:45pm.

-      Jez: Pay Love Bangor for helium we stole for Fruit Salad balloons, Treasury stuff, LGBT Activist stuff, speak to Spencer for Jake, Chair the GM.

-      Emma: Speak to Jess about Fruit Salad and World Aid’s Day, discuss wristbands, finish safe sex posters with Jo.

-      Jess: Talk to Emma about Fruit Salad and World Aid’s Day, Clarify next Fruit Salad theme, speak to Liverpool Charity contacts, speak to Bar Uno Manager to get the music TURNED DOWN!

-      Jo: Print out safe sex posters, more will be designed. Also work on posters for Georgia’s campaigns.

-      Emily: Post SU GM on facebook, Chair things, receive idea emails!

Any other business:

- Ideas for a film night, Thom’s idea, this could tie in with LGBT History night in February, Main Arts is free to hire, we could make our won little cinema.

Hi, this is Sam from Nightline training.

On the 18^th of October is our Sunday session for our training weekend for new volunteers.

From 10:30-11:30 we have a session on Sex and Sexuality, and were wondering if someone from your society would be able to come and give a talk for some of this session?

What is Nightline?

Nightline is a society within Bangor’s Students’ Union who provides the Universities’ out of hours listening and information line for students. We received around 1000 calls a year from students requesting information and emotional support from our trained team of around 65 volunteers.

If it was ok with you and your society, would one or two of you be able to come and share some of your experiences of coming out as bisexual, gay, lesbian or transsexual, and explain what emotional support was and wasn’t therefore you, in order for our volunteers to be able to understand how they might handle a call from someone with worries or anxieties about this situation?

We would really appreciate any time you can give us in this session, 5 or 10 minutes maximum would be brilliant.

If you could get back to me in the next few days I’d really appreciate it.

Many thanks, Sam from Nightline Training

1. Members welcomed to the meeting, those who were present.

-      Emily Collins

-      Jo Caulfield

-      Jez Harvery

-      Georgia Mannion

-      Jess Hughes

-      Emma Wakefield

-      Aaron Wiles.

-      Liam Fitzpatrick

-      David Berry

1. Absent with apologies.

-      Jake Basford

1. Committee Reports.

-      Georgia: has ordered 500 keyrings for Serendipity, these have since been delivered and need to be put together with the Unity logo and meeting information.

-      Jo: has completed and sent the Unity Booklet to print, and has arranged a meeting with Emma and Georgia to discuss campaigns.

-      Emma: has arranged a meeting with Jo and Georgia to discuss campaigns.

-      Jez: has finished off the committee and constitution matters, he requests you to email him if any of it isn’t correct. He has written content for the Unity Booklet and website and will be arranging Welsh translation soon, nothing else has yet been announced for NUS training and as of now requests a biscuit.

-      Emily: has arranged the printing for the Unity Booklet and arranged and attended a meeting to discuss website.

-      David: has started the Unity website and has sent a copy to Jez, Emily and Jo.

-      Liam: has received emails for Queer Guides, Unity/Peer Guides are still required. Problem concerning T-Shirts, the quickest we can now get them us next week due to an error with the suppliers, the order is due to be placed the day after this meeting (16^th). Liam has also been arranging activities for Fresher’s week, these activities include; potential beach visit (a mini bus will be required), and Fruit Salad, also plans for a welcome week meal, Liam is to source pricing.

-      Jess: has emailed Dierdre twice and left a message on her phone but as of yet has received no reply, Jess is to go and personally visit. Has also spoken to Maggie and there are plans to get Fruit Salad decorations from a supplier in Caernarfon.

1. Matters Arising.

No matters arising.

1. Serendipity.

-      500 Keyrings have been ordered and have since been delivered, 1000 Unity Booklets have also been sent to print. Jo is to design and print posters, David is to try and get free merchandise such as condoms etc from Mesmec. Also plans for Fruit Salad’s in a jar competition and Spikeys. Anthony Nolan Trust hasn’t given us any merchandise because they will also be at Serendipity.

-      Jez has received the hours that everyone can attend for Serendipity and has since devised a Serendipity Rota,

Wednesday
11 to 12 Emily and Jez
12 to 1 Jez and Liam
1 to 2 Liam and David
2 to 2 David and Jez

Thursday
11 to 12 David and Liam
12 to 1 David and Liam
1 to 2 Aaron and Jess/Jo, whoever is free.
2 to 3 Aaron and Jess/Jo, whoever is free.

