Csc yearbook 2013/14

trinity societies 2013/14

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Overall, I would consider 2013/14 a strong year for the CSC itself and an excellent one for Societies in general. Luckily the last 12 months have been relatively scandal free and in spite of our extremely frustrating capitation cuts it has been heartening to see many societies do more with less.

invaluable asset to the CSC; his knowledge of how College works and how societies work and his willingness to help and advise the CSC Officers has been well taken advantage of this year, and greatly appreciated.

The work done by my fellow officers, Éanna, Jack, Rosalind, Jonathan and Ronan, has been Last year the CSC managed to increase the im- has been excellent and it has not gone underapage of societies amongst students very well, preciated. Finally I’d like to thank the rest of the with initiatives such as 4th Week and the Year- Exec for their work this year. They have all been book. We’ve tried our best to continue the work incredibly thoughtful and reasonable in all dedone last year, but have also worked to improve cisions made, and have all been willing to help the image societies have within the college as a out whenever it was needed, whether at Freshwhole, i.e. including College officers. Hopeful- ers’ Week, 4th week, Open day etc. which has ly College will continue to recognize the huge been really appreciated. I have no doubt that amount of work that societies put into their ac- next year with Éanna at the helm the CSC will tivities, and the benefit that this will have for the go from strength to strength. ‘student experience’.

And, of course, the editor of this publication and I’d like to personally thank our Staff and Officers the new CSC Amenities Officer, Grace Nuttall. so much for the incredible work they have done Grace you are a machine, thank you so much for this year. It’s been said a lot, but not too much, making this Yearbook a reality, we are all incredthat Lucy and Emma are the sole reason that ibly grateful to you for all your hard work. the CSC works as it does. They work incredibly hard, while managing to remain approachable That’s all from me, thanks for this opportunity. and patient with everybody who comes into the office, and I know from being a society chair Dónal McKeating, and treasurer, as well as CSC Chair, that with- CSC Chair 2013/14 out them, running a society would be a lot more difficult. Our 3rd staff member, Joe, is also an

Yearbook Team 2013-2014 Editor: Grace Nuttall Lead Contributor: Donal McKeating Design Editor: Grace Nuttall Copy Editor: Eanna Drury Contributors: Donal McKeating, Jonathan Shanahan, Eanna Drury, Oonagh O’Donovan, James Belfast, Darren Sinnott, Oilbhe Cahil Reed, Sarah Agha, Holly Starr, Andrew Murphy, Laura McDermott

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FRESHERS’ WEEK 2013 Chairman Andrew Murphy was delighted to see ‘our members, both old and new, so enAn Cumann Gaelach began thusiastic to get involved.’ the year with a bang. Increasing membership to 1200, their Many societies reported inweek’s hectic schedule includ- creases in signups this year, ed a successful pub crawl, an with Lawsoc, notably, doubling open-mic night in Seomra na their membership to 2000. AuGaeilge and a concert with ditor Ruth Keating emphasised The Heathers in the Grand her delight with the week, Social which Auditor Niamh drawing particular attention Ní Chróinín described as ‘the to the Tuesday which saw the highlight of the week’. society host a carnival-themed event at The Pav, a comedy DUPA (Dublin University Pho- debate in the GMB and a joint tographic Association) were social night in The Grand SoWhile all were quick to tire of equally enthused with the cial with DU Players in one acthe never-ending supply of week’s events. As well as sup- tion-packed afternoon. free pizza and budget energy plying its usual army of photogdrinks, it was clear that enthu- raphers to cover the events of FLAC (Free Legal Advice Censiasm for the week has not di- other societies and significant- tre) tripled their membership, minished for both established ly increasing its membership, leaving Chairperson Shauna Freshers’ Week began with the traditional Monday dawn scramble to set up society stalls. Bleary-eyed students fought over the prized spots nearest to Front Arch, as goody bags were grabbed from society rooms in the Atrium and rickety, torn gazebos were assembled with varying degrees of success. Competition for members has always been fierce, and it was widely noted that the volume and scale of events organised by societies had increased this year.

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society participants and, most importantly, among Freshers.

Stanley delighted to have ‘recruited so many enthusiastic Flactivists keen to get involved in human rights law in Ireland’.

The newly-recognised Society For International Affairs, SOFIA, later awarded the coveted prize of ‘Best New Society’ at the CSC Awards, were also successful, signing up an impressive 200 members over the course of the week.

DU Players, meanwhile, left no stone unturned in seeking to make an impression on this year’s batch of Freshers.

On Monday, a comedy night was followed by a concert by Le Galaxie; Wednesday was marked with ‘PlayPhilthy’, the traditional collaboration with The Phil; Thursday was brought to an end by a Silent Disco and Friday saw the return of the society’s traditional Murder Mys-

tery.

The Phil followed up on the enormous success of its previous session with a jam-packed week. As well as a Comedy Debate and a Colours Debate against UCD, the society welcomed singer-songwriter Fionn Regan to the GMB, ran a speed-dating event and followed the tradition of running its club night ‘Club Philth’ on the Thursday.

The Visual Arts Society were delighted with the week’s events, with Chair Michelle MacDonagh ecstatic with the ‘huge increase in signups and the great interest in ours events throughout the week.’

MacDonagh was especially pleased with student engagement in VisArts’ event on Friday afternoon, which saw the society bring a large group of

members, both old and new, on a crawl around the city to see the various attractions of Dublin Culture night.

It is, of course, impossible to give a full account of the activity of all of Trinity’s societies throughout Freshers’ Week.

With students faced with such a wide choice of societies, all committees knew that it would take a special effort to stand out from the pack in a week universally accepted as being a vital starting point for a successful society year. From all accounts, thankfully, a high standard was reached by all to result in what was, by all accounts, a stellar Freshers’ Week. Éanna Drury

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fianna fail All throughout Freshers’ Week our members canvassed in college, before moving out to the wider city centre with our message of “Vote No, Stop The Power Grab”. Many mornings our members were up bright and early, canvassing commuters from 6.30am at Stephens Green Luas stop as well as at Pearse St. station. After college we hit the streets in the evening to get our message out there.

During the campaign we held a “Vote No Information Meeting” where Senator Sean Barrett, Dr. Martin Mansergh & Cllr. Jim O’Callaghan, addressed the Cumann. Dr. Mansergh was particularly passionate in his defence of our Upper House, citing the Seanad as a voice for minorities as well as our people from all traditions in Northern Ireland.

Members of our Cumann wrote opinion pieces for college newspapers on the issue and the members of the Cumann undertook social media campaigns all of which contributed to our campaign.

Our Cumann’s members were fervent in defence of Seanad Éireann and the result is something we are deeply proud of.

orchestra On 6th July 2013 Trinity Orchestra took to the stage in Vicar Street as part of 10 Days in Dublin. The orchestra has been a regular at the festival since its inception three years ago, but this was our biggest and most successful performance yet. With arrangements from society members James O’Leary and Alex Ryan, the orchestra took to the stage with the music of Queen and Michael Jackson. Support act and Dublin favourites Tandem Felix were received with rapturous applause; coupled with an incredible light show the whole event was second to none. The performance itself was perhaps one of the orchestra’s best ever and the atmosphere in the packed room was electrifying.

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For those involved the Vicar Street concert was without doubt the event of the year, and has remained a talking point around campus since. The evidence that the night was enjoyed by all was insurmountable; in the days following the concert, positive feedback poured in via Facebook, Twitter and email. The wonderful photography by Tara Thomas serves as a beautiful reminder of what was undeniably a highlight of the orchestra’s year. The reaction we received to the concert was at once humbling and gratifying for everyone who worked so hard to make the event a success. The tireless work of both the committee and players was astonishing; the time and effort that went into Vicar Street, in tandem with the incredible response received, were no doubt what made it such a memorable event. With the summer ahead, make sure to stay tuned to see what Trinity Orchestra gets up to next.

botany

At the planting workshop Brian Murphy (PhD) took the group around the outside of the Botany building and talked about the plants and trees growing there. The plants around the Botany building have come from a variety of sources, and some date from the foundation of the building in 1907. The Wisteria around the front door is probably the most impressive plant, and is a wonderful sight in late spring/early summer. In fact this plant annually invades the building, as can be seen from the tendrils which are currently coming in through the windows on the stairs.

The main feature of the planting is the variety of plant families represented, with a wide range of geographical provenance. The southern hemisphere is well represented and reflects the relatively modern interest in this group. A wonderful specimen to see is the strawberry tree, Arbutus unedo, which is actually a native of Ireland found mostly in the Killarney region and the southern counties. The nearest continental region in which it is found being the Iberian Peninsula, it is a representative of a colonisation route along the Atlantic seaboard which was only relatively recently accepted. Another notable plant is the Euphorbia mellifera (named after the honey smell of its flowers). The Virginia Creeper on the end wall is also a pretty impressive, original specimen.

