TCD Societies Yearbook 2012

TRINITY SOCIETIES 2011-2012

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EDITORIAL yEARBOOK TEAM 2011-2012 DEAR READER, Thank you for picking up a copy of the first ever Trinity Societies Yearbook. Trinity’s 110+ student societies are integral to the “Trinity Experience”, and provide some of the most impressive, innovative, and exciting accomplishments that Trinity, and Ireland for that matter, has to offer. I started this project based on that belief, but also because I felt that the sheer quality and diversity of our societies’ undertakings has not been adequately captured in writing or print in the past, so hopefully this goes some way to addressing that failing.

2011-12 has been a particularly impressive year for Trinity’s student societies. Be it The Phil’s constant onslaught of prestigious guest speakers, DU Amnesty International’s tireless campaigning for human rights, Trinity Arts Festival’s wonderful week of culture, the Classical Society’s absolute dedication to its field, or the Horse Racing Society taking the college by storm, there has truly been something for everyone, and of the highest standard wherever you look. It is important to remember that each student society is equally important regardless of size, history, publicity or whatever else you might think matters. While some societies are given larger entries in this publication than others, that is simply to reflect the impressiveness of their year in particular, but there is nothing to say that next year these won’t be completely reversed.

It has also been an important and busy year for the Central Societies Committee, which I have had the pleasure and honour of being Chair of. The CSC is doing its job right if it’s not making any headlines – it’s the societies themselves that matter after all. But this year we have implemented a number of new measures that have hopefully made the student society experience much better – the highlights of which have been an ambassador scheme between the Executive Committee and societies, a much bigger promotional push for societies’ events (using a weekly email, Facebook, Twitter, and of course this Yearbook), and a completely revamped Trinity Societies 4th Week.

Almost everyone who has been involved in the contents of this Yearbook will look back on their work with societies as the highlight of their time Trinity, and hopefully this publication can capture what makes societies so special. There are many people to thank for making this Yearbook possible, who are all listed below, but I’d like to thank you, the reader, for taking an interest in it, and most importantly the societies themselves for doing what they do so well, and for making Trinity an amazing university to be a part of.

Rob Farhat CSC Chair & Yearbook Editor, 2011-12

Editor: Rob Farhat Assistant Editor: Paul Testar Design Editor: Éna Brennan Copy Editor: Eoin Silke Finance/Production Manager: Neil Fitzpatrick Lead contributor: Cormac Cassidy Contributors: Katie Abrahams, Kit Connolly, Andrew Flynn, Holly Furlong, Ruthi Hymes, Joseph Kielthy, Kerstina Mortensen, Howard Helen, Liam O'Neill

SPECIAL THANKS TO...

Every member of every society The whole Yearbook Team Lucy, Emma, Joseph, and all of the CSC Executive Ronan Costello, Tommy Gavin, and all at The University Times Dargan Crowley-Long Kate Palmer, Alex Towers, and all at Trinity News The Students’ Union, Graduate Students’ Union, DUCAC, and Trinity Publications Amanda Piesse The Office of the Provost The Enquiries Office The Communications Office The International Office Trinity Foundation

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FRESHERS’ WEEK 2011

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his year’s Freshers’ Week was one of the most exciting in recent memory. Every day featured an abundance of events worth catching, while societies’ stalls adapted to a new layout in Front Square. Due to the new disabled pathways in Front Square, society stands were no longer able to set up in a square as in the past. Moreover, the increasing amount of societies was putting pressure on the old system anyway.

The new system involved 4 ushapes facing each other, creating 4 min-squares that were joined together. It might have taken a bit of getting used to, but it certainly made sense, and after a while it people saw the benefits of it as it allowed committee members much more space to go out and chat to impressionable freshers.

While societies tried to lure members in at Front Square,

there was a whole host of great events going on around campus, most of which were free. Every afternoon saw gigs on in the GMB, with The Hist, The Phil, Trinity Singers, Amnesty, and Trinity FM among those taking part. On Monday, DU Dance held Disco & Cha Cha Dance Classes, while DU Players held a Comedy Night featuring high profile acts such as Frisky & Mannish and A Betrayal of Penguins. Comedy Soc hosted a Comedy gig of their own on Tuesday, featuring the likes of Fred Cooke and Marcus O’Laoire.

Wednesday was when things started to get busy, with gigs from the Music and Jazz societies, a film screening from VisArts, Kint Soc’s PicKnit, a DJ tutorial from DUDJ, and The Hist’s debate on “This House Believes in God”. Thursday packed in even more appeal: LitSoc hosted a Birthday party for September-born authors,

Trinity Orchestra performed orchestral arrangements of Arcade Fire, Scan Soc had a Viking Get-together, The Phil hosted a Comedy Debate on “This House Believes There’s More to Life Than Being Really Really Ridiculously GoodLooking”, while Cumann Gaeloch hosted a sold-out Gig Mór le Kíla. Things died down on Friday, with the main attraction being Food & Drink’s Dublin Food Tour. As always, throughout the week there were a host of receptions, pub crawls, and those sort of shenanigans, while Gamers hosted a “Freshycon” mini-games convention and the Japanese Society held mini-origami classes on multiple days of the week.

Initially, society sign-ups seemed to be doing better than ever. However, there was certainly a mid-week lull, especially as the weather took a turn for the worse. Freshers

seemed to make a dramatic comeback on Thursday and Friday however, and by the end of the week at seemed that sign-ups were better than ever. There was a particularly large contingent of new societies this year – Fish Soc, Scan Soc, and University Challenge to name a few – but the one that took everyone by surprise was undoubtedly the Horse Racing Society, who finished the week with almost 1,300 members, an unprecedented amount for a brand new society.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable Freshers’ Week as usual, and I think we can bank on that being the case pretty much every year.

Rob Farhat, with contributions from Howard Helen, Ruthi Hymes, Cormac Cassidy, Andrew Flynn

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Animal Rights Afro-Caribbean Society The Afro-Caribbean Society is a small society that was established in 2006 for the purpose of bringing all things Afro-Caribbean to Trinity. The society has held various events over the last year ranging from djembe drumming, cooking classes, salsa and hip hop dancing and recently has introduced free zumba classes, along with frequent outings to African and Caribbean restaurants.

The society also gets regularly invited by other societies to perform at their events, the highlight of which this year was a performance for the Fish Soc at Christmas time. The society of course welcomes all nationalities as it aims to promote diversity in college.

Monica Peres Oikeh, Secretary afrocarib@csc.tcd.ie

We aim to educate the student body by our events and meetings, as well as provide a forum for concerned students to discuss these animal rights issues and share their experiences. We welcome anyone who wants to help fight speciesism and animal exploitation.

“When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.�

Trinity AIESEC is the world’s largest student-led organisation that primarily seeks to facilitate the development of leadership skills of its members. At Trinity, our society aims to promote the international exchange programmes AIESEC offers as well as conferences and other events.

For students looking to meet hundreds of people across the globe and expand your international network, AIESEC Trinity is the society for you. AIESEC Trinity is looking to expand its operations within the university in order to give as many students the chance to develop their soft skills through conferences on entrepreneurial leadership or events such as the Global Village.

Jasper Plan, Treasurer aiesec@csc.tcd.ie

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DU Amnesty International

Over the past 3 years DU Amnesty International has grown from being a relatively dormant society to one of the most visible and active on campus. Based on the belief that every student has a place in promoting and fighting for human rights, Amnesty endeavoured to humanise the people it was campaigning for, while recognising the opportunity of intersociety collaboration in providing new platforms and audiences for its message. DU Amnesty held an event every single week from September ranging from guest speakers to book clubs, campaign stands, letter writing sessions and school speakers training.

After a great Freshers’ Week which saw just under 500 new members, Amnesty’s first big event was a visit by Iranian lawyer Mohammad Mostafei who has been exiled from Iran having defended Sakineh Astiani who is currently on death row in Iran for Adultery, starting off its Death Penalty Month in association with the Scholars at Risk Speaker’s Series. It was an incredible evening with over 100 people in attendance, many of whom were moved to tears and signed Amnesty International’s petition to the Supreme Leader of Iran.

During Fourth Week, we then held a highly original daylong ‘Stamp out the death penalty in Europe’ petition signing in the Atrium, which involved people dipping their hands and or feet in paint and making their mark on a large white sheet to be sent to the Belarusian Embassy in London.

November was dedicated to Amnesty Ireland’s domestic mental health campaign, holding a discussion titled ‘Is Healthcare a Human Right?’ featuring some of the Amnesty Ireland team and a highly interesting debate ensued. We also held a screening of Stephen Fry’s Secret Life of the Manic Depressive documentary and the first of many AmnesTEA letter writing marathons, and hosted the inspiring Ifrah Ahmed who discussed her experience of female genital mutilation and her activism to criminalize the act in Ireland.

Before Christmas the society took part in Amnesty International’s global ‘Write for Rights’ Movement, with numerous students writing traditional handwritten letters to prisoners of conscience all over the world, with almost 100 handwritten letters in total that were posted around the world.

After the Christmas break came RAG Week, where DU Amnesty ran a terrific event called ‘The Cage’ situated in the Arts Building and constructed entirely out of recycled materials. From 9am to 10pm everyday students did 1-4 hour shifts in the cage, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and mask and were not allowed to speak to anyone, raising both awareness for prisoners of conscience and money for RAG week, while collecting hundreds of signatures and letters.

This was followed by the Forced Eviction campaign, beginning with fake forced eviction notices being taped to the doors of apartments on campus and in Halls promoting the main event which featured a presentation about forced evictions around the world and hosted the eloquent Phien O’Reachtigan – a representative for Irish Travellers in England.

Word of DU Amnesty’s Forced Eviction Week rippled out into the college community, the University Times website, and got as far as the International Secretariat of Amnesty International.

bers who get to run their own campaign. This year they chose to focus on institutional abuse in Ireland, holding a three-part series of ‘Left in the Dark’ talks, featuring guest speakers from: Amnesty International Ireland, Nasc, Justice for Magdalenes, the Children’s Rights Alliance, and the Child Abuse Commission, among others.

During the year the society also collaborated on events with numerous other societies and groups, including DU Gender Equality, Q Soc, VDP, Trinity FM, Filmmakers, Law Soc, Players, The Phil, The Hist, the SU, and the Equality Office. Having hosted at least one event every single week, collected almost 2000 signatures and letters for various campaigns, being one of the most welcoming societies on campus, we were delighted and honoured to be given the CSC’s award of Best Medium Society.

Sorcha McCauley, Chair amnesty@csc.tcd.ie

The most important initiative in building the society is our Fresh Amnesty Voices (FAV) group, which is aimed at new mem7

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Alternative Music (DUAMS) This year, continuing the trend of the previous committee, DUAMS put an emphasis on free, weekly events that encouraged the creativity and talents of Trinity. Open Mic gigs were especially popular and the level of musical talent in Trinity really blew our minds! Themed or not, each one encouraged random beautiful collaborations between strangers and more light-hearted comedic acts that proved to be some of the most hilarious moments of the year. We also had a host of movie screenings, including the ever-popular annual screening of The Room which saw even the most reserved of people screaming at the screen and undergoing

Archaelogical Society The Archaeological Society provides the student body with events and information related to the fascinating subject of studying the material past. This year the society has hosted guest lectures on topics as diverse as the Turkish Neolithic, Viking Dublin, and the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Its always exciting annual field trip this year took the society’s members to Northumbria and the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, where they visited the dramatic remains of Hadrian’s Wall, the imposing fortress of Bamburgh Castle, and enjoyed the city’s famous night life, on a social evening with Newcastle University’s counterpart society. Arch Soc also hosted this year’s Association of Young Irish Archaeologists (AYIA) conference, the first time the event has been held solely in Trinity in its 44 year history, and heard a broad variety of papers from Irish students showcasing the best of current archaeological research.

Sean Finlay Scott, Auditor archsoc@csc.tcd.ie

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all of the traditional actions and reactions. Our band-mate speed dating resulted in no new bands but a lot of new friends. Collaborations with DUGES and Q Soc showed DUAMS’ more serious side and our wider involvement with college life. The premiere of the Never Mind the Buzzcocksthemed table quiz went off without a hitch and is sure to become another DUAMS tradition. All in all, another good year for DUAMS with much more to come!

Colette Fitzpatrick, Secretary durns@csc.tcd.ie

Biochemical The aims of the Biochemical Society are to stimulate interest in Biochemistry, and related disciplines and also to promote closer contact and co-operation between all students and staff who share that interest.

The main activity of the society is the organisation of a series of quality talks throughout the academic year. This year the society has

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hosted guest speakers from Harvard, St. Edward’s University, Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Amsterdam, and Lund University among others, with topics ranging from “Cell death control and why it matters” to “Regulation of gene expression by hypoxia”. biochem@csc.tcd.ie

Botanical Mushroom Hunt report: The Botanical Society had another successful hunt this year although as usual it is difficult to organise a date in advance and hope the abundance of different fungi corresponds with the day.

We managed to find some edible fungi including some very tasty Boletus edulis (Penny Buns) and Russula densifolia which were promptly fried up and shared around. We also found some Hypholoma sublateritium growing at the base of Tsuga - beautiful but nicely described in textbooks as “suspect” - as well as all the tiny fungi such as Galerina, beautiful in their own rights.

To top it all off we found a slime mold. Are these weird or not? They are amoeba-like lifeforms which feed on bacteria, congregate and change shape according to what they find and need to do. Colonies of single-celled animals which group together to form super cells are not something from a sci-fi movie but are found worldwide, just another amazing example of the diversity of life on Earth.

A fun day yet again and thanks to Paul Dowding for his advice and expertise and all those who took part, especially the new members of the society who came along and made new friends. botany@csc.tcd.ie

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Biosoc (Biological)

The 137th session of The Biological Association has been hugely successful this year seeing an increase in membership and consistently achieving excellent attendance at our events throughout the year. As the medical society of college we aim to provide both medical and other students of Trinity with a forum to socialise both within their class and with the other students in the school and to explore an extra-curricular interest outside of the academic framework of medicine. One of our main goals this year was to encourage mingling between years, and get rid of an cliquishness, which was quickly initiated in Freshers Week with our orientation session and pub crawl.

Our annual charity event, Med Day, held this year on November 4th 2011 and on its 10th Anniversary, was in support of the Heart Failure Unit in St. James’s Hospital and the Epilepsy Services in Tallaght Hospital, thus supporting a huge range of patients. As per tradition, Med Day was also in support of the Trinity Access Programme. With RTÉ DJ Rick O’Shea as patron of the event, the publicity for Med Day was fantastic.

2FM publicised the day and a video raising awareness for the day and the causes was looped on the screen of Stephen’s Green Shop10

ping Centre for the week leading up to Friday 4th November.

The day itself saw all 5 classes of Medicine go out to the streets to collect from 6.30am followed by a light-hearted Slave Auction at the Pav and a Talent Show in the Ed Burke theatre in the Arts Building, all with the goal of raising funds and awareness about causes currently not receiving adequate funding. The Med Day Ball took place on the following night and involved 10 years of Trinity Alumni and Trinity Hospital affiliates who have been involved in Med Day over the years or who have received funding from work of Med Day. It was held in the Convention Centre. Overall Med Day raised almost €60,000, a huge success in this current economic climate.

Other highlights of the year included: the annual Med Cup in St. Anne’s Park in Clontarf, which this year was won by the 3rd Year Team; the lrish Medical Organisation’s annual debate, whose topic this year was “This House Believes that Ireland gets the Medical System it deserves” and Trinity was represented successfully

by Cormac Mullins; the Christmas Pantomime where our talented members parodied the nativity story through the life of a Med Student; an extremely enjoyable trip to Galway; the Inaugural Ball

featuring addresses from Honorary President of the society, Dr. Vivion Crowley and guest speaker Professor Chris Thompson, Consultant Endocrinologist in Beaumont Hospital; and our biggest event of the year, “Willy Wonka” themed Med Ball – which this year was held in Citywest Hotel at a very recession-friendly price of €50 for 550 guests Biosoc plays a key role in helping students from all years to make new friends and to prepare them for their days after college, when they will be an integral part of a hospital based team.

biosoc@csc.tcd.ie

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The Trinity College Cancer society is one of the most active branches of the Irish Cancer Society. One of the society’s year highlights is the Naked Calendar, and this year was no different.

The purpose of the calendar was to spread awareness, and fundraise for the Irish Cancer Society in a way which would involve as many different societies as possible. Previously the committee were approached by various societies who wished to be in the calendar, however this year the committee took a different approach. Having looked at calendars from years gone by, it was apparent that many of the same societies had been in it quite frequently, whilst some very big societies had never been represented in the calendar. So this year’s Naked Calendar set about changing this; different groups were invited such as the Waterpolo team, Q Soc, Jazz Soc, the CSC Committee and Knit Soc to name a few. It was also important to get a good gender balance in the calendar, with many of the photos being mixed. We also chose a ‘Movember’ theme for November, in order to raise awareness for the Irish Cancer Society initiative which is going from strength to strength each year.

A calendar is nothing without an excellent team behind it. Whether it was planning, editing, sponsorship organising, or even just communicating with societies, the journey from start to finish would have been nothing without extremely committed people. On top of this, we were aided by the most wonderful designer, Gaye Mulholland, who made sure the end result was like that of which we had spent so many months hoping it would be. Our Photographers were another essential part, as waking up at 5.30 to do a 6am shot on a cold winters morning is not easy (for those naked or not).

At the end of this amazing project, we raised a lot of money, awareness and hopefully got a good few laughs!

Becca Roche, Chair cancer@csc.tcd.ie

Capoeira “Capoeira is a fight for dancers and a dance for fighters. It is a game, a dance, a fight, a perfect mixture of strength and rhythm, poetry and agility. Music and singing rule the movementsCapoeira is a Brazilian game which incorporates aspects of dance, martial arts, music and singing. The Trinity Capoeira Society holds Capoeira classes once a week on Fridays, along with regular nights out to learn more about Latin music, dancing and Brazilian culture. Autumn 2011 saw the 10th Mundo Capoeira Batizado, a Capoeira festival in Dublin in which many of our members took part to get their new belts. Parabéns guys! It was an amazing week of practicing and playing capoeira during the day with fellow capoeiristas who were visiting from all over Europe, and nights of forró dancing to a live band, samba dancers and batucada/samba reggae drumming. The next Batizado will be in October 2012! Beginners are always welcome to classes or the nights out at anytime during the year.

Eva Greene, Secretary capoeira@csc.tcd.ie

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Card & Bridge How To play Poker with Cardsoc: 1. Relax. Remember you’re playing a friendly game of Poker in a College Society. Not everyone’s priority is solely to win (though of course there is a competitive bunch), many are here to socialise and for a laugh. Take the opportunity to sit around a table getting to know new people without the need to break the ice, the razor-sharp cards will do that for you.

2. Learn the rules. It sounds silly but a lot of people who like poker and the concept of sitting down for a game of cards don’t actually know which is better: a flush or a straight (it’s a flush).

3. Pay attention to the Board and the Players. A lack of concentration can lead to you thinking that you have something in your hand, only to “flip ‘em over” and realise that you were missing a card from that straight you thought you had.

Meanwhile there was an obviously played flush on the table and the game won by your better-handed opponent.

