Freshers kick off the year

Isaac Newton Acquah, Students’ Union communications officer, said, “I think Freshers Week has gone really well. Everyone’s been having a good time, and no violent incidents have been reported.” He added that the week was “smooth operationally.”

The first Top Banana of the year opened at 8pm rather than the usual 9pm. By 8:30 the queue stretched from the Copper Rooms to International House, and by 9:30 it was one-in-one-out. Some of the freshers to whom the Boar spoke had spent about two hours queuing. Most of them were pleased about the facilities of the Copper Rooms, however some did express disappointment at the prices of the drinks. One fresher said “it should be like Top B every night,” and another said, “for a student union [sic] it is rather expensive.”

Due to a postal strike the Fresher Passports and Platinum cards were only delivered on Tuesday. However, the data was stored on the university cards so the SU said that the pass holders did not need it to get access to the events.

A finalist expressed disappointment at the fact that there was no after party following the Tinchy Stryder show, which sold out. One fresher suggested that the Copper Rooms was not the most appropriate location for the Tinchy Stryder show since it was hard for the people at the back to see the stage.

On Thursday there was a fire alarm at approximately 7:30pm, before the Underground Rebel Bingo and Dreadzone shows in the Copper Rooms. The alarm caused delays in preparations for those events, meaning the shows started later than expected. The Dirty Duck, which had to be evacuated, took over an hour to reopen. This caused some disruption for the many societies having their first social on that day. Stuart Pilbrow, the President of Warwick Atheists, said that their social started in the Dirty Duck ten minutes before the fire alarm and that they had to move to Rootes Social.

Many freshers (though fewer than at Top B) were queuing outside the Copper Rooms waiting for Underground Rebel Bingo and Dreadzone. According to Josh Anderson, a fresher who queued for over an hour before being allowed in, the SU did not inform them of the reason for the fire alarm or of how long it would take before they could be allowed in.

Acquah said, “There were some unfortunate incidents with smoke alarms which are being resolved, but even then people haven’t emailed or called to complain. We thank them for their patience.”