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Queen Margaret UnionReports to the Board of ManagementMeeting 9 – Monday 30th January 2012

General Manager Submitted President SubmittedHonorary Secretary SubmittedHonorary Assistant Secretary SubmittedCampaigns & Charities SubmittedEvents SubmittedOrdinary Board SubmittedPublications SubmittedSocial Submitted

1. General Manager’s Report to the Executive Committee

1.1 Burns Supper & CeilidhThe event was yet again a sell-out and with over 40 people buying tickets for only the ceilidh we could consider selling more supper tickets for next year. This event continues to grow on an annual basis and it is hoped that it is now firmly established in the QM Union calendar.The evening was a success in that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and my thanks to all involved in organising the event especially our President for sourcing a Piper at the last minute. The supper & ceilidh generated income for the union and even made a small surplus.

1.2 Staff Consultancy CommitteeThe SCC met on January 18th and noted the decision of the Board of Management to create gender neutral toilets. There were a number of questions raised and a subsequent meeting was arranged for January 26th in order that the Staff Rep could be in attendance. No doubt the Staff Rep will report the feedback to the Board.There was a review of the Employee of the Year scheme and it has been suggested this scheme be modified to an Employee of the Month with each of the monthly winners going forward to the annual award. Full details are still to be worked out but it is hoped the amended scheme could start as early as February.It was reported the Stephen Bailey regional organiser of the GMB trade union will be visiting again in February to recruit new members and possibly a local representative.

1.3 Jims Bar Sunday Bookings I have had some interest in this facility with bookings from Mary’s Meals, STAR, Exploration Society, African & Caribbean Society and the Bulgarian Society (not affiliated). There are still some dates available for the end of February and March so it could be worthwhile sending an email to all clubs and societies regarding this facility.

1.4 C7 ChurchI have spoken to Gary Lister regarding the state of coffee bar after use. I have agreed to allow them to continue using this facility on the condition that they remove all stock and equipment at the end of their Sunday service.They have made a couple of other bookings for Committee Rooms in the evening and one for a Saturday morning. These bookings have been agreed on commercial terms and generally do not adversely affect our membership.

1.5 Student SurveyI have been advised by David Brook of Ashbrook Research that the interviewing is going well and there have been no problems so far. I have had some feedback from a few people that the Researchers are on

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campus but don’t yet know of anyone who has actually been interviewed.

1.6 Fire Evacuation DrillThe second statutory fire evacuation took place on Wednesday 18th January in the presence of the University Fire Office. He was pleased with our evacuation time of under 2 minutes. On this occasion I believe there was only one member of the Board of Management in the building and he did make himself known to me in case any assistance was required.

1.7 Meeting with Diane KerrI had a very interesting meeting with Diane Kerr (QM President 1989-90) and explored the possibility of the QM Union having a more prominent role in the West End Festival in June. There are a couple of possibilities but it is unlikely that we would want to organise a large event for this festival as the financial risk may be considerable given most students have departed for the summer.

1.8 Financial AccountsThe Monthly Accounts to December 2011 were presented to the Finance Committee at their meeting last week and while they will be superseded by the Interim Accounts produced by the Honorary Treasurer they give a fair indication of where we are in relation to budget and last year.They show a fall in trading income of 18.5% and a drop in total net income of 15.9%. Expenditure and costs continue to be reduced and a cost saving of 7.7% was achieved in the six month period.Overall I expect the accounts for the period to show a deficit of over £7K compared to a surplus in the same period last year of over £22K. My best guess at this time for a full year result is a deficit (loss) in excess of £50K.

