Summer ball to stay off campus after EGM motion fails
The results of the vote following yesterday’s EGM motion reveal that the summer ball will not be moved to campus this year.
The single motion brought to the meeting, “to move the University of York Summer Ball and Graduation Dinner 2009 to campus”, failed by 260 votes, with 319 in favour of the motion and 579 against. 920 students voted, 22 of whom abstained.
The EGM was called after students voiced their criticisms over a decision made at Union Council to bring the ball to campus this year.
Following the result YUSU will reassess the venue for the ball this year, which has previously been held at York Racecourse. In a statement on the YUSU website Societies and Communications Officer Rory Shanks reassured students that “the Union is committed to making it a fantastic occasion.”
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I hope this furore won’t end up being detrimental to this year’s ball overall…
Out of curiosity; realistically, where else could it be held?
The National Railway Museum. Can cater for up to 1000 people.
Plus there’s trains. Seriously.
On the plus side out of all of this will we start getting decent acts performing in Central Hall on a regular basis as it is apparently safe again?
It was never not used because it was unsafe Nick, though a lot of campus legend focus’s around about it subsiding into the lake after a big gig (I’ve been under that impression for almost three years at any rate!). As far as i’m aware what actually happened was that the orchestra pit collapsed and a load of people fell in, and after that the hall fell into disuse as far as this kind of thing is concerned.
Part of this proposal’s aims was to relaunch central hall as a venue. I hope this is still realized at some point soon, as it’s obviously got the potential to be an awesome place to party and have large acts!
Apparently the idea that central hall was unsafe for gigs was simply urban myth. Central hall i think will be a great asset for the uni for gigs…. and hopefully we’ll be able to get some quality acts onto campus. it’s a venue we’ve not used and it has a lot of potential…even if it does look like a spaceship. …
As Dan Walker has alluded to, the use of CH as a live music venue was restricted by the structural safety of the orchestra pit, as well as licensing arrangements regarding the state of the audience (standing or seated) during shows.
In addition, lighting and sound arrangements in CH are non-ideal and require considerable investment to be suitable for high-quality live music. Specifically: the “active” acoustic dampening system built into Central Hall has long been decommisioned (read: decayed) since the infamous gigs of the late 60s and 70s, and the lighting grid is poorly suited to the moving light configurations demanded by modern acts.
Chris Lewis
Fusion ’09 Lighting Designer
The website says less than 200 capacity for eating functions. I assume 1000 is standing capacity only. Other options are Minster, again only a couple of hundred, or Castle Howard which is triple the price. I think the biggest hotel space is 350 capacity unless we use multiple rooms. No viable option!
http://www.nrm-events.org.uk/dining.htm
Ok the original information I found was from a ‘last minute’ site. Apparently 800 is the limit for dining according to the above link (brochure download).
Would still be a great place for an actual grad-only ball.
I’m still not convinced that all other places are only a couple-a-hundred max!
It would actually be awesome, really prestigious and an air of specialness. Shame I don’t think the NRM would let a group of drunk students loose near their trains.
Mr Burton, if you’re reading this, look into it!
I’ve looked into NRM for events before and the cost of insurance for drunk students near old trains just makes it impossible.
“Anon says:
March 22, 2009 at 10:26 pm
The website says less than 200 capacity for eating functions. I assume 1000 is standing capacity only. Other options are Minster, again only a couple of hundred, or Castle Howard which is triple the price. I think the biggest hotel space is 350 capacity unless we use multiple rooms. No viable option!”
Umm… does anyone honestly think that the Minster would be ok with hundreds of drunken students holding a ball inside their medieval cathedral?
The Minster has capacity for over 650 – how come the Christian Union held a ball for that many there last year?
Seriously, this is all pointless, unless people want to have a dry summerball, then the minster is out. I think we might have a slight problem getting a license to sell alcohol in an active house of worship…
For those who don’t know, the Summer Ball/Supper is now being held at The Racecourse. I think this is a great discussion to be had, but nothing will be resolved in time for this year.
From what I understand it, Durham have their Graduate supper in the Cathedral and Kent hold theirs at Canterbury Cathedral; neither are ‘dry’ events. Quite the opposite.
From a personal view, I’m glad the debate has been above and beyond ‘campus or racecourse’ and people are considering other options. Let’s hope Lewis makes this a key aspect of next year’s aims in his new position on YUSU. I for one, think certainly a meal at The Minster would be a serious was of saying cheerio to York.
