Alcuin Laundry Crisis
Failure of university building program to complete the work at Alcuin College forced 75 freshers into temporary accommodation for their first days of university life. Now all students are housed, but another problem exists – laundry.
There are four washing machines for the largest college on campus: over 700 residents, and 85 more after Christmas.
Alcuin provost Tony Ward agreed the number is “quite a lot” for the facilities, but students can rest assured that there are plans for a new utility block which will be built on the ground floor of the JCR. “We are hoping the building will be handed over very early in the Spring Term,” he admits. Residents are unaware of the details - one student objected, “All we’ve been told is there will be a new JCR and new facilities sometime.”
A calculation shows the dire situation: for every person to wash once a week, 130 hours per machine are required. There are just enough hours in the week – including overnight.
First year Fran Olley described the situation to be “shocking”, and disclosed, “I did my washing at 11.30pm last night because there’s no space during the day, which meant it was 1am by the time it had finished.”
“I’ve managed to get two lots of washing done in the entire time I’ve been here,” student Tom Reynolds reveals; “Once at 2.30am (I was reduced to my fencing kit or cycling shorts) and the second at 10.30pm on a Friday.” The general opinion is that the best time to visit the launderette is the early hours of the morning.
Alcuin JCRC chair, Francesca Tarrant, admitted that “a few people are worried and annoyed that occasionally they have to queue.”
Tony Ward affirms, “We do accept that the ratio of facilities to the number of students is wrong. Early in the year this will be put right.”
Apparently there was no alternative to this dilemma. A mobile type of launderette was considered but the idea rejected as there is no suitable site for it. However, Tony Ward reminds students that “there are local laundries in Langwith and Derwent.”
(Hannah Gale)