1.9 Late Licence Applications I am in the process of applying for a number of late licences including Friday 1st March – 3am (for an event to be confirmed), Friday 16th March – 3am for St Paddy’s Cheesy Pop and 6am for Friday 23rd

March for 10 Hr Cheesy Pop. If anyone has any suggestions for other late licence applications then please let me know asap as I need a minimum of 30 day’s notice for any application

2. President

2.1 Refreshers WeekI was really pleased with Refreshers Week. I think both events and social committee worked really hard to PR the events and it definitely was reflected in the numbers. So well done.It is clear that this week there has been less emphasis on PR and I believe our events have suffered because of that – e.g. BWNPQ, Battle of the Bands and I have also seen very little Cheesy Pop PR around this week. If we've had a successful week we really need to keep pushing forward otherwise all your hard work will be undone in an instant. Please, please keep pushing your events, it is vitally important that we see more people using the building.

2.2 Board ClothingHope everyone likes the new hoodies! To make it clear it is ok to wear them on duty, but if you're here for a hefty session at Cheesy Pop or another club night take them off to avoid confusion with duty board. Thanks.

2.3 Strat PlanOur first strat plan meeting went very well. We have established three core areas which the strat plan will follow under the headings: Social Space, Community, and Individuals. This covers our events and services, the student experience and graduate attributes. We are currently working at dividing up the SWOT analysis and feedback from the previous big meetings into these three headings. Anything you'd like to bring to strat plan please talk to Alice or Laura-Anne. We are also looking for someone to take minutes at these meetings, so if you are interested in learning this fine skill then please let me or Colum know.

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2.4 Battle of the BandsI was disappointed with the attendance at Battle of the Bands on Thursday. I'd like both events and social committee or anyone else for that matter to think of ways we can publicise this event more effectively. Any ideas pop them on facebook.

2.5 B.W.N.P.QB.W.N.P.Q had a great week in Refreshers week, but failed to pull the same level again this week. This again is probably due to PR – we really need to push all of these events. But what worried me more was the amount of people who left during the quiz. I'd like to remind all board members that your biggest priority is to encourage people to use and enjoy the union and driving people away from our events is one of the worst things you can do. If you're here working or socialising you are always representing the board of management and the union, so I expect all board members to behave in a responsible manor during all events.

2.6 Burn's SupperI really enjoyed the Burns Supper and Ceilidh on Wednesday and I'd like to thank all the board members who participated in the event. I was really pleased we sold out and I hope this event can continue to grow and not just because I'm from Ayrshire.

2.7 Women's Aid GlasgowI met with Susan Jack from Women's Aid Glasgow and I am in the process of organising an awareness raising discussion around the subject of domestic violence. I am working with the Feminist Society and LGBT, but if anyone else would like to get involved and help out then please let me know.

3. Honorary Secretary

3.1 Clubs and SocietiesThe Clubs and Socs fair took place on the Tuesday of Re-Freshers week. The feedback I’ve had from Clubs and Socs was that they were grateful for the opportunity to publicise themselves however the attendance was not great. This was unfortunate of course but a printer failure meant that putting posters up in the building on the day was problematic and also I had a sense that the event was lost in the hubub of re-freshers week generally. While this is regrettable I feel that no damage was really done as the Societies seemed happy to just have been offered the space. However, I was very disappointed with the Boards contribution to this event. I made it quite clear the Tuesday was a very busy day for me in University and that I would require people to be in Qudos very regularly in order to a) talk to the clubs and societies and make them feel welcome, and perhaps use to opportunity to sound out their views on the service the Union offers them and b) to make sure that there needs on the day were being met as much as possible. While I understand that I was not there on the day to assist and direct, the task was relatively simple and required very little effort. Several Board Members agreed to help in this regard but not only did they fail to do so, they were also entirely unapologetic about it. I find this unacceptable. If a commitment was made to help in any event it is vital that you do so, unless you have a valid reason. In future I would ask you not to make time commitments you do not intend to keep and if you can not keep your commitments then please tell me as far in advance as you can. A number of Clubs and Socs have been in touch with me in the last couple of days hoping to organise some kind of fund raising event in the union. However their ideas were quite vague and often conflicted with our own methods of fundraising (glowsticks for example) so I have agreed to work with them to see if we can work something out before they go ahead.