Back in the Luce labs, Brian gave information on propagation from cuttings and demonstrated how to properly pot plants. Some cuttings from the plants around the Botany building were taken and planted. Those attending took them home along with some flower and herb seeds.

swss SWSS member, Shelby O’Neill reported on his personal experience of the Occupy Boston camp and gave a historic overview and Marxist analysis of the Occupy movement.

Beginning on September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park in New York; the act of encamping in financial districts soon swept across 95 cities with the slogan: “We Are the 99%.” The movement was a broad one, and used consensus voting.

Arising out of this were campaigns such as “Occupy Sandy” and one against the “stop and frisk” policy, used primarily against blacks and Latinos in New York.

The frank and lively discussion afterwards delved into the achievements and problems with organising in this way – such as the consensus model. Comparisons were drawn with the way people organised themselves in Taksim Square, and even during strikes closer to home – such as the Dublin Bus strike in August 2013. Afterwards SWSS members present voted to go to Kildare Street in solidarity with the Senior Citizens’ protest against the savage cutbacks in the budget.

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FOURTH WEEK Fourth Week is entirely dedicated to student societies in TCD. It is an opportunity for members of the College to check out those societies you’ve always been meaning to try, or discover some that you didn’t know existed! This year all events were free to attend, providing an amazing opportunity to test out societies without any commitment to join. We had wonderful events, ranging from a Falconry Exhibition to free productions at DU Players, from the High Society event ran by the societies of House Six, to numerous music and culture events. One of the highlights was the award winning TAF performance and visual art event, which involved 20 societies all taking part in a night based on the concept of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Guests followed the story, through rooms in the GMB, before eventually finding Alice on Trial for her crimes against Wonderland. The CSC also ran a ReFreshers event, for those who missed out during Freshers’ Week. All in all, it was a fantastic week and a great chance to experience all that societies have to offer!

Grace Nuttall & Emma Matthews

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scandinavian As part of 4th Week, Scandinavian enthusiasts hailed down to the Cricket Pitch for the “Scandinavian Olympics”. The weather was untypically Scandinavian, with a very uncommon sun making a perfect appearance for the games. The banter began with “eukonkanto” or ‘partner carrying’ competition and continued with random object throwing, aesthetically repulsive herring-eating competition and a danish beer run. After the games, olympians were all rewarded for their efforts with pizza and stimulating ‘Swedish conversation’... ahem. A good time was had all-round!

fashion

4th Week saw another very successful swap shop from Trinity Fashion Society. Room 3 of the Atrium was SWAMPED with pre-loved garments from students all over campus.

Huge numbers of bargain-loving belles and beaus were jumping to get in on the action, while those who already bagged their bits buzzed over their new purchases with an abundance of refreshments and pizza. Despite some technical malfunctions with Zoolander, the night continued to be a raving success.

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sofia

On Tuesday the 15th of October, Mr. Yuichi Yamada, the Japanese Second Secretary to the embassy in Ireland, addressed the SOFIA committee and the society’s members.

His thought provoking recounting of his unique progression into diplomacy was of great interest to all attendees.

The Second Secretary’s details of Japanese foreign policy, especially of that in Iraq, was particularly illuminating, and gave those assembled a better understanding of the country. He was very proud of the work he had done for his country, and was enthusiastic about future projects. Mr. Yamada did not look upon his work with rose-tinted glasses however. He recognised the challenges of operating in hostile lands, and the extra difficulties added security measures made to his job. Overall, learning about his ‘colourful career’ made for a great evening – topped off by some great sushi!

capoeira TCD Capoeira Society hosted a capoeira workshop during 4th Week. We invited our Instructor Mestre Sansao Maia, who has over 30 years of experience in capoeira to train people who wanted to try Capoeira for the first time.

Engineering The Engineering Society held a fourth week event on Wednesday, 16th October in the Printing House Hall. EngSoc hosted a free Workshop on building your own Electric Xylophone, which is normally priced at €20 per head. Representatives from MakeShop came to help the students.

The event was open to all students with all ranges of experience of electronics, from no experience to those that love the smell of solder in the morning. Students were each given their own kit where they had to solder and wire their own Xylophone. Once completed everyone was playing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Three Blind Mice” and showing off their musical talents. There were also free snacks and refreshments afterwards when the sounds of the beeping tunes from everyone became too much to handle.

Our event ran over two hour long slots where 18 people could build the Xylophone at one time. This meant 36 students benefited from this event and of course everyone was able to take their Xylophone home to torment their families and friends. It was a great event and each student enjoyed the challenge.

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Korean

For the first time in the history of the Korean society, we held an event for Fourth Week! We decided that the best way to entice people to check out the Korean society would be to host a karaoke night, as Koreans are very fond of karaoke (or noraebang as it is called in Korea). We hosted the noraebang night at the TCD Global Room, which has adequate seating, table space and a fantastic screen to display the song lyrics on.

We had an excellent turn out for the night, which was probably due in large part to the delicious food provided to us by the wonderful Korean restaurant, Kimchi. Everything was served buffet style. Japchae and bulgogi were the main dishes provided, along with some kimbap and kimchi pancakes. As well as Korean food being available to the attendees, we also provided some Korean alcoholic beverages, mainly plum and rice wines (a novelty for many attendees and super tasty). For those whose tastes leaned more towards the familiar, we provided some beer and soft drinks as well.

The highlight of the night had to be when a large group of students lined up along the back of the room, and all proceeded to sing at full volume. Not only did they sing well, but they also threw in a few fancy K-pop dance moves – most notably, the body rolls from the two guys in the group that was greeted with cheers and whistles.

trad In Fourth Week, TradSoc played host to fiddle player and singer Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín, Libby Mc Crohan on bouzouki and Niamh Molloy on concertina for an intimate gig in McTurcails.

In the cosy backdrop of the pub, the girls (all award-winning musicians in their own right) serenaded us with their top class music. It was nigh on impossible not to tap a foot along to the beat and several ‘yeowws’ escaped from the crowd in appreciation of their tunes. When the girls finished, large food platters were brought to the tables and we filled our empty stomachs in preparation for the next stage of the night: the session. At this point all the listeners revealed their own instruments and began to play.

The girls joined in too and everyone took turns suggesting sets. Once it got going, it didn’t stop and there was hardly one pause amidst the jigs and reels that continued flowing throughout the night. The warm and friendly atmosphere was brilliantly obvious and it was enjoyed thoroughly by the 30 plus musicians that attended the event (not including the extra onlookers that couldn’t resist joining in the fun!).

A great evenings entertainment was had by all and it was proof that irish music still remains a lively tradition; with TradSoc at the forefront of its promotion in Trinity College.

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high society In October 2013, during CSC Fourth Week, Trinity saw the re-birth of High Society. This is a night for the societies on the top floor of House 6 to open their doors to anyone wanting to learn more what they do and why - and needless to say a perfect opportunity for civilised soiree in one of campus’ busiest buildings. The event was run by ten different societies working together - Trinity TV, Film Soc, DUGES, Vis Arts, DUAMs, Comedy, Q Soc, Lit Soc, Orchestra and TFM - a real melting pot of personalities and passions!

The night commenced with an outstanding performance and warm reception from Trinity Orchestra who impressed the revellers with their wide and versatile repertoire. This year High Society welcomed some new collaborators to the scene in particular the Gender Equality Society, Vis Arts and Trinity TV. The DUGES committee, always keen to hear students’ voices and opinions, set up an eye-catching Beauty and the Beast display where attendees were encouraged to scribble down their intoxicated beliefs on why they were either a monster or a belle. Needless to say the etchings on this board become more and more outrageous as the night went on. Trinity TV and Film Soc took a well-deserved break from editing to squeeze the masses inside this tiny tech-heavy room. Cult classics were screened all night while balloons and confetti danced through the air in this small space but cosy space.

The Lit Soc room was packed with students, and the committee took the crowd by storm with their adventurous readings and recitals. A lovely touch! TFM transformed their trendy little studio into a miniature Halloween-themed club with creepy decorations, atmospheric fairy lights and stimulating tunes to jitter those winter blues away. It was clear early on that everyone was spoilt for choice in terms of genres of music. The Alternative Music Society were also blasting out tunes and enticing people round to their room in a manner the Piped Pipper would have been proud of!

DU Comedy Soc put on a good show by drawing in the merrymakers to an animated card game, with inventive rounds and daring questions. Meanwhile downstairs Q Soc entertained all the guests who had spilled out onto the second floor and welcomed them into their impeccably decorated room.

