SpeedDating

SPace MAR 2013

Helping digitise the city

Bath Spa University’s monthly magazine

Literature festival

Front cover: Illuminate Bath - Image credit: Ria MacRae

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In march’s issue of space...

Update from the Vice-Chancellor 4

Newton Park campus development update 6

Staff Survey 8

Hartham Park 9

Amphitheatre - Play your part 9

Spotlight on...Stuart Nelson 10

Honk if you’re happy! 13

From London Games to Greek monasteries 14

Transforming a life 16

Helping digitise the city 18

Anthony Head’s Digitrope 19 Social Media Experiment 20

Bringing the heritage sector together 21

Speed dating 22

Religious adventures 23

Music was my first love, and it will be my last… 24

Five star painting competition 26

Nobel Prizewinning poets 27

At the heart of the city’s Literature Festival 28

Strong current now flowing through University Estates Team 30

Nursery award 31

BSU: in the news 32

Students’ Union news 34

Staff news 35

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Update from the Vice-ChancellorFlights, Fundraising, Festivals and the Future

FestivalsBoth the Bath Literature Festival and the Bath Digital Festival took place this month, with staff and students playing a key role. Bath Spa University is now a creative part-ner with Bath Festivals, in recognition both of the importance to us of the rich cultural life of Bath and of the strong support we give the festivals. David Almond, one of our professors, will direct the Children’s Litera-ture Festival later this year.

FundraisingColleagues will have heard about our ex-citing plans for the new Amphitheatre at Newton Park. We are seeking corporate in-vestment for a canopy and technical equip-ment and have launched an appeal to name the seats and rows of the amphitheatre. I would like to thank colleagues who have led the way as our first group of staff donors. If you would like to find out more please email daro@bathspa.ac.uk or visithttp://alumni.bathspa.ac.uk/amphitheatre.

Pic: Professor Christina Slade Vice-Chancellor

March , a month when achieving an F isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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Update from the Vice-ChancellorFlights, Fundraising, Festivals and the Future

Pic: Artist impression of the new Amphitheatre

FlightsI flew to Boston earlier this month to attend the Bath Spa sponsored event at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference. The event, A Conversation Between Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott, both Nobel Prize winners, was a great success and show-cased the great links our creative writ-ers have across the globe. The other purpose of my trip was to meet with potential members of a global network of Liberal Arts colleges. I hope to bring more news of that in the coming months.

FutureA thank you to colleagues who attended the recent staff talks on our strategic plans and the new residential develop-ment. It truly is an exciting time here at Bath Spa with many more projects to launch later this year.

As always I welcome your comments via the online suggestions box, no idea too small. https://thehub.bathspa.ac.uk/services/vice-chancellor/suggestions

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Newton park campus development

Contract for new residential accommodation development signed

On Friday 15 March the University signed a contract for the development of new student residen-tial accommodation at our Newton Park campus. This is the second phase of our £70 million devel-opment at Newton Park which includes the new, state-of-the-art academic building, rapidly taking its place on campus.

The new student residential accommodation will consist of individual ‘houses’ for up to ten stu-dents. Each house will include a shared kitchen/living space and en-suite bedrooms fitted to a very high standard. They will be situated in an attractive courtyard setting at the western end of the cam-pus near to the Students’ Union facilities.

The project is being delivered by main contractor Miller Construction, one of the UK’s largest con-struction and integrated asset management services businesses.

Pic: Artist impression of the completed student residential campus

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Work on the residential development will begin in June 2013 and is scheduled for completion by September 2014. Prospective students will be able to view a sample bedroom and living space when visiting the University at open days on 1 June, 5 October, 19 October, 26 October or 9 Novem-ber 2013.

Construction of the new academic building is on schedule to be completed by spring 2014.

This exciting second phase of our campus development will provide outstanding accommodation facilities for our students. Combined with our superb new academic building it will ensure we are able to offer an excellent experience for future students.

More information including artists impressions of the new residential accommodation is available on the website here

If you have any questions about the campus developments, please let us know by emailing:npdevelopment@bathspa.ac.uk

Pic: L-R bottom: Carolyn Puddicombe, Director of Estates and Services, Bath Spa University; Profes-sor Christina Slade, Vice-Chancellor, Bath Spa University; Simon Burton, Regional Managing Director; Miller Construction.

L-R top: Mark Kirby, Commercial Manager, Miller Construction; Kenny Ling, Solicitor, Veale Wasbrough Vizards; Anita Edson, Capital Projects Manager, Bath Spa University; Adrian Smith, Project Director, Miller Construction

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In particular:

• 94% of us are interested in Bath Spa and we feel working here is more than a job.