4. Grow a Pair. Don’t be afraid to mix up your play, to provide inconsistencies. Be loud and obnoxious or quiet and mouse-like both when you decide to bluff and when your cards are good. If you have the best cards then you’re in the best position, don’t feel otherwise.

5. Don’t Bullshit too much. Play your good cards well and be patient. You may go hand upon hand of fold upon fold, but generally, if you play with an edge of caution, focus and take your opportunities with both good cards and the exaggeration of those, you’ll be just fine.

6. Most importantly, take it as it comes and enjoy it for what it is. There is a large element of luck in this game, though as you progress you will see people make their own. Sometimes the game will go against you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Just be sure to make the most of your luck.

Cormac Cassidy, Originally appeared in Trinity News Two bridge@csc.tcd.ie

Chapel Choir As usual, the College Chapel Choir sang service twice every week during term, but the musical highlight of the year was definitely the annual college Carol Service when the choir sang a mixture of traditional and modern carols to a completely packed-out chapel. Christmas was, as always, a busy time which saw the choir carol-singing at Christmas Commons in the College dining hall and the Mater hospital. Socially, the trip to Galway before the start of the second semester was a huge success with record numbers coming along to party and sing services in both the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals there. Chapel Choir was also delighted to sing as part of

Trinity Arts Festival’s Cacophony concert, which included a memorable performance of Allegri’s Miserere in the stairwell of the music department. The choir are now looking forward to their annual international trip, which this year will be to Venice. It was also discovered last year that 2012 marks the 250th Anniversary of the Chapel Choir and the first anniversary event takes place on April 15th when past members from around the world rejoin us to sing a service in the chapel, followed by a party in the Provost’s house.

Margaret Bridge, Conductor cchoir@csc.tcd.ie

Chess Chess Soc has had an eventful and successful year. On the competitive side of things our members competed across all levels, from masters to minors, in several tournaments since September. We have been represented in Kilkenny, Galway, Bunratty and intervarsities in Cork so far.

Each time our members have done us proud and we’ve come away with some prizes including the intervarsity title! Our two Leinster league teams are also improving over last season, and pushing up the table in divisions 1 and 4.

On the social side, our club nights have continued to prove popular. Whether it’s tactics training, blitz chess, swap chess, or coaching, there is always something going on. We have an exciting batch of new players just getting into playing serious games both in the leagues and tournaments so the future looks bright for us. We’re always on the lookout for new members to bolster our ranks. Regardless of how experienced you are, we take all standards and we bring everyone up to speed.

Stephen Moran, Captain chess@csc.tcd.ie

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Chinese Students’ Association The Chinese Students’ Association’s main goal is to offer the college community first-rate Chinese cultural events and activities, and these were some of this year’s highlights.

tunity to present an important aspect of Chinese culture to the college community and hope to establish calligraphy lessons in the future based on the interest garnered by this event.

One of the major improvements within the society this year was to be able to offer a Chinese language course that was taught by a professional instructor, but was highly affordable for students.

We also collaborated with DCNYF (Dublin Chinese New Year Festival) and Dublin City Council, and, as part of the Chinese New Year Gala in Temple Bar, presented the Han Fashion Show, the first event of its kind in Ireland.

Clothing in the Han style dates back five thousand years and is considered the main traditional form of Chinese clothing. Its distinctive appearance is easily recognisable and continues to influence modern fashion.

In Michaelmas term, we organised two seminars about Chinese culture. As well as providing information sessions about Chinese culture and history, we also had demonstrations in calligraphy and Kung Fu. We hope to offer a diverse range of cultural activities to our members, including lessons in martial arts and in Tai Chi.

During the Trinity Arts Festival (TAF), we hosted a demonstration of Chinese calligraphy. We were delighted to get the oppor-

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We are delighted to have offered a broad spectrum of cultural events and activities to appeal to all interests throughout the year, and hope to continue do so for students of all cultures into the future by building on the successes of this year.

Lisa Keogh chinese@csc.tcd.ie

Choral Society The 175th birthday of the University of Dublin’s Choral Society saw the Society taking on one of the most exciting concert programmes any choir can embark upon. Michaelmas Term saw the Society take on J.S Bach’s masterwork, the Mass in B minor. The skill and dedication of the members was seen not only in their hard work during rehearsals, but also in the extra rehearsals and in the sectional practices that they put in, eager to do the work justice, although there was still time for some fun in the shape of a highly competitive table quiz.

The hard work paid off, and the two November concerts saw the society at its absolute best, and resulted in an invitation from the Provost to perform at the Christ-

mas tree lighting ceremony. In another festive endeavour, the Society managed to raise over €900 for the Simon Community, singing carols in Dundrum.

Hilary term saw the Society rehearsing Handel’s Messiah, one of the most beloved of all choral works, to be performed on the 21st and 22nd of March. Despite the challenge of taking on such a seminal work, the Society also managed to squeeze in its annual Cherry Cup competition, a Messiah concert in St Patrick’s, Armagh, and also a Messiah flashmob. With an enthusiasm for such dedicated work the Hilary Term concert was set to be a fitting close to a wonderful year for

Ellen Kruger, Minutes’ Secretary email: choral@csc.tcd.ie

all involved in the Choral Society.

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Christian Union The Christian Union had a fantastic year. We held an event every Thursday evening at 7 in Regent House, in which a speaker would talk on current topics such as the character of God, who Jesus was, suffering, heaven, hell, science vs religion, etc! These were followed by a time of praise, and then tea and coffee. We also hosted prayer breakfasts every week (nothing says prayer like a fry-up), acoustic gigs, movie nights, and even a céilí!

The highlight of the year was most definitely our weekend away. Sixty of us took over Avoca Manor in Co. Wicklow for a weekend in October. Jonathan Reid

Comedy From the very start of the year it was clear that we were going to have to approach the business of the Comedy society from a radically different angle than that taken by previous years. Comedy has, in recent years, reached its saturation point in modern society. While this doubtlessly bolsters comedy’s popularity in general terms, with so much comedy ever-present in the mainstream media it becomes increasingly difficult to sell the idea of and promote live comedy. The year ahead held two challenges: providing comedy shows for those who wanted to attend them, and providing comedy tuition for those who wanted to attempt it for themselves.

One of our major achievements was an exclusive and groundbreaking deal signed with Comedy Central for four shows performed over the course of the year featuring 8 of British, American, Canadian and Australian comedy’s brightest stars. In brokering this deal we were able to give students the chance to see, live and in colour, the very same acts who might otherwise have been our competition.

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We were able to continue with our successful ‘€2 Comedy’ gigs in the Pavilion, now in its 3rd season, and get in some incredible headline acts: Andrew Stanley, Marcus O’Laoire and Fred Cooke all featured in line ups this year.

We have also continued this year with our stand up comedy classes, taught by our tamed professional, Dara, expanding into the arena of improvisational comedy.

Giving students with comedic aspirations a ‘safe’ venue to perform their first gig and set them on the road is a critical part of the society’s work each year.

Finally, we hosted Trinity’s Fringe Festival, packing 10 (mostly) free events into 5 days and appealed to all societies for ideas, including in a fire-juggling show in Front Square by the Juggling Society, a live-radio Murder Mystery by TFM, a sponsored Stitch & Bitch

by Knit Soc and a Comedy debate with the Phil. On top of that we also had comedy gigs by sketch groups, improv troupes and stand up acts from around the country in the second Comedy Intervarsity gig featuring acts from IADT, NCAD, UCD, Trinity and NUI Maynooth, with apologies from comics representing UCG and UL.

We’ve spent the last 12 months working with one group of people in mind: our members. We’ve cut prices, increased the number of gigs, imported acts that have never performed in Ireland before and increased the number of ways for members to become actively involved in the society.

comedy@csc.tcd.ie

spoke to us about Faith, looking particularly at the book of Acts.

We also had a photo safari, a banquet-style meal, and, as always, the infamous Talent Show.

Still to come are our Inter-CU Ball in The Clarence Hotel (Mad Men themed this year) and our annual conference, in which students from Christian Unions all around the country come together for a weekend to share what the past year held, to learn from each other, and to share our faith.

Bernard Mackey, PRO cunion@csc.tcd.ie

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Classical Society DU Classical Society aims to create a bridge between the rich and varied Roman and Greek traditions (the basis of our European culture) and a 21st century a little too oblivious of its magnificent past. Our constitution states our aim as “the encouragement of Classical study in all its branches”, and the 106th session officially got underway in Freshers’ Week, where our toga-ed Committee recruited over 230 members.

Michaelmas Term saw an event almost every week. We took in the key note speech of the Royal Irish Academy’s Classical Colloquium, and held two very successful lectures of our own: Prof. Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin of the TCD Italian Department gave the Society’s Inaugural Lecture on “Virgil in Dante’s Comedy”, while Prof. Jackie Murray of Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, addressed the society with “Read in the Stars: the Date of Apollonius’ Argonautica”.

We also held screenings of films like “300” and Anthony Eden’s “The Browning Version”, along with more social events like a costumed Hallowe’en Party and a Xmas “Saturnalia” Banquet. Our aim throughout the year was to combine social events with the Classical academia so obvious in and important to the Society’s tradition.

Fourth Week saw one of the highlights of the Classical Society’s year - the Roman Banquet and Recitativo. This Roman-banquet involved a vast array of vaguelyclassical of food and drink, piled high on the tables of the Hist Con-

versation Room, where members were invited to read extracts of their favourite literary works in different languages. The event was extremely successful as it was an elaborate amalgam of languages, nationalities and diverse approaches to various Classical works. Highlights included a French rendition of Moliere’s l’Avare, based on a Roman play and acted stunningly by a French Erasmus student, and the once familiar sound of Homer’s Iliad restored once again to TCD, an extract of which was read out in the original Greek (no mean feat). These were complemented by extracts from Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra, Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Dante’s Purgatorio, Tennyson’s Ulysses, and an original (& hilarious) composition from one of our committee comparing the surprisingly similar lives of Flann O’Brien and one Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Hilary term saw us host Prof. Niall Rudd, one of the leading readers of Latin Literature of the 20th century, who gave this year’s Auditorial Address on the subject of “Daedalus and Icarus in European Art”, and Kevin McGee, the Trinity Long Room Hub Scholar for Classics on “Seneca’s Tragedies”.

We also held the society’s annual Undergraduate Colloquium - an event which gives our undergrad members a rare opportunity to read out their academic work, in a friendly wine-and-cheese environment - as well as a collaboration with the UCD Classical Society in a visit to their Classical

museum. We again held more social events like screenings and the highlight of our social calendar, The Imperial Ball, organised jointly with DU Archaeological Society. On top of this, we we embarked on our annual society trip, offering our members an insight into the functioning of the furthest provinces of the Roman Empire, visitng Barcelona (Roman Barcino) and Tarragona (Tarraco, capital of Hispania Tarraconensis).

We also provide our members with an extensive library, as well as working closely with the Histories & Humanties Journal.

DU Classical Society has tried to spread interest to areas which are (alas!) in danger of extinction in times scarcely prepared for a brief moment of intellectual enjoyment and meditation. Hopefully we succeeded.

classical@csc.tcd.ie 15

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An Cumann Gaelach The aim of An Cumann Gaelach is to get more people in Trinity speaking Irish and to also let others know that Irish is alive and well, and there are undoubtedly more people speaking Irish in college than there ever would be without An Cumann Gaelach. Countless people meet at one of our events, start speaking Irish and now only speak Irish to each other. This is something of which we are all very proud, it makes every minute of work worthwhile for us.

Throughout the year we led an energetic campaign to have a Seomra Caidrimh (Irish language conversation room) established on campus. After the proposal being initially refused by the Space Allocation Committee, we decided that we would launch the campaign with support from Oifig na Gaeilge, and after tireless campaigning we were eventually told that a room in Trinity had been identified that can eventually be used as resource for the Irish-speaking community on campus as a whole.

Freshers Week saw us host a Céilí, a Pubcrawl, Speed-dating, a sold-out gig featuring the excellent Kíla and Mo Hat Mo Gheasaí. The next highlight of our year was during 4th Week, where we held Lá na Gaeilge, which included breakfast in Irish, a lively debate featuring Éamon Ó Cuív among others, and one of the most unusual events of 4th Week - hypnotist Zac Powers who did a show through Irish where he managed to get people to do all sorts of odd stuff through the Irish language!

If Lá na Gaeilge seemed impressive, even more so was Éigse na Tríonóide, which had 23 events through Irish including a play, screenings, speakers, gigs, Sean-Nós dancing, a céilí and plenty of other social events.

Other highlights of the year included trips to Glendalough and the Oireachtas na Gaeilge in Killarney, a book club, guest speakers, our publication Tuathal, fundraising for charity, the recording of Céilí House for RTÉ Radio 1 with TradSoc, and many social events including An Bál Gaelach in D’arcy McGee’s

Computer Science The DU Computer Science Society (DUCSS) holds a variety of events, many but not all of which are related to the computer science course, such as module based tutorials, and this year our events were especially aimed at ascending junior freshmen. We also hold noncourse-related events such as: guest speakers from important companies within the IT industry, such as Google and Microsoft, as well as emerging companies such as Demonware. We also host more social events, such as game tournaments and movie nights as we feel these events are important for creating a sense of camaraderie within the society as we pride ourselves upon creating a welcoming environment for people who are new to the society.

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Despite our small member base, we hope to cater to a significant student interest both in and out of Computer Science. We hope to continue this trend in future as we cater for an increasingly large member base, many of whom are interested in getting involved with our society, and hopefully we can not only offer a wide array of events for our members, but also a friendly atmosphere in which to experience college as a whole.

ducss@csc.tcd.ie

This has been one of the most successful ever years for the society, and on the 26th of February this was recognised when we won the award for the best Cumann Gaelach in 3rd level education globally, awarded by Glór na nGael, the first time Trinity’s Cumann Gaelach has ever won it.

cumann@csc.tcd.ie

DU Dance The Dance society held lots of exciting new events this year, with a focus on exploring more alternative styles of dance and appealing to a wider base of students to take all interests into account, as the society has been quite ballroom-oriented in the past.

Our Friday night “special event” classes in Michaelmas term included a ‘Dancing around the world class’ in semester one, where students were treated to a whistle-stop tour of traditional English morris dancing, a sultry Bollywood routine, some Zulu tribal dancing, our beloved ‘Thriller’ routine class at Halloween, and a special Christmas-themed dance class featuring the Jingle Bell Rock number from Mean Girls! Hilary Term saw us take to the disco floor again with a special two-hour long disco dance class, with compulsory 70’s attire.

Throughout the year we held very successful weekly ballroom and latin classes, hip hop classes, Irish dancing for beginners, ballet classes. We

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aslo expanded the Dancesoc agenda to take in two trips away this year, firstly in semester one to London to the famous Pineapple Dance Studios (sadly Louis Spence was away the day we arrived) and in semester two for a weekend of swing-dancing fun in Galway. We also made a special effort to run more inter-society events this year, providing a swing-dancing team for the Lawsoc’s Swing Ball and ran a waltzing workshop during the Trinity Arts Festival.

Furthermore, we’ve also made a concerted effort to become a more inclusive society and tried as hard as possible to cater to all kinds of dance styles and levels of dancers, with our classes being beginner and intermediate level-oriented, with the hip hop crew and club-discounts in place for the more serious dancers. dance@csc.tcd.ie

Digital Arts The Digital Arts Society enjoyed a successful year in the first of the society’s branding as “DU DJ”. Throughout Michaelmas term the society ran a series of introductory tutorials that covered CDJs, Vinyl, Traktor and Ableton using the society’s equipment and with help from a number of distinguished DJs on the Dublin scene. In November the society ran its own night in conjunction with C U Next Tuesday at the Lost Society which was a great success. In the first half of Hilary term the society brought Realsound Production Company in to give professional tutorials on production in Ableton to members for a very discounted price. We also helped run the Rag Week Spinoff in conjunction with Trinity Ents and gave an Introduction to DJing tutorial as part of Trinity Arts Festival. Throughout the year our up-and-coming DJs were at the fore of dance music in Dublin, playing at numerous events and nights such as the Trinity Surf, Sailing, Sevens Festival, Madhaus, and Juice at the Twisted Pepper among others.

Dan Alvey, Chairperson digiarts@csc.tcd.ie

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plays

LONDON TOUR

and

YD

FLO K N PI

8pm saTURDAY 25TH fEB 2012

Tickets available on the door

£5

St. Leonard’s Church shoreditch

www.trinityorchestra.com www.twitter.com/trinityorch www.facebook.com/trinityorchestra

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DUBES (Business & Economics) The DUBES Valentine’s Bess Ball has established itself as one of the most popular events in the Trinity social calendar, and this year the event reached particularly new heights, adding a considerable number of totally new elements to both the setup and the promotion of the event that were hopefully to everyone’s benefit!

The full list of details of the Bess Ball is staggering. It includes: a Stretch Hummer, Fire breathers, stilt walkers, jugglers, a “Papparazzi entrance” with 5x2.5 metre backdrop, 6 photographers and red carpet, Male models handing roses to ladies upon arrival, a Snake charmer, Magician, Balloon Artist, String Quartet and pianist, Chocolate Fountains, video and photo booths, Mock “Wedding Chapel” for Photos, a full band and DJ. The night was filmed by RTÉ for Republic of Telly and

by Trinity TV. The promotion for the ball also involved a video which was viewed over 5,000 times a Facebook competition which involved sharing the

video, the winner of which won a free tickets, transport to the Ball in the stretch hummer, and a reserved table for up to 15 friends. We also ran free tuxedo and dress rental competitions with BlackTie and Covet respectively. When the 1,000 tickets went on sale almost 2 weeks before the event they sold out in 90 minutes, with 200 afters tickets selling out in 30 minutes 2 days later.

The Bess Ball is now Ireland’s biggest student society ball, and is the crowning jewel in DUBES’ calendar, which also this year included the Post Budget Analysis, a joint racing day with the Horse Racing Society, and numerous other social events. dubes@csc.tcd.ie

Entrepreneurial In 2011/2012, TES has continued to add to its repertoire of events, with new initiatives such as Trinity Enterprise Week, which saw seven speakers deliver presentations on highly practical topics such as writing a business plan, making an effective pitch and financial modelling. The week-long event had the backing of many organisations, including Tata Consultancy Services, Deloitte, Teach First, Grant Thornton, the Dublin City Enterprise Board, the Guinness Enterprise Centre, 11890, Dalriada and more.

Another major new initiative this year was the TES Internship Fair, which saw us host 14 employers in the Atrium on February 14, at an event attended by over 250 students, hopefully making the process of finding jobs and internships far easier for our members.

In addition, we’ve continued to expand our main events, particularly the Dragons’ Den and Apprentice competitions. Having worked extensively this year to contact previous winners of our

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Dragons’ Den competitions, we have ascertained that over the past four years, TES has given over €12,000 in funding to startup businesses from Trinity College, and that our past entrants have gone on to raise over approximately €100,000 in additional funding. This year’s Dragons’ Den had more entries than ever before and the standard of entry was fantastic. Five companies split €3500 in accordance with their ranking by this year’s esteemed judges, who struggled to whittle down a final 8 of 25 semi-finalists. Ronan McGuire took the crown with his established business “Bearna Natural Care” which is currently selling Argan Oil products in retailers in Ireland.