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3.2 Life membershipOn Friday there was a Life Membership brainstorming meeting held. This proved productive and a number of ideas were discussed. While nothing is yet firm we have lots to work with and I was delighted to get the ball rolling early on this. Once I have reviewed the ideas there will be another meeting with a more firm agenda, and we can begin to put into action the ideas that are feisable to take forward.

3.3 Discipline There were a number of issues in the last few weeks, some of which required a ban. This is to be expected since there was a large volume of people through the doors on our club nights. Thank you to duty board for their thorough reporting and vigilance. This makes the discipline process considerably easier.

3.4 Super BowlI have done some work on this, preparing a sweepsteak and a facebook event. This is always a busy night for us, but like everything it requires strong publicity. So please tell people and invite your friends to the facebook event. Hopefully there will be some flyers and posters for distribution soon.

4. Honorary Assistant Secretary

4.1 ElectionIn front of you should be a proposal that establishes online voting but only for people who CANNOT be there (for now) – anything otherwise might involve Money. There will be one more opportunity to iron out CBP ahead of this one – so we'll meet soon on this. This is soon, so I'd like people to start telling all their friends etc. now. The lack of contested categories in November was disappointing.

4.2 CBPI should have uploaded some proposed changes over the weekend. We'll probably pass some today. The election stuff is of top priority – it's important we get this right.Additionally, with the AGM coming up, it's time to take a look at the Constitution. Obviously a lot of Exec stuff needs updated, and some voting members need to become non-voting members so that we stay, you know, legal.

4.3 MinutesI've advertised 'minutes training' on facebook – P. & T. Kelly, S. McFarland & E. Murphy have expressed interest. The Strat. Plan Committee have suggested that we have someone in to take minutes – I will draw from these four, and give them all a wee run-down as well.

4.4 DisciplineSome board members' behaviour over the last few weeks has been varying between worrying and downright unacceptable. There's having a drink, then there's being out of control. Don't be out of control. I'd like to remind everyone that obstructing duty board is a severe reprimandable offence – this includes not doing as they reasonably ask you (ie 'leave, it's closing time' or 'it'd probably be best for everybody if you were to stop drinking'). On top of that, I'd like to remind Duty Board that you can reasonably request these things of Board Members – we're trying to look credible here.These hoodies have provided us with a remarkable opportunity to make the Union look really, really bad by behaving badly in them. Bad behaviour is unacceptable at the best of times, please don't even CONSIDER doing it with the Union logo and your position emblazoned across your torso. This is going to become very, very severely punished.It's pretty basic stuff.

4.5 Minutes (Part II)

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Minutes books for all Board and Finance meetings of the year have been compiled and are sitting in the office, if anyone wants to come along and find precedent/proof/hidden jokes etc. This is a good way of finding out what's likely to pass, what isn't, and what approaches work and so forth. Also they're just great examples of elegant turn of phrase and diction.

4.6 OnlineAll most recent minutes and documents are on the website and issuu page. I'm considering uploading [edited] versions of the most recent reports to here so that the minutes have context. I'd like to know your feelings. Glass walls and all that.

5. Campaigns & Charities

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5. Campaigns and Charities

5.1 Sederunt16/01/12: 12 Board Members (E. Munro, R. Callaghan, N. Ballantyne, S. McFarland, P. Hughes, J. Reid, T. Kelly, J. Ansell, G. Stewart, L. Clarke, L. Hinton, K. Hill ) and 14 Ordinary Members.23/01/12: 17 Board Members (E. Munro, R. Callaghan, P. Hughes, S. McFarland, G. Stewart, E. Zhdanov, L. Porterfield, N. Ballantyne, A. Stearn, C. Fraser, J. Ansell, E. Murphy, K. Hill, L. Clarke, L. Hinton, T. Kelly, P. Kelly) and 17 Ordinary Members (poss. more)

Glad to have such a well-attended meeting for picking the Charity of the Semester. We had 9 charities proposed, which is great. There was some discontent around the concept of packing meetings with supporters, but I cannot see a legitimate way around this.