• 90% of us say that Bath Spa is a good place to work.

• 85% of us are proud to work here.

The analysis has also identified some areas for improvement:

• Workload and stress.• Management of change.• Communication.• Co-operation between different Schools/Department.

If you have particular views on the above issues, have been affected by them, or would like to make suggestions for improvement, please volunteer to be a member of a focus group. The aim of the focus groups is to explore the finding and in particular look at the areas for improvements and develop solutions to address them.

Thank you to those who have already volunteered to be part of a focus group however more of us are still needed to ensure they are as effec-tive as possible.

Please email staffsurvey@bathspa.ac.uk if you would like to volunteer.

Staff Survey The results of the 2012 Staff Survey have now been analysed and show that overall we are positive about our University.

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Hartham Park This month we announced exciting new plans to relocate the PGCE provision within the School of Education to Hartham Park in Corsham by spring 2014. Colleagues in the School of Edu-cation have been involved in discussions and a number of staff have also visited Hartham Park. The move will not affect any existing students and new applicants will be informed of the change of course location.

A period of public consultation in Corsham has begun before a planning application regarding the use of buildings at Hartham Park is submit-ted to Wiltshire Council. If planning permission is granted the new buildings at Hartham Park would provide significantly more space and superb, purpose built facilities. A full transport plan, including car parking and public transport provision, is also under development and will be submitted as part of the planning application.

The University already has a presence in Wilt-shire through our Corsham Court campus and this move will expand our already excellent postgraduate provision there. Our Ofsted ‘out-standing’ teacher education courses already have a very strong partnership with Wiltshire schools and Local Authority which this move will consolidate further. This relocation will enable us to build a shared community of practice in collaboration with our partner schools, teachers and Local Authorities in the region. This will be based on our shared commitment to develop excellence in our teachers and schools and to explore the contribution research can make in improving our practice.

Amphitheatre - play your part

The proposed new specialist Institute for Educa-tion at Hartham Park would enable us to contin-ue to lead the way in national educational policy and practice development, and help shape the national agenda on teacher education. This will confirm and celebrate our position as a leading provider of teacher education, not only in the South West, but the UK as a whole.

The new academic building development at Newton Park includes the building of an Am-phitheatre which will be the first venue of its kind in Bath. It will provide 150 seats and will be suitable for a variety of performances, including outdoor theatre, acoustic gigs, orchestral con-certs and opera.

The University has launched a ‘seat naming fund’ so that staff, students, alumni and friends can support future generations of students. By sponsoring a seat, your donation will go towards a student bursary fund. Your name or dedica-tion will be engraved on the seat plaque and will remain in place for the lifetime of the seat, a minimum of 15 years.

The cost of a donation is £150 which can be paid in full or via an instalment plan from a little as £5 a month. If you would like to sign up you can do so on the donation page here

“I currently work as a relief sup-port worker in a care home for deaf adults with learning diffi-culties, and through the char-ity I have started learning sign language. I have been awarded my level one in BSL (British sign language) and I hope to start my second level in a few weeks, and eventually complete my third level by Christmas 2014. Once I have achieved this, it would mean I can become a support assistant in colleges.”

Stuart has a clear idea of what he would like his career to involve, but there are a couple of other things he would like to do first.

“I want to go travelling for a while and finish in New Zealand as they are one of the few countries that use a similar frameworks of sign language as we do here, meaning I could hopefully earn a living in New Zealand and still be able to travel.

Commercial , ambassadorial work and sign language - how do these all fit together? Stuart Nelson explains.

Stuart Nelson is in his last year of a three year Commercial Music course. He has turned his hand to many things during his time here at Bath Spa, but what next for the Halifax born 21 year old?

“I don’t have any concrete plans yet for when I graduate. Al-though, the University job shop has played quite a key role in deciding what I do next.

“I sought the help of the job shop last summer when I was looking for job opportunities and they put me in touch with one of Action On Hearing Loss’ care homes. Previously known as The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), Action on Hearing Loss is a national deaf charity for people with hearing difficulties. I was suc-cessful in applying for a job and have been working with them for nine months now which has really changed things for me.10 SPACE MAR 2013

Stuart Nelson, third year Commercial Music student and Student Ambassador

spotlighton...

“I wanted to move somewhere different and the University was unlike anything I had experienced before.”

I eventually intend to come back to England and take a decision about my next step then.