Our Speakers’ Series has also gone from strength to strength, with speakers such as Hugo MacNeill (former Irish rugby international, and Head of Goldman Sachs in Ireland), Eoghan Jennings (Startup Bootcamp) and Peter Conlon (Ammado) hosted so far this year.

photogrphy by Sophie Murphy

Tom Kelly, Chair.

Dragon’s Den excerpt by Cormac Cassidy entrepren@csc.tcd.ie

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Early Irish

Engineering

The Early Irish Society exists to promote an interest in the study of the Early Irish language in the University and to preserve and promote an interest in its literature, law, social history, archaeology and paleography. The Early Irish Society tries to foster knowledge of for Early Irish studies in the University by means of conferences, seminars, lectures and publications.

The Engineering Society was established to promote the Engineering profession in Trinity College. Since 1866, DU EngSoc has been representing Engineering students in Trinity College.

As a large student society our aims include helping new students to settle into life in Trinity by organising social events and activities and providing academic support to our members through guest speakers and educational trips away.

earlyirish@csc.tcd.ie

Some of The Dublin University Engineering Society’s 145th session’s highlights included The Engineering Ball, Society Trip to XXXXXX, Black And White Night, the EMS Day, Inter-year Football Tournament, and many more.

engsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Environment As part of the College-wide Green Week initiative, the Environmental Society decided to host an art exhibition and competition, along with a number of different events. Whether you are a keen environmentalist, green activist or simply chasing the two free Trinity Ball tickets they offered for top prize, this event drew some really interesting entries. Each entrant collected a bag brimming with natural components and waste from the Environmental Society in the arts block at the beginning of the week and was asked to return with “art” by its end.

Meanwhile, an exhibition of pieces not entered in the competition but that highlighted the beauty and role of nature in our lives were on display. Some works were shot on our very own College Park, while others focused on more rural settings.

The winner of the competition was announced at 4 o’clock, with Cat O’Shea taking the home the prized Trinity Ball tickets for her intriguing video. Congratulations to the winner and commiserations to those other entries, there’s always next year.

Cormac Cassidy environment@csc.tcd.ie

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European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) ELSA Trinity’s aim is to promote contact between law students, young lawyers and professors, whether it be within the college itself or with other universities and law firms both nationally and internationally.

This year ELSA has hosted a variety of lectures and debates, as well as organising some excellent academic opportunities for Trinity law students. Our year began with a welcome night in MacTurcaills pub, allowing students from every year a chance to catch up and socialise. In late October, we held an topical debate in light of the impending referendum on whether Dáil Committees should be given more powers of investigation. This debate was much discussed and helped to clarify many people’s views on how they should use their votes. After Christmas we held another well received debate on ‘wrongful life’ – inviting both lawyers and doctors to argue out this controversial topic.

Aside from debates, we hosted the ELSA Ireland Winter NCM, as well as a popular STEP internship evening - another one of

these ever-important internship evenings will be held before the term is out. A new initiative that ELSA Trinity has now begun is the organisation of trips to prominent law firms, such as Mason Hayes and Curran, where students gained inside information about the MHC traineeship programme, and the chance to meet Trinity Graduates now working in the firm.

Altogether ELSA Trinity has had a highly successful year, with more events still to come! elsa@csc.tcd.ie

Europa Arguably, Europa had its most successful year since its foundation. A more diverse course-ranging committee was formed this year, quite the opposite of the ‘European Studies’ stereotype that normally grips the Society, while the society’s membership peaked to its highest ever at around 305 at last count during Fourth Week.

The Society ran a multitude of wide-ranging events this year, exploring the vast cultural, linguistic and political events that capture the side of Europe which is often forgotten in the wake of economic crisis.

By consensus, our most popular event was a Swiss Culture Evening during Fourth Week, where following a short address by the Swiss Ambassador, members and non-members enjoyed the finest in Swiss wine, cheese and chocolaty delights. The Society

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also ran a string of film nights, coffee afternoons, a hugely successful trip to Lisbon and talks on Portugal, Ireland and the economy in 2012.

Europa also teamed up with several other societies to bring out great events. Most recently, we teamed up with Geographical and Environmental Societies to bring an information evening on WWOOFing, volunteering on organic farms, an event that has always been hugely popular among our members. We also took part on a Trinity FM radio show on the future of Europe, ran Oktoberfest with Food & Drink, a quiz night with University Challenge Society and supported DU Amnesty in their campaign to stamp out the Death Penalty in Europe.

Paul Logue, Chair europa@csc.tcd.ie

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The Fashion Society is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment and creative possibilities of fashion to students. We have a particular emphasis on promoting Irish fashion, as well as youthful and innovative brands we feel students may identify with.

This year the society has made the leap from holding a couple of flagship during the whole year events to hosting one almost every week. In October we held Swap Shop with the Parlour, where students brought clothes in during the week to the Fashion Soc stand in the Arts Block, exchanged items for coupons, and then could exchange their coupons for clothes, bags and accessories at the Swap Shop. We then held a Christmas Flea Market in December, also in The Parlour. We also held a panel discussion with prominent Irish fashion bloggers, Pattern Making and Fashion Illustration workshops for Trinity Arts Festival, film screenings, and a number of social nights.

The highlight of our year was undoubtedly the Fashion Show in aid of Aware.

This year’s fashion show was a collective combination of student creativity, diligence, timing and the ability to work together as a team. Our show featured a diverse range of student models of all shapes, sizes, ages, backgrounds and disciplines, and avoided promoting revealing clothing or students’ looks as a selling point. It focused a lot on promoting Irish brands, as well as youthful and innovative brands we felt students may identify with. The show was called ‘Bright Young Things’, and encouraged students to embrace their youth and freedom years, and raised over €1500 for Aware.

The Fashion Society aims to be unpretentious and we are eager to make fashion accessible and enjoyable, embracing the creative side of fashion, without even having to resort to alcohol! In one year we have grown from a very small society known only for the Fashion Show to a fantastic society with events for everyone, from all lifestyles and genders.

Photo, Shane Andrew Kelly

photography by Shane Andrew Kelly

email: fashionsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Fianna Fáil (Wolfe Tone Cumann) This year, the Wolfe Tone Cumann (i.e. Trinity Fianna Fáil) saw a large increase, not only in membership, but also in general participation in the activities of the society. Early on in the year, we held a number of informal events to help people get to know each other, with a particular emphasis on having our meetings at as many different times as possible so accommodate as many students as we could. We were helped this year by the hosting of the first National Youth Conference of Ógra Fianna Fáil since 2009 in Cork city. The whole weekend was a wonderful bonding exercise – not only for the newcomers but also for more seasoned committee members. Nearly all of the Wolfe Tone’s motions were passed and we had a highly visible presence during debates and the more social evening activities – a point recognised on the Saturday evening Ball when the

Trinity Cumann was awarded the “Best Delegation” award by former member Senator Thomas Byrne. We also held a number of policy workshops and meetings this year and were delighted to welcome Prof David Farrell and Dr Eoin O’Malley to one meeting in November. Following on from our Christmas party we were soon preparing for the 73rd Ard Fheis. Again, we were well represented by a number of delegates and observers and we were delighted to see all our motions pass. A society on the rise again!

Helena Kelly, Chairperson trinityfiannafail@gmail.com

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Film-makers A year ago there was a serious lack of Filmmakers events to get involved with, so this year’s committee decided to revamp the society by organising a host of regular activities.

Our weekly events included a film club in the Eliz Rooms every Wednesday, screening movies such as Drive, Aladdin and Withnail and ‘I’, decorating the room to suit the theme each week, and weekly workshops inviting someone qualified with a certain aspect of film such as light, camerawork or sound to teach our members their tricks. We also held weekly scriptwriting workshops in conjunction with Literary Society where our members got the opportunity to shift from operating equipment to focusing on the written aspect of film.

At the start of the year, we held a ‘Film Bootcamp’ – separating our members into groups of 5 or 6 people and giving them one project and they had to construct a short story and movie based on this object. One of our committee

This was the 40th Session of Fine Gael or Young Fine Gael in TCD. The branch was actively involved in the college community and broader organization of YFG and FG. In July 2011 the branch went to the Summer School in Galway, with a significant presence. During Freshers’ week Trinity YFG once again attracted the most members of all the political party societies in the college. With a reception for new members with Minister Lucinda Creighton The Branch campaigned heavily in various elections during the year. It also took part in intra-political societies debates from ones on the podium with the Politics Society to others over the airwaves with Trinity FM. The branch, hosted debates for Young Fine Gael in Dublin, arranged hustings for the National Confer24

members was their group leader and showed them how to use the equipment and how to edit. We also had a Careers Week in which we invited guest speakers to talk about their achievements and careers to date, including award winning producer Morgan Bushe, director Rebecca Daly, documentary filmmaker Karen McGrath and Robin Murray. One of our main and final events of the year was the DU Oscars, a red carpeted event in the Sugarclub, where we awarded members for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, etc.

On top of these specific events, scripts that were submitted were allotted equipment to film for a certain week, our Animation section this year was very strong, and we’ve worked hard to change the society from a clique that catered to a few, to a society that can provide something for anyone interested in any aspect filmmaking. com@dufilmmakers.com

ence, attended various other events of other societies, and took trips to Leinster House and the cinema.

Throughout the year policy orientated meetings were organised to address the structural problems within Irish society. In February, the branch brought more numbers to National Conference than in recent years, putting up candidates for the national executive and reaffirming the reputation, strength and significance of Trinity’s society in YFG at large.

Michael Lindsay finegael@csc.tcd.ie

Free Legal Advice Clinic (FLAC) From the four corners of the world, we came ashore, knowing Trinity FLAC is a student society which has at its core a free legal advice clinic for all Trinity students. This clinic runs on a regular basis throughout the academic year. We also raise awareness of legal issues, especially those relevant to students, and the need for reform of the current legal aid system. Throughout the year, the society holds debates, talks and receptions addressing issues relevant to citizens’ access to justice, and conducts research and campaigns around particular social and legal issues.

This year, Trinity FLAC conducted campaigns to raise awareness of human rights abuses in prisons and the need for adequate gender recognition legislation, as well as talks on alternative legal

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careers, pro bono work, human trafficking in the sex industry, the Legal Services Bill, and careers in criminal law. We also conducted comparative research into European legal aid systems, and provided opportunities for students to gain invaluable hands-on legal experience in new social welfare law clinics and student-run legal information clinics. We also held our Christmas movie screening and annual pub quiz, and during Rainbow Week we hosted an address by Dr. Lydia Foy in conjunction with Q Soc. All in all, a very successful and enjoyable year!

Audrey Whyte, Secretary flac@csc.tcd.ie

Fish Soc From the four corners of the world, we came ashore, knowing little of local customs and brimming with superstitions and old sayings. We began with humble beginnings, a pub trawl to consolidate those loyal and sea starved followers. The success of the night sent us mackerel-ing down a craic-filled gangway complete with debauchery, scurvy, glutton, and of course, mayonnaise and shellfish. We hosted another few pub trawls, along with successful flirty fishing excursions to Killiney, Co. Dublin, in the lead up to our ode to sardine, our frolicking Bilbo, the crab of Khazad-Dum, our voyage to the Monte-Carlo of the South-East: Wicklow Town.

We set sail over the high seas, Kit Dunne at the helm, grasping tenderly an aim of landing the big one, the elusive crannog, the great Spurdog. Needless to say the beast was done, a whip cracked with his rubber tail, and the Spurdog was caught. Trish, our sea maiden hostess for the

excursion, was even impressed – ‘Ye cleaned up so well ahoy!’

Post-Christmas festivities; we’ve hosted a Vincent de Paul food run which hove fodder from far and wide. Our Soleful doings culminated in our Rag Week Pub Trawl and fiercely contested Goldfish Derby which raised a salt encrusted €600 for the rag week fund. As these final words were being written we were but on the cusp of our biggest night to date, the conglomeration of the two greats; Fish Soc and The Phil, in the omnificent Phishtery Tour.

How this night goes, Fortuna has yet to decide, the prophecies are encouraging and 150 cockle clad members shall be attending. Till the morrowyear, Mother Sea calls us to return to the deep ocean blues, we bid you adieu.

Fish Soc Committee fishing@csc.tcd.ie

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French Being a very young society, only in its second year, the French Society could not have been more successful this year and has organised a vast amount of events to cater for the diverse interests of lovers of the French language and culture such as gastronomy, politics, culture and debating.

With the up-and-coming French presidential elections, this is a hugely interesting year in France and the French Society has organised many events around this topic. Back in October, we had a visit from the UMP Delegation in Ireland which was very well attended and sparked a heated and interesting debate that went on for hours! In February, a socialist senator called Gaetan Gorce came to visit.

Our French debating team has been very active and successful this year. They emerged victorious against a strong Galway team in a very interesting debate on the European Union and we even

brought them over to France where they debated in the National Assembly in Paris on the topic of positive discrimination.

We also travelled to Lille to do another debate during this trip.

The team emerged victorious on both occasions which was a major achievement as they were debating against people whose mother tongue is French!

On the cultural front, we had an immensely enjoyable wine tasting evening, a 1920’s prohibition themed event where we all donned 1920’s gear and danced to jazz music (with several people reporting that it was the best event they ever attended in college!), a lecture on existentialism and a visit from the daughter of the famous Irene Némirovsky, the author of Suite Française.

Claire Nevin, President frenchsociety@csc.tcd.ie

Food & Drink

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This year has been an extremely active year for the Food & Drink Society. We held at least one event every week, often hosting two. Some of this year’s events included the Freshers’ Week Picnic, the Freshers’ Week Dublin Food Tour, Oktoberfest, Cheese Tasting, Pumpkin Carving, the Burrito Party, Wine Tasting, Beer Tasting, Cocktail Making, Yule n’ Joy at KC Peaches, Vegetarian Evening, Tea Tasting, Chocolate Tasting, Sushi Demo and Tasting and a Frogurt Party at Yogism.

The objective of the society is to “to foster knowledge and appreciation of all forms of food and to arrange classes, tastings, lectures etc. to this end.” We have made a concerted effort this year to ensure that all our events are informative to some degree and that there is a focus within the society on engaging with what we are eating and drinking and learning about it.

members. We filled the restaurant up to capacity, with 40 Burrito-loving members, and engaged in several Burrito-related competitions: Burrito making, Burrito eating, and Chili Tasting, before all of our members were provided with a burrito of their choice.

During Burrito making, each competitor was taught how to make a Burrito by the experienced cooks, before trying their hands at the process themselves, giving members hands-on-experience. Then after a very messy Burrito eating competition, several of our braver members engaged in a chilli eating competition. After several rounds, a duel between two of our members – with their eyes watering and mouths burning went to epic levels as they took shots of Boojum’s spiciest Salsa to determine the winner, who won a host of prizes, including free-burrito coupons, a t-shirt, and much more.

To describe all of these events in detail would require a whole yearbook in itself, but one particular highlight was the Burrito Party at Boojum, work on which began before Freshers’ Week.

With Burritos quickly becoming many student’s favourite food, we were very enthusiastic about making this both an educational and memorable event for our

We hope we’ve managed to raise our profile and deliver on our objectives better than we have in previous years, and provide Trinity students with fantastic outlet to indulge in one of life’s greatest pleasures.

fooddrnk@csc.tcd.ie

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Gender Equality (DUGES) Gamers

This year was busy for the D.U. Gender Equality Society. We had many great events, including a discussion entitled Sex on Screen, where a panel of women from the media, including author Anna McPartlin, director Neasa Hardiman, members of the Irish Feminist Network and Dr. Debbie Ging, lecturer in cultural studies at DCU discussed the position and representation of women and gender roles in film and television today.

The society also welcomed Jill Filipovic, activist and writer, to speak to our members about the work she does in the world of online campaigning. We were also heavily involved with the colIt’s been an incredibly active year for Trinity Gamers! The Society room has been open almost every day all year, with four regular role-playing games running every week and a weekly boardgames night that was very well-attended. We also ran several introductory role-playing games nights where we were able to show off the talents of our game writers both new and old. Our annual convention, Leprecon, was as always a great space for socialising and gaming alike.

Where Gamers has really shone this year, however, is in our special events. We started out by beating Freshers with rubber swords, then moved on to a liveaction role-play afternoon on campus during 4th Week. Our

lege’s celebration of International Women’s Week; among other events we hosted self-defence classes with the Judo society as well as a discussion on women in literature with Anna Carey of the Anti-Room blog and Nora Pelizzari, a PhD student in English Literature here in college. We also do film screenings throughout the year of films which we feel are relevant to our cause. The society even worked with The Historical Society to organise a debate on Pornography in society today. All in all, a very productive year! duges@csc.tcd.ie

Christmas game ended the term nicely, with Marxist reindeer and unionised elves fighting over five gold rings... The Society’s annual trip to Cork in January was particularly memorable, and helped us really get to know our newer members – better than we expected in some cases! Finally, our Valentine’s Day game, The Dance and the Dawn, followed Lords and Ladies desperately seeking True Love at a midnight ball.

We’ve had a wonderful year, and we look forward to next year’s gaming!

Stephen Kenneally, President gamers@csc.tcd.ie

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Genetical Society The Genetical Society is for people interested in new and exciting developments in genetics that have either a scientific or social significance. Along with the double-edged swords of cloning and genetic engineering the genetical society has a lot to think about and a lot of fun doing it. Talks with experts, trips away and at least one very high profile speaker a year means that if you are interested in what it is going to be like to be human in twenty years, GenSoc is the place to be. gensoc@csc.tcd.ie

Hispanic Culture This is the inaugural year of the Trinity Hispanic Cultural Society, which kicked off with the successful 4th Week tapas, wine and Spanish guitar social. Other noteworthy events included a night of theatre at the Gaiety, where we were treated to an interesting play about the more colourful aspects of Barcelona’s cabaret scene.

Our weekly film nights made for a welcome interlude in the middle of a hectic week of academia and we even managed to rustle up a very generous donation from business tycoon Dermot Desmond,

who kindly donated novels on South America for all our members.

Our friends in the Instituto Cervantes deserve special thanks for allowing us to attend several interesting lectures and art exhibitions throughout the year.

More recently, a joint wine tasting with our neighbours in the French society was a great way to wind down and gain some insight into the eclectic selections of wines from our respective countries. hispanic@csc.tcd.ie

Geographical Society The Dublin University Geographical Society is now in its 52nd year. This year’s highlights have been the Earth Ball in partnership with the Environmental Society, which was a great success and a real feather in the cap for all involved. As well as that there was the annual field trip which this year went to Edinburgh and was a lot of fun. The end of the year will see the publication of the 52nd Atlas Journal, which is a collection of student-written pieces of a Geographical nature published by the society for the general edification of all. As well as all that, over the course of the year there have been film nights, guest speak-

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ers, wine receptions, pub quiz and to top it off at the end of this year there will be a ‘Round the World’ themed pub crawl.

All this was combined with a new focus on broadening the member base outside of just Geography students because Geography is a broad discipline with a wide appeal. If it continues like this then there will undoubtedly be another 52 years of the Geographical Society.

