BADGER ·
thebadgeronline.com
·
1st February 2021
THE
Official free fortnightly newspaper by and for Sussex students · Printed on recycled paper
News Societies in Lockdown: Surviving in a pandemic Biden’s first steps Sussex societies find new ways to stay connected with lockdown restrictions
Luke Thompson Lockdown three is well underway, and with no clear end in sight, the question of how Sussex societies will keep membership and interest stable throughout the period has started to raise concern. The Badger spoke to five different societies about how they have been coping with the numerous lockdowns, and what their hopes and worries for the future are. We first spoke to the president of The Album Listening Society (ALS), Henry Appenzeller. He admitted that whilst having some initial struggles in March 2020, the society has managed well with the online platform, Discord. Henry stated, “with Discord we found a great substitute that gives us the chance to run sessions semi normally again”. Each Monday the society listens to a different album via group call. The album in question is voted on by members in the prior few days. The platform has also provided a way for members to get to know each other. In the server, members have gone into lengthy discussions over their most played artists and songs, sharing new and different music with each other. Despite these successes, Henry has concerns about
what the future holds. He told us “the biggest worry at the moment is how we can get in touch with more members and how we take the society further”.
In particular there has been difficulty in trying to get new guests for their events, with just 3 of his 35 emails sent to music labels in hopes of guest talks gaining a response. One society that hasn’t fared so well has been the newly established Sussex Running Society, headed by Tom Lachlan. Back in Autumn, the society was able to hold weekly 6 person, socially distanced runs along with monthly socials, but this has since stopped. Because running relies on these tangible activities, Tom told the Badger that whilst “Interest and membership uptake started really well, due to the difficulties of lockdown it
has stagnated”. Despite the disappointment, this has not completely phased the committee. They have been able to hold some online quiz sessions as well as “joint running targets that we can track online”. Such an event was held on their Facebook site, allowing for members to add their Strava run statistics. Tom told us the lockdowns have been particularly tricky considering the group was only created in September 2020. As a result of this, members have not had the comfort of pre-Covid friendships made within the group. In contrast, the University of Sussex Cricket team, led by
James David, has coped very well under the lockdown, despite their events similarly being shut down. The group faced the challenges of lockdown initially
by organising a virtual running and cycling event to Bucharest, a distance equivalent to 1656 miles, which the group had 5 days to complete. In essence, the length of a test match. James relayed to The Badger that “Through the hard work of
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Comment
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Features Chess affection & Valuing yourself everyone involved, we made it and raised an incredible £1730 towards the NHS”. This tremendous achievement not only bonded members and improved fitness, but also raised money that went towards saving lives. This success was not a be all and end all either. The group have also held guest talks during the lockdowns, with James stating: “thanks to our treasurer, we got the incredible opportunity to have Ajeet Dale (Hampshire fast bowler), come along and talk with the club”. ...Continued on Page 3
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