Perhaps one of the most popular rooms of the night was the newly refurbished Vis Arts room, also shared with Knitting and Amnesty. At any society event Freshers quickly learn that in order to avail of as many refreshments as possible it is of utmost importance to remain in the vicinity where they’re being served! Thanks to the ten societies who had contributed generously to the night such refreshments were in abundance, from the cheese board to the selection of beverages served in anything from colourful children’s party cups to hefty, glass goblets.

The hosting societies were thrilled at how well attended the event was - you know when windows start to steam up that you’ve reached capacity. Everyone loves an excuse to dress up so we hope you had fun and can’t wait for next year!

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Math & PHy

This Fourth Week saw DU Mathsoc and DU Physoc run a number of joint events. On Tuesday 15th October, the societies hosted a public talk on the Higgs Boson, the LHC and dark matter – extremely topical given the recent annoucement for the Nobel Prize for Physics (awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert for their theoretical discovery of the Higgs mechanism). The speaker was Prof. Ben Allanach, a very prominent researcher and lecturer in the Department of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics in Cambridge. Prof. Allanach is noted for his dedication to the promotion of particle physics, having spoken on the topic at TEDxDanubia and written various articles on the subject.

During his talk, Prof. Allanach gave a brief overview of the facilities at CERN, the ongoing experiments there and their applications. He provided the audience with some insights into the mysteries behind dark matter and some of the recent efforts to explain and understand it. It was a roaring success, interspersed with insightful questions and equally thoughtful answers. Prof. Allanach also took the time to speak with students one-on-one at the end to answer any further questions, and kindly posed with both committees for a photo at the end before attending a small reception in his honour.

To complement the talk, the societies also paid a visit to the travelling CERN exhibition in UCD the following week to further inform themselves of the experiments there, and work opportunities available to them.

horse racing The trip to Paris for the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe in October encapsulated what the society is all about. We experienced world-class racing with like-minded enthusiasts (and some of the most knowledgeable racing people you will ever meet) as well as having a great time away from the racecourse.

We met up with plenty of Erasmus students who are studying in Paris along with several others who had travelled over from the likes of Strasbourg and Bordeaux just for the event. All in all, we had 50 horse racing society members lighting up the streets of Paris!

There was top-class racing action on the Saturday to kick off Arc weekend and about half of the group travelled to Longchamp to see the admirable Cirrus des Aigles win the Prix Dollar for a record-breaking third time.

The ‘Arc’ on Sunday was the highlight of a very special trip.

Even with the late withdrawal of King George hero, Novellist, it was still one of the best fields ever assembled for Europe’s most prestigious race. We enjoyed access to the owners’ enclosure where successful tips were shared.

The trip was fantastic from start to finish and was one of the standout events of a jam-packed year!

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Laurentian

On October 20th the Laurentian Society organised an intervarsity field trip to the medieval monastic settlement of Glendalough, together with the Newman Society from UCD and the Chaplaincy from Queen’s University Belfast.

In total, almost a hundred of us stormed the slopes of St. Kevin’s sixth century settlement. To the tourists present there this must have appeared like a re-enactment of the 1398 raid of Glendalough by English troops. We came, we saw and we conquered!

Our first stop was the tourist centre, where we learned a little bit about the local history meandering around the displays. Following that we toured around the two lakes and did a little bit of sight-seeing, taking in the old cathedral, the round tower, and numerous other old churches in the area, finishing up with St. Kevin’s “Kitchen”, Cell and Bed. Finally we came to the hiking. The vistas presented to us on the various tracks were breathtaking and gave us an inkling as to why St Kevin chose this place of recluse for his hermitage and life as a monk.

Many Irish people have already visited and know about Glendalough but to the large number of overseas students that participated in this trip, this was a new experience that presented to them a touch of Irish history. But even to those that have visited this place before, the serene backdrop and views were a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Law

Shawn Holley started her address by bringing us back to July, when she received her invitation to come to Law Soc. Despite initially thinking it was some advanced version of a Lottery scam - as she couldn’t believe she’d really be asked - she was delighted to accept. Shawn was a little confused though: how would a Trinity student, surrounded by such grandeur, even know (much less care about) the Kardashians?

After a quick summary of the OJ case - with Shawn realising that many of us were toddlers at the time - she concluded that, in her view, OJ either didn’t do it or, if he did, he had no idea that he did. Regardless, Holley was of the opinion that the case wasn’t proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Her advice to those attending was simply: love what you do. Think about what you really like doing, what makes you feel fulfilled. Shawn credited her success to that principle of loving what she does.

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After Holley’s address, she took some questions from the floor. Kanye West, it appears, is quiet, polite and articulate.

When asked about paparazzi pressure on her and her family, she didn’t seem to mind it too much. In fact, her ten year old daughter loves it - striking a pose any time a paparazzo approaches. Saying that, Shawn didn’t seem too averse to posing either.

s2s

The second-ever S2S Day happened on Tuesday 22nd October, during Mental Health Week. An army of volunteers took to the streets of Trinity to help raise awareness and funds for mental health services, in particular the Walk in My Shoes campaign for St Patrick’s Mental Health Hospital.

A Pop-Up Parlour appeared in Arts where students could relax. Along with the popular bake sale, €426.61 was raised for Walk in My Shoes, who promote mental health services for young people in Ireland.

The promotion continued online with the “It’s Alright Not To Feel Okay” campaign, where students changed their Facebook profile picture to one where they’re not at their best. Facebook was overwhelmed with its success as it stretched across Ireland and went international, with over 1000 people taking part.

S2S day reached a climax as the day led into the latest instalment of the incredibly well-received Speak Your Mind series. Participants included Brent Pope, SU President Tom Lenihan, poet Stephen James Smith, singer-songwriter and Trinity student Morgan McIntyre and Boards.ie founder Tom Murphy, all of whom gave inspirational and insightful speeches about their experiences with mental health.

The day set the tone for S2S’s great year ahead, with high enthusiasm and participation from all.

Singers On Friday 25th October 2013, two bus-loads of Trinity College Singers ventured north to compete in the inaugural City of Derry International Choral Festival. The society’s biggest trip to date with eighty-eight members on board, it was the first time that all three groups within the society, Trinity Singers, Boydell Singers and Trinitones went on tour together.

Boydell Singers took to the stage first, in the fantastic setting of the city’s Saint Columb’s Hall. The girls were awarded first place in the National Female Voice competition, following a stunning performance conducted by François Voeffray. The National Mixed Voice competition resulted in further success for the society, as Trinity Singers, conducted by Lynsey Callaghan, picked up another gold medal.

The afternoon was topped off by a performance of Trinitones’ greatest hits in the Guildhall Square, captivating a crowd of attentive locals.

Major festivities occurred in town that night following a celebratory meal in the Delacroix Inn, and miraculously, the entire group returned to Dublin on Sunday in one piece.

The buzz within the group was incredible throughout, and the weekend was an overall success.

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music

On October 30th, DU Music Society and DU Film Society came together to present a special showing of Murnau’s classic vampire film Nosferatu, the first film to be based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The screening took place in the ornate surroundings of Trinity’s Chapel in Front Square, the large and long room providing both wonderful acoustics and a uniquely spooky atmosphere once the lights were dimmed for the film.

Around 300 people gathered to watch the film, almost filling the room to capacity, with organist Ronan Murray (himself a past student of Trinity) performing an improvised score on the Chapel’s organ to splendid effect. A large screen was erected at the front of the raised Chapel altar, providing an excellent view from even the rear of the room, and the film was shown for its full duration uninterrupted.

The event also attracted attention from outside of college, with the Bram Stoker festival advertising it on their website, and the Dean of St.Patrick’s Cathedral also attending on the night.

Overall, the combination of musical and visual spectacle was a great success, with Murray receiving a standing ovation for his score from the entire audience. The success of the event, which was the first of its kind in recent years, should allow us to work towards more events of this nature in the near future!

computer science One of the highlight events of the year for DUCSS was run in association with The Dublin Web Summit on their launch night 2013. We had JP Rangaswami, chief scientist from SalesForce.com; Erik Lammerding, former head of developer relations at Apple and co-founder of N3TWORK; and John Engates, CTO of RackSpace the largest cloud company in the world.

The 400 attendees were mostly from the computer science departments of TCD, UCD, DIT, and DCU; with others attending from other faculties of TCD. We reached out to the department heads of the CS departments in the other colleges to spread the word of the event.

The second aspect of the event was the local Dublin startups that came to mingle with students in search of possible interns and graduates.