David Maguire, Secretary geogsoc@csc.tcd.ie

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The Hist (College Historical Society) This year the Hist achieved competitive successes nationally and internationally while also, within Trinity, engaging with some of the most pressing topics facing our generation. We are extremely lucky to be able to send teams to competitions at which we consistently do Trinity proud – be it winning competitions at UCD, Cork, Limerick or breaking to octo-finals at the World debating competition and the final of the European debating competition.

We place a lot of emphasis on speaker development and are fortunate enough to have experienced debaters willing to provide weekly workshops for our members. A large part of our speaker development is the large and successful Maidens speaker competition, run by our records

secretary, Hannah McCarthy in Michaelmas term. We also collaborated with the Phil to run the largest debating InterVarsity in Ireland last January, and were honoured to hold a debate in the Stormont chamber in Belfast for the second year running.

We were delighted this year to collaborate with various societies in college to run our events. We continue to run a debate a term in association with the Student Economic Review and held debates in association with the Gender Equality Society, Entrepreneurial Society and the Students’ Union, the Metafizz and Q Soc, and in Freshers Week we held a gig for Concern with the wonderful Trinity Orchestra. We had debates on topics as diverse as the Arab Spring, Abortion, Human Genetic

Engineering, Pornography, Free Speech, the Travelling Community, the Irish Language, the existence of God, the Transgender Community. We presented our Gold Medal to Prime Minister of Tibet, Lobsang Sangay and also had an extremely interesting address from Tariq Ramadan, Muslim scholar and intellectual, on attitudes to Islam in the West.

Our highlight of the year was undoubtedly the Inaugural Meeting of the Hist’s 242nd Session, featuring guest speakers Dr Nitasha Kaul (Kashmiri novelist), Dr Mary McAuliffe (President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland), Salome Mbugua (Deputy chair of the National Women’s Council and founder of AkiDwA), and Dr Olive Braiden (Chair of the National Gallery, Crisis Pregnancy

Agency, Irish Human Rights Commissioner). Most importantly, it featured a paper by auditor Ursula Ní Choill on “A Global Approach to Feminism”, who spoke eloquently on how feminism is evolving, providing “a glimpse both of how complex feminism currently is but also of how all aspects are interlinked and cannot be viewed in isolation if feminism is to be sustainable.”

The Hist is very proud of its long history of holding challenging and entertaining debates and hopes to continue to grow and learn from the many varied societies in Trinity in future years. hist@csc.tcd.ie

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H

Hiking Trinity Hiking was set up in 2011 as we noticed that there was no club/society that was entirely devoted to hillwalking. Before its creation, Trinity was one of the only universities in Ireland without an official hiking society! In September 2011 we set up our first Freshers’ Week stand, resulting in over 400 signups. Many students told us that they had been looking for a hiking society in the years before ours was set up.

An average hike begins at about 10am on a Sunday, when we meet by the Pav. Our bus takes us to one of the majestic Wick-

low Mountains, where our adventure begins. We usually hike for most of the day, and take a few pit-stops for water and our well-deserved lunch break! We continue hiking in the afternoon, taking in the awe-inspiring scenery and getting to know those that are hiking alongside us. The bus meets us after our hike, usually at about 5pm, after which we stop off at a pub/inexpensive restaurant to reflect on our day.

Many students, especially those visiting Ireland for a semester or two, feel that hiking is a wonderful way to fully appreciate the Irish landscape, and Trinity Hik-

ing are more than happy to help them do so!

An evening workshop of navigation training was held later in the autumn, at which the more experienced members of the society imparted their knowledge to interested society members. This led to our first organized night hike which was a real success: we climbed Djouce with our head torches, and took advantage of the clear skies by enjoying some stargazing. It truly was a great experience! There was also a weekend trip to the Mourne Mountains, during which we stayed in the Queen’s Mountaineering cot-

tage. We got some great hiking in, and had some night-time adventures too! Almost all committee members also went on a training weekend that we organised in Laragh, learning a lot about map reading, leadership, night navigation, emergency situations and hiking in bad weather conditions.

In the long term, we hope to keep providing those students who have an interest in hiking with a resource to develop their mountaineering skills, and good company with which to do it!

as well as a fascinating visit to Kilmainham Gaol; and lectures

by Trinity’s own Patrick Geoghegan, author Bryce Evans, Nicholas Canny on topics ranging from the great Daniel O’Connell to the 1641 Depositions. On the social side, the Society brought thirty members to London in November to sample some of the cultural highlights of the metropolis and our annual Christmas party provided some much needed festive cheer.

In Hillary term our focus shifted more towards the academic side of the Society. We were lucky enough to host some fantastic speakers such as Richard J.Evans, Keith Jeffrey, James Kelly, Tom Garvin and Julien Merceille.

These lectures have covered topics as varied as suicide in nineteenth century Ireland to the US war on drugs in Mexico. On the social side, we held our very successful trip to Tallinn where we indulged in Estonian foods visited many cultural sites, such as the Opera House, their celebrated KGB Museum and the Kiek in de Kok. Our dedication to a high standard continued until the end of the teaching term, with our successful Apollo Ball set for March 27th and five more lectures, including a talk on women in Irish history for International Women’s Week and an address from British academic Frederick Taylor on the Berlin Wall.

DU History has provided consist-

ent, high quality events all year which have been very well attended. From every event, our members have left with a new insight into something completely new, or even something they thought they knew everything about.

hiking@csc.tcd.ie

History This DU History has fulfilled its aims as a Society while engaging not only with our members, but by ensuring that these aims spread to the wider college community. We’ve held consistently excellent events throughout the academic year, and catered for many different appetites within the sphere if History.

We had a very successful Freshers’ Week, taking in over 450 members (which would later increase to 500), far outstripping any previous years. We ran at least one event every week in Michaelmas term without fail, and often times two. Highlights from the first semester include: our original ‘Horrible Histories’ tour of Trinity; a tour of the Dáil 30

history@csc.tcd.ie

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Horse Racing The Horse Racing Society’s aims are to promote and encourage horseracing within college, to afford its members the opportunity to become involved in all aspects of the horseracing and bloodstock industries and to familiarize themselves with the organization, operation, and financing of horseracing.

Our journey began very early in the summer as we set about setting up a society from scratch with no blueprint or roadmap anywhere else about how to set up a Horse Racing Society, and we set very high standards for ourselves from the outset. We secured sponsorship from Betdaq and Coolmore stud and sat down with a top Graphic Designer to design our promotional material.

We secured 8 deals with local businesses which were included on our membership card, and free entry for all members to Naas and Curragh Racecourses.

We spoke with Horse Racing Ireland on our desire to set a blueprint for future Horse Racing societies and with Leopardstown Racecourse about the Dublin Student Race day to fulfil our idea for a culmination of the year’s events and then, we took a deep breath

and waited Fresher’s Week.

Nothing could have prepared us for Fresher’s Week. Starting with the Burrito Grand National in Trinity Halls, and despite losing our top spot in Front Square, thanks to some quick and innovative thinking from our highly active committee members by the end of the week we were approaching 1,400 members.

Our first event was the Super Mega Hypetacular Punchestown Extravaganza, bringing 151 people in Punchestown Racecourse.

This was followed during the year by our second race day at Fairyhouse for 110 people, the the DUBES Race Day in Naas for over 100 people, and the our crowning glory, the Spin 103.8 Race Day in Leopardstown. It’s our goal in HRS to bring new people to the game and we felt we could only do that with incredible value and a great day out. The price of each of these days out was 10 euro which generally included: a return bus, admission to the racecourse, a free Racing Post, a 100 euro best dressed Man Prize, a 100 euro best dressed Woman prize, our own private VIP room, admission to a Nightclub, spot prizes, and an on-course tipster

to guide them in the direction of all the winners. Each went off without a glitch as a roaring success and provided the blueprint for subsequent future race days.

Arguably our biggest achievement of the year has been “Local Celebrity”, the first ever racehorse owned by a University. This attracted hugely positive media attention for Trinity with The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Irish Times, University Times and The Racing Post all doing pieces on him. He races in the TCD red and black through an arrangement with Champion Trainer, Willie Mullins. The horse costs us nothing but we receive nothing financially in return. Local Celebrity’s Trinity Career began with disaster however, when despite being the punters’ favourite he was taken out of the very first Hurdle by another horse in the race. This wasn’t part of the script, but he subsequently won at Navan Racecourse, winning the 9,320 euro first prize and a sizeable trophy we took home to Trinity.

We also hosted a number of smaller events such as VDP Race Night in the GMB, raising hundreds of euro, a Willie Mullins Stable Tour in February, getting a once in

lifetime chance to watch Willie’s string put final preparations in for their trip to Cheltenham – one of only three such tours in the run up to Cheltenham (the other two being Channel 4 & RTE). We also hosted Cheltenham Preview night, published our “Canter Banter” Cheltenham Preview Magazine, which was released in time to enjoy our Big Screens at the Pav for the Cheltenham Festival in association with Trinity Ents.

The Horse Racing Society has been a society of firsts this year.

We were the first society in recent memory to attract over 1,000 members in its first year with 1,378 members. We ran Trinity’s first ever Horse race and continued spreading the Trinity name at Navan, Punchestown and in association with DUBES at Naas Racecourse. We owned and raced Trinity’s first ever racehorse, “Local Celebrity” who became a National Celebrity by winning in Navan Racecourse for Trinity College. And it’s only just begun. horseracing@csc.tcd.ie

Indian Wednesday the 14th of March was without doubt the highlight of this year’s Indian Society calendar as the spectacular ‘Holi’ festival was celebrated for the first time in Trinity College. With the college’s blessing, Front Square was morphed into a blur of colour, excitement and music as over 100 Trinity students revelled in throwing colour on one another to celebrate what is known in the west as ‘the festival of colours.’ The festival signifies the beginning of spring and is an occasion when inhibitions are put to one side and unre-

strained joy is indulged, a sentiment the students definitely shared as coloured powder was gaily thrown around. The event is perhaps the most significant in the society’s history and will hopefully become a mainstay in Trinity’s calendar.

However, the society is not just about the Holi festival; it aims to convey the vibrancy of Indian culture through dance lessons, henna classes and food nights. We hope you join us next year. trindiansoc@csc.tcd.ie

International Students The Society was founded in 1984 to promote communication between the Irish students of Trinity College and those coming from abroad.

With over 500 members, the International Students’ Society (DUISS) is one of Trinity’s most active societies. DUISS is the society for International or Exchange student, or for anyone who has an interest in meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. It doesn’t matter if you are from China, the US, Europe, Ireland, or anywhere, all nationalities are more than welcome to share the experience of being a Trinity student and being in Ireland.

We run on average three events per week, ranging from social nights, to talks and presentations, to movie show-

ings. Saturday is when our famous trips take place. Together with other members of the society, we take exclusive trips to cultural sites around Dublin and Ireland. This year we organised almost thirty day trips and a few weekend trips. Our Weekends Away are what we are best known for, as we fill up a bus with fellow International Students and head out to explore Ireland, visiting cities such as Killarney, Cork, Galway, Belfast and Kilkenny.

We also provide help and support in adjusting to life away from home, and offer an extensive library of International books and films, as well as guides and booklets offering advice on living in Dublin. iss@csc.tcd.ie

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Internet (Netsoc) Netsoc is the Dublin University Internet Society, and is devoted to all things ‘internet’. We offer webspace that can be accessed from anywhere in the world and run weekly tutorials on everything from how to make simple webpages right up to advanced fancy-pants sites.

We offer more than four times the amount of file storage than College does and we’ll show

students how to get to it from anywhere you want. We can even give students an email address with the username of their choice. Aside from all this we also organise gigs, talks, trips, intervarsity socials, and for the videogamers among you, ridiculously cheap all-night gaming sessions. council@netsoc.tcd.ie

Investors

Italian

The main objectives of the society are to give our members an insight into the world of finance, and to try and give them an edge when applying for jobs. This year, we feel we really did achieve that goal. We also helped Goldman Sachs to promote recruitment events on campus and, as well as an expenses-paid information trip to their London office, for which 15 of our members were selected to partake. We have also scheduled talks from Bank of Ireland and Merrill Lynch from people from their wealth management divisions, giving our members a real world outlook into the career of an investment manager.

As in the past couple of years, we hosted an online trading game which aims to give members a risk free taste for what the stock market is all about, as well as being a valuable learning tool. By far our biggest step this year was the introduction of our guaranteed internship programme for our younger members. Although it has started off small, we have succeeded in securing two two-week summer internships in Merrill Lynch in Dublin this Summer. Needless to say this opportunity would be a huge boost to any member’s CV, and we plan to add more companies if this initiative is successful next year.

We also collaborated heavily on two exciting new economics projects this year. The first was The Bull, Trinity’s new studentrun finance newspaper and an Associate Publication of Trinity Publications. The other was the

The Italian Society provides an opportunity to celebrate the rich Italian heritage and traditions as well as to explore and raise awareness around the lesser-known social and political issues involving the country.

Events include traditional gettogethers over Italian coffee, wine and food, talks with guest speakers, film nights, screening of documentaries, and master

Trinity Economic Forum, a joint venture of the Economics Department, Investors, and a number of other student groups. 2 Investors committee members were prominently involved in organising the 2-day event, which featured guest speakers such as Dan O’Brien of The Irish Times, Mark Little of Storyful, Piero Formica of the International Entrepreneurship Academy (who was presented by Investors), panel discussions, workshops, and was launched by President Michael D. Higgins.

classes on specific aspects of Italian culture. Taking part in our activities provides members with a unique opportunity to meet Italians in college, to practice the language outside the classroom, or simply to experience a bit of Italy outside Italy. italiansoc@csc.tcd.ie

investors@csc.tcd.ie

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trinity societies 4th week 2011

4

th Week has always existed, but before this year, nobody really ever knew what it actually was. This year, we at the CSC Executive Committee felt that it was about time we made 4th Week a well-defined, identifiable “thing”. The premise was simple: make every society event open and free to anyone to come along regardless of membership, so that people could get a taster of a society they may have never known about before, and hopefully win over some new long-term members.

Due to the lack of rooms available, and the fact that societies are already in the swing of their routine weekly events by Week 4, the idea was simply that societies would put on the events that they would be having otherwise. In a way, 4th Week is very much like Freshers’ Week, where most events are also free for anyone to come along to. But the events you see in Freshers’ Week often have no resemblance to what societies actually get up to during the year, so 4th Week gives people the chance to check out what societies actually do on a regular basis.

The week started off with a Societies Sign-up session in the Exam Hall on Monday, giving people the chance to talk to, find, and join societies they may have missed in Freshers’ Week. That evening, we then had a launch reception in the Science Gallery for all society chairs, with guest speaker Simon Carswell, a former chair of DU Players and now Financial Correspondent for The Irish Times. This was then followed by a larger generous reception for all society committee members in the Players Theatre.

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The rest of the week saw over 80 4th Week events (probably a 1000% increase on previous years), including plays, arts workshops, debates, prominent guest speakers, competitions, dinners, a fish pedicure, gigs and a hypnotist in Irish – all of which were free to anyone and were extremely well attended and received. The main goal of the week was to appeal to those college students who might never have gotten properly involved with a society since they joined a few on a whim in 1st year. Hopefully we succeeded in converting a few, but at least we can say for sure that we put on a great week of events, and turned the Trinity Societies 4th Week into an actual “thing”.

Rob Farhat

J The Japanese Society came into this year on a lull versus previous years. Through a combination of Erasmus, graduation and bad luck the number of Japanese students in the college, and thus in the Society, has greatly diminished.

With this in mind this year the Society went in a somewhat different direction.

Both intermediate and beginner level Japanese classes were offered, but this year non-Japanese students taught the beginner’s class. Those teaching the class (both with experience teaching) had themselves been taught Jap-

anese by a non-native speaker, and so had a unique insight as to how to approach the language – the language could be taught as it was learned, something not available to native speakers. What’s more, other members of the Society sat in on the classes, the aim being that in the course of the classes they would get a feel for teaching and in doing so would be able to take over next year.

Although the Society was lacking Japanese students, those that did went above and beyond what was needed in order to provide a service to all members of the

Society. There have been regular film nights, cooking classes karaoke nights as well as sumo wrestling.

Despite the society’s recent difficulties, the determination and gusto shown by ours members, as well as our efforts toward spreading Asian culture throughout college have been remarkable. We do not intend to stop here, as plans have been laid out for an even bigger number of events next year.

ety as accessible as possible, so ‘Introduction to Jazz’ Workshops were hosted by Ensembles Director Peter Joyce, and in addition we were honoured to host Masterclasses with Alex Mathias, Max Zaska and Edel Meade. We also compiled a ‘Musicians Database’ of members willing to play and form bands, consisting of their contact details and specified instrument(s).

Our regular flagship Showcases at Sweeney’s give the society an opportunity to display the tal-

ent within the society, and oftentimes also expose members to high standard of professional jazz groups. These contained a diverse line up of various acts within the society, as well as welcoming ‘Groove’ as our guest act on a number of occasions and were extremely well attended. We also sought to create more frequent opportunities for performance, so launched ‘Music Monday’s’ in association with the JCR at The Parlour.

Among the highlights within the

japanese@csc.tcd.ie

Jazz Trinity Jazz Society kick-started a very active year with a series of gigs during Fresher’s Week: lunchtime gigs in the Phil, and The Welcome Reception in The Atrium featuring The Sam Comerford Trio and “Nature”. We also set up a ‘Jazz Soc Rhythm Section’ that would serve as the core band at our jamming sessions and showcases, auditions for which were publicised held the next week.

A crucial aim of ours over the past year has been to make the soci-

Jazz Society calendar is undoubtedly the annual trip to the Cork Jazz Festival, where we managed to arrange a jam-packed schedule of great value gigs along with complimentary tickets for Saturday night’s events and group slots for many workshops, allowing our mixed group comprised of both new and already existing members with the opportunity to take part.

The Jazz Committee concurred that we would strive to collaborate with other societies wherever possible. These included the ‘Mad Men Charity Fundraiser’ in aid of the Love A Child Home with the Fashion Society, a contribution to the VDP Christmas album, and performances for the DU Boat Ball, the Prohibition Night with Players, DU History and the French Society, and the VDP Christmas Concert with Trinity Orchestra and Singers.

