Postgraduate Round Up and New Look JCR

New Look JCR

The Bailey JCR has had a facelift!

New furniture was chosen by the Junior Common Room, funded by College and ordered by the Operations Manager in time for the Easter term.

There is now a large study/ meeting area and a cosy social area available.

PGM Murder Mystery Formal

A highlight of the year for us was being able to do our annual murder mystery formal where we invite PGM students from across the university to attend. The cast and crew ranged from 1st year undergraduates to those completing their PhD research and it demonstrated an amazing coming together of ideas and talent from across the Cuth’s community, which resulted in the highlight of our social calendar. Most importantly, we managed to fool most attendees of the killer’s identity, keeping up our long tradition of difficult but rewarding mysteries to solve.

Postgraduate Round Up

This Jack Simmonds year has been a year of significant change. Coming back from Covid restrictions, we have had to learn how to bring back the Postgraduate and Mature Students (PGM) community to Cuth’s. As the PGM Students President, it has been amazing to see the enthusiasm of PGM students in Cuth’s to get involved and cultivate a community that extends beyond a Zoom pub quiz. This year, we had one of our best PGM Freshers’ Weeks in recent memory. With the help of the incredible international rep. Elena and other PGM Presidents, we were able to organise trips outside of Durham, inter-college events and, most-importantly, the long-awaited return to the Bailey Bar. We have managed to return to in-person research events, working with the SCR to allow University staff and students from a range of subject areas to come into college to share the amazing work they are doing. Going into the summer, we hope to provide more of these opportunities to students completing their research; and working with College and the SCR to make long-term changes to increase the range of research events in the coming years.

It has been a pleasure to be a part of the resurgence of Cuth’s this year and I can only imagine what is to come with a community as dedicated and enthusiastic as this one.

Jack Simmonds June 2022

Outreach by China Luckman, Outreach Chair

It is with great pride that Outreach Committee are able to look back over months of successful fundraising, volunteering and events. Despite a slightly trepidatious start to the year we found our feet very quickly. We packed a punch with our first event in the form of Twelve Days of Outreach, a festive programme comprising a wide range of volunteering and fundraising events. It was important to us to have a variety of activities, as both fundraising and volunteering are invaluable ways to give back to the community in their own right. Working with DUSVO (the central Uni volunteering outfit), Outreach was pleased to get involved with their Christmas card drive campaign. Students sent festive wishes to those in local care homes- especially important as Covid had increased isolation for older members of the community! We also worked with Feeding Families, a local foodbank, to coordinate food donations and Blood Soc. to hold a blood donation drive. It was very exciting to be back in the game, and operating face to face! In spite of a fairly fresh faced committee, we were delighted to raise £1000 for Rainbow Trust North East, a fantastic local organisation that supports the families of children who have life threatening illnesses. Among the events that we put on was a boozy bingo night (hosted by the iconic Jack Simmonds, our PGM president), a Christmas karaoke night, and a particularly popular festive silent disco.

In Epiphany term we jumped with both feet into a Valentine’s Day themed fundraiser for our upcoming summer volunteering trip to Calais. More recently, the warmer weather brought with it a chance to organise a riverside litter pick. Finally, as exam season draws to a close, we look forward to rounding off the year by putting on a 24 Hour Musical, as well as organising a summer Sports Day fundraiser, all in aid of local charity NEPACS.

My time as Outreach Chair is coming to an end, I am very grateful to have worked with such a dedicated group of people, who have all used their unique talents to make the most of our available resources in giving back to the local community.

Communities Committee

Sending an email entitled, ‘What does the working-class students rep do?’ changed my first year! From running in two elections, then going on to be the chair of the Communities Committee, a lot happened in a short period of time. I learnt how to manage a committee meeting, write an agenda and sit on committees. And thus, I answered my question of ‘how am I going to get involved?’ very quickly. Communities Committee this year has been an absolute blast, doing some outstanding work when it comes to reaching our respective minority groups and making life here at Cuth’s more accessible. From the formation of the EDI committee, headed by our Trans and Non-binary (and future LGBTQ+) Rep Lukie, which integrates college and the JCR, to holding talks about bettering our accessibility across the board. The Students with Disabilities community is doing fantastic work. Ditė and Moony have been putting together a study buddy program, baking sessions, coffee mornings and challenging University policy on missed academic content notifications.The LGBTQ+ Reps - Cat, Lukie and MK put on an absolute show this year, from a fantastic Pride formal to hosting drop-in sessions and integrating LGBTQ+ accessibility into most events and actions the JCR does. The POC (People of Colour) part of the committee, Nadia and Poppy, hosted Iftar collections for Muslim student during Ramadan and Nadia will be the POC rep for next year. As Working Class Rep. I worked with the amazing Welfare Team to run the ‘Classless Christmas’ and ‘Carers in Cuth’s over Christmas’ campaign, then went on to restart the Working-Class Students Society. We had talks with the social committee about making big events more accessible and I sat in on a trustee meeting to talk about Cuth’s inclusivity and how their trustee roles could be more accessible.

Knowing Cuth’s and the community we have here, I am confident for the future.

My first year at Cuth’s has been an absolute whirlwind.