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As the event kicked off at 5pm, we got a text from Paddy Cosgrave that he had asked a few other f.ounders, the VIP guests of the web summit, to attend the DUCSS Student Summit. Kevin Rose, founder of digg.com and partner at Google Ventures; Robert Scoble, technology journalist from San Francisco; Shel Israel, freelance journalist and Forbes contributor; Kirk Wylie, OpenGamma; and a few others. We somehow convinced this group of people to be our aside panel for the night and put them on stage before our announced line up of speakers arrived at 5.45pm.

q soc On Hallowe’en night QSoc hosted its now annual interactive screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For the uninitiated, the film is a cult classic, not least fin the queer community, about a couple who stranded in house with Dr. Frank-N-Furter, his household staff and his latest creation – Rocky. Rocky Horror stretches the boundaries of gender and sexuality while also featuring some hit sing-along songs such as “Sweet Transvestite” and “Time Warp”. Interactive screenings happen all over the world around Hallowe’en and QSoc have extended the tradition to Trinity for the past four years.

This year’s screening was a hit success, one of the best attended events we ran all year. We encouraged everyone that was coming to dress up for the occasion and to bring friends. The event itself was held in the Trinity Global Room which was the perfect setting for screening the film, and for participants to use the packs of props and cues we’d prepared to dance, interact, have fun and for those new to the Rocky Horror experience, finally have their “cherry popped”!

As an event that combines genderbending, performance, confidence building, with a community spirit Rocky Horror once again proved to be a flagship QSoc event –risque, original and above all fun!

an cumann gaelach An Cumann Gaelach attended the country’s largest and most popular Irish language festival. Oireachtas na Gaeilge 2013 took place in Killarney, Co. Kerry and was a weeklong festival promoting the Irish language and culture. 97 members of An Cumann Gaelach travelled to the festival on Friday 1 November and spent two nights in the Railway Hostel. On Friday evening we attended Cóisir na Mac Léinn, a student Halloween night which took place in the Gleneagle hotel. For the 5th year in a row, TCD An Cumann Gaelach took first prize for the best dressed college in the fancy dress competition. A number of our society members were awarded individual prizes for their outfits.

Cumann Gaelach societies from around the country all attended Oireachtas na Gaeilge and it gave our members the chance to meet other Irish speakers, something which we found particularly important for our new members. For the older members, it was a chance to meet up with past society committees and members, as they were in attendance too. It also gave our members the chance to have a closer look at the work of TG4, Raidió na Gaeltacht, Raidió na Life etc. who were all in attendance.

We headed back to Dublin at midday on Sunday and have begun counting down the days until Oireahctas 2014!

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net soc

On Friday 1st November, Netsoc hosted a talk entitled ‘A Free Digital Society’ presented by Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project.

Stallman is an extremely well known figure in the the field of computing, and a well-respected authority in areas such as personal privacy and the philosophy of distributing ‘free vs. non-free’ software, creator of the Free and Open Source Software, GNU which along with Linux goes up to make one of the most popular computer operating systems in use today.

The attendance was excellent and Stallman’s talk was as enlightening and also as foreboding as can be expected with the revelation of PRISM and other possible hidden government surveillance operations. In the age of digital communications and the internet, it is more important than ever for the masses to protect their personal information and privacy and Stallman correctly displayed the difficulty of such a task in a world of closed proprietary software and hardware.

politics

At our annual political Pub Quiz we combine what PolSoc is all about: political discussion and some good craic as well.

While politics is often serious we try to offer a platform for students where we can voice our opinions and learn something new, but in a more relaxed QI-y atmosphere.

With questions ranging from campaign songs over culture to plain hard political facts, we make sure that in this setting everything is political. And the winners are sure to get some political prizes from our PolSoc library. So we’re all there mingling and contemplating politics – after all, it is often said that the real political decisions happen at the bar...

theological

On the 25th of November, the Theological Society welcomed in ex-Scientologist Pete Griffiths for a jam-packed talk entitled “Scientology: Behind Closed Doors.” Griffiths provided the audience with an illuminating analysis of a religion that has created a storm of controversy over the past decade, placed into the spotlight by Hollywood celebrities and your next-door-neighbour alike. Griffiths risked his personal safety to reveal the harmful ways in which Scientology works upon its supporters, as part of a larger trend in contemporary society in which vulnerable, insecure human beings find themselves exploited for profit as they search for the meaning of life and their place in the universe.

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“Scientology: Behind Closed Doors” showcased the Theo’s uncanny knack for sparking conversation about heated topics that have arisen in recent society.

Germanic This was the first year for the DU Germanic society, and we hoped to get off to a good start in our aim of promoting German culture within TCD. Overall we had quite a successful year with a wide range of events, with a few staple events such as a number of film screenings alongside other minor events such as pub quizzes. Towards the end of the year we began work on getting a lunch time stammtisch up and running – which would facilitate a place for people to go and speak German on campus for an hour or two, and we hope to make this a regular event in the future. Furthermore, we had a number of successful large events, with one of the most memorable being the visit of German diplomat Harald Seibel to give a talk on the future of Europe, and his time as a German diplomat in countries around the world promoting German culture. Another, hosted in conjunction with SOFIA, saw his Excellency Beat Loeliger (right), the Swiss Ambassador, address students on the topic of ‘direct democracy’ in the brand new Global Room. Similarly we were involved in events such as Oktoberfest and an International Christmas night alongside a number of other cultural societies. Overall, we had a rather successful first year of events and aim to build on this in the future.

neuroscience The Neuroscience Society functions primarily to host weekly seminars given by eminent academics who are experts in the field of neuroscience throughout the college term.

These talks vary widely in subject and speaker and taking our highly successful last year as an example; have included Dr. Matthew Campbell’s ‘Alzheimer’s Disease and the Amyloid Conspiracy’, Dr. Daniele Volpe’s ‘Music and Dance in Parkinson’s Disease’, Dr. Heleen Slatger’s ‘Sustaining Attention for a Prolonged Period of Time Decreases Attentional Control and Stability’, and Dr. David Nutts ‘Why Neuroscience Should Direct 21st Century Drug and Alcohol Policy’. Along with these talks we also hold regular social events including pub nights, pub quizzes, Christmas parties, and our highly popular Neurosoc Ball.

history On the 21st November, Pulitzer Prize Nominee Anthony Summers spoke to DU History on the eternally fascinating subject of the assassination of President Kennedy. The talk came just one week before the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death and the talk discussed one of the biggest mysteries surrounding his death..was there a second gunman?

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duges

In November DUGES screened Miss Representation, a film that exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. DUGES members watched the documentary which included provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, including Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson, Senator Diane Feinstein, actor/activist Geena Davis, CBS’s Katie Couric, and a host of media analysts.

japanese In November, Japanese Soc and Knit Soc joined forces to bring their members Silk Painting in the Eliz room. Japanese silk painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese Visual Arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. Materials were provided for members, who could dabble in both silk painting and knitting on the night.

hiking On the 28th of November 2013, Trinity Hiking hosted a pub hike to raise money for Movember. For those not in the know, a pub hike is a pub-crawl organised by hikers.

It is a well-established fact that this results in a more awesome event.

Movember are a charity who encourages men to grow moustaches for the month of November to raise money for the awareness of cancer and other men’s health issues. A number of Trinity Hiking’s members had decided to participate in the month long event, and they did so under the banner of the Trinity Hiking Society’s Movember Team.

The night itself was a great success, with face paint, food, refreshments, moustaches and charitable giving featuring prominently. Attendees were treated to a journey through several of the city centre’s finest licenced premises, and the evening finished downstairs in Kennedy’s pub, where members of the society danced the night away.

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indian

Diwali (or Festival of Lights) is an ancient Hindu festival spiritually signifying the victory of light over darkness, good over evil. The society offered 120 students the opportunity to be part of this festival. Beginning with a traditional light show, over 400 sparklers had been purchased for students to enjoy on at the entrance of Players Theatre, from enjoying the coloured lighting display to creatively trying to spell out names with the sparklers. Awaiting the students, there was a night of food, drink and entertainment to ensure a feast was had.

For the food enthusiasts, students were offered traditional Indian milk based sweets (Barfi). Shortly after, a generous three-course meal catered by one of Dublin’s leading Indian restaurants, Jaipur, was offered. With almost everyone returning for second and third servings, the food was a huge success.

Players Theatre itself had been transformed into light show, and students had the opportunity to partake in various Indian cultural activities. With our resident Desi DJ blasting out the latest Bollywood hits, we were treated with a Bollywood Dance performance (in conjunction with DU Dance), before the floor was open to students to everyone to show off their Desi moves.

circus & juggling Every year we head down to Tralee for the National Circus Festival of Ireland. This is a place for us to come together with the wider circus community and juggling societies from universities all over the country.

This year the fun started the second we got on the bus we shared with DCU. Games, snacks, beverages, and singsongs make the long drive a part of the festival. Renegades shows, workshops and master-classes keep everyone busy as well as all the social events. The big shared dinners we had in the hostel this year were a great bonding experience. It’s so much easier to get to know everyone in such a small society.