We hope to have fulfilled our aim of ‘promoting Jazz music and bringing it to a wider audience’ through the professional guest acts we have hosted at our gigs, publicising gigs on the Dublin Jazz scene and of course, through our many collaborative events with other societies and Trinity Ents. jazz@csc.tcd.ie

J

Jewish As usual, the Jewish Society’s year has been remarkably food-centric! As well as a lovely reception during Freshers’ Week, we had pizza under the Sukkah for the harvest holiday in the fall, a festive Hanukkah party in the winter, and a potluck-style Shabbos dinner after the holidays. There were also apples and honey to celebrate the Jewish New Year, and a sweet new year it was! Our biggest event of the college year, the annual Teaching Passover Seder comes up at the end of March, and we expect it will be just as amazing as (or better than) last year’s! As a cultural society, our main goal is to educate members about Jewish culture by enjoying it. The society is designed for people of all sorts of backgrounds and knowledge, and we urge anyone who’s interested to find out more by emailing us. Shalom! jewish@csc.tcd.ie

Joly Geological The Joly, the College’s geological society, aims to inspire and enlighten its members in the nature of Earth’s formation. Blending topical relaxed talks with field trips around Ireland, members gain insight into the workings of our dynamic planet. Members also enjoy a very social side to geology as they participate in our numerous events from table quizzes to slide shows, that are organized to remind us of the many sides of geology in everyday life. joly@csc.tcd.ie

Juggling The juggling society promotes the development of various juggling skills: facilitating everyone from complete beginners to experts, we run regular workshops in poi, ball and club juggling, diablo, staff and devil sticks, and occasional ones promoting such skills as unicycle riding. The highlights of this year have undoubtedly been the fire shows we’ve put on in Front Square, as part of 4th Week, the Fringe Festival with Comedy Soc, and for ourselves as well. We also partake in the Dublin Juggling Convention. jugsoc@csc.tcd.ie

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K

Knit Soc 2010/11’s Best Overall Society Winners, Best New/Improved Society Nominees and BICS Best New Society in Ireland Nominees, it’s fair to say that Trinity’s Knitting Society hit the ground running in their inaugural year last year. Their typical event is the Stitch and Bitch, “a place for people to meet and chat while practicing a fantastic new skill” according to Chair Bella FitzPatrick.

Sounded harmless enough and a good way to relax on a Tuesday evening, so what does learning to knit involve?

1. As you approach a room filled with enthused knitters, forget any expectations you may have.

I’m all for the occasional stereotype and blissfully enjoying one’s own ignorance, but keep an open mind here, otherwise you’ll be wrong. You’ve got tattoos, nose, conch and face piercings, unique and varying fashion senses and two more lads than you’d been expecting. Good start.

2. If you’ve never knitted before immediately acknowledge that you’re absolutely shite at this and have no idea what you’re doing.

Drop the pride or any attitude,

just like you can’t speak Swahili, you can’t knit. Your role here is much like a child being spoonfed, you’re starving and the knitsoc regulars are here to feed you the skills you want. Seek out and soak up the constant attention, instruction and encouragement available, you’ll need it.

3. Listen to that encouragement (of which there’ll be plenty). If you give knitting a try you will get frustrated. The first hour and a half of learning to knit may be some of the most frustrating 90 minutes of your life. First you’ve to learn how to hold your two needles close to their points while holding onto one end of string to ensure your knots are tight enough and meanwhile completely ignore the flailing, irrelevant tail of the wool. Then you need to learn to catch the yarn onto your left needle, which involves a few loops here and there and in the appropriate direction before getting it all on to your left needle. After doing so, essentially, the process involves moving the yarn from one needle to another with loops in between.

4. Get the hang of it - it’s not difficult, just frustrating. Once you know what you’re doing it’s fairly straightforward and just requires a pinch of concentration. Meanwhile, at this point enjoy the fact that there’s half an hour left on the clock before the session ends, have a free digestive, chill out with the fine company you’re in and feel like God with your ability to create.

smoothie hat that you were gearing towards and pawn your pathetic attempt off to your mates as your “Movember Tash” scarf – or tash itself as the case may be.

Believe it or not they’ll buy it.

Cormac Cassidy, Originally appeared in TN2 knittingsoc@csc.tcd.ie

5. Be disappointed that it’s over now and you’ve knit 5 lines (not many). Forget the innocent

Korean This year was Korean Society’s first year in action, so we were determined to set the bar high from the start. Throughout the year we’ve all had a chance to come together over our weekly events. Sweating together over a K-pop dance routine in dance classes, or over a bowl of spicy bibimbap in our restaurant outings, have been two particularly cohesive activities. For the less actively inclined there have been many more sedate film nights, cooking classes and tea parties.

They do say the route to the heart is through the stomach, so we’ve offered up lots of delicious food, most memorably the feast of kimbap, pajeon and wine

served up at our reception event, which was named “the best society food EVER” (direct quote). All of these events were naturally accompanied by a very special form of bonding on the ever popular topic of K-pop, and enough idol gossip to put a Korean teenager to shame. We feel we’ve built ourselves a solid foundation for the future of the society, which we hope will continue to feed our members’ enthusiasm for Korea next year and for many years to come!

Christabel Am McKinley korean@csc.tcd.ie

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Trinity Labour Trinity Labour has hosted a wide range of events this year. At the beginning of the academic year, we tailored events with a view to engaging new members in particular, including a discussion on Young People in Politics with Dublin City Councillor and ex-chair of Labour Youth Cllr Rebecca Moynihan and a tour of Dáil Éireann for members in the first couple of weeks.

Some of our Michaelmas Term highlights included a collabora-

tion with the Politics Society in a cross-party debate entitled “Why Join a Political Party?”, attending Labour Youth’s national conference in Cork in November where we had motions passed; hosting former British politician and journalist Chris Mullin, who sat in parliament for 23 years before recently publishing widely acclaimed political diaries charting the rise and fall of New Labour in Britain. Just before Budget 2012 we also held a talk on Alterna-

In November the DU Laurentian Society, in association with the Phil’s Master Class debating series, hosted a talk by Emmy-award winning pro-life speaker Ryan Bomberger.

Bomberger spoke on the status of abortion in the United States and brought his own unique perspective as an African American leader on how abortion is affecting the black minority in the United States. He

has had a major impact upon the abotion debate in America, working with TooManyAborted.com on producing a provocative billboard campaign which drew attention from many leading media outlets in the US. He nowruns the Radiance Foundation with his wife Bethany.

Given Ryan’s background and the topic up for debate, as well as his use of professional audiovisual media as part

tive Budget Proposals with SIPTU economist Marie Sherlock and Head of Policy at TASC Sinéad Pentony.

In Hilary Term, Minister for Education and Skills, ex-Leader of the Labour Party and ex-Minister for Finance Ruairí Quinn TD visited the society when he outlined and explained the radical reforms he is undertaking in the Irish education system. Minister of State for Primary Care Róisín Shortall TD gave a presentation on the rolling out of universal primary care while we also organised a discussion with Sinéad Ahern from Choice Ireland and Senator Ivana Bacik, leader of the Labour Party in Seanad Éireann and Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the “X Case”. In addition to these headline events, we have

of his message, it promised to be an interesting evening. Sure enough, his presentation, which drew both from the statistical side of the argument as well as from his own personal story, led into a lively, heated questions and answers session in a crowded Phil Conversation Room in the GMB. Bomberger fielded a variety of questions on the abortion debate and handled them confidently, pro-

organised film nights where we screened politically-relevant films and have held at a minimum one branch meeting a month to keep members informed and engaged.

We have both supported the Labour Party at a national level and ensured that this did not diminish the strength of our independent voice for ordinary party members and young people in general, which we have manifested in challenging government thinking in hosting a discussion on Alternative Budget Proposals and publicly expressing concerns with the coalition’s education policy, and hope we have benefited the broader political discourse within College and beyond. labour@csc.tcd.ie

viding a rational, well thought-out answer for every argument he was presented with. Overall the event was a success, with about seventy students in attendance, with the Laurentian society proud to have hosted its first international speaker since its revival.

Álvaro Paúl laurentian@csc.tcd.ie

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L

Law This has been a bumper year for the Dublin University Law Society in a session that has focused on being more relevant to a wider group in College. At Fresher’s Week began we signed up over 800 Members with events which included a new “meet & greet” with Law School staff on the Tuesday and a mixer lunch for all members in the Atrium which was also attended by representatives from A&L Goodbody who were our new sponsors for the week.

The new Speaker Series was introduced to appeal to a broader range of members and to provide a forum for discussion to matters of interest to our membership.

These were: a visit from Lord Leonard Hoffmann; our “Death Penalty Event” when a packed GMB Chamber was treated to the compelling stories of former death-row inmates Sunny Jacobs, Peter Pringle and Danny Hanna; former President of Ireland, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Law Soc Auditor Mary Robinson visiting the Society, who gave a challenging address which focused on the problems facing our generation; and a debate on the proposed abolition of Seanad Éireann, featuring Charlie Flanagan, chairperson of the Fine 40

Gael parliamentary party, Senator Ivana Bacik, the deputy leader of the Seanad for the Labour Party, and Michael McDowell SC, former Minister for Justice and Attorney General.

Both the William Fry Mock Trial Competition and the Matheson Ormsby Prentice Moot Court Competition were extremely competitive this year. A large entry of 36 teams was received for the Mock Trial Competition, culminating with a love-themed final being held on Valentine’s Day in the GMB, presided over by The Hon. Mr. Justice Roderick Murphy, a High-Court judge who has presided over many prominent criminal trials in recent times.

The Moot Court Competition had a large entry this year with over 44 participants, and the final was presided over by Former Chief Justice Keane and Mr Justice Cross and focused on immigration law. Our Maidens Debating Competition sponsored by A&L Goodbody Solicitors in Hilary Term also saw a record entry and a much higher standard of debating than in previous years.

This year the Trinity College Law Review celebrated its 15th anniversary as a publication of the Law Society. After a rigorous selection and editing process which

saw the best English, French and German law articles selected from almost a hundred submissions, Volume XV of the Review launched on 6 March in the Long Room with Regius Professor of Laws William Binchy as the keynote speaker.

We also publicised and organising a number of talks aimed at Trinity students for law firms including: White & Case; McCann Fitzgerald; A&L Goodbody; Matheson Ormsby Prentice; Slaughter & May, Freshfields, the Friary Law New York Bar Programme, Linklaters, Arthur Cox, and Maples & Calder, in particular at the Law Careers Fair.

Law Soc’s calendar would be nothing without its social events: October saw the Society embarking on its annual trip to Galway; in November we hosted the A&L Goodbody sponsored Swing Ball at the Shelbourne Hotel with swing dancing lessons arranged with Dance Soc; our Christmas party which featured Santa hats and spot prizes and a Garda raid (which had nothing to do with us!); and of course our most important social event, The Maples Law Ball in the Mansion House which this year featured a change to the room layout; the introduction of some alternative after-

dinner entertainment and Café en Seine’s first student party ever for our “After Party”. In previous years, many people regarded the Law Ball as being too focused on Fourth Years due to the prominence of the Fourth Year Awards ceremony – to counteract this we introduced a more inclusive awards format which had input from all members. We should also mention our charity fundraising day, Law Day, which took place on 22 February, which was a huge success with over €3,500 raised for Aware.

The Law Soc has done its best to hold consistent high quality events, with at least one event almost every week which appealed to both law and non-law students, with a more inclusive attitude that has permeated all our publicity. We have had a strong focus on our Society aims as set out in our Constitution and have left the Society in a strong position from which it can build on in future Sessions. lawsoc@csc.tcd.ie

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Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) This year Trinity LGBT society has expanded, diversified as well as consolidated its place as one of the most important, effective and active societies in Trinity College. Throughout the year the society has run an average of two events a week on top of running free tea and coffee for its members on a daily basis in its society room, while actively influencing the Student’s Union to be more proactive on LGBT issues on campus.

This year has also seen the society become hugely visible on and off campus with a brand new logo garnering much positive attention, and media coverage in Hot Press, GCN, and RTÉ Radio among others. There are now few people on campus that don’t know that the LGBT society exists and this has been shown through the huge uptake in schemes such as our introductions scheme which acts a service for LGBT students on welfare issues such as coming out to family problems to more serious issues.

The society has run successful campaigns on issues such as civil marriage for LGBT couples, helping directly influence college policy in a way never be-

fore possible with an SU mandate on civil marriage as well as the first ever LGBT hustings for Sabbat candidates which saw several candidates make significant promises on LGBT advocacy in the coming year. This year the society has also raised money for various charities by appearing in the Cancer Soc naked calendar, on the TFM naked broadcast for Rag Week, selling ribbons for World AIDS day as well as well as at Trinity’s Next Top Model, one of the highlights of our year.

With a society of 400 members there is perhaps no other of its size that can match Trinity LGBT in terms of its ability to provide services for its members be it the more serious welfare issues to an outlet for advocacy work on LGBT Issues to simply a place to sit back and relax and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with friends. For many people the society is like a second home on campus, a place where they can be themselves with the fear of judgement by others. lgbisoc@csc.tcd.ie info@TrinityLGBT.com

Literary Society This year has seen the Literary Society bloom. Every week the society made sure to hold an event, rangin from Speakeasies to table quizzes to weekly workshops to hosting visiting authors. Visiting authors included: Roddy Doyle, Paul Murray, Nicholas Grene, Stephen Booth, John Calder, Owen Sheers, and former poetlaureate Billy Collins (coming in April). Through these events and through our library hours, we created a space where people can share or kindle a love of literature. At books clubs, members got the chance to discover new literature, and four workshops for creative writing per week allowed for people’s own efforts at literature to be shared and hopefully improved. We also held a very successful weekly poetry

class.

Part way through Michaelmas term, we also availed of Trinity FM’s open offer for radio shows, and began our own on Friday evenings, entitled ‘Books N’ Stuff.’ We also succeeded in editing, designing and producing our annual literary journal, The Attic, which was very well-received at the launch, which was held on the final day of our wonderful week-long Literary Festival. The aim of the society is the kindle and encourage a love of writing, literature and literary culture, and through the many events and groups we’ve had this year, the society truly succeeded at this. literary@csc.tcd.ie 41

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Management Science Launched in 1983 to promote the study of management science and the MSISS degree course, DUMSS has a profile as one of the most fun and active societies in college. This year DUMSS hosted a wide variety of events including recruitment events for major companies such as Accenture, internship information nights and talks from young entrepreneurs. This year DUMSS hosted social events such as our Freshers’ pub crawl, Christmas jumper party, weekend trip to Belfast, our annual society ball and of course our infamous international mystery tour, which saw us take 40 unsuspecting members to Milan for a great weekend! msiss@csc.tcd.ie

Mature Students

Maths Mathsoc has had a fantastic year this year; our Annual Doughnut Reception got us off to a great start and set the tone for what was to be busy and event-filled year for our new wave of members.

We have been host to a variety of talks given by Trinity’s most revered lecturers, including: Dr. Conor Houghton, Dr. Arthur Hughes, Dr. Samson Shatashvili, Postdocs Pol Viscarra and Graham Moir, the legendary David Simms, Dr. Sarah McMurray, Dr. Simon Wilson and Dr. Elizabeth Oldham. The highlight of the year 42

The Mature Students Society is open to all registered students in Trinity College. Since its foundation in 1982, the society has grown in both numbers and confidence. The role of the society is threefold; firstly, to provide support to mature students, secondly to facilitate the integration of mature students within the student body and thirdly (and

perhaps most importantly) the society exists to provide a social outlet for mature students. In order to achieve this, the society carried out a number of activities this year.

is set to be our Presidential Talk given by the much-loved head of school, Dr. Donal O Donovan.

Our social events did well to distract us from overindulging in academia; the Annual Mario Kart Tournament in 4th week was followed by our popular Halloween and Christmas parties.

Along the way we screened the Spanish Thriller “Fermat’s Room” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Pi” and “Total Recall”, just for the hell of it!.

We also gave a few LaTeX tutorials, the traditional Fresher’s

Problem and are competing in the Mathematical Intervarsities which have have seen us champions the last number of years. We have witnessed the promising beginnings of the first Irish Undergraduates’ Mathematical Magazine, our library has been extensively added to and our room has once again been a popular choice of destination for procrastinating students!

Sandra Dunne, Chair mature@csc.tcd.ie

Glenn Moynihan mathsoc@maths.tcd.ie

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Microbiological Society The Meditation Society aims to assist with the emotional and spiritual development of College students and staff by teaching the ‘mindfulness’ of breathing’ and ‘cultivation of loving kindness’ meditation practices. Experienced meditation teachers lead weekly classes and the society also runs retreats so that those learning meditation have the opportunity to meditate in ideal conditions. To take up meditation is to introduce a powerful force for change into your life. If you change your mind then the world changes too. Meditation can be the beginning of one of life’s greatest adventures. meditate@csc.tcd.ie

Metafizz The Metafizz traditionally aims to host and promote philosophical discussion in the college through weekly paper readings by a visiting academic or student on some topic in philosophy. This year we continued that tradition with great success. We kicked off the year with a round table discussion entitled “Why Philosophise?” which was highly popular and provided interesting perspectives on what philosophy is about. We also had the priviledge of being addressed by several worldrenowned philosophers such as Graham Priest and Simon Blackburn and heard stimulating papers from Nick Treanor (Cambridge University), Cynthia MacDonald (Queen’s University Belfast) and Gerard Casey (UCD). However, we

also explored new ground.

Throughout the year we organised discussion groups in order to give students an opportunity to explore philosophy themselves in a friendly environment. In particular many interesting and fruitful discussions were had during our epistemology reading group held during Hilary Term. We also collaborated with other societies to great success, jointly hosting a Reading Week debate with the Hist on the motion “This House Would Empower the Philosopher King” and contributing two paper readings to the Trinity Arts Festival on art and nature and art and objectivity respectively.

The Microbiological Society was founded in 1976 to review conceptual and technological advances in diverse areas of microbiology, mycology, virology and biotechnology. Topics and guests speakers are chosen for their ability to provide topical, factual and up-to-date information on state of the art developments as well as to illustrate important principles of the natural sciences. microsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Modern Languages (ModLang) Modern Languages Language Tandem Night, in association with International Students Society From Irish to Japanese, from Dutch to Deutsch between, enough nations to form the UN were represented in ‘The Bankers’ on Trinity Street.

There were over forty people in attendance making use of specified language tables and generous servings of some deliciously free wine.

The ‘language table’ rule became more of a guideline as

the evening progressed and mingling was rife and encouraged with a great variety of conversation available at every turn.

Flannery Dyon, Treasurer of the Modern Language society described the combined event as great fun and an excellent way to spend a Friday evening. All in attendance were in full agreement with her.

Cormac Cassidy modlang@csc.tcd.ie

metafizz@csc.tcd.ie

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Medical Overseas Voluntary Electives (MOVE) Music Soc The aim of M.O.V.E. is to raise money for hospitals in developing countries where Health Care resources are below par.

We are a small society, and it hasn’t always been easy to reach our goals, but time and again we’ve surpassed our own expectations and it’s been a very successful year. Throughout the year we’ve endeavored to get people involved in and talking about M.O.V.E. through a host of varied events. We’ve had guest speakers from the Tropical Medical Bureau, tasty Bake Sales, a pirate-themed mystery tour which brought 3 buses full of marauding students to Kilkenny, a lovedup Trinity version of Take Me Out, stand-up comedy nights,

face painting outside the Aviva stadium before Irish rugby matches and much, much more. Without a doubt, the highlight of our year was the sold-out M.O.V.E. Ball in October, where over 200 masqueraded guests were wined and dined in luxury in the Balbriggan Court Hotel. All of the money we raise through our events goes directly to our charity, and it’s been wonderful to see so much enthusiasm for such a noble cause.

We’re excited to see the society growing and more people than ever getting involved.

