gair rhydd Monday October 17 2011 | freeword – Est. 1972 | Issue 959
Living water dries up gair rhydd follows the Union’s attempts to resurrect the valuable student service HenryMcMorrow News Editor It has emerged that Living Water, the providers of bottled water to those leaving Cardiff Students’ Union are currently unable to distribute water. Living Water is a Christian Union affiliated group which has been operating for over four years but has only more recently been associated with the Union. They distribute water to inebriated students leaving the Union on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings. The group’s objective is to ensure that students are safe when returning home from a night out at the Union. Comunication has been lost with Spar, the supermarket that formerly donated the bottled water, prompting Living Water to focus on distributing hot drinks instead. Living Water also provide girls suffering from painful feet with flip flops, and blankets to those feeling cold. A spokesperson for Living Water explained that the group distributed over thirty crates of water per evening during Freshers Week and, on average twenty crates during term time. “Living Water is entering its fourth year of practically helping out students who are worse for wear as they leave the Union.” “We are all Christians who love chatting with people about the issues in life whether big or small, and will happily answer anyone’s questions as best we can… We are so grateful to Spar for generously donating water to us in the past, and without them we just
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can’t continue.” Thirty students are regularly involved with the project, with many more volunteers assisting throughout the year. Working from 11.30 pm onwards, they ensure that students are provided with refreshment and support should they need it. Harry Newman, Societies Officer stated: “We are currently working on drafting a letter to Spar to strongly encourage [them] to continue to support Living Water. “Personally, Living Water has helped me on numerous occasions after nights out in the Union. They clearly benefit large numbers of students every week as seen by the large quantities of water distributed. It is a hugely valuable service that will be sorely missed.” Bottled water allows students to take the drink away with them. The cups used for hot drinks are not reusable and thus students are unable to save the drink for later. Louise Hazeland, fourth year Chemistry student said, “Being a Christian myself I believe it’s a positive thing they are doing. As they are introducing people to the faith through the selfless act of giving.” Chris Scott, third year Civil Engineering student said “I find it patronising if they try to convert me to their faith but they don’t say much so I let it slide.” Aaron James, second year Journalism student and Night Leader, and Rebecca Redfern, second year Adult Nursing student and Co Coordinator of Living Water said, “We hope that students will end their night well. Sometimes people really want to talk to us and we hope we can support those who do. People can sometimes pour their hearts out to us and we hope that we can continue to be there for them.” “We’ve got a massive vision for Living Water, including work around exam periods and attending more of the big nights out.” Since gair rhydd has contacted Spar, they appear to be willing to reestablish communication with Living Water. We are awaiting a comment from Spar on the issue.
Features explore student related stress page 17