If anyone cannot now attend these times you should email me or Jez.

1. Bags for Serendipity.

-      The design has been finished but bags cannot be printed and delivered in time for Serendipity. Unity will still be buying the bags but plan needed for what to do with them.

1. Unity Booklet.

-      The booklet went to print on the 14^th September, *Room erupts with the sound of yays*  *Everyone praises and claps for Jo*

-      The booklets will be here for Serendipity,

1. Unity Website

-      David is to buy UnityBangor.com

-      The committee is shown the website so far and everyone likes.

-      When the website is finished it will have links to Unity’s Twitter feed and Facebook updates, also plans for Fruit Salad DJ’s to have a special dedicated playlist.

-      Fronts and Titles in the Unity Booklet will also be used on the website.

1. Fruit Salad promotion.

-      Door is still yet to be organised.

-      Jo and Jess will be in contact to arrange decorations etc.

-      Discounted Serendipity flyer to be designed and printed.

1. Nightline Training.

-      Members are in favour of the idea, Jess will not be able to attend. Those who would like to be involved are Emily, Emma, Georgia and maybe Jo.

1. Jobs for this week.

-      Jez: Sorting out any other Constitution stuff, Serendipity rota, sorting the door float for Fruit Salad and sorting out the filing cabinets.

-      Liam: is out on Saturday and Sunday welcoming Freshers, will be attending Serendipity dressed as a penguin, organising potential beach trip, and emailing Emily the Queer Guides list.

-      Georgia: Serendipity, designing the keyrings, contacting everyone who is able to help with the keyrings, and meet with Jess, Jo and Emma.

-      Jo: design the Fruit Salad flyers and posters, meet with Georgia, Jess and Emma.

-      Emma: meet with Jess, Jo and Georgia, unfortunately Emma is at home now for the rest of the week, Wakfail.

-      Jess: Speak to Diedre, arrange Amnesty to work the door on Fruit Salad, email Emily the Fruit Salad dates.

-      David: complete more of the website, and to attempt to get free merchandise for Serendipity.

-      Emily: help with the setting up of Serendipity.

1. Any Other Business.

-      Nightline have asked if they can have Unity’s filing cabinet, committee agree that this won’t be happening.

-      There is a seat available on the Senat Committee, Liam may be up for it, Jez will send information to anyone that requests it.

-      Unity decide not to be associated with Spank night.

The next meeting will take place in Bar Uno on the 28^th September, the day before Fruit Salad.

1. Members welcomed to the meeting, those who were present.

-      Emily Collins

-      Jo Caulfield

-      Jez Harvery

-      Georgia Mannion

-      Emma Wakefield

-      Aaron Wiles.

1. Absent with apologies.

-      Dave Berry

-      Jess Hughes

-      Liam Fitzpatrick

1. Committee Reports.

-      Georgia: has been looking into key rings, plain plastic key rings will be cheaper as only the printing costs will have to be paid for. Also, in August there was a call for a survey into the gay Church of England.

-      Jo: “I am a publicity machine”, has been working on the Unity Booklet, posters, bag and general publicity.

-      Emma: will be meeting with Jo to discuss ideas for the safe sex campaign and the thoughts of having specific separate posters for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. Also plans for safe sex facts to fit at the end of the Unity column in Seren.

-      Jez: has been looking at and stripping down the constitution. Also meetings with NUS arranged in August weren’t followed up by NUS people.

-      Emily: has emailed people for quotes on the Unity Booklet and has been working on the bags for Serendipity.

1. Matters Arising.

-      Emma: was noted as being absent without apologies at a previous meeting but had in fact notified Emily.

-      Jo: Follow up with Andy John needed to discuss plans for an LGBT equality section on the AU cards. This has been confirmed.

1. Fruit Salad Plans.

Minutes from a meeting held on 08/09/09 included with this discussion, those present at this meeting were Emily Collins, Jo Caulfield, Jess Hughes and Aaron Wiles.

-      The first Fruit Salad is being held on the 29^th September 09.

-      Members available to help out with Fruit Salad are Aaron, Jo, Jez and Emily. Any other members that are available and wish to help should notify the secretary.

-      Jess would like Amnesty to work the door on the night due to it being a charity.

-      DJ Riv has been booked for the event, she will provide for the majority of the crowd and is will be given the fee of £100.