But outside of festivals we run workshops all year long, not just in juggling but a range of performance arts from aerial acrobatics to pole-dancing. Our famous fire shows are our most visible events that take place in front square throughout the year, most notably this year at the launch of the Fringe Festival with Comedy Soc and for Chinese New Year.

Every Tuesday in Goldsmith Hall we have casual training with some of the most talented and welcoming performers we’ve ever worked with and we’d love for you to meet them too.

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film Almost twenty nine years after its premiere, The Talking Head’s iconic concert film has not lost its charm, if The DU Film Soc and TCD Fashion Society’s “Stop Making Sense” party is anything to go by. It began with the film being projected against a large white wall stretching across The Sugar Club, while spectators happily crowded around tables and sipped Psycho Killers, the event’s specialty fiver drink deal containing generous splashes of rum. The attendees arrived decked out in headbands, leg-warmers, flowing wigs, shoulder pads and various bright colours; among them, a David Bowie impersonator and a guy wearing a lampshade.

The film delivered the stripped back aesthetic and incredible live sounds everyone had anticipated, and soon enough the crowd were to their feet dancing. After the film ended, a Talking Heads tribute band - formed solely for the occasion - took to the stage, doing justice to classics such as ‘Burning Down the House’.

As the night started to wind down, a DJ played out “99 Luftballoons” and the like and watched the once lively swaying and jumping mass dwindle as people succumbed to the dreaded yet inevitable lycra induced chaffing. All in all, people left with smiles on their faces and a throwback tune to hum under their breaths as they walked out the door, the subtle markers of a successful evening.

vis arts

The Trinity Exhibition was first organised by the Visual Arts Society committee in 2009, and has become more and more successful with each year. The 2009 show was the first of its kind since 1996 and the first full student organised exhibition in the University’s history.

For our 2013 exhibition the response from the college’s artistic community was staggering, with more than 120 pieces initially submitted for consideration this year and after careful selection we managed to whittle this number down to just 47 incredible works for display.

The artists came from a diverse range of backgrounds of the Trinity community, from students of all levels and disciplines, to academic staff to library guards and language assistants to experimental officers; and the works shown used a wide range of media, from painting to drawing, photography to print. The 2013 Fifth Annual VisArts Exhibition was a huge success thanks to all who participated, from artists to volunteers, and all who came to view it. It undeniably showcased the diversity and quality of artistic talent here at Trinity College, Dublin.

In December VisArts held its fifth annual exhibition in The Back Loft at a Cathedral Studios with the launch taking place on Tuesday 3rd Decmeber 2013.

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Geographical The Geographical Society meandered off to Poland this year to visit the “Phoenix” city Warsaw. We had a great trip, visiting the Palace of Culture, the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Copernicus Science Centre. We also made quite a “splash” in the city’s vibrant nightlife. The Erasmus students who flew in to rendezvous with us was an added bonus and it was great to see geogsoc members still interested in the society even when they’re abroad. In all, a great trip with hopefully many more to come.

animation On the 5th of December, animator Pádraig Fagan of Paper Panther Productions came to Trinity to give the Animation Society both a talk and a workshop. He spoke about the beginnings of animation, around the turn of the 20th century, when simple toys gave rise to the first cartoons. In the workshop, we made some of these toys: phenokistoscopes, discs with pictures around the edges which appear to move when the disc is spun and viewed in the mirror.

KNITting

On the 6th of December, 2013, KnitSoc decided to take our members on a little adventure, a Knot-So-Mystery Tour, to brave the wilds of Meath in an epic quest for yarn, needles and tiny cakes!

The journey saw our members daringly knit in public, without a care for the terrified muggles (non-knitters) about us.

Fearlessly, they stitched until we reached our destination: a lovely little yarn shop called Serendipity, in Dunboyne.

Upon arrival, we were greeted extremely warmly by our host, the lovely Julie McDermott. She welcomed us in, gave us the grand tour, before presenting us with lovely little festive cakes.

We spent the evening knitting away, playing with wool, sampling it too, learning about the secret inner workings of yarn and yarn shops. We got to debate the merits of knitting versus crochet, chunky versus 4-ply and whether or not linen-stitch was worth the effort. We even had the honour of having Serendipity’s first male knitters! The hours flew by and it as soon time for us to leave. After giving Serendipty a small token of our appreciation, to thank them for the yarn, we left, laden down with wool.

It was a fantastic night out and we made some wonderful friends, and hopefully started an annual tradition of a KnotSo-Mystery Tour.

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meditation

On a cold Michaealmas afternoon, a small group of Trinity students journeyed to the lovely grounds of Kerdiffstown House to attend a four day retreat led by the buddhist monks of Plum Village, the home monastery of the renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn.

In monastic spirit, each morning began to the sound of the gong inviting retreatants to 7am meditation, where sleepy bodies would quietly fill the meditation hall to focus their attention on their breath before the optional yoga and breakfast. Mealtimes at the retreat were conducted in complete silence and retreatants were encouraged to take each bite extremely slowly so as to allow a full appreciation of every bite, taste and swallow. After breakfast each day there would be a lecture or Q&A session given by one or more of the monks on various aspects of mindfulness practice and Buddhist philosophy. Throughout the day, in addition to the well known sitting meditation, there were periods of “walking meditation” where the group would walk the avenue together in silence. In the afternoons groups would sit together to share their experiences and what difficulties or revelations they might have had during the day.

From our group, everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed and profited from the ‘unforgettable’ experience, and there was great eagerness for another!

comedy

DU Comedy Soc ran The Trinity Fringe 2013 this year between the 2nd December and the 5 December. The Fringe opened on Monday 2nd December to a spectacular fireshow from Trinity Juggling and Circus Skills Society in Front Square, a large crowd was present to see a variety of fire-juggling techniques on display for a visually stunning introduction to the Fringe.

Our first headline event was the wonderful Professor Elemental, a pioneer in chap-hop (a very English style of rapping with steampunk elements) in Players Theatre. The good Professor was the first recipient of the ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ Award 2013, for his contributions to the arts.

On Wednesday we ran ‘Best of the Fest’ a showcase of both current and graduate Trinity talent in the Pav. This event demonstrated the talent which DU Comedy consistently produces with our termly comedy classes and celebrated what can and has been achieved by Trinity Students in the field of the arts. The event was all watched over by Trinity’s own sketch group No Pants Thursday.

Our Final event was Paul Currie performing his show ‘The Sticky Bivouac’ in Players Theatre. Paul had previously been chosen as DU Comedy’s choice of the Edinburgh Fringe 2013 when several of our committee members saw his show in August and so he was also awarded a ‘Spirit of The Fringe’ award for his contributions to comedy.

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dubes In December 2013 DUBES and Trinity Engineering Society, along with our corporate partners EY, launched the inaugural ‘Trinternship’ Competition. This was a university-wide contest to find Trinity’s brightest and boldest students with the best business acumen.

Our aim was to have 6 teams competing in the contest.

Each team was presented with a case study from EY on Sunday December 1st following Friday where they presented their findings and conclusions at EY’s HQ. The case studies were fictional business scenarios but were based on and dealt with real issues. The winning team would be invited to EY’s Insight Week- a precursor to the company’s summer internship programme. Finally, the most outstanding candidate overall as deemed by the judges was to receive the grand prize of an EY internship for ten weeks this summer.

The Trinternship exceeded all our expectations both in the interest generated from within the college as well as the quality and standard of the participants. Such was EY’s satisfaction with the competition that they increased their initial internship offering from the one place initially pledged.

Four internships were given to the winning team on the night and a further 6 were offered to outstanding participants.

jazz

One of Jazz Soc’s best nights of the year by far was their Jazz Christmas Party in Sweeney’s on 9th December. The night was kicked off by Frankie Mwanga who made his jazz soc debut singing a few Christmas numbers. The Noel Fortune Orchestra stole the show when they came on afterwards performing jazz and swing classics. The 14-piece band is made up of saxophones, trombones, trumpets, keys, guitar, bass, and Noel himself on the trumpet.

Next up were the Swing Chinchillas, a 1920s style swing, shuffle, and jazz band featuring talented jazz soc members, Stephen Brennan, Noel Fortune, Genevieve Leyden and Oisin Breathnach. They provided us with even more amazingly jazzy music.

The Jazz Soc House Band took to the stage next who blew the audience away with Morgan McIntyre on lead vocals.

You may have heard of Morgan around campus as she’s already an accomplished singer and composer who made a name for herself after she performed at Trinity Ball 2013.