Jennie Parker, PRO move@tcd.ie

Muslim Students’ Association The MSA’s highlights this year included: ”Beyond the Doldrums – Uniting the Ummah” lecture by Sheikh Riad Ourazazi, “The Path to Knowledge” lecture by Sheikh Abdur-Raheem Mc Carthy, “Dajjal and Return of Jesus Christ” lecture by Sheikh Abu Usamah at-Thahabi, a debate on: “Is Jesus God?” featuring Adnan Rashid (iERA) and Cecil Andrews (NI,UK), a debate on: 44

“Can We be Good Without God?” in association with The Phil featuring Micheal Nugent (Atheist Ireland) and Hamza Andreas Tzortzis (iERA), as well as multiple dinners and activities such as Futsal (an indoor variant of football) and Friday Frisbee Fever. muslim@csc.tcd.ie

The DU Music Society spent most of the year organising a re-launch of our publication “Writings About Music,” which should be available for free around campus shortly in the form of a small booklet. This miniature magazine will feature various articles on different facets of music, from academic essays to reviews and opinions of whatever kinds of music the contributors are interested in.

Aside from this focus, the society has been organising events such as recitals, trips to the National Concert Hall, and even a musical table quiz in Chaplin’s pub which turned out to be great fun.

One of the highlights of the year would certainly be the visit of the Chatham Saxophone Quartet in 4th Week; the quartet delivered a professional standard of performance that was free for all students and even finished off with an oriental version of ragtime!

Still to come are some more student recitals, which anyone can apply for if they feel confident enough to perform, and a talk by prominent violinist Gwendolin Mason.

Cormac Bennet, PRO music@csc.tcd.ie

Neuroscience The Neuroscience Society aims to bring students and staff who have an interest in neuroscience together through organising talks on the subject and events where members can meet and socialise. In addition it seeks to foster a stronger cohesive network amongst the different neuroscience related disciplines. neuroscience@csc.tcd.ie

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Trinity Orchestra At a fundamental level the main The objective of the Orchestral Society is to provide musicians within the college with a platform for performing with a large orchestra. Traditionally this has involved setting up an orchestra of around fifty musicians and performing two concerts within the year, but this year the Orchestra has gone further than ever in providing musicians and the entire Trinity Community with the widest and highest standard of performances to date.

For the first time the orchestra had 3 highly successful performances during the summer, before the start of the academic year: main stage performances of Daft Punk at the Forbidden Fruit and Electric Picnic festivals and a sell out performance at the 10 Days in Dublin Festival on July 16th. The society started Michaelmas Term with two packed performances during Freshers week, one in the GMB in associa-

tion with the Phil and a concert of the music of Arcade Fire for charity in the Chapel in association with the Hist.

In Freshers week we also held our annual auditions for the orchestra, and this year saw the most amount of interest in auditioning for the orchestra in many years.

Because of this we decided to increase the size of the orchestra up to 90 players in order to accommodate the huge amount of talented musicians who were interested in playing with the orchestra. After freshers week we put on a free performance to a capacity audience in the Parlour of the JCR as part of 4th Week.

The next large performance we put on was a hugely successful sold-out performance of the music of Arcade Fire (as arranged

by Rob Kearns) in the Exam hall, gaining very favourable reviews both within and outside the college.

The following day the orchestra entered completely new territory by performing for national and international celebrities of the tech world as part of the Dublin Web Summit, taking place in the Atrium for the invite-only f.ounders event (with the likes of Bono in attendance) and was testament to the impressive reputation the orchestra has built up both within college and beyond.

Our most important events every year are our traditional Term Concerts, which we rehearse for every week and take place in Christchurch Cathedral. For Michaelmas term the orchestra was under the baton of Eoghan Cooke, featuring highly challenging music by Wagner, Mussorgsky and twentieth-century composer Carl Nielsen; while Hilary term was under the direction of Trinity Student Eamonn Bell featuring music by Dvorak, Mahler, and Sibelius. December also saw our tour to Belfast where we played in Queen’s University, and our very successful VDP Christmas Concert in association with the Jazz Society, Trinity Singers and the Phil on the 15th of December in the GMB, featuring a selection of christmas favourites and an adventurous performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf narrated by Joseph O’Gorman.

The first major event of Hilary Term was our sell out Exam Hall performance of Pink Floyd’s Dark side of the Moon which took place on February 15th. One of the aims of the society is also to perform works arranged by members of the society, and these arrangements by James O’Leary were the first to be put on as a result of our new submissions system. The performance garnered unprecedented positive reviews, both within and outside college and has led to the society being asked to perform at several future events, perhaps most importantly the orchestra’s first ever performance at the Trinity Ball.

Perhaps though our most successful event of the year so far has been our tour to London where we performed to a packed out audience in St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch. The mas-

sive success of this concert in a foreign city is perhaps the ultimate testament to the amazing work done by the society in organising, promoting and performing a successful concert on foreign soil. This concert has also perhaps been our best event to date for improving the image and reputation of the society outside of Ireland.

The society has also gone beyond the traditional scope of the society by offering musicians of all genres and outside of the traditional orchestra with the opportunity of playing in one of our very successful chamber music concerts. These took place in association with the Music Society on November 17th and February the 2nd and March 29th.

Trinity Orchestra has evolved to go far above and beyond the original aims of the society, while managing to stay true to the core aims of the society as a whole. It’s been an amazing year, which we were delighted was rewarded by winning the CSC Overall Society of the Year award. orch@csc.tcd.ie

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Paintballing The Dublin University Paintball Society runs regular paintball trips throughout the year.

Trinity students of all ages and fitness levels are welcome to join and no previous experience is necessary.

We participate in the annual All-Ireland Speedball InterVarsities and organise days out with other colleges. In

the highly unlikely event that members find that paintballing is not to their liking, we also organise numerous social events for our members, who get to meet a lot of new people and enjoy some fun along the way. paintball@csc.tcd.ie

Pirate The DU Pirate Party underwent a reconstruction this year, the exiting council left various matters unattended, and so for the start of the year, events were delayed as we sorted out these issues and re-elected a new council.

After these issues were dealt with, we continued with hosting events.

We have been mentioned in various media outlets, the anti-ACTA protests were a large point of focus for the Pirate Party and we officially attended the protests, showing our support.

One of our more popular events was our creative commons file sharing event, in

which members were able to drop in and pick up some free legal music, media and other files.

Our most successful event was a Hacktivism talk given by a guest speaker, Hugh Nowlan, who gave similar talks for Microsoft’s Knowledge Exchange event. There was a large attendance and we went for refreshments afterwards. With a new, determined and enthusiastic committee, we look forward to more such events in the coming year.

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As Trinity’s society for pharmacy students, DUPSA (Dublin University Pharmaceutical Students Association) provides both support and social activity for it’s members. Membership is equally spread over the four years of the course, integrating pharmacy students into university life.

This year we had many social events throughout the year; including wine receptions, themed nights, a soccer league, a mystery tour and the Pharmacy Ball.

Deirdre O’Rourke, Chair dupsa@csc.tcd.ie

pirate@csc.tcd.ie

Politics It’s been a busy year for the Politics Society, as along with our usual mix of political debates, great films, socials and our annual pub quiz, we’ve added a number of great new initiatives which were hugely successful. Our weekly meetings gave our members a chance to socialise over a cup of tea and discuss the weekly goings on in the world of politics. To these we added several trips to RTE to see live tapings of their current affairs programme, The Frontline.

Without a doubt the highlight

Pharmaceutical Students’ Association

Pool of our year was our trip to the European Parliament in Brussels, where we toured the parliament, met with MEPs and enjoyed everything the Brussels night life had to offer.

With our increasingly more active and involved membership, next year looks set to be even better than this one!

David Kelleher, Chair poolsoc@csc.tcd.ie

This year the DU Pool Society saw its biggest growth to date. Working in collaboration with the JCR Café the Society maintained two brandnew competition-standard tables for practise and use in Leinster League matches. The development of the rankings ladder has lead to an increase in popularity of the Society while adding a little bite to each ladder match knowing that it could be costly. The Society competed in the Pool Intervarsity Competition in Dundalk this year getting to the last 16 in the team events.

With 2 players getting as far as the last 32 and one reaching the last 16, overall, it was a successful event in terms of improvement. The Society hopes to improve throughout the next year with increased networking among students and more events during term time. We look forward to seeing what the next year has in store.

Fiachra Kinder, Treasurer polsoc@csc.tcd.ie

P The 327th Session of the University Philosophical Society has been one of our busiest ever, as we’ve worked incredibly hard to provide consistent and varied events of the highest quality for our members.

Our Thursday night debates have been extremely successful and well-attended. Topics have included Comedy, Overpopulation, Gay Marriage, Freedom of Speech, Pornography, Scientology, Euthinasia, the Occupy Movement, Artificial Intelligence, Abortion, Patriarchy, Islam, the Catholic Church, Nightclubs, Greed, Torture, and Northern Ireland. These featured some extremely high profile guest debaters who would command a whole event to themselves, including Bryan Dobson (RTE), Peter Tatchell (World-renowned gay rights activist), Vincent Lavery (Irish Free Speech Movement), Johnny Anglais (renowned “adult entertainer”), Sir Terry Pratchett, (British novelist of Discworld fame), Charlie Bird (RTE), Dr. Eamonn F. Healy (St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas), Maajid Nawaz (cofounder and Executive Director of Quilliam) among others.

We have also hosted a diverse range of accomplished individuals for whom students would be interested in hearing. Honorary Patrons this year included Neil Strauss (Author of The Game), Courtney Love (rock star), Prof.

A.C. Grayling (philosopher, Founder & Master of New College of the Humanities), Olivier Blanchard (Chief Economist of the IMF), Eddie Jordan (racing commentator), Dominic West (actor of The Wire fame), Sir Christopher Lee (actor), Roddy Doyle (Booker prize-winning author), Rafael Benitez (former Liverpool FC manager), and most prominently of all, Nancy Pelosi (Democrat leader and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) along with 8 other congressmen for the Phil’s first Inaugural Meeting since 2008.

Other guests still to come at time of writing included Hugh Laurie, Chief Justice Susan Denham, and Patrick Stewart.

On the competitive debating side, the Phil has one of its most successful years in recent memory. In terms of Intervarsities, we sent teams to the SOAS IV, UCD Novice IV (with 3 teams breaking to the semi-final), UCD

Vice Presidents Cup, Cambridge and Oxford IVs, Cork IV (with 6 speakers of the 8 in the final from a Phil pedigree), World Universities Debating Championships in Manila (where Ricky McCormack and Dave Byrne became the first Phil team to reach the octo-finals in nearly decade), Galway IV, The Irish Times and Irish Mace Competitions (where the Phil’s Keating sisters reached the final of The Irish Times), and will be sending teams to the Limerick IV, DCU IV, Maynooth IV and European Championships in the coming months. We also hosted 3 sets of “masterclass” workshops: the “EU and the Credit Crisis: Masterclass with John Palmer, “Ethics of Pro-Life” Masterclass with Ryan Bomberger, and “The Middle East” Masterclass with Tim Marshall. On top of all that were are in-house debates: our drop-in debates, the Maggies, and The Lizzies - all of which gave less experienced debaters a chance to try their hand at it.

We also host The Bram Stoker Club, a weekly paper reading session run by the Phil. Through it members have the opportunity to listen to a paper on a different topic each week and take part

in a discussion, and around 20 members are also given the opportunity to present their own paper on a topic of their choice over the course of the year. Furthermore, we also held a number of once-off but equally successful events, such as a “Can We Be Good Without God?” debate with the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), the USI Disaffiliation Debate which saw the Phil’s Dave Byrne debate USI President Gary Redmond, a VDP Charity concert with Trinity Orchestra, Singers and the Jazz Society, the Rag Week Quidditch Tournament, and a comedy debate with the Comedy Society as part of their Trinity Fringe Festival.

The enormity of the behind the scenes work, and thankless jobs that had to be done to make all of this possible was staggering, but hopefully we reached and pushed the limits of what a collective of young people working on a voluntary basis can achieve this year, making the Phil go above and beyond what a typical society offers to its members.

Eoin O’Liathain, President phil@csc.tcd.ie

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Psychological

Physics The Physics Society has left no stone unturned in its mission to encourage people’s interest in physics, raise awareness of the many benefits and beauty of Physics and to encourage and aid anybody who wishes to get involved with the Institute of Physics or the International Association of Physics Students.

Our year got off to a great start in Freshers’ Week, with a Freshers’ Party in the Pav with Maths Soc and a Freshers’ Quiz in the SNIAM conference room. One of our main attractions during the year was our guest lectures, which included “Trinity College and Trinity Physics: A History” by Dr Eric Finch, “Learning maths as a language” by Dr Sarah McMurry, “Fun with Foams”

by Prof Denis Weaire and Dr Stefan Hutzler (probably our highlight of the year), “The Trials and Tribulations of a Stellar Astrophysicist” by Dr Graham Harper, and “From the big bang to the LHC: What particle physics tells us about the universe” by Dr McNulty . We held a number of screenings throughout the year including a Universe documentary called

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The End of The Earth and Most Dangerous Places, and Carl Sagan day featuring two Cosmos documentaries .

Physoc members had the privilege of going on 2 trips this year, the first of which was to the observatory in Birr, which was the largest telescope in the world for about 70 years.

Secondly, we brought a group of 77 people to CERN, the most advanced place for physics at this time. We also held a number of social events such as the Physoc-Mathsoc Halloween and Christmas parties.

We have given the society our 100% to the society this year and organised some fantastic events and trips such as the Foams night, CERN trip, Birr trip, a talk on the history of Trinity and Trinity Physics, stargazing nights, a talk on stellar astrophysics, a talk on particle physics and much more. We have been dedicated throughout the year to our aim of spreading the joy of physics to everybody in Trinity that we can. physoc@maths.tcd.ie

DU Psychological Society has maintained a consistent flow of high quality events throughout this academic year. Armed with a new logo designed by a shady character, this was incorporated into a new banner and green and white colour scheme which greatly enhanced our promotional power. We also made a particular effort to incorporate non-psychology students into our society.

One of our most popular initiatives have been our Psych Banter series, which commenced last year. At these events, members come together at lunchtime to informally discuss topical events from a psychological viewpoint - for example the Mondays@Alchemy advertising scandal, among other topics. Members have the opportunity to submit topics of interest to them prior to the event via the Facebook group.

We have also welcome guest speakers to the society, such as Oliver James, a prominent British clinical psychologist, speaking on “Why English Speaking Peoples Are Mad – And How Political Economics Could Make Them Saner” Our biggest new event this year was the Dragon’s Den of Mental Health Week, which was the flagship event of the Students’ Union Mental Health Week.

We felt the society should play a much greater role in advocating positive mental health in college, and the event featured five panellists, all coming from mental health backgrounds, who openly discussed the ob-

jectives of their organisations and provided any insights they had accrued through their experience, followed by the competition where students entered ideas for projects that would improve or maintain the positive mental health of TCD’s student body. TCD also hosted the first ever PsychSoc Intervarsity in January, where members of DBS, UCD, NUIM, and IADT PsychSocs came together in The Atrium to battle it out in a series of lighthearted games and challenges In November the Psychological Society organised a trip to London, visiting the Sigmund Freud Museum, and a Personal Leadership Workshop with the Business Psychology Centre at University of Westminster among other activities. We also held a number of social events, such as Cable Tie, Speed Dating, several film screenings, the Three Wise Pubs, and the Psych Ball in The Clarence Hotel, Temple Bar. DU Psychological Society isn’t a traditionally well-known society on campus. However, in the past two years it has grown immensely. We’ve provided more educational and social events where members do not need to conform to any formal academic regulations, thus providing a platform for our members to remind themselves of why they are interested in psychology in the first place. psychsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Photographic Association (DUPA) Our aim with DUPA is to encourage as many Trinity students as possible to develop and fulfil their photographic interests and potential, regardless of their skill or experience level. We do this mainly in three categories; teaching and theory, hands on photography, and exhibitions.

We hold free classes at 7.30 Wednesday evenings for our members every week during Michelmas term, beginning with basic camera handling and ending up with a series of composition classes. In Hilary Term we began to run darkroom classes to cater for those who work with film instead of digital. These classes were taught by our Classes Officer Gab Pierantoni, former chairperson Muiris Woulfe and by Darkroom Officer Donal Martin.

We also ran two photo walks in Michelmas term in which members of committee met members of the society at Front Arch and then went on hour long walks one around Trinity and the Dock-

lands, taking pictures and also helping people get the most out of their cameras.

DUPA and 28 of its’ members went on a trip to Budapest from the 24th until the 27th of February, organised by Travel Officer Andrew Murphy. The trip was a success with constant camera carrying and excursions to points of interest such as Buda Castle, the island on the Danube, and the Budapest Great Synagogue (the largest in the world), as well as a night-time photographic walk through the city and introduction to low light photography.

DUPA has run a large number of competitions this year which are aimed to be as fun and accessible to as many people as possible, but also to allow competent photographers to demonstrate their skill and possibly gain something from it. We held two Disposable Camera Competitions (which allow anyone with any level of experience to get involved), giving out 25 disposable cameras and

a list of ideas to take pictures of, and taking them back later that day, then developed all of the entries and awarded prizes to the best, including a Lomographic Spinner Camera and free flights.

In February we held a One-DayOne-Mile photography competition for Green Week, in which competitors were given a list of green-themed categories (Urban vs. Nature, Recycling, Pollution vs. Environment) and asked to submit photographs taken within a 24 hour period from areas within a mile’s radius of Trinity College. We also ran a competition in conjunction with Trinity College Literary Review to find a photograph to appear on their first ever cover.

In terms of exhibitions, we held our Disposable Camera and Winter Photography Exhibition in December in the Atrium. As this was our first exhibition we welcomed and accepted all submissions and also reprinted at larger sizes some of the best photographs from our Disposable Camera Competition.

The entries from our second disposable camera competition were exhibited as part of Trinity Art Festival’s closing night, and got a lot of exposure as a result.

And our year’s main exhibition was for a month beginning with a launch on March 10th 2012 in the Twisted Pepper, on an Urban theme.

This year as part of the Trinity Arts Festival we designed and constructed a working photobooth from scratch. The DUPAbooth was set up during the Arts Block during the Arts Festival itself, and at Block T for the closing night of the festival, and was also used during Fashion Soc’s Fashion Show. It was a massive success, with over 250 photos of countless students uploaded onto our facebook page.

We’ve done our best to facilitate all types of interest, from beginners to proferssionals and allow members access to equipment they might never otherwise afford to use. We keep them updated with things going on in Dublin and Trinity and try to be an active artistic presence on campus, while encouraging photographic interests across campus in as many ways as possible all year, from walks to trips to competitions and exhibitions. dupa@csc.tcd.ie 49

Last year, Dublin University Players was enormously successful in increasing the profile of the society around campus, however, in order to develop this work, our committee identified that Players needed to focus on new areas of improvement in order to pay full attention to the key aims of the society for the benefit of all members. These areas included greater committee focus on Players’ productions in order to ensure they reach their full potential, integration of Players into the wider Dublin theatre community, providing opportunities for members to bridge the gap between student and professional theatre, development of community outreach initiatives, development of The Player publication and professional and artistic expansion of the Trinity College Dublin Shakespeare Festival. Ultimately, our aim this year was to shift the focus of Players towards concentrating our resources on the core activities of the society and to develop these activities to a new level of importance and professionalism.