-      In terms of decoration, Jess would like to black out the windows, spell the letters of ‘Fruit Salad’ in plywood, hire a helium canister for balloons and attach material in the colours of the rainbow to drape from the ceiling.

-      Entry fees, entry will be cheaper if those who attend show a discount flyer at the door, these will be given out at Serendipity. There are plans for a potential Love Bangor promotion for future Fruit Salad events. Members may not be charged for entry but will have to make a contribution towards charity.

1. Bar Uno/Meetings.

Minutes from a meeting held on 08/09/09 included with this discussion, those present at this meeting were Emily Collins, Jo Caulfield, Jess Hughes and Aaron Wiles.

-      Jess will be emailing/phoning to arrange potential weekly meetings every Monday at 6pm in Bar Uno. Mondays happen to be karaoke nights and this could lead to a potential social for members.

-      Plans for an attitude free night in Bar Uno to be discussed, other ideas include a non drinking event every few weeks.

1. Serendipity.

Minutes from a meeting held on 08/09/09 included with this discussion, those present at this meeting were Emily Collins, Jo Caulfield, Jess Hughes and Aaron Wiles.

-      Serendipity is the 23^rd and 24^th of September 09. Those that cannot attend Jess Hughes, Emma Wakefield and Aaron Wiles. Emily Collins cannot attend 1pm-5pm on the 23^rd, and 9am-12pm on the 24^th. Other members that cannot attend should email the secretary or Emily Collins.

-      Emily will be arranging a Serendipity rota and therefore needs to know who is available, please email her to confirm if you can attend. Dave Berry can attend both days.

-      The treasurer has confirmed that a budget of £1,000 has been allocated for Serendipity.

-      Jez will be emailing back THT to see if Unity can get some free condoms for Serendipity and any other free merchandise.

-      There are plans to buy canvas bags for Serendipity, in these bags will be key rings, condoms, Unity Booklet and posters. Sweets and beermats could be included but these would have to be paid for.

1. Campaign Plans.

-      Plans for a poster campaign to raise awareness in as many schools as possible. Emily wants to attend the next North Wales meeting to request whether schools/local businesses are pink pound friendly, those that are could then be listed on the Unity’s website.

1. Website.

-      Emily, Jez, Jo and Dave to meet on the 10^th Sept 09 to discuss ideas and plans for the website. If any members have any ideas for the website they should email Emily by 3pm on the 10^th Sept 09.

-      Emily sent round an email to members discussing plans for those that are comfortable, to have a small bio and picture put on Unity’s website introducing who they are and what they do.

1. Unity Booklet Content.

-      At the same meeting noted above, the content of the Unity Booklet will also be discussed.

-      Jo has shown members what the booklet looks like so far and members are positive.

-      The main headlines for the booklet are Unity, Campaigns, Events, Guides, Contact and Getting Involved. The booklet is 12 pages and is being printed by Aaron Richins.

1. NUS LGBT Activist Training Days.

-      Venues suggested by members are the North Venue 27^th November 09 and the Scotland Venue 28^th November 09.

-      Chair gives thank to wonderful secretary.

-      Emily may not be able to attend.

1. Welcome Weekend.

-      Liam is on Ffridd site for the weekend. But plans for an activity during Fresher’s week is preferred.

-      Liam has ordered T-Shirts which will be here for fresher’s week and will cost £10 each.

1. Queer Guides.

-      Emily to find out who the Queer Guides are.

1. Hoodies.

-      It is decided that hoodies are not wanted.

1. Jobs for this week.

-      Georgia: order key rings.

-      Emma: meet with Jo to dicuss posters, Unity column and Unity Booklet.

-      Jo: to work on publicity for Safe Sex campaign, Fruit Salad, Fresher’s event and key rings.

-      Jez: try and get free merchandise for Serendipity, conference.

-      Emily: Email Liam for Queer Guides info, sort out Fresher’s bags and complete the Serendipity rota.

1. Any other business.

-      It has been noted that the “Some people are gay, get over it” campaign is not supported by Unity.

-      The constitution is to be discussed after the first meeting of the year.

If anybody requires these minutes in Welsh, please email the secretary. The next Unity meeting will take place on Wednesday 16^th September 09, at 7pm at Emily’s house.