The highlight of the night however, agreed by all, were the magnificent mince pies provided by Jazz Soc. Nothing could have possibly topped off the night better, and we here at Jazz Soc hope to bring you all many more jazz-tastic, mince pie filled nights in the future!

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trinity tv

Cinemagic is an award-winning festival that embraces the magic of film and television to educate, stimulate and motivate young professionals. In the midst of the Christmas festivities, Trinity TV were thrilled to take a keen crew of members up to Belfast for this inspirational Festival.

The day kicked off in style as we were welcomed into Europa Hotel for an introduction to the cast of the BBC TV drama The Fall. This was our opportunity to ask everything with regards to casting, auditions and the production of this hugely successful thriller – and of course to find out the inside scope of their illustrious co-stars Jamie Dorman and Gillian Anderson. After this it was time for our team of 17 to part into two groups depending on our choice of Talent-Lab. The actors were led by the passionate Bronagh Waugh while the budding TTV producers spent the day at an engaging masterclass with Bedlam Productions.

That night the TTV crew sauntered down to Belfast’s City Hall for the black tie ceremony, keen to see who would be picking up the much-desired festival awards! We were absolutely thrilled by the results – the two representatives we submitted for consideration both won in their categories!

Sophie Murphy swooping up the Most Promising Producer Award while actress Ellen Patterson was awarded the Rising Star title! We could not have been happier with the success of the trip so until next year Cinemagic, thanks a million!

trinity arts workshop The Trinity Arts Workshop has had a busy year. We have art classes on seven days a week, allowing students to try their hand at a variety of media including painting, ceramics, clay modelling, printing and life drawing. As well our regular classes we have hosted a number of social events in our studio on Pearse Street.

Our welcome-back reception in Freshers’ Week was a great success and it was great to see old faces mingling with new recruits. We also had highly enjoyable Christmas party which kicked off with a special life drawing class incorporating visual projections. This gave our members new to life drawing an interesting introduction into this art form.

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Then we brought out the crackers and mulled wine for a proper festive celebration. Our next event was our annual exhibition which showcased artwork produced by our members during the year. This is always a great occasion, particularly the opening night reception, and this year was our best yet!

VDP Kids’ Christmas Party – Saturday December 14th After collecting and wrapping a mountain of presents, we brought over 50 children to Ozanam House Community Centre for a magical day. From baking in the kitchen to making decorations that were then hung on our very own Christmas tree we wanted to ensure that the children we work with understood how valued they are, especially at Christmas. We even had our very own Santa (and his reliable elf!) who spoke to each child individually and gave them a present to open on Christmas morning. To say this was an amazing day for everyone involved, be it adult or child, is an understatement. Almost all of our active volunteers were involved in carrying out the day’s activities (and logistics!) without a hitch, and every child had a smile on their face returning home.

We finished off the first term doing what we are best at, and we had an amazing time while doing it.

What more could a volunteer ask for?

Afro-caribbean This year ACS was the organizer of the International Xmas Party. In cooperation with several other cultural societies we offered an evening of exotic food, drink and performances.The participating societies were: Arabesque, Germanic, Japanese, Caledonian, Russian, Scandinavian, Europa, French, Hispanic, and Jazz Society and we kicked off the event in the Pav. Our members were welcomed by the Jazz band that was playing some amazing songs! After a few minutes a massive queue developed, with everyone waiting to get some of the amazing foods we had prepared: from sushi to African chicken, waffles, chocolates and mulled wine. We had three performances: We started off with some African Djembe Drumming and some of our members started dancing along. This was followed by some Arabesque music and some Russian Comedy.

Overall the event was aimed at promoting cultural diversity in Trinity and celebrating Christmas of course – who doesn’t love a good Christmas Party?! We had a great time and hope the event will be happening again next year! A must for everyone who loves different cultures and a lot of food.

Finally, we want to thank all the participating societies who have helped to make this great event happen for our 200 attending members!

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sci-fi The Iron Stomach competition is something which has gained a certain amount of notoriety throughout college in the past decade, and Sci-Fi has always taken pride in just how disgusting we can be. The combination of raising both money for charity and the collective lunches of all watching or participating is something which we have always found to be a winning formula. This year, in collaboration with Trinity Ents, what has always been a great event grew even larger and more popular, and the number of students willing to brace such delights as mouthwash bread, pepper doughnuts and our very own special Brownie Mix certainly grew when a Trinity Ball ticket was on the line!

The event was a great success, and everything, from Sean Reynolds glugging four litres of milk, to his celebration cigarette on hitting the two litre mark, to the determination with which a man can demolish a stick of butter, showed remarkable fortitude for the cause of RaG Week. All in all, â‚Ź145 was raised in donations, and this was added to by Trinity Alumni, making it not only a spectacle worth seeing on its own merits, but a really fun way of giving to the less fortunate, while getting a good dose of schadenfreude.

caledonian

The DU Caledonian Society held its biggest event on the 24th of January to celebrate the birthday of Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns. The night consisted of Scottish Reeling along to a live ceilidh band, a performance by a professional bag piper, the Ceremony of the Haggis and Burn’s poetry.

flac Trinity FLAC held a talk on the 27th of January on the topic of socio-economic rights. The debate revolved around whether or not it is permitted for the judicial branch of government to extend their powers in order to protect the socio-economic rights of citizens, with a strong focus on the TD v Minister for Education and Sinnott v Minister for Education cases.

The debate finished with a question-and-answer session, which was based on the topic of socio-economic rights within the context of the recent financial crisis.

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PLAYERS

It’s been an incredible year for DU Players, with recordbreaking membership, great productions and successful events. Before the summer we were delighted to welcome Pierce Brosnan to the society, as well as sweeping up at Irish Student Drama Awards, winning 10 out of 13 awards.

We then said goodbye to the Dublin Shakespeare Festival in June, enjoying a week of glorious weather and cute outdoor performances of some of Shakespeare’s greatest scenes.

We then started the accademic year with a bang; hosting five nights of free events during Freshers’ Week, featuring our infamous Murder Mystery, Silent Disco, PlayPhilthy night and of course a gig featuring Le Galaxie. Not content to play with us just once, they joined us once more for our revived Mystery Tour in November.

The highlight of the year was undoubtedly our Irish Student Theatre Summit in February, which we also revived with great success. We were honoured to have been joined by prominent practitioners such as Michaal Keegan-Dolan, Alison Bomber and Michael Colgan (right), who received our Samuel Beckett award in the grand setting of the Long Room Library. The week of workshops and events was completed perfectly by our annual Players Ball, which saw us transform a photography studio into a phenomenal venue, complete with art installations and an incredible 15-piece swing band.

chinese

The event we are most proud of and most representative are our plethora of events during the Spring Festival Period; the most important holiday that stretches over a period of two weeks in China which represents the gathering of friends and family. In collaboration with TCD Global Relations; the newly built Global Room was transformed into a Chinese themed setting for this Spring Festival Period, which was kicked off by a New Year Eve Gathering with Spring Festival Concert Live Screening on January 30th in the Global Room.

The days end was only started by another event that was in another collaboration with the Juggling Society with a Fire Performance in Front Square. Our official celebration of the Chinese New Year occurred on February 6th where the Exam Hall was transformed into a cultural setting, with workshops including Chinese Paper Cutting, Chinese Calligraphy, Lantern Riddles, Han Costume Show, Face Painting in collaboration with the Juggling Society, and Chinese Instrumental Music Demonstration.

The invitation of guest performances and demonstrations had attracted both students and visiting tourists of all ages into the venue where memories were captured as they enter the setting with hanging red lantern riddles and cultural workshops. This was followed by members being invited to a Hotpot buffet dinner in Haidilao.

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the phil

The Student Economic Review Debates are a highlight of the Phil debating calendar, pitting Trinity students against Cambridge and Harvard students in an economics-themed motion. The Phil was chosen to host this event again this year thanks to the work of our Secretary, Sarah Mortell.

All gathered to listen to the unfolding discussion between Trinity and Harvard on the motion “This House believes that the US education system has failed its citizens�. The irony of the involvement of an American team on this topic against the Trinity delegates was not lost on the crowd or the competitors but only added to the overall jovial intervarsity feel of the evening. The prestige and importance of forging links between Harvard and Trinity was alluded to by the Provost, who chaired the debate. The Trinity team was chosen by John O’Hagan of the economics department, and included Ruth Keating, SS Law, Sarah Mortell, SF BESS, and William Dunne, JS PPES. With all speakers in place, the adjudication panel were the final introductions of the night, consisting of chair adjudicator Frances Ruane, the director of the Economic and Social Research Institute, Stephen Donnelly, Independent TD and Harvard graduate, and Vinay Nair, of Acumen London and founder and sponsor of SER international debates.