We changed the process by which directors submit their shows to Players in order to encourage a greater level of thought and thus a higher production value. This

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year has seen some of our most original and ambitious shows, while still maintaining a learning environment and making sure that members of all levels of experience are involved in all aspects of the productions. Our timetable of two shows a week made this particularly demanding but thanks to the dedication of our technical team it was a great success.

We have also been lucky enough to host some of the world’s most famous theatre practitioners as guests and make them patrons of the society, including Professor Anne Bogart of Columbia University and founder of SITI Company, Bernard Farrell (famous Irish Playwright) who spoke to the society and helped advise directors working on one of his plays, Alison Bomber, Senior Voice and Text coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company and David O’Doherty, the renowned ex-Players and Trinity comedian.

This year also saw the inaugural Irish Student Theatre Summit, which brought together student actors, writers, directors and technicians for three days of intensive master classes with some of the most prestigious practitioners from British and Irish theatre. As well as this, the re-

turn of the Trinity College Dublin Shakespeare Festival for its third year was also one of our proudest moments. The Festival was an enormous success; as well as expanding in scale and duration (our temporary theatre in Front Square was something of a juggernaut, the Festival also made huge developments in its artistic calibre and its connections with the Dublin artistic community. Ultimately this Festival was a demonstration of the high-level of work that can be produced by DU Players and student volunteers, and also a celebration of Dublin City, Trinity College and the artistic community that links them.

Look out for it again this June.

Another development this year was the expansion of The Player, the society’s official publication.

This year, our editorial team sought to turn what had previously been little more than a brochure advertising Players events to Trinity’s only entirely theatrebased publication. We increased the size of the magazine and worked to ensure that people wrote on what they were interested in. This is displayed in the variety of content of each edition this year. We have tried to include a range of writing forms, from features to reviews to interviews to comic pieces and more.

It’s been a great year all round, and a huge thanks to our members for making it happen. See you all next year!

DU Players Committee players@csc.tcd.ie

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Russian Society This year the Russian Society organised a great variety of events such as Russian language classes, film nights, discussions, cultural trips, parties and friendly gatherings. Among our most successful events this year we had a food tasting trip to a nautically themed Russian restaurant in Dublin, called “Admiral Restaurant” where TCD Russian Society members had a chance to taste buffet style Russian food and sing Russian karaoke.

Another very successful event, with more than 100 people attending, was a discussion event “Contemporary Russia: socioeconomic, business and political aspects”. The event provided an opportunity to discuss Russia’s socio-economic, political and business backgrounds as well as studies on Russia-EU relations.

Mr Sergei Tarutin - editor of the “Nasha Gazeta”, Dr Constantin

Gurdgiev - lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, member of the IRBA and one of the foremost economists in Ireland, Ms Maria Kiernan - prominent Irish architect and Dr Derek Hutcheson - specialist in the studies of politics and lecturer in the UCD provided a deep insight into the latest developments in those fields. We also organised a trip to Russian Ballet “Swan Lake”, an ice skating trip and also a Poetry evening - an event presenting the richness of the Silver Age of the Russian Poetry. Every week we carried out Russian language classes that provide a first step forward for those who entertain the idea of gaining an in-depth understanding of the Russian language.

Karolina Mikitaite, Secretary russian@csc.tcd.ie

Scandinavian Our aim in setting up a Scandinavian Society in Trinity College Dublin was to provide a networking base for Scandinavian students in TCD, and a platform to promote Nordic cultures to enthusiasts. Initially considering it to be a niche interest we have been overwhelmed by the response to our society, particularly from non-Scandinavians.

Our year started off in Freshers Week with a Viking GetTogether. Our first major events of the year took place in 4th Week, with The First Annual Totally-Undiscriminatory-Actively-Inclusive-Non-Heteronormative-Pan-Gender-Life-Partner-Carrying-Competition (an adaptation of the Finnish WifeCarrying Championship) and a lecture on the Vikings by Dr. Stephen Harrison with Archaeological Society. We held numerous society trips: to the Roald Amundsen Exhibition, Collins Barracks; to a screening of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Film; an IKEA Christmas Shopping Trip; and Ice-Skating with the Russian Society. We also held a number of innovative social

events, like the aforementioned Viking Get-Together, a dinner in Mona Lisa, Halloween Fancy Dress with the Classical Society and Archaeological Society, and a Sankta Lucia and Gløgg Reception, as well as selling Scandinavian Fish delicacies outside the Pav while FishSoc held their Goldfish Races for RAG Week.

We tried to make a mix of cultural and social events, while showcasing not only the historical connection between Vikings and Ireland but also, and more relevantly to students today, work and study prospects for students in Scandinavian countries. We hope to have brought something new to Trinity: there are many other cultural societies in college but Scandinavia has never been represented before, and we feel we have raised the profile of the Nordic countries and interest in their cultures through our events this year.

scandinavian@csc.tcd.ie

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Sign Language

Sci Fi

Irish Sign Language: Speaking with your hands This year in Trinity SFSoc has been a great success and tons of fun. Our regular events have all proved really popular and we’ve expanded our programme of quizzes and nights out. We’ve also developed our animé and gaming and got involved with High Society, which brings together the societies on the top floor of house 6.

Our committee has worked hard all year to run new and interesting events and our Simpsons Table Quiz and

Halloween Ball were among some of our most successful events. We’ve also really enjoyed getting new members involved in everything that we do, and overall everyone has enjoyed themselves, so we’ve had a busy and exciting year, and we hope to continue this success in the future.

Hannah Lancashire, Auditor sfsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Student Managed Fund (SMF) Throughout our second year of existence, Trinity Student Managed Fund has continued to build on the strong foundations that we possess.

One of many highlights this year was the huge number of people (over 180) who joined the Fund as Analysts after our Freshers’ Week recruitment drive. We have also succeeded in working closer with our corporate partners, Deloitte and Davy Stockbrokers, by holding our events in their offices and internships being provided exclusively for SMF members

by Davy, Pioneer Investments (our newest partners) and Deloitte.

As Europe’s only entirely student-managed investment fund, Trinity SMF continues to be a fantastic resource for students of all College faculties. Our goal of providing 52

anybody who is interested and willing to commit their time with unparalleled access to real-life investing, market analysis and risk management remains at the centre of the Fund’s work.

The investment side of the fund has continued to produce excellent work, with our sector and macro teams consistently striving to beat the professionals.

Thank you to all who have made Trinity SMF a success this year, our sponsors and the CSC. We are always happy to have people on board, regardless of prior experience, so do get in touch.

Colum Horan, CEO smf@csc.tcd.ie

This year has been very successful for the society. We ran three weekly classes, two for beginners and one for advanced, throughout terms one and two, which only finished recently. We had several nights out, integrating the ISL classes with the Centre for Deaf Studies students, in which we encouraged all our members to use their signs.

On the last night our PR David recorded a ISL Tandem Story video which can be viewed on youtube : http://youtube/ c5rd0HPe2uY .

We also ran non-voice drama workshops and visits to the Deaf Centre in Drumcondra

to take the signs out of the classroom and meet people who use signs everyday. Our Christmas party was a big success where once again we brought together the CDS Classes and the ISL classes and many members found this a great way to meet people and learn new signs.

Most recently we had our AGM in March where certificates were delivered to all the members and a Deaf Culture Talk finished off what has been a enjoyable and eventful year.

Catherine Ledden, Secretary sign@csc.tcd.ie

Sinn Féin This year, the society has really gone from strength to strength. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy events was a talk given by Dr. David Landy of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who outlined the role the solidarity movement in Ireland can play in reaching peace. The society also turned out in great numbers for the Sinn Féin Comhdháil Náisiúnta. We’ve welcomed a number of senior figures to the college, including Senator Kathryn Reilly, who visited for International Women’s Week.

The society is particular keen to promote challenging dia-

logue on nationalist issues, and, to support this, we had the pleasure of welcoming liberal unionist and former Seanad candidate, Jeffrey Dudgeon, to discuss Roger Casement and Irishness. If we had to put it down to one event, however, the highlight of our year must be the inspirational Leadership Visit,

by Gerry Adams and Pearse Doherty at the end of Hilary Term.

Cillian Ó Fathaigh, Chair sinnfein@csc.tcd.ie

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Trinity & Boydell Singers Trinity & Boydell Singers have had a very successful year this year – from the packed attendance at the crypt of Christchurch for our ethereal Fourth Week musical extravaganza (in conjunction with Trinity Arts Festival), to our fantastic trip to Galway city and performance in St. Augustine’s church (November 2011), to our most well-attended Christmas concerts in recent years, it has truly been a year to beat.

In addition to our formal end-of term showcases, the society has also participated in many smaller, informal gigs, ensuring that the ‘fun’ factor continues to remain at the core of what Singers’ is about – i.e. fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of highquality choral music through the performance of exciting, innovative, mostly contemporary choral works. Smaller performances in which we have taken part include our 2 Freshers’ Week showcases

(which helped us to entice over 100 new auditionees to the society), busking on college green to raise funds for Biosoc’s annual Med Day in November, performing on stage at the Christmas Market on Dame Lane in December, and a recent performance in House 5, as part of the Cacophony concert, organised by Trinity Arts Festival. It has also been an excellent year for our girls-only choir, the Boydell Singers, and the very first year for our male-only choir, the Trinitones!

In December 2011, we were awarded the runner-up prize in Lyric FM’s Choirs for Christmas concert (prize money of €200), and subsequently invited to record 3 pieces with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, for a Christmas CD due out in November 2012. This recording took place in early February and was a very educational and exciting new experience for our members.

In March Trinity Singers once

again entered the Feis Ceoil “Mixed Voice Choirs” competition, after having been victorious last year with a staggeringly high mark of 97%. This year we were delighted to come in 2nd place.

Our main events are of course our end of term concerts in the College Chapel, directed by Roisin Blunnie. The first in December was called Gaudete! and was Christmas-themed, switching effortlessly between the rousing, the melancholy, the seasonal and even Billy Joel, there was enough variety to keep even those not familiar with choral music entertained. The highlight, Eric Whitacre’s stunning “Lux Aurumque” was particularly moving; a mournful restrained piece, it fades out almost reluctantly.

Our final event of the year was our Spring Concert, prominently featuring Rheinberger: Mass in E flat, ‘Cantus Missae’, as well as music by Whitacre, Fauré, Kodály, and our own Éna Brennan.

Through the society, members have gained countless new friends across all academic faculties, united exclusively through a love of choral music - it is this unique bond between members which is the ultimate stimulus and motivator pushing us to work as hard as possible to produce and maintain our now awardwinning sound. singers@csc.tcd.ie

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Student to Student Network (S2S) Student 2 Student (S2S) is a student led Peer Support and Peer Mentoring service for the College supported by the Student Counselling Service and the Senior Tutor’s Office.

The S2S Society is involved in restructuring and developing the programme, recruiting and training volunteers, promoting the service and organising regular social events for all S2S volunteers throughout the year. In 2011/12 we offered mentors to 2/3rds of the first year population, and in 2012/13 this will extend to every full-time undergraduate course. Social events for 12/13 kicked off with a Disney Quiz.

We then held a Crystal Maze style S2S Challenge, brought in Santa to meet everyone at our

Christmas party, held a Ceili for international students and hosted an information evening for potential volunteers. We also ran a well-being challenge – “Around the World” – and some members took up extra training from Student Learning and Development to deliver Time Management workshops and from the HSE to deliver relaxation sessions. In February 2012 we were host to Ireland’s first ever CSSI Peer Mentoring and Peer Support conference, and directly before our AGM we invited the Provost to award certificates of achievement to our members.

Socialist Workers (SWSS) The Socialist Worker Student Society here in Trinity College, although small, has been an active and influential society over the past academic year.

The society has been involved in all of the political events on campus and played a major role in organising and mobilising students for the antifee demonstrations that took place in response to the discourse surrounding the hike in student registration fees.

However, SWSS has not been all doom and gloom, and one of the major focuses for us as a student society has been to encourage students to get involved in events such as our monthly film screenings and

Danny Greening, Chair student2student@tcd.ie

Suas Suas is an education-focused social change organisation that supports programmes in Ireland, India & Kenya. Every year, Suas sends volunteers, of which over half are generally Trinity students or alumni, to our Indian and Kenyan partners for a 10 week long volunteer programme. This placement is one part of a year round partnership involving consistent financial and technical support. Unfortunately, due to recent unrest Suas made the difficult decision not to send volunteers to Kenya this summer. In such turbulent times the partner organisations really rely on Suas and the consistent support the NGO provides.

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We also run several mentoring projects here in Ireland which all operate on a weekly basis. Suas is a registered charity that identifies education as integral to social transformation.

All our mentoring projects aim to address the deficit in literacy levels in underresourced schools while developing leadership and teamwork skills above and beyond curriculum guidelines.

Suas was shortlisted for the Small Changes Big Differences Grant to provide an Intensive Literacy Support Programme to two primary schools in inner city Dublin. As well as providing mentoring services, the society also organised

‘Suas Day’ on campus, collecting on Grafton Street and liaising with DUHAC for a charity waxing event in the evening.

We also organised a gig on St.Patricks Day, as an afterparty event for the NGO’s annual ‘Shamrock for Schools’ nationwide face-painting fundraiser.

Sarah O’Neil, President suas@csc.tcd.ie

also our weekly reading group.

Our highlights over the past year have been a lecture from Prof. Terry Eagleton, one of the most notable literary critics alive today, and also a stimulating discussion with Micheal Albert, an exciting self-proclaimed “market abolitionist” from the United States. The Socialist Worker Student Society here in Trinity college remains rooted in student life and hopes to grow in years to come. If you are interested in making a real difference, do join us!

Keith O’Neill, Auditor swss@csc.tcd.ie

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Theological Far from the monotonous, academic, paper-reading events upon which the Theological Society was established, this year has seen the Theo introduce a diverse calendar of thought- provoking talks, relaxed movie nights and social banter which welcomes everyone on a Monday night, theology student or not.

This year we even had our first ever debate, which saw the Christian Union and Theological Society tackle the motion, “that this house does not need religion”.

There was no lack of passion in this debate from either side. Strong cases were made by those in favour of the proposition which were quickly and convincingly countered by the opposition. Four speakers on either side made their cases with, which included a combination of logical reasoning and emotional pleas. Between the two sides and the eight parties there did seem to be a disagreement or confusion over what religion actually is, but this did not stop a thrilling debate from proceeding to entertain. The opposition concluded with a strong, almost insulted assault on the concept of organised religion being required or beneficial to conclude proceedings, and

the House concluded that the opposition had done enough to take the debate This was such a success that we held another debate in Hilary Term, the motion being “that this house believes politics and religion do not mix”. The Theo also had numerous speakers addressing a vast range of religious and political topics, from the spirituality of Buddhism to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Some of the most memorable guests were Richard Swinburne, who presented a lecture entitled “The Evidence for the Resurrection”, Pav Akhtar, who spoke about his personal experience as a gay Muslim, Ghaffar Hussain, who explained the mind frame of Islamic terrorists, and Paul Lennon, who talked about the misuse of power in religious organisations, particularly the Legion of Christ. On the social front, every Theo reception is bound to continue past the 10pm expulsion from the GMB. The Theo Christmas party was great fun, and we expect our end of year celebration to be even better! Rachael Atkinson, secretary.

Traditional Irish Music We kicked off the year with a gig during 4th week , where we had some fantastic musicians such as Mikie Smyth, Niall Preston, Kavan Donohoe, Liam Caffery and Niamh Farrel playing for us. This was followed by a reception and one of our biggest sessions to date! The event was really well attended by both new and old members and after this big start to the year we were ready for the busy term ahead of us.

We held classes in fiddle, flute, tin-whistle and bodhrán throughout the year so as everyone, even those only learning could play an active role in our society. Every week during the year we also held an informal session in O’Neills, Pearse Street, where all members were encouraged

to pop in and play or have a listen.

We played at céilís and supported events organised by the Scéim throughout the year, but some of our highlights include the RTÉ Radio 1 programme ‘Céilí House’ coming out to Trinity to record with TradSod ceolteoirí and An Cumann Gaelach in an hour long programme filled with music, song and chat and playing on an outdoor stage at the Temple Bar Trad Fest in January!

All in all, its been a busy year for us but without a doubt we’ve enjoyed every minute of the tunes, craic and ceol!

Julie Donohoe tradsoc@csc.tcd.ie

Debate segment by Cormac Cassidy theo@csc.tcd.ie

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T Trinity Arts Festival This year Trinity Arts Festival itself included 30 separate events run over 6 days including daily tours, talks, workshops, classes and six evenings of night events.

The festival was also lucky to have much input from other societies and groups such as VisArts, Trinity Arts Workshop, the Hist, the Phil, DUPA, Jazz Soc, The Metafizz, DU Dance, Fashion Soc, Comedy Soc, Singers Society, Chapel Choir, Campanile Consort, JCR Café, Players, Trinity Ents, Trinity Access Programme, Trinity Culture Office and The Provost’s Office, while being kindly sponsored by Bank of Ireland. In keeping with the Culture and the City project being promoted by Trinity’s culture office, we widened the scope of the festival this year to include external college groups such as the political art collective UpStart, Quarter Inch Collective, Milk & Cookies, NCAD and the creative social enterprise Block T. Our daily tours included the Provost House Tour, a tour of the art and architecture of Trin-

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ity and two new tours: a VisArts Mystery Tour and a Horrible History Tour, all of which were very popular A highlight of the week was the DUPA Photo Treasure Trail, with entrants being given disposable cameras and a list of things to photography around campus, and The winner’s work was displayed at our closing ceremony.

The Conversation Sessions in association with The Hist took place everyday at 1 pm and combined guest speakers, lecturers and students. The well known Irish music blogger Nialler9 was interviewed; there was a screening of Ballymun Lullaby followed by a Q&A with director Frank Berry; a packed out “Lecture on Love” with four lecturers from four faculties; an illustration class and discussion with Don Conroy; two papers on aesthetics from the Metaphysical Society, and a screening of Happy New Ear, a documentary on disability and the arts, with a talk given by the film’s producers.

photography by Ross O’Donnellan

Our workshops included Chinese Calligraphy, Pattern Cutting, Starting a Novel, Demystifying Jazz, African Drumming, DJing, Swing Dancing, Fashion Illustration and the much-loved Origami. These workshops and classes were held all over campus and we were very lucky to make use of less well-utilised spaces like the Trinity Arts Workshop and the Resource Room.

One of the main triumphs of this year’s Festival was its full programme of night events. Our Friday night launch ceremony saw us light up the GMB, display posters from UpStart, provide food from the JCR Café, showcase the DUPAbooth for the first time and of course give everyone their first glimpse of the festival programmes. Monday night was Comedy Night in the International Bar, featuring Trinity comedic talent and a host of well-known names such as Chris Kent and Andrew Stanley. We had a very special story telling night on Tuesday in the Electric Lounge featuring a traditional Irish music group from Trinity perform alongside Improv She Wrote from DU Players, and the talented storytellers from Milk & Cookies. Wednesday night saw the Exam Hall filled with an audience treated to acts such as Simon Bird, Cloud Castle Lake and I Am The Cosmos, with Balcony TV and Cock and Bull TV there to capture it all on video.

