We’ve only been back for two weeks since Spring Vacation ended, but it’s been full steam ahead here at your Union, with so much going on and so much to look forward to. We’ve been working hard behind-the-scenes to make your last few months of this semester the best it possibly can be, and April was no different!

We’ve seen the grand re-opening of the legendary Lake Bar, and with the most incredible weather over the last few weeks, we couldn’t have asked for better opening. We also hosted our final Speak Week of this academic year, opened Course Rep nominations, supported lots of you with the new Renters Rights’ Act, announced a new Union Trip, and have been working hard to prepare for both Union and Colours Ball – and this is just to name a few!

Let’s recap on just some of the things we have been up to across April:

Community:

• Saw the return of our Lake Bar, and with such amazing weather in the last two weeks, it’s been the place to be! Our Tuesday Quiz nights are now back at the Lake every week, and we have introduced live music every Wednesday. It’s been incredible to see all of you enjoying being together at the Lake, and we can’t wait to see what the next few weeks have in store!
• Continued to run and organise a range of different Belonging Events, and brought back our popular Belonging Breakfast with around 80 of you coming along for a bite to eat to start the day.
• Behind-the-scenes, your Community team are working hard to prep for upcoming award nights, the End of Year shows, and the hugely anticipated Grad Ball, so watch this space!

Voice:

• Closed our nominations for the first ever Surrey Teaching and Academic Greatness awards, with 124 nominations celebrating staff across all categories. We will be announcing the winners in May, so stay tuned for the results!
• Opened nominations for the next cohort of Course Reps - if you're looking to become a Course Rep next year, make sure to put yourself forward! Nominations close on Friday 8 May.
• Ran another incredibly successful Speak Week, gathering over 1100 change suggestions, almost double what we achieved in November! Throughout the week we gave out over 770 cupcakes, held six focus groups, and hosted Student Voice Forum where you asked 37 questions directly to senior University staff.
• The Student Equality Network hosted a #MyNameIs Stall at the Library and in total 26 students signed up to the campaign’s My Lived Experience project. We’ve also seen 33 Course Reps submit a Rep win for April, which now takes our total to 170 overall this year!

Support:

• Supported you with advice and guidance surrounding the new Renters’ Rights Act which came into action on Friday 1 May. If you are not sure how this may impact you, head over to our dedicated support page for more information or reach out to one of our advisors.
• Helped support over 126 students this month with various cases, outside of the Easter Vacation and closure period.
• Working behind-the-scenes to prepare for one of Support Zones biggest campaigns - Don’t Worry Surrey - coming in the May assessment period. Find out more about Don’t Worry Surrey over on our campaign page.

Activity:

• Launched a new Union Trip to Edinburgh, taking place in July. Sold out tickets to Bourton-on-the-Water, and still have tickets left for our Paintballing trip next week! We also took a group of you to watch the England Women’s Football team beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley earlier this month!
• Released our shortlists for both Union and Colours Ball, and worked full steam ahead to organise these events for you at the beginning of May. It didn’t take long for Colours Ball to sell out either which was amazing to see. Good luck to all those shortlisted!
• Held our bye-elections for club and society signatory elections, helping to fill any vacant roles in your clubs and societies for next year.

Your Union:

• Hosted the final Union Forum of the year, both in person and online, inviting both current and incoming officers. Officers celebrated the year with pizza, drinks and a coffee voucher to say thank you for all their hard work!
• Finished our final Destination Success workshops for this academic year. Thank you to everyone for being a part of this new programme! We have plenty more planned for next year, so make sure to keep any eye on our Destination Success page to see any new events!
• Represented Surrey Union at the recent round of Graduations, helping to celebrate all your successes and hard work during your time at Surrey. Congratulations to all our graduates!

Even with only two full weeks in April, we have managed to achieve so much for you as we head into the final few weeks of this academic year! There is so much more to come, and with the exam period around the corner, our Support team will be on hand throughout Don’t Worry Surrey to help with all advice and guidance.

Make sure to keep an eye on our What’s On calendar for all upcoming events!