“I also have a business idea I would like to pursue. I was in the finals of the Business Plan competition which is run by the University’s Enterprise team. My business idea is called ‘Love Mr Darcy’ which enables the customer to send a loved one a bunch of flowers accompanied with a video message. They will not know who sent them the flowers until they see the video that you have created for them. If I won the competition I would have used the prize money to invest in my business and help it grow.

“I can see how studying for a mu-sic degree, looking to develop my qualifications in sign language as well as having my own business ideas may seem a little disjoint-ed. However, I would love to have my own company. Having addi-tional skills in sign language and music is a good back up.”

Bath is a considerable distance from the likes of Manchester and Leeds, so why move so far away to study for a degree?

Pic: Stuart playing his bass guitar

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“I wanted to move somewhere different and the University was unlike anything I had experienced before.”

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“I wanted to move somewhere different and the University was unlike anything I had ex-perienced before.

“When it came to deciding what to study at University, I wasn’t the most organised so my dad encouraged me to go and visit a range of different universities and Bath Spa was first on the list.

“Having attended an Open Day, I simply fell in love with Bath Spa and the course it was offering. Despite assessing other options, it was clear to me that all the other university courses I looked at were well below par in comparison.”

Speaking about his course choice, Stuart explains:

“I have always enjoyed music having played clarinet since I was 11 and when it came to my A-levels, I chose to study a music tech-nology course which put me in the mind-set of studying music at a higher standard and I also became part of a band.”

Stuart is also a Student Ambassador and works at Open Days showing prospective students around the campus. He explains why he was keen to take on the role:

“I remember how good the campus tour guides were when I came to an Open Day. During my first year I saw an advert for Am-bassadors and thought not only would it be a good job, it would also be a way of giving something back to the University. I am very proud of the fact I study here and feel I do quite a good job as an Ambassador.

If you would like to recommend a fellow student

or colleague to be interviewed for ‘Spotlight on’

please let us know by emailing Rob Breckon

r.breckon@bathspa.ac.uk

“My Dad and I ended up chatting to one of the Student Ambassadors during the Open Day and they gave such an honest and insightful perspective of what it was like to study here, they effectively sold it to me!”

Quick fire questions:

Favourite spot on campus? The lake or the Artwork studios.

Funniest moment as a student? American football initiations…say no more!

Something people don’t know about you? I have a nearly identical twin brother.

Great thing about the city of Bath? It’s simply beautiful with nice people.

Pic: Mixing it up in American football

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Pic: Scene from the musical ‘Honk!’

This year’s Musical Theatre showcase ‘Honk!’ has seen more interdisciplinary collab-

oration across the School, with sell-out performances in the University Theatre dur-

ing March.

Honk if you’re happy!

Written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, ‘HONK!’ won the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musi-cal and is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘Ugly Duckling.’ This musical comedy version of the famous tale delighted audiences with an entertaining mix of upbeat songs and vibrant ensemble pieces performed by an energetic cast and accomplished orchestra.

The premise for this annual project – now in its fourth year - is to provide final year BA Drama, BA Music and BA Theatre Production students with a springboard into professional practice by creating a student company under the mentorship of staff, including a Musical Director and voice coach. The focus throughout the project is not just on technical excellence, but also on important professional skills such as collaboration, negotiation, conflict management, time management and many other inter-personal and organisational skills that are required to pull off an artistic project of this size and complexity.

The show was entirely produced by students, including direction, cast, arranging and conducting, set design, sound and lighting, costumes and props, with mentoring support from staff from the Drama, Music and Theatre Production teaching teams.

For more stories about students and staff in the School of Music and Performing Arts check out the spring issue of their newsletter here

Illustration lecturer Tim Vyner will travel to Greece to visit the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos.

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FRom london games to greek monasteries

Illustration lecturer Tim Vyner has re-ceived a bursary from the Royal College of Art to travel to Greece to visit the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos and record drawings and paintings. He will be mak-ing three separate trips to Greece over the coming year where he will record in paintings and drawings, the 20 monaster-ies and a selection of Sketes which will form a contemporary record of this unique location.

The culmination of the visits will be an exhibition of Tim’s art work at the Mount Athos Centre in Thessaloniki, and in Lon-don, as well as a printed portfolio book of the collection. As part of the award, Tim will have the opportunity to live and expe-rience a way of life unchanged for almost 1,000 years.

Commenting on his bursary award and forthcoming trips, he said: “It is a really exciting bursary to be awarded from the Royal College of Art, and a great privilege to be granted permission to work in such a remarkable place.

