On Tuesday 18 January Falmer House was again the chosen venue to hold Refreshers’ Fair. The fair was an opportunity for students’ societies and outside businesses, such as Pizza Hut and Lola Lo, to get together and advertise themselves.
Amongst many others, there were RAG, Student Media, Kickboxing, Rollerblading, Philosophy society, Sussex LGBTQ and Green Party stalls. Mahan Elmi, a member of the kickboxing society said that ‘’no matter how you look at it, kickboxing is awesome, either the weekly training or the demonstrations for others. I believe the guy started it with the massive hangover’’.
The Health and Wellbeing coordinator, Amanda Griffiths working with the Student Life Centre on campus stated that “the stall was extremely crowded.’’
University Radio Falmer (URF) made sure it entertained the students that marched in and out of Mandela Hall. Its first two hours set it off for a very positive start for the whole of the event, spread out on the ground, first and second floors. Students quickly gathered around the Pizza Hut stall every time there were hot deliveries.
After 2pm there was a smaller flow of students, but the amount was still quite significant to keep the fair running. One student told The Badger, “refreshers’ fair was a great opportunity to see the societies at the university. “Last term I missed the fair and I am really glad that the union held another fair for those who may have missed it, changed their minds or wanted to see what other societies were on offer.
“It was also useful as I was able to find out more about the new Student Life Centre. It was also a chance to get more freebies especially the pizza slices from Pizza Hut. “The one thing that did frustrate me was how badly the event was advertised. Freshers’ week was advertised really well, and the union should have done the same with this fair.”
Students signed up for societies, got freebies and had the opportunity to speak to societies’ members. Even though there were still students going in to Mandela Hall, several societies had already decided to leave their posts, which left those students with very little choice. One student said: “Refreshers fair was a little disappointing.
I went after my seminar around quarter to 4 and already some of the societies were packing up or had left. If it’s meant to be on until 4pm, it really should have been still going when I went.”
Despite this, Sol Schonfield, the Communications Officers for the university’s Student’s Union stated: “Refreshers Fair this year was one of the best yet! With over 80 stalls including club, societies and other opportunities at Sussex and more students than ever. We’re really happy with how it went.”