5.2 Fundraising5.2.1 WestGAPFor those who haven't seen, the overall total (by my count) for WestGAP, is £1,190.07. This brings the total for the year-so-far up to £3,078.84.

5.2.2 Red Ribbon Ball£657.97 for THT Scotland. Hopefully, then, this event will happen again next year.

5.2.3 Charity of the SemesterUnity in the Community, a charity working with asylum seekers, refugees and sans papiers in Glasgow, was elected as Charity of the Semester. They work closely with Glasgow STAR, so I hope to build a strong relationship with them over the next few months.

6. Events

17/1/12Sedurent: L.Hinton, L.Clarke, R.Brown, K.Allcott, P.Hughes, S.McFarland, S.Patterson, J.Lui, L.Sparks, M.Richardson, A.Johnston, N.Fisher, M.Jackson, C.Sutcliffe, A.Duerden, K.Irvine, G.Stewart, P.Kelly, C.Long, A.Cairney.24/1/12Sedurent: L.Hinton, L.Clarke, K. Allcott, B. Dawson, J. Nelson, A. Johnston, L. Sparks, P. Hughes, E. Munro, R. Callaghan, S. McFarland, A. Cairney, C. Sutcliffe, R. Brown, N. Fisher, P. Kelly, G Stewart (some missing – will confirm at board meeting).

6.1 NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERSAs of this week, we have 3 new Events Committee Members: Joseph Nelson, Bronya Dawson and Rachel Coyne. This means we have a complete Committee of 16 Ordinary Members (PLUS Graeme Stewart) and myself and Lauren Hinton. The 3 new members will begin duties as of February, however, Joseph has already shown enthusiasm by designing a poster and covering Chris Sutcliffe’s Battle of the Bands duty this week! Also, thanks to Suki McFarland for designing our Battle Royale poster, to Tom Kelly for the Battle of the Bands posters, and to Tom, Jo Reid and Robin Callaghan for helping out at Battle of the Bands on Thursday!

6.2 REFRESHERS’ WEEKI am very pleased with how Refreshers’ Week went. All 3 nights were successful in my opinion and I have received positive feedback from many people. There were a few slight issues I would like to mention; firstly, how ‘midnight’ at Late, Late Hogmanay was moved to 1am. Duty Board at this event (myself, Lauren Hinton and Euan Murphy) were not consulted in this matter and were merely informed about this change of time. I understand the intention behind this decision however, thoroughly disagree with it myself. From feedback, many people missed the actual countdown at 1am due to the fact they didn’t even know it was happening! I believe all 3 events were PRed to a reasonable standard and

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Committee Members stuck to the rota, all PRing 3 times over the fortnight, instead of just 2. So thank you to them for that extra effort! And a big thank you to all Board Members who helped PR these events also.

6.3 BATTLE OF THE BANDSIt was difficult to find volunteers for this event due to people’s prior commitments. It was basically just a bad date and time and many people were busy and did not attend this event (I think this shows in the ticket sales). I thoroughly believe that the next heat will be far more successful and the number of volunteers will be much greater. Thanks to those people who did help out or show their support. PR for this event was good in my opinion and was not the downfall for this poorly attended event. In addition, the Unplugged hosts, Cat and Stuart, did a wonderful job in hosting this event!

6.4 RAINBOW CHEESY (10/2/12)A poster has been designed for Rainbow Cheesy on Friday 10th February and one act is due to be confirmed (Demimonde from Battle of the Bands seemed keen but I am yet to hear back from the Events Manager about their confirmation.) I am still waiting to hear back from the LGBT president about their involvement with this Event but things look promising. Due to short notice, we can’t go crazy with this Event and make it spectacular, but hopefully it will do its job in raising awareness of Queer Fest and bringing something a little bit different to Cheesy Pop.