The SER debate combined all that is good about the opportunity that the Chamber and the Phil gives to the college community. More than this, it showed the quality of experience that can be delivered when the societies and universities pool resources and work together.

europa Europa Language Ball 2014 held in conjunction with French Soc, Russian Soc, Cumann Gaelach, and German Soc in 4 Dame Lane in February. The revival of the Language Ball was a collaboration of many European language societies in order to encourage the interaction between different cultures in Europe.

In this globalised age, it is easy to forget about the eclectic European culture that surrounds us. The Europa Language Ball was a great night out that celebrated European culture and cultural exchange. The presence of specific language societies on campus encourages the use of European languages today, which we feel is of the utmost importance.

We hope the Language Ball continues to grow.

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italian soc

The main aim of the Italian Society is to celebrate the rich Italian heritage and traditions as well as to explore and raise awareness around its lesser-known social, cultural and political issues. Events include traditional get-togethers over coffee, wine and food, film nights and talks with guest speakers on specific aspects of Italian culture.

This year the ItSoc hosted several events. We started with a food reception to welcome the new members in September, followed by a pub quiz on aspects of the Italian culture in October. However, the talk given by Alice Schutte on “Casanova and his love for the fine food� is the event which really captured all the aspects of our Society.

In this talk, we had an original (and unusual) point of view on Casanova, usually well known only for his adventurous life. Alice Shutte highlighted several aspects of Casanova, like his writing ability and his love for the fine food. The Casanova’s adventurous life and his love for pasta were deeply linked together: in jail for public outrages against the religion he managed to escape hiding a spike in bible, covered by a large plate of maccheroni.

taf TAF is a week-long festival dedicated to showcasing the arts within the walls of Trinity College Dublin. The festival offers the 17,000 students of the college the opportunity to attend a myriad of different events, running every day from morning to night, all for free.

TAF was held from 3rd-7th February 2014 this year, and ran events with a large number of college societies, and external guests. Events ranged from meditation breakfasts, to workshops, and from lunchtime talks with artists to multidisciplinary, multisensory evening events. Each day was a high point, and we felt that the participation and publicity surrounding the festival was bigger than ever before. For this year, TAF is dead, long live TAF.

tef

The Trinity Economic Forum and its 2014 edition brought an exceptional line-up of speakers together for students to learn from and interact with, including Casey. B Mulligan, Martin Hellwig and John Bruton. Additionally, through its partnership with the Department of Finance, TEF 2014 has created a unique avenue for students to shape government policy.

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classical

This February the Classical Society staged two performances of the boisterous, entertaining and innuendo-filled play The Swaggering Soldier, a Roman comedy written by Plautus in the 2nd century BC. Our cast took to the stage, adorned with togas, tunics and plenty of glitter, to perform to a packed GMB chamber on both nights. They came from various courses from around Trinity including Drama, Science, History and, of course, Classics. The audience was just as diverse and we were honoured to host secondary school students from Dublin, accompanied by the Classical Association of Ireland-Teachers. The brilliant cast, under the guidance of Classical Society member Elizabeth Foley and Dr. Hugh Denard, truly made Roman comedy come alive for today’s audience. We plan to follow this with another play next year with which we hope to continue the success of this year’s performances.

christian union The Christian Union started the year with a record sign up of over 200! Since then we’ve held weekly meetings, including our Thursday evening main meeting alongside breakfasts, small groups, bible studies and the weekly global cafe. All events are perfect for Christians who want to meet other Christians, and for people who are exploring their own individual spirituality.

From the 17-21st of February 2014, we held a week of special events on the theme of “Has God Failed?”. Rico Tice, author of Christianity Explored, came from London to address crowds of over 60 people, during both lunchtime and evening events, on diverse topics ranging from suffering to sexuality and society to communication!

joly geological In February 2014 The Joly organised a field trip to discover the geology of the beaches around Galway, and to admire the stunning Cliffs of Moher.

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Much of the cost of this field trip was generously granted

by Tullow Oil Inc, which allowed our members to pay very little. On Saturday, despite windy and raining conditions, we donned our field gear and went out none-the-less, like true geologists! Our very own committee member Paul gave an excellent demonstration on the Galway Granites that are the major rock type of the area. Saturday evening was a great night out studying the not-so-geological areas of Galway! Unfortunately on Sunday, our journey to the Cliffs had to be cancelled, due to unforeseen tour bus complications (Remember to check that your buses are not seasonal!) so instead our afternoon was spent at the local aquarium! All in all it was a great trip!

the metafizz It has been an exciting and eventful year so far for the Metafizz - Trinity’s *real* philosophy society. Indeed, some have described it as a ‘golden age’ for the society, owing no doubt to our impressive line-up of guest speakers which have included Timothy Williamson, Christine Battersby, Fiona MacPherson and many more.

One guest who attracted much inter-society attention was the controversial scientist Rupert Sheldrake, who delivered a lecture to a packed GMB criticizing the ‘dogmas’ which pervade modern science. As well as our Tuesday night events, we have organized discussion groups on various topics including artificial intelligence, the metaphysics of causation and ethical thought experiments. Members are encouraged to approach us with their ideas for events or if they’d like to organize a talk of their own.

We kicked off the year with a joint cinema excursion with DUGES to see ‘Hannah Arendt’ and have held a number of film screenings since then. We also had joint debates with the Hist and TheoSoc to see if philosophy works in a debate format. Verdict: kinda. At this stage of the year, we are looking forward to the publication of our student philosophy journal ‘The Black Book’, lectures from Helen Beebee, David Chalmers and John Searle (!) and the continued consumption of wine in abundance.

food & Drink The DU Food & Drink Society held their Inaugural Ball, FEAST, on February 12th 2014. The event took the form of a medieval banquet and welcomed 200 guests to the glorious surroundings of the Smock Alley Theatre.

Guests were welcomed into the banquet hall and greeted by a glass of fine chilled prosecco, a magician and a double act of medieval jesters. Once the guests were seated and settled, the first round of rich wine of the night was brought out and glasses were generously filled. The first course served was a hearty bowl of fresh Atlantic mussel swimming in a creamy broth. Soon drama broke out and all were astonished to witness a sword fight break out between two members of the audience as their duel made its way along the tables of the hall.

As wine continued to flow, guests were treated to a trifecta of feast meats including braised beef cheeks, wood pigeon with orange and fig stuffing and a roast pheasant. By the time the dessert of bread and butter pudding and the cheese board was brought out everyone was merry and satiated. Before the evening’s end we had one last surprise,a round of hot whiskeys to help keep the winter chill at bay.

DU Food & Drink were delighted and overwhelmed with the hugely positive feedback received following the event.

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dance

DU Dance has had a jam packed year. During Fresher’s Week we provided five free taster classes which proved extremely popular. We had a lot of fun during Fourth Week, with our breakdancing workshop, ‘Bring It On’ movie night, and the first week of our Three Weeks of Bollywood in conjunction with Indian Society. Three weeks of Bollywood ran on Friday nights, culminating in a flashmob in the Physics Garden during Indian Society’s Diwali celebrations.

Some of our Irish dancers performed at ‘The Wind that Shakes the Party’, a DU History event in mid November, and we ran our own ‘Discofox’ class and after party in the first week of December. In the final week of term we revealed that ‘Trinity Come Dancing’, 2013’s CSC Event of the Year, would be making a welcome return. In January 2014, eight college celebrities took the stage with their professional dance partners, raising over €2000 for Pieta House.

Our largest ever dance crew went to the all Ireland Intervarsity competition in CIT over reading week in February and our talented Contemporary dancers took home first place. All of our other dance crews performed exceptionally and really did a lot of work improving the image of dance in Trinity.

cancer

Relay For Life is the biggest event in the Trinity Cancer societies calendar. It involves participants from different teams walking around a track for 24 hours and tagging each other in and out. In those 24 hours we celebrate our survivors, remember those we have lost and fight back against the disease. This year teams from all over college took part to help Cancer Soc stand up to this awful disease. We raised a lot of money for cancer research as well as bringing the college community together to take a stand.

mature The Mature Student Society attempts to provide as many opportunities for our members to come together to relax, socialise and share their experiences of college life. We organise regular ‘Music, Song and Spoken Word’ sessions where members come along to play, sing, recite, act or just listen. Other social events, such as the Quiz Night pictured, are regularly held. That Quiz was held in association with QSOC and raised funds for the St Vincent de Paul. The society shares room 6, above the Atrium, with two other societies and this is an important and invaluable asset for the society. The Room is available to all members to lunch, meet or just to take a break from study. Our regular Coffee Mornings and Free Lunches are particularly well attended.

The society also plays five-a-side football against other societies within college.