“Over the last decade I have become used to drawing and reporting on major sport-ing events where the pace of activities is frantic and the pressure to produce work quickly in large crowds is high. This pro-ject really appeals as it presents an op-portunity to reflect on my current practice by visiting a series of 20 Orthodox Monas-teries several times in a year, where the routine of life has changed very little.

“My first visit will be over the Easter break. When I return I am looking forward to telling the BA Graphic Communication and Illustration students I teach all about life in the Monasteries where I won’t have access to most of the technology we all take for granted in our work. I still plan to take an iPad and use it as a sketchbook alongside traditional drawing, painting and print-making.”

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FRom london games to greek monasteries

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Transforming a life Abby Thackary is a PGCE student at Bath Spa University. Her sister

Emily was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects the in-ternal organs, especially the lungs, making it hard to breathe and digest food.

In 2005 Emily’s condition began to deteriorate rapidly and doctors told her she would need a lung transplant. She was 21 years old. Within a short space of time, Emily was confined to a wheelchair and was in and out of hospital. By the summer of 2006 Emily was in a critical condition and Abby remembers being called to the hospital with her family to say goodbye:

“I’m the same age now as Emily was then and I’ve begun to realise just how scary this must have been for her.”

Although she survived, Emily was still very ill and in desperate need of a lung transplant. The first time a donor became available, she was too ill to undergo the operation, but in January 2007 anoth-er opportunity arose. Abby remembers:

“The donor family were undecided and in this situation time is critical. We were very lucky that the hospital had a Donor Coordinator who liaised with the family and explained the process to them.

“We were all worried that the transplant might not go ahead, but thanks to the efforts of the Donor Coordinator it did. We could all understand the conflict the donor family were going through and we were all very grateful to them.

“The Donor Coordinators are essential to the process. In some hospitals doctors liaise with the do-nor family, but are not necessarily trained to deal with the complex emotional state people having to go through the process are in.”

Emily’s operation was a success and six years on, she is happily married and will shortly have a baby.

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Transforming a life Abby Thackary is a PGCE student at Bath Spa University. Her sister

Emily was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects the in-ternal organs, especially the lungs, making it hard to breathe and digest food.

Doctors told Emily afterwards that her lungs were so badly damaged she would only have had a couple more weeks to live. As Abby describes:

“The transplant didn’t just save Emily’s life, it transformed it. There were times when she was so ill that I said my goodbyes and it’s amazing to see her today, living the life she always wanted.”

Today, only 31 per cent of the UK population have joined the Organ Donor Register, but more than 10,000 people currently need a transplant.

“I find this frustrating as there enough organs available to treat everyone who needs one, but if you’re not on the register, you can’t help save a life,” says Abby.

“It’s important to sign the donor register, but also very important that you let your family and friends know what your wishes are by telling them you are on the register.”

You can find out more about organ donation at www.organdonation.nhs.uk and about Cystic Fibrosis at www.cftrust.org.uk

Helping digitise the city Bath Spa staff and students played a pivotal role in the 2013 Bath Digital Festival.

The University teamed up with Bath Digital Festival to provide ten days of exciting events at venues across the city during March.

Bath has a fast-growing digital sector and the Festival was developed to allow members of the pub-lic to explore the city’s thriving digital scene and to get involved in a variety of interesting projects. The mixture of events offered something for everyone in the community. Innovative research is constantly being carried out at Bath Spa and cutting-edge digital enterprises are choosing the city as their home, so Bath has a lot to celebrate and is fast being recognised as a leading digital hub.

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Senior lecturer Anthony Head created a brand new artwork for the Festival

The Digitrope, which is an interactive, participatory linear zoetrope (a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures) was projected onto the Roman Baths in Stall Street on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 March.

Members of the public were invited to come along and be teleported into the Digitrope, by standing in front of the camera and performing for a few seconds. They then watched a 20 metre wide pro-jection, showing their time-delayed image along the Digitrope’s nine two-metre high windows. Just like watching a 19th century zoetrope, but with a 21st century digital twist!

Anthony Head said: “It was great to have the opportunity to create a new projected work for Bath Digital Festival. Following my personal passion for digital interactivity, this participatory artwork brought many smiles to people as they experienced it for themselves. The act of seeing yourself, patterned by the rhythm of time-delayed moving image is uncanny and engaging. You just needed to relax and have a go at it yourself.”

Anthony Head’s Digitrope

Pic: Bath Digital Festival, photographer Ria Mac-Rae

Pic: Anthony Head’s Digitrope, photographer Ria MacRae

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Social Media Experiment

Katharine Reeve, Acting Head of Depart-ment in Creative Writing and Publishing ran a social media workshop with senior lecturer Mike Johnston. The event sold out quickly to a wide range of local businesses, cultural or-ganisations and freelancers, and showcased the recent work they have been doing around creative and responsive mobile video content.