6.5 BATTLE ROYALE (14/2/12)After some dispute, a screening of Battle Royale has been confirmed for 14th February. The Committee agreed on an Anti-Valentine’s Day Theme as everyone believed this would bring in a larger crowd than the originally suggested “girls night in”. Colum Fraser is kindly providing us with a copy of the film and I am still waiting to hear back from the Events Manager about rights to the film. A poster has been designed and sent to print. The Committee and Board will have to work extremely hard to PR this event in the hope it will prove successful. If we are all behind it, I’m sure it can bring in big crowds and be a little bit different from the normal, boring, soppiness that is Valentine’s Day.

6.6 MARDI GRAS (21/2/12)The Events Manager has been provided with a list of possible ideas for Mardi-Gras decorations and these will hopefully be purchased within the next two weeks. We want this Mardi-Gras to be bigger and better than ever with as much as possible going on! GUPDC (The Glasgow University Pole Dancing Club) has kindly agreed to help us out and a few dances on stage during this event (perhaps with U.V. body paint – lovely) but I am still waiting to confirm details with their President, Maggie Rostron. I will let everyone know as soon as things are confirmed. I am also wanting to contact possible circus groups or performers and hoped Nina Ballantyne could help me out with that. (Giving myself an Action Point here – “Have chat with Nina about Circus-y performer-y people and her possible contacts!”)

6.7 ITCHY FEET (Date TBC)Hopefully Lauren Hinton can tell you more about this as she will be heading this event! This is a possible club night that tours around the UK and we would like to invite them to put the night on at the QM. If a night works well, this could even become a monthly event – who knows. I’m sure Lauren will tell you more... I am waiting to hear back from the Events Manager about what dates would work best from an outside clubnight such as Itchy Feet.

6.8 10 HOUR (23/3/12)We have decided on a theme for the first 10 Hour!! Exciting. The Events Manager supports this idea and we are currently just discussing what could happen during this event. It’s ‘SPEAKEASY CHEESY’! A sort of 20-30s night club style event, potentially with the following: flapper/show girls, jazz singers, jazz band/GU Big Band, casino, a pianist, screenings of 1930s noir films, and much, much more! We’d like to start organising decor for this event as soon as a budget is submitted (this will be done within the next week after a thorough meeting with the Events Manager) and hopefully the building will be transformed and look as atmospheric as possible! WONDERFUL. The second 10 Hour is still to be discussed but there are possible themes on the horizon.

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[grid attached

7. Ordinary Board[grid attached]

8. Publications

8.1 Sederunts18/01/12: Four Board Members (Colum Fraser, Nina Ballantyne, Tom Kelly, Eugene Zhdanov) and Seventeen Ordinary

Members 25/01/12: [MISSING] Unable to locate sederunt for this week but should be able to circulate a copy on

Monday

8.2 Issue 938.2.1 DistributionIt's been great. There are two full weeks until the publication of the next issue and there are no copies waiting in the office. Also, distribution has been expanded to include halls and the Fraser building. Rainbow Rooms on Great Western Road were happy to allow us to distribute in their premises, pointing out they get a lot of student traffic, so a few copies have been taken there too.

8.2.3 ContentLots of positive feedback on content, particularly online, and the promise of letters from a few readers in response to some issues raised in the articles. Good mix of QM centric articles, Clubs & Society involvement and individuals' contributions. Contrary to the front cover it was published in 2012.

8.3 Online contentGoing well so far. Galleries and video have a made a difference to number of hits, and delegation of uploading individual articles to individual section editors has spread the work load a little more evenly. Apparently anything concerning Scientology will boost your comment section too!

8.4 AdvertisingUnsurprisingly, take-up for the advertising sub committee has not been spectacularly high, but we've got a few dedicated guys on the team now. Thanks to Mr. Mac I believe we have £500 worth of advertising incoming from Securigroup, and we are also attempting to contact graduate schemes such as KPMG for advertising in the next two issues. Committee members have suggested Glasgow International, an Arts festival taking place across the city (including lots on campus) in April and May, who I'll be contacting this week.