*way
I was one of the first to suggest the Minster because I know how successful the CU Minster balls have been and know that it’s about the only place in York outside of the uni that people will actually care about. Likewise it’s one of the few places that is just about big enough and is about the only one that doesn’t look like a conference centre.
However, after a lot of discussions I have found that many Christians wouldn’t be that happy with the ball being there, many non-Christians wouldn’t attend because they’d feel uncomfortable and it would take a LOT of work from Democracy&Services/Campaigns/whoever to get that to happen… it looks like an unsuitable venue, even if I for one 100% wish that my graduation dinner will be there.
But I’m sure if we look enough we can find somewhere. The National Railway Museum looks unsuitable for a number of reasons and I suspect would ask for an earlier closing time and not have a suitable gig venture (we could have it just for the dinner but there’s no real difference between the Racecourse and NRM for that and it would still be awkward)…
But hey-ho, after Fresher’s on-campus Ball people may change their tune or may decide that they loved the Racecourse all along, or suchlike. We’ll see!
Not true. The Minster isn’t dry only, hasn’t been in previous occasions, wasn’t last week and there are similar venues elsewhere in the world.
Regardless, for the reasons I stuck at the bottom of the thread, it seems unlikely to be the perfect venue. Shame.
I suspect there is no such thing as a perfect venue, Jason.
Indeed – but if many non-Christians will feel uncomfortable AND many Christians will feel uncomfortable, it probably isn’t a suitable venue for uniting the graduating year!
The Minster would certainly give the ball the sense of prestige it needs, and to be honest, if any building is significant in this town, it’s the Minster.
It’s not a dry venue and it seats 600+. The religious argument doesn’t really affect many people – people will see sense that the Minster is a public building and an architectural landmark of the city. It’s not as if we’re going to have to pray before each course. Only extremists will have a problem with having dinner in the minster. If it can allow atheist/ other religious followers to take a tour or walk up the tower, it can let them have a dinner. I doubt many people at a top university are particularly religious anyway. (Save the existence of god debate for another time though!!)
I don’t agree with graduating in the minster for logistical reasons, but we probably deserve to hold at least one event in conjunction with the Minster. It’s a great shame that so many students spend 3+ years in this city without even stepping foot inside.
“I was one of the first to suggest the Minster” (Jason Rose, ‘Latest Bollocks’, 2009, 1).
Jason, individuals have been suggesting the Minster as a Ball venue for 40 years. Get off your high-horse and stop talking ruibbish. The Easter bunny isn’t kind to children who lie and try to take credit for things they haven’t done. There’s a good chap…
Hahaha @ Dan Taylor – great referencing!
What the Minster and the NRM have in common is that they provide a unique experience. Sure you get the Harry Potter factor with the Minster, but some of those trains in the NRM are pretty amazing. Say whatever else you like, but old carriage trains are classy. Now that I think about it isn’t the Hogwart’s Express in the NRM?
Looks to me like old scar forehead is the common factor here. I suggest an in-motion meal on the aforementioned express, followed by Stephen Fry reading the Order of the Phoenix to the background delights of Harry and the Potters in the Chamber of Secrets. That should last until 6am when our breakfast is served by Merpeople at the bottom of the Campus lake.
I think I might’ve been one the first to suggest this, though I am open to correction.
*Hogwarts/Hogwarts’
*…one of the first…
//Cider > Grammar
You’re actually quite patronising and pathetic when you want to be aren’t you, Dan?
And even when he doesn’t!
Yes. Yes, I suppose I can.
Happy Easter.
I think making such petty personal points like yours are equally pathetic, this being enhanced by the fact you post under the banner of ‘anon’.
“I doubt many people at a top university are particularly religious anyway”
What a daft thing to say, as if the better the university, the fewer “religious” people there must be. Perhaps that would be true if by “top university” you mean one where you can take courses in “Gender privilege” or “sociology of homosexual disadvantage”, which would mean, er, The University of York.
As a Catholic I am both intrigued and disturbed by the Minster proposal. On the one hand letting any of my precious student finance go to the Church of England would be an affront to the 40 Martyrs of England & Wales. On the other, it would be fun to use the building as an historic venue for mass self-congratulation (which is what Liberalism is turning it into anyway).
My point, Dan, was that I suggested it as a plausible alternative to the Racecourse or campus for the meal part BUT having spoken to a lot of people no longer see it as being a plausible alternative. The fact that people have suggested it years ago is irrelevant to the current argument.
Happy, erm, whatever is in the week before Palm Sunday.