» Issue 3: Autumn 2005

CGCU: Focusing on strengthening links

John Collins, retiring CGCU President reports

MY LAST article in Imperial Engineer was written in February when everyone in the C&GCU was recovering from a particularly traumatic RAG Week, during which nearly £5000 was raised for charity. Since then we have organised barbecues, dinners, a new quiz night and most importantly of all, our annual general elections. Our new committee will have taken over from the old committee by the time this article is published and by and large all our positions are filled and are looking promising. All, that is, except for the president.

Sadly, our elected President has announced, for a variety of understandable reasons, that she is unable to take up the role next year. Consequently, we have appointed one of our Vice Presidents, Christopher McIver, as Acting President to lead the Union over the summer. This is an exciting time for the Union as Chris will be the first full time paid President in the C&GCU’s history, albeit for just two months. Chris’s salary will come from the Summer Sabbatical fund which was raised recently from generous donations from alumni, the Faculty of Engineering, the Mercers Company and the Carpenters Company.

It will be a busy summer ahead for Chris and his team. The final phase of our office refurbishment is well underway, as is preparation for the Lord Mayor’s Show and our new engineering careers fair, which is coming up this October. No doubt there will also be a plethora of events awaiting our freshers this autumn, and these will require excellent planning and preparation.

There are also new initiatives that we will want to prepare for during the summer and implement this autumn. We have recently been focusing on strengthening links between our departmental societies, the CGCA and industry which we hope to achieve by appointing or electing alumni student representatives in each department this autumn. We hope that this initiative will increase student recruitment to our associations and encourage greater student participation at a departmental level in their networks, activities and events.

It’s been a privilege to serve as President and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Faculty, the CGCA, the RSMA and alumni in general for your support this year. I must confess that I am looking forward to a quieter life next year, but I hope to maintain a degree of involvement in both of my alumni associations’ social calendars!

Now at last I can relax, and hand this valuable, heavy baton over to Chris...