8.5 Issue 948.5.1 DistributionLooking at distributing to more local businesses that students are likely to use; hairdressers, competing cafes and/or bars? Would be useful to have the board's opinion on the extent of this.

8.5.2 ContentTwo Clubs & Socs led articles, linking to QM news, events and issues. STAR is taking on a page following up on John Oguchukwu's deportation last July, which will include references to donations risen by the QM and the Pub Quiz running in Jim's to raise money for him. LGBT have a page dedicated to Trans issues, in the aftermath of board discussions on gender neutral bathrooms. Likely to run the cover as 'The Glasgow Miracle', including the QM's place in it.

8.6 Goals for next BM

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• Recruit clubs & societies to increase amount and diversity of content• Continue online improvements and innovations• Organise a skills workshop for any committee members interested in editing• Expand distribution

Pursue advertising

9. Social

9.1 Sederunt19/0111 board members (P.Hughes, E.Murphy, C.Fraser, A.Stearn, P.Kelly, E.Zhdanov, L.Hinton, L.Clarke, S.Mcfarland, T.Kelly, R.Callaghan) and 7 ordinary members26/0110 board members (P.Hughes, E.Murphy, P.Kelly, E.Zhdanov, S.Mcfarland, L.Porterfield, J.Reid, L.Clarke, C.Chisholm, L.Hainey) and 7 ordinary members

9.2 Unplugged16/01This event marked the first day of Refreshers’ week and proved very successful. The bar was full with around 68 people in the bar by eleven o clock. The two bands that played were Junebug and Scott Mcwatt. Both acts were very well received by an attentive audience. Once again this event shows that Jim’s Bar can be a fantastic venue to host live music. I aim to have bands playing at least once a month at Unplugged to add a bit of diversity to this social event. 23/01This week Jim’s Bar had around 52 people in by eleven o clock. This is a fairly good number but I still feel it needs to be improved. This is the first week that we struggled to find acts willing to play so I think it is important to keep this event well advertised and maybe think of an extra incentive for people to get up on stage and play a tune or two. Watch this space for a pre valentine’s day Unplugged special.

9.3 BWNPQ18/01140 people took part in this weeks quiz and from start to finish it was fantastic. This is how the event should always run with high energy and good numbers. This was very positive and everyone left happy even though the jackpot of £120 was not won. 25/01This week’s quiz was quite frankly unacceptable and I am immensely disappointed by the behaviour and negligence from the two quiz hosts. The quiz started out with good numbers of around 55 people by nine o clock but no more than an hour later there were about 20 people sitting uncomfortably in Jim’s. This quiz is struggling and the only way it can survive is with hard work and attention from the people involved. I feel that this is not what we were given and on a personal level I feel utterly let down by the actions of the board members/committee members responsible, who’s primary job is to get people into the building not away from it. The BWNPQ will undergo a drastic change over the next few weeks and I will report back to the BOM fortnightly with an in-depth analysis of progress.

9.4 Comedy Jo Reid can give a verbal report on how the Refreshers Week comedy went, as she should be the one to take the praise for a fantastic social event. Ticket numbers were 105 sold. Fantastic work.

9.5 Pop Culture and a Piano20/01Another good quiz with numbers peaking at about 59 and a great way to finish a successful refreshers week for the social committee and the union. I have nothing but praise for how this quiz has been run and the commitment put into it from the dedicated team of Pop Culture lovers.27/01Numbers were a little shorter than last week with about 55 people taking part in this quiz but I felt that

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the atmosphere was even better. I have noticed that a lot of the teams taking part in this quiz take part every week and then one or two new teams come and go. There is a small community of teams that really enjoy this quiz and this has ensured that numbers have stayed consistent.

9.6 Theatre The first theatre will take place on the 4th of March. It is this late because of calendar restrings and indecision on my behalf, for this I apologise. However, we do have around 3 plays written by the members of New Theatre so hopefully March will be an exciting month for New Theatre.

9.7 GridThe grid has been changed for this week, as I wanted to write new aims for BWNPQ. These need to come into action ASAP.