Our Cacophony event on Thursday night summed up what the

arts Festival was about – we showcased the best of Trinity’s singing talent with Trinity Singers, the Chapel Choir and the Campanile Consort performing, along with the brand new all-male choir Trinitones giving their debut performance – all taking place in House 5, the Music Department building, in its classrooms and stairwell which audience members could freely move between. The week culminated with our Festival Closing Ceremony on Friday night in Block T, the creative space in Smithfield – where works from the photography competition, fashion illustration and origami were displayed, and some of Trinity’s best DJ talent performed.

This was undoubtedly the most successful Trinity Arts Festival to date. The breadth and number of events held during the Festival week gave the College community a wide variety of interesting and engaging opportunities to think about, participate in and enjoy the arts. Happily, a huge number of societies were involved in the Festival, which gave us the chance to expand the nature of our events. Hopefully we succeeded in exposing Trinity to an expansive range of compelling, thought-provoking, enlightening, and often amusing events on the arts. artsfest@csc.tcd.ie

Trinity TV

Trinity Arts Workshop This year has been one of the busiest ever for Trinity Arts Workshop! We’ve had regular classes running almost every week since September, teaching a range of different techniques in a variety of mediums including charcoal, paint, clay and ink. Our classes in the 191 Pearse St Studio have been gaining hugely in popularity, with life drawing regularly packing out. The pottery classes in Goldsmith have also seen a surge in interest – just last week our Chairperson could barely get a spot in the Wednesday class!

As well as all of our established classes we’ve started holding a series of rotating workshops on Monday nights.

These six-week courses, which

For small societies that don’t have a maverick to help them off the ground, the first few years are all about building on the last.

A hugely successful Freshers’ Week fueled hopes that this would be a great year, as a coverage collaboration with The University Times and a freshers’ competition took up most of our time that week. To have enrolled more than 100 members to a niche-interest society in only its third year was great; to have made an impact that resonated into the rest of the year was even better.

The optimism with which we were entitled to approach the rest of the year informed our decision to take on more projects than ever before: in addition to our regular ‘Trinity Talks’ show documenting goingson around campus, the society was involved in cov-

T

ering the Trinity Economic Forum, the USI’s national protest march, the CSC awards and the BESS ball, as well as giving students the assistance and knowhow to translate their raw ideas into a finished product. More and more societies are contacting Trinity TV to cover their events – often to the extent that two or three groups want us at once.

Our blossoming relationship with the College alumni and their huge generosity means that, as of next year, Trinity TV will be the owners of a professional television camera, as well as becoming a fully recognised society. The only way is up and we’ll be broadcasting the whole journey in high definition.

Jack Leahy trinitytv@csc.tcd.ie

have covered everything from linocut printing to screen printing to watercolours, have been really successful – our risk paid off! We’ve had great feedback from the teachers and students alike and so we intend to keep them up next year!

Another big event in our calendar this year was the Trinity Arts Festival – we worked with the TAF committee and the Chinese society to organise a Calligraphy workshop, themed around the Year of the Dragon. It was most definitely a highlight of the year!

Ellen Murphy, Chair taw@csc.tcd.ie

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Trinity FM This year has been one of the most exciting years for Trinity FM in recent memory. We expanded the timetable by starting our weekly streaming timetable an hour earlier (5pm) and adding in Friday shows for eleven hours more in total. We also changed the amount of days these shows ran for. Instead of a show getting a full term of streaming, now shows have a three-week run, which gives plenty more people the chance to take part while making sure that those with established shows have to keep things fresh. We also put an emphasis on variety and really encouraged our editors to get as wide a range of shows as they could manage.

We have also run the TFM Pro Talks in which we brought in established radio personalities to talk to our members about their

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own experience in radio and to give our members advice in getting into the business. These included Jenny Huston, Dan Hegarty and Ryan Tubridy from RTÉ.

We also held one-off broadcast specials including the Naked Broadcast, TFM Big Brother, and 100 Ways to Skin a Trinity Cat in which we focused on involving as many different societies as we could. Trinity FM is also a facility that can and should be used by others and we have tried to offer our services as much as we could to as many different types of societies throughout the year.

We spent roughly €1000 on new equipment that went to improving the studio which made the experience for our members much better, holding our own fundraising events including a Table Quiz to further the society. We also made great efforts to incorporate

our editors and other members in the everyday running of the society and have expanded our reach to not just undergraduates but also postgraduates, Erasmus students and staff in shows and events. We also revamped our website, logo, and general design that made our radio streaming much more accessible.

We also renewed our contract with the BAI to increase our reach and appeal to our audience and members, modelling ourselves on professional radio stations which put an emphasis on live music and cultural shows, bringing in local Irish bands to give them exposure. We ran an event with Amnesty called Freedom FM which featured some of these bands and a Hallow Sessions with the JCR Café which both showcased local Irish bands and raised money and awareness

for Unicef. We also continued our relationship with Euranet which increased our exposure to a European wide audience.

We have worked extremely hard consistently throughout the year and have made great efforts to involve ourselves within all aspects of college life and to include as many different types of people in Trinty as possible. We have taken part in Comedy Soc’s Fringe Festival and had many different high profile events such as the Duke Special, the Hallow Sessions, an interview with the Rubberbandits and our Naked Broadcast. Hopefully we’ve shown Trinity FM to be more than just a Trinity Society, but a Trinity Establishment.

trinityfm@csc.tcd.ie

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Visual Arts University Challenge We were very excited about this being the inaugural year of our society, and we feel we have contributed immensely to College life since the beginning of the academic year.

We have held fortnightly pub quizzes free of charge, along with outinternal competition in the style of the University Challenge television series, which was a great success.

It spanned seven weeks of knockout rounds in the SQLT theatre of the new biosciences building.

We also ran two joint events in October; one with the History and Humanities Journal, and one with Europa. In November, we ran our first annual Harry Potter quiz. At our preparatory meeting, we projected 60% of our (then 200) members to attend. However, due to the quality of our previous quizzes and spreading rep-

utation, we were faced with over 300 participants. Though understaffed, we quickly set about increasing the allocated seating area, reconfiguring the speakers and calling in more help, and the night became a highlight of the term.

We are a fun, active society which supports its members, providing them with an informal and formal opportunity to meet and mix with each other outside of College hours.

Our society caters for a niche which other societies do not – we create a platform where students can engage in intellectually orientated events whilst in a social setting. universitychallenge@csc.tcd. ie

This year the Visual Arts Society has expanded the type of events it has organised for its members, while also continuing the more traditional excursions usually associated with the Society. We have arranged tours of exhibitions covering a wide range of media, from painting to photography, video art to sculpture, which have covered an extensive range of themes and span a vast time period. The society has made a conscious effort this year to broaden its engagement with all forms of art, organizing film screenings, cinema trips and theatre visits, the last of which included a post-event discussion with the cast and crew.

This year, we launched a new project entitled Conversations, which saw a number of guest speakers from the art world visit the college to address the society. These included a world renowned artist, an Oscar nominated animator, an esteemed art critic from New York the curatorial manager of an international art festival, entrepreneurs, architects and government officials.

This year’s Foreign Trip saw thirty members of the society travel to Madrid for three days to soak up the visual culture of the city and experience some of Europe’s most important artistic landmarks. Members were encouraged to visit the wealth of art galleries, museums and architectural landmarks the capital had to offer,

all the while offering them the chance to engage with a group of people who share the same interests as they do.

The Trinity Art Exhibition meanwhile, has continued to be a highlight in the VisArts calendar, with over two hundred and forty entries submitted for consideration this year alone. The works covered a broad range of themes, media and styles, and came from a cross-section of the Trinity community – we had artworks by staff and students of all disciplines and levels involved in the show. We were joined at the launch in the Oisín Gallery

by Séan Kissane, Head of Exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, who kindly opened the exhibition for us.

The principal aim of the Visual Arts Society is to encourage an awareness and appreciation of all forms of the visual arts amongst its members. We also hope to raise the awareness levels of all involved in the society and ultimately we feel that VisArts has achieved this during this committee’s term. By engaging with a number of Dublin based artistic institutions and groups, the society has managed to create a gateway for members of the college community to engage with the wider visual arts scene of the city. visarts@csc.tcd.ie

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Trinity Vincent de Paul (VDP)

Trinity VDP has shown itself over the last number of years to be a society that is constantly ready, willing and able to build on that which went before it.

The society stands as one of the largest volunteering bodies in and Irish college. As a conference of St. Vincent de Paul Ireland we are the largest one in the country. Currently we have over 6000 registered members, 400 regular volunteers and over 20 activities which take place every week in the inner-city area, including the Soup Run, numerous homework and after-school clubs with children in the local schools, flat decorating for people and families in need and much, much more.

While we are tremendously lucky to have these people carrying out they work they do, week-in week-out, and indeed we seem to get lucky with that year after year, to review how the society has performed over the last year we have to look at what improvements have been made, what new ideas have been put into action, ready to be built upon in the year ahead.

Perhaps where the presence of Trinity VDP is felt most on campus is the regular stream of events and fundraisers that are put on, week after week. We are constantly looking to find exciting new ways to get people involved in Trinity VDP and of course to raise the funds necessary to keep our activities running. Some of the highlights this year included the Santiago Barge Party, the Any60

thing But Clothes night, the 5 Day Challenge Rag Week fundraiser, Disney Night, Stars In Your Eyes in association with DU Players, Charity Race Night in association with Horse Racing Society and Gig Mór le Kila in association with An Cumann Gaelach. The VDP Big Chrimbo Panto was again a huge success, and thanks to great management it practically covered its costs with fundraisers and advertising deals, meaning it only cost the society €35.75 to put on this year! Our biggest fundraiser of the year was the Strip Auction which, thanks to extensive promotion and teaming up with the SU Shag Week campaign, managed to raise nearly €2,400 – a €2,000 increase on last years’ event.

Trinity VDP also runs over 20 activities a week and these make up the core of our work. Many are run in conjunction with other organizations such as local primary schools, homeless centres and other SVP conferences. We also have activities which are run solely by Trinity VDP. The activities are scattered all over the city and tackle a variety of issues from literacy levels, to homelessness, as well as offering support to asylum seekers and other vulnerable people. Our activities aim to have a positive effect on the lives of those they work with, however we can manage to do so. Our volunteers range from first years, final years, to post-graduates and come from across the college.

This offers a truly dynamic bunch

of people working together, and we find that with the variety of activities taking place, there’s something to suit every interest, every college timetable and every student. Along with having a positive effect on the community, our activities also create an open, sociable atmosphere for volunteers to make friends and to get to know other students from different faculties and this is central to their continued success.

We also engaged a lot more with our ordinary members and as a result, some new and original events took place but more importantly we established three new activities, two of which are already up and running successfully and the third is set up to begin in October. Another improvement we made this year was introducing more weekend trips away for our activities, adding to the well established Trinity Club

weekend away the Kids’ Club and Flat Decorating weekends away, and we hope that in years to come they will be another continued success. The annual Santiago trek was yet again a resounding success. More than 70 students made their way across various 100 km stretches of the Camino de Santiago in either Spain, Portugal or France, raising over €20,000 for Ozanam Farm in Zambia, compared to last year’s total of just under €14,000!

We hope that many of the changes we have made will be lasting ones, and we leave the society in the hand of next years’ committee better organised, with a more engaged group of core volunteers and with some exciting new projects underway. vdepaul@csc.tcd.ie

Werner Chemical The Werner Chemical Society has been instrumental in encouraging and maintaining interest in the Chemical Sciences within College. The society committee consists of postgraduate students who are responsible for the administration of the society. The membership of the society ranges from the departmental staff, postdoctoral fellows, postgraduate researchers and the undergraduate community. Whether your interest in Chemistry is study-orientated professional, or a natural curiosity we will cater for you.

The society works closely with the Chemistry Department in order to promote this science

and make it as enjoyable, exciting and social a field as possible. A range of educational and social events are regularly organised throughout the year. The society also arranges grinds, tuition and fosters a warm relationship between staff and students. Social evenings, outings, sports, parties and table quizzes are some examples of our many events.

So, for work, rest and play this society provides community, friends and both scientific and not-so-scientific adventures. werner@csc.tcd.ie

WYZ

Yoga Society The Trinity College Yoga Society aims to give students the opportunity to practice the different styles of yoga, for a very affordable price. This year we ran 6 classes every week, with a different teacher taking each class. Each teacher has a distinct style of yoga, which gives students a chance to explore some of the huge depth of the tradition. Hatha, Vinyasa flow, Iyengar, Sivananda and Ashtanga are some of the forms represented.

Yoga originated in India over 5,000 years ago and the original purpose of yoga was a spir-

itual one. It helps to reduce stress by cultivating relaxed, alert state of mind, along with a sense of well being which is especially useful in stressful situations, such as college exams. It is also extremely an healthy activity, is great for increasing your energy levels and is known to help counter numerous ailments like diabetes, arthritis, asthma, back pain, and fatigue. yogasoc@gmail.com

Zoology In the past year, DU Zoological Society have been more active and increased our profile in college through a range of talks, collaborative events and social outings.

This year, the society has hosted three talks independent from course-work. We have had the privilege of hosting Operations Manager of Dublin Zoo, Mr. Gerry Creighton, for two talks on the role of the zoo in conservation: “Giant Footsteps: The future of the Asian elephant in Dublin Zoo” in November, and “”Fighting Back: The future of Sumatran Tiger in Dublin Zoo and in the Wild” in February. We also had the pleasure of hosting the zoology

department’s animal handler, Mr. Collie Ennis, in February for a talk entitled “An Introduction to husbandry and handling of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates”, on the care of exotic animals.

This year we’ve also arranged three social events such as pub crawls, attended by students from a range of years and disciplines, including non-science subjects. We also arranged our first ever special event for Fourth Week. We were able to provide people with free ‘fish pedicures’ in Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, and with discounted sushi in Yo Sushi.

Both aspects of this event were popular, and we gained several

new members as a result. In Hilary Term the society made its annual field trip Fota wildlife park, with a tour by the director, Mr. Sean McKeown.

It is easy for a course-specific society to fall into the trap of becoming insular, but we feel that this year’s committee has avoided this trap and made the society more accessible to nonzoologists, as well as increasing the number of events held. zoosoc@csc.tcd.ie

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Each category is judged by a panel consisting of the CSC Chair, Secretary and Honorary Treasurer, and 3 impartial students. The only award that isn’t selected by the panel is the Best Overall Society, which is voted for by the societies on the night of the awards, with each society getting one vote. *winners in red*

Best Overall Society DU Amnesty, Classical Society, The Horse Racing Society, Trinity Orchestra, Philosophical Society, DU Players, Singers

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Best Large Society The Horse Racing Society, DU Law Society, Philosophical Society, DU Players

Best Medium Society DU Amnesty, Jazz Soc , Trinity Orchestra, Physics Society

Best Small Society Classical Society, Trinity Labour, DU Photographic, Psychological, Singers

Best new / Improved Society DU Filmmakers, Hiking, The Horse Racing Society, Scandinavian Society

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Best Event Pink Floyd & Arcade Fire in London (Trinity Orchestra), The Irish Student Theatre Summit (DU Players), Trinity Arts Festival 2012 (TAF)

Best Fresher Alison Kelly (Law), Colin Caverly (Vincent de Paul), Donal McKeating (Players), Ellen Byrne (Europa), James Wilson (Cumann Gaelach), Ollie Wray (Amnesty), Sam Riggs (Food & Drink and Trinity Arts Festival)

Best Individual Cailan O’Connell (Filmmakers), Claire McCabe (Trinity FM), David Doyle (LGBT), Éanna Drury (Cumann Gaelach), Hannah McCarthy (Trinity Arts Festival), Jack Cantillon (Horse Racing), James Kelly (History), James Lochrin (Law), Jennifer Duignam (Visual Arts), Lydia Rahill (Philosophical), Manya Sahni (Physics), Nick O’Brien (Vincent de Paul), Robert Kearns (Orchestra), Sorcha McCauley (Amnesty)

Best Online Presence Cumann Gealach, The Hist, Trinity Orchestra, The Phil, Vincent de Paul

Best Poster Glogg Reception (Scandinavian), Michaelmas Concert (Orchestra), Halloween Party (Scandinavian), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Players), Psychology Ball (Psychological), Symmetry, Geometry, Physics (Mathsoc), Swing Ball (Law)

Best Publication The Player (Players), Freshers’ Week magazine (Vincent de Paul), Tuathal (Cumann Gaelach), The Bull (Investors), The Philander (Philosophical), The Attic (Literary)

CSC EXECUTIVE 2011-2012 Chair: Rob Farhat Treasurer: Seán Gill Secretary: Holly Furlong Amenities Officer: Cian McCarthy Honorary Treasurer: Ronan Hodson Ordinary Members & Ambassadors: Marc Atkinson, Kate Cunningham, Stephen Denham, James Kelly, Paul Logue, Joel McKeever, Emily Neenan, Caoimhe Ni Dhonaill Administrative Officer: Lucy O’Connell Marketing/Office Administrator: Emma Matthews Strategic Development Officer: Joseph O’Gorman

INDEX Editorial Freshers’ Week 2011 Afro-Caribbean AIESEC Trinity Animal Rights DU Amnesty International Archaeological Society Alternative Music (DUAMS) Biochemical Society Botany Biosoc (Biological) Trinity Cancer Society Capoeira Card & Bridge Chapel Choir Chess Chinese Students Association Choral Society Christian Union Comedy Classical Society Computer Science An Cumann Gaelach DU Dance Digital Arts DUBES (Business & Economics) Entrepreneurial Early Irish Engineering Environment Europa European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) Fashion Fianna Fail (Wolfe Tone Cumann) Filmmakers Trinity Young Fine Gael Fish Soc Free Legal Advice Clinic (FLAC) French Food & Drink Gamers Gender Equality (DUGES) Genetical Society Geographical Society Hispanic Culture The Hist (College Historical Society) Hiking History Horse Racing

3 4 6 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 16 16 17 17 20 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 29 30 30 31

Indian International Students Internet (NetSoc) Investors Italian Societies 4th Week 2011 Japanese Jazz Jewish Joly Geological Juggling Knit Soc Korean Trinity Labour Laurentian Society Law Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Literary Society Management Science (DUMSS) Maths Mature Students Meditation Metafizz Microbiological Society Modern Languages (ModLang) Medical Overseas Voluntary Electives (MOVE) Music Muslim Students Association Neuroscience Trinity Orchestra Paintballing Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (DUPSA) Pirate Politics Pool The Phil

(University Philosophical Society) Physics Psychological Photographic Association (DUPA) Players Russian Scandinavian Sci Fi Sign Language Sinn Fein Student Managed Fund (SMF)

32 32 33 33 33 34 36 36 37 37 37 38 38 39 39 40 41 41 42 42 42 43 43 43 43 44 44 44 44 45 46 46 46 46 46 47 48 48 49 50 51 51 52 52 52 52

Singers Student to Student Network (S2S) Suas Socialist Workers (SWSS) Theological Traditional Irish Music Trinity Arts Festival Trinity Arts Workshop Trinity TV Trinity FM University Challenge Visual Arts Trinity Vincent de Paul (VDP) Werner Chemical Yoga Zoology Society of the Year 2012

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