As University terms in the UK draw to a close for the winter holidays and the new year, the members of the UJS Development Team reminisce about some of their highlights of 2010...
Southern comfort (Josh C)
To summarise some of the highlights of Term 1, I could talk about Spurs beating Arsenal and Inter Milan, going to Germany to see Spurs play in the Champions league against Werder Bremen, or even my new iPhone that arrived this week! However, I am going to focus on some of my highlights of working in the London region the past term as one of three National Development Officers (NDO).
London kicked off the term in style. A freshers BBQ followed by a bar crawl around London attracted over 150 students. 170 students attended the first Friday night dinner to cap off an immensely successful first week!
It has been fantastic to see London students getting involved in some of UJS’ national projects. London J-soc sent 2 teams to play in the JUEFA Cup in Nottingham; one of the London teams, captained by Danny Kon, won the Plate competition! London students also attended the National JSoc Summit weekend in Leeds for the first time.
UJS held a four week Israeli crash course, organised by Dani from the Campaigns team. This was a well attended series that boasted some top speakers. UCL and LSE also invited some top speakers to come to speak on their campuses this term and I’m looking forward to seeing an impressive list of speakers coming in term 2.
Finally, the London J Socs elections took place which had over 60 students come to vote in Gabriel Chain as their new president along with a great new committee. The new committee has incredible potential and I look forward to working with them in term 2!
I am off to lead a Birthright trip in Israel which I am looking forward to immensely. For more information about Birthright trips in the summer, click here.
A date to save for your diary is my birthday on the 4th of February. It also happens to be the London regional Shabbaton that is being held in Bournemouth. No excuses for forgetting my 24th, and I look forward to seeing you all on the Shabbaton, Have a good break from Uni and lets’ hope Spurs pick up some vital points over the festive season
Central perks (Matt)
There have been some great events in the central region over term 1. Birmingham J-soc has been regularly getting 150 people to their weekly Friday nights! They ended the term with a big marquee in Hillel and had almost 300 people enjoying the best Friday night dinner any J-soc has ever seen; with the committee extra volunteers literally up all night cooking for 24 hours in the run up to the night!
Channukah events brought great success for two of the smaller J Soc's in the central region. Keele J-soc, a close-knit society of just 10 members, invited the community to their charity Channukah event and ended up with an event of 40 people, eating, drinking and taking part in an auction to raise money for charity.
Cardiff J-soc had their biggest event in recent years, with their Channukah party getting 30 people in attendance. The night started in Cardiff's famous falafel bar, with lighting of the candle, lots of food, lots of drink and plenty of Channukah games for entertainment before everyone moved on to Cardiff town centre for a great night out.
Finally, a mention goes to Liverpool J-soc, which has also seen their highest numbers for years as 40 people have been regularly attending Friday nights. The Oneg games that follow their Shabbat meals add an extra element of fun to their Shabbat experiences!
My personal highlight of the term was Birmingham's bar crawl ‘wasted WEJ’ - where 200 Jewish students attended dressed as Disney characters, with candidates for the new J-soc committee campaigning tirelessly to canvass votes - see this video for all the nights fun shenanigans.
Northern Spirit (Josh M)
Many Jewish students who I have worked with this term would say my highlight of the term would be my X factor victory over Rebecca Ferguson. I have been able to balance my new career of being a celebrity new like, with some pretty memorable experiences in the North of England.
A lot of my efforts this term were geared towards the Northern Region Shabbaton in Durham on 26th-28th November. The weekend saw students from St Andrews, York, Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Teeside, Hartlepool and Durham bond and spend Shabbat together! With over 50 students attending, the weekend was a great chance for students in the region to spend Shabbat together and see the beautiful city of Durham, which looked incredible in the snow!
Other highlights from the North this term have been working with York J-soc for their Hillel centre opening, which provides a fantastic new space for Jewish students in Derwent College in York. And a special shout out goes to Newcastle J-soc, who held a fantastic bonfire party that I was fortunate to attend!
Being based in Leeds, I have had the pleasure of working with the newly elected Leeds J-soc committee on the J-soc summit weekend. They have a hard act to follow the fantastic dedication and events that the outgoing committee put on last term, but I can already see some fantastic leadership potential from them.
I had a lot of fun managing the ‘Info hub’ at Limmud conference. The UJS team were delighted to see many Jewish students at conference, and provided a free drink for every Jewish student on the Monday night!
South Coast-ing and Directing Development (Elana)
I can’t believe I’m sitting here in mid-December, writing a little account on what has taken place since September...time has flown and a lot has happened.
The South Coast has been busy this term. With a kosher kitchen opened in Bournemouth, Mitzvah Day in Southampton and the Bereaved Family Forum in Brighton and Sussex, to name a few, Jewish students across the South Coast have a lot of options.
Sussex University was also featured as a stop on the UJS Presidential Election Roadshow, as it is Marcelle Jennings’s university. She and Dan Grabiner both did very well and I was fortunate enough to be able to chair the debate – lots of fun.
This semester, most of my time was taken up by planning the J-Soc Summit, which took place December 3rd-5th at Leeds Hillel Centre. UJS invited the incoming committees from six large J-Socs for a weekend of training and teambuilding.
There were sixty participants from Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and, for the first time, London J-Socs. It was a great weekend and I knew everyone’s names by the end!
I've just had a fantastic Limmud conference, and am looking forward to J-Soc Development Programme (JSDP) training days in January, Shabbatonim in February and lots of campus visits! Keep your eyes open for more details on Shabbat UK, March 11, 2011.
Be in touch with me anytime for questions, comments or feedback! I’d love to hear from you – elana@ujs.org.uk or 07976751413.
The UJS Development Team wishes all Jewish students a relaxing winter break and a happy new year! See you in 2011!