LGBT Committee Minutes  04/08/2009

Students’ Union

Voters Present -  Emily Collins (Chair), Jez Harvey [JH] (Treasurer), Jo Caulfield (PR Co-ordinator), Georgia Mannion (Political Campaigns Co-ordinator), Emma Wakefield (Awareness Campaigns Co-ordinator), Aaron Wiles

Absent with apologies – Jess Hughes [JHu] (Social Secretary)

Absent without apologies – David Berry, Liam Fitzpatrick

1)      Chairs Opening Remarks

Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2)      Notice of elections

Chair gave notice that during the meeting there would be an election for a new secretary. Aaron Wiles stood for this position.

3)      SU log-ins

JH reminded committee members that when logging onto a Union computer using an LGBT logon, there should be a folder on the desktop called “LGBT on Cadnant” (if not, go to My Computer and type in “\\Cadnant” and go to the LGBT folder, then drag-and-drop it to your desktop.)

JH has organised files into personal folders and useful rescourses into a folder named ‘Archive’. In it, is the current constitution and a plan for the coming year. Please only add to the plan with the agreement of the committee.

4)      Bar Uno

Previous minutes: ‘As well as this, Bar Uno has provisionally agreed to let us use space in the Bar at the back where it’s quieter for future meetings, as it was felt that Rascals is often too loud to hold sensible meetings.’ This will be followed up by JC to ensure we have a place to hold meetings. JH suggested that we have a seperate time before the official meeting to go over ‘boring’ administrative issues that may discourage members from attending and the committee agreed.  It was provisionally decided that Mondays would remain the day for meetings, at 6pm.

5)      Campaigns

GM and EW discussed possible campaigns and provisionally decided that the major camapaigns would be Donation Not Discrimination (the first blood drive is 17^th October), World Aids Day (1^st December), Safe Sex (Freshers week until the lead up to WAD), Equality in Education (2010, involving North Wales Police) and possibly Out in Sport (January). Andy John – the AU President – has provisionally suggested that an Equal Opportunities section be added to the AU sign-up so that we can gauge whether there are enough LGBT members to benefit from a campaign. The Amnesty International representative is eager to work with Unity and JC suggested a meeting to discuss campagins.

6)      Fruit Salad

Jess informed the chair prior to the meeting that the Fruit Salad dates have been confirmed with Academi. These dates will be used on promotional materials and have been chosen to fall at the best available times, i.e. when most students are in Bangor and the loans have been paid.

7)      Serendipity

Plans for Serendipity were discussed. Among them were ideas of branded tote bags, condoms and keyrings. Possibly joint promotion with Seren’s safe sex issue (Unity condoms in each copy?). JC to design tote bag and GM to look up condom/keyring prices. AW to look for free information/goods to hand out in tote bags.

8)      Queer Guide Secretary/Emails/Queer Guides

T-shirt orders and other issues need to be follwed up by Liam and JC.

9)      Confidentiality Agreements/Constituion

Previous minutess: ‘Committee agreed to hold off signing the agreements until they had been suitably redrafted. They will be signed as soon as possible.’ This needs to be priority before the first meeting of the year. Committee will spend time going over these in the next meeting.

10)   Secretary Election

Aaron Wiles was elected as secretary. Chair welcomed him to the committee, a private meeting was scheduled to discuss email log-ins etc. Aaron attended committee training in June.

11)   Website

Previous minutes: ‘DB has been investigating the society getting its own domain name. Costs are around £30 per year for website hosting. Also the possibility for a “unity.bangor….” address instead/as well.’ This is being dicussed with the union by JC. No answers as yet.

The website, twitter and facebook pages have been regualrly updated and are becoming more popular, Chair thanked JC, JH and Dave Berry for their work in doing this.

12)   Jobs for next week/summer

JC – Logos, website, poster campaigns (re branding) poster campaigns (re campaigns), handbook, consitution.

GM – Amnesty and DND research, possible meeting with Amnesty rep, Unity keyrings , look into condoms

LF – JC requires copy for the Queer Guide section of the handbooklet & update via email to the committee.

JHu – Confirm with BarUno that we will be having meetings there and discuss the day/time with them.

JH – Constitutional changes, sort out the filling cabinets

EC – Constitutional changes, contact Xanthe Larcome re Nightline.

AW – Contacting LGBT organisations to get free information/goods for Serendipity

13)   Any Other Business

-          John Jackson has offered for students to be given the option to sign up for ‘LGBT updates’ when they register in freshers week.

14)   Date of next meeting

Next meeting to be on the 25^th August in the SU media room at 12PM.