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digital arts (dudj) DUDJ have been hosting regular jams in the Science Gallery Cafe. They bring the decks down to turn it into a real venue, a place for people to chill out with friends over some great cheap food and drink, while listening to some nice music! People get involved with the night itself, by coming along and chilling out or playing some music with friends.

trinity smf The Fund launched its first Investing Pitches Competition, where four Sector teams battled it out for the coveted title, “Pitch of the Year,” infront of a panel of industry leaders.

Congradulations to this year’s winning Energy Sector team!

Trinity SMF “Leadership Perspective Series - Leading Women: Building Presence at the Top” Introduced by Ireland’s first female President, Mary Robinson; Chaired by Ireland’s first female tanaiste, Mary Harney and hosting some of the UK, USA and Ireland’s most successful business leaders - the only female Chairman of a FTSE 100 company, Dame Alison Carnwath; CEO Enterprise Ireland, Julie Sinnamon; VP Global Operations EMEA PayPal, Louise Phelan; Director NewERA, Eileen Fitzpatrick; COO Schnuck Markets, Anthony Hucker - the event covered topics such as risk taking within one’s career, entrepreneurship and entering the tech industry.

DUpa For the End of Year Exhibition we wanted to do something different than our previous DUPA exhibitions throughout the year. We decided to ask our members to submit a portfolio of work around a theme of their choosing. This was asked, in a way, to bring more structure to their work and allow our members to focus on a particular idea or concept.

Since we were asking a professional standard of our members, we wanted to display their photos in a professional way. As such we rented out the Copper House Gallery to display the images of six selected photographers with four images from each photographer making up their work.

Each image was mounted and set into a frame and hung in the gallery with each photographer’s name accompanying their photos. There were refreshments and the event was a success to say the least. It allowed our members to have their work showcased in a gallery as well as bringing together many of our members to a more professional looking, as well as professionally run location. The evening was a great success overall and we hope to have many new and inventive exhibitions moving into the future.

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SOCIETY OF THE YEAR AWARDS The annual CSC Society of the Year Awards and Ball were held on 5th March 2014 in the Alexander Hotel.

Every year the CSC gives awards in a number of categories to mark outstanding performance in various societies and their events during the previous year. All societies were invited to submit nominations for a number of different categories.

Over 140 submissions were received and over two days a panel of judges read submissions, shortlisted and selected a winner in each category.

The judging panel was comprised of three CSC Officers - Donal McKeating (Chair), Jonathan Shanahan (Amenities Officer), Ronan Hodson (Honorory Treasurer) and 3 independent judges familiar with society operation - Cian Clynes, Ailbhe Smith and Claire Doyle. The standard of submissions was excellent and the judges were very impressed by the

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trojan work done by societies this year. The sheer number of submissions is testament to how successful this year was for Trinity societies.

Irish accent’. This proved to be one of the most entertaining parts of the evening so kudos to those responsible!

The night itself began with the award ceremony, in which the very deserving winners received their awards and due praise. Dinner followed these announcements with Best Overall Society and Societies Choice being announced after the meal. For the ‘Societies’ Choice’ Award each society present had one vote to select, from a shortlist, the society they believe made the biggest impact on campus this year.

Following this and the BICS representatives announcement a DJ played us in to the early hours of the morning.

It’s worth remembering Emma and Lucy were among the first on and the last off the dance floor putting many of us to shame with their moves! I think many will agree that it was one of the best nights in a long time - lots of fun, lots of schmoozing, and very deserving committees and individuals being recognised for all their hard work and success.

Some rogue voting slips managed to find their way onto the tables during this time with some lucky societies up for ‘most ridiculously good-looking committee’, ‘most incestuous committee’, ‘top buzzers’ and five individuals up for ‘most rousing Northern

An absolutely fantastic night was had by all, a lovely final celebration of everything achieved this past year.

Society of the Year: An Cumann Gaelach

Jonathan Shanahan

BEST SMALL: Trinity Indian Society, Neuroscience, Trinity College Singers, Student Management Fund (SMF)

BEST medium: FLAC, History, Mathsoc, QSoc, Trinity TV, Visual Arts

BEST large: Cumann Gaelach, Food & Drink, Law, Players

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most IMPROVED: Food and Drink, Indian Society, Maths Soc, Trinity TV, DU Zoological Society

BEST NEW: Global Development Society, Trinity Sociology, Society For International Affairs, Trinity Economic Forum, VTP

best fresher: Dervla Collins (Law), D贸nal Ring (Cumann Gaelach), Kate Cox (VdP and VTP), Laura Mulcair (DUBES), Matthew Nuding (SoFIA), Serena Bifolchi (SWSS), Shannon Buckley Barnes (Trinity Arts Festival), Sin茅ad Alari (Singers), Spencer Christie (QSoc), Ursula McGinn (Players), Wanita Maher (Sociology)

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BEST ONLINE PRESENCE: DU Players, Sofia, Trinity FM, Trinity Orchestra, the Phil, DU Pirate Party

SOCIETIES’ CHOICE: Indian Soc, Neuroscience, Singers, SMF, FLAC, History, Mathsoc, QSoc, Trinity TV, Visual Arts, Cumann Gaelach, Food & Drink, Law, Players, Trinity TV, Zoological, Global Development, Sociology, SoFIA, TEF, VTP

BEST POSTER: Wong Kar Wai Season (Killian O’Dwyer – Film Soc), Barack Obama is a War Criminal (Naoise Dolan – Hist), Winter Speakeasy (Karen Champ – Litsoc), Pucún (Grace Nuttall – Players), We Need the Eggs (Colm Summers – Players), TCD Staff & Students’ Exhibition 2013 (Claire Doyle – Visual Arts)

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BEST event: Jailbreak 2014 (VdP/Law/Amnesty), Jailbreak 2014 on Trinity FM (Trinity FM), Through the Looking Glass (TAF), Trinity Economic Forum (TEF)

BEST PUBLICATION: ‘The Player’ DU Players , ‘Historacle’ The Historical Society

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BEST INDIVIDUAL: Adam Keilthy (Knitsoc), Alexandra Trant (College Historical), Anne Moroux (SWSS), Aoife Casey (ELSA), Daniel Byrne (VdP), Darren Byrne (Dance), Francois Voeffra (Singers), Gareth Walsh (VTP), Heather Walsh (Players), Katie Biggs (QSoc), Kevin Bluett (Orchestra), Luke Mulcahy (Trinity FM), Meme Carton (Amnesty), Michael Scholz (Russian Soc), Niall McLoughlin (Jazz), Niamh Ní Chróinín (Cumann Gaelach), Nikki Truss (Mathsoc), Oisín Byrne (Geographical), Raaj Zutshi (Indian), Rosalind ní Shúilleabháin (Philosophical), Ruth Keating (Law), Sarah Agha (Trinity TV), Sarah O’Neill (TAF), Shauna Stanley (FLAC).

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the csc executive

Chair - Donal McKeating Treasurer - Jack Toner Secretary - Eanna Drury Amenities Officer - Jonathan Shanahan Honorary Treasurer - Ronan Hodson Ordinary Members & Ambassadors: Oonagh O’Donovan, James Belfast, Darren Sinnott, Oilbhe Cahil Reed, Sarah Agha, Holly Starr, Andrew Murphy, Laura McDermott Administrative Officer - Lucy O’Connell Marketing/Office Administrator - Emma Matthews Strategic Development Officer - Joseph O’Gorman

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INDEX Chairman’s Report 2 Freshers’ Week 3 7 Fourth Week High Society 11 Society of the Year Awards 35 CSC Exec 41 Afro-Caribbean 26 An Cumman Gealach 16 Animation 22 Botany 6 Caledonian 27 Cancer 33 Capoeira 9 Chinese 28 Christian Union 31 Circus & Juggling 20 Classical 31 Comedy 23 Computer Science 15 Dance 33 DUBES 24 DUDJ 34 DUGES 19 DUPA 34 Engineering 9 Europa 29 Fashion 8 Fianna Fail 5 Film 21 FLAC 27 Food & Drink 32 Geographical 22 Germanic 18 Hiking 19 History 18

Horce Racing 12 Indian 20 Italian 30 Japanese 19 Jazz 24 31 Joly Geological Knitting 22 Korean 10 Laurentian 13 Law 13 MathSoc 12 Mature 33 Meditation 23 Metafizz 32 Music 15 Net Soc 17 Neuroscience 18 Orchestra 5 PhySoc 12 Players 28 Politics 17 Q Soc 16 S2S 14 Scandinavian 8 Sci-Fi 27 Singers 14 SOFIA 9 SWSS 6 Trinity Arts Festival 30 Trinity Economic Forum 30 The Phil 29 Theological 17 Trad 10 Trinity Arts Workshop 25 Trinity TV 25 VDP 26 Vis Arts 21

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