Before, during and after the Festival, Katharine and Mike, with the help of Digital Publishing students managed the Social Media Experi-ment to promote the festival digitally through the use of Twitter, Facebook, blogs/articles, filming, interviews and YouTube.

Publishing staff and students also joined forces to launch a new Digital School Mag-azine project. They held a workshop for four local schools in the University’s Publishing Lab where they provided advice and expertise to school teachers and magazine producers.

Another project during the Festival saw staff and students team up to look after the Festival’s entire social media presence.

Katharine Reeve said: “We’ve had a busy year providing creative digital content for many fes-tivals and conferences. The students have de-veloped not only their digital creativity but also invaluable experience of working with industry directly, and collaboration and team-building.

“The Digital Publishing students who worked on the Social Media Experiment were given some wonderful opportunities to create digital content across media and platforms for this important digital festival, which celebrates the city of Bath’s expertise in this area.”

Pic: Social Media Experiment

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The School of Humanities and Cultural Indus-tries brought together local, regional and na-tional heritage practitioners to facilitate debate within the sector in general. The Forum also fosters collaboration and partnerships between the sector and higher education.

This year’s Forum was chaired by Adrian Tinn-iswood, historian and author, trustee and mem-ber of the Museums and Education Committee for the Bath Preservation Trust, Holburne Mu-seum Trustee, member of the National Trust Council and Bath Spa University Visiting Fellow in Heritage.

He was joined by speakers Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of Churches Conservation Trust; Sam Rose, World Heritage Site Coordi-nator, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team and Tina Lewis, Director of People and Legal Ser-vices at the National Trust.

Topics of discussion varied, but Crispin Truman talked about in particular the need to “tap into people’s love of heritage, which is huge in the UK” and about the importance of recognising the mutual benefits of working in partner-ship. This was echoed by the other speakers and resonated with the attendees. The overall theme of ‘Sustaining Partnerships’ also rein-forced the University’s commitment to com-munity and public engagement through strong partnerships at all levels from local to interna-tional.

Bringing the heritage sector together

The Annual Heritage Forum was held on Wednesday 6 March at the Museum of Bath at Work.

Dr Kristin Doern, Heritage Subject Leader at Bath Spa said: “This is the sixth Heritage Fo-rum and I am again thrilled with the response from heritage colleagues. In particular we were delighted to welcome so many new attendees from the wider region. The heritage sector, like many others in the UK, is under pressure, so it is more vital than ever that we work together to share expertise and support. The Forum is already a significant networking event in the local heritage sector calendar. We are working to make it a major event regionally and nation-ally as well.

“But Heritage at Bath Spa also needs to pre-pare students for the challenges they will face in this diverse and exciting sector, and more broadly in the arts and cultural industries so many of graduates go into.

Pic: Annual Heritage Forum

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speed dating?“The Forum is an important part of encouraging our students to build relationships with practitioners and experts. Our undergraduate Heritage students help run the event, and our Heritage Management MA students attend as full participants, which is a wonderful opportunity for them to make important contacts within the sector.”

The event provides a unique and vitally important networking opportunity for colleagues working within the sector. This year over 70 people attended from organisations including the Holburne Museum, Bath Preservation Trust, Bath and North East Somerset Council Heritage Services, Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, Somerset Heritage Centre, Wiltshire and Swin-don History Centre, Avebury World Heritage Site, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, Association of Independ-ent Museums, Churches Conservation Trust, The National Trust, English Her-itage, and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Bath Spa held a speed-networking event as part of its partnership with Creative Bath where over 50 media com-munications students and local creative businesses met up and networked at an event held at Circo Bath.

Local companies such as Suited and Booted Studios, Cahootify, Cultural Forum, Media Clash and Xcetra Media had the opportunity to meet creative and entrepreneurial Bath Spa students to discuss any potential jobs or oppor-tunities and how they might be able to collaborate with these students in the future.

BA Publishing and Media student Chloe Hall attended the event and said: “Thanks for such a fantastic evening, who knew Bath has such great employment opportunities!”

The University’s long-standing relationship with Creative Bath was formalised in February in a partnership to pro-mote creative enterprise in Bath.

The partnership will give creative professionals in Bath access to the University’s creative talent through regular membership events. Events such as the speed network-ing evenings will generate quick introductions and struc-tured discussion.

This collaboration will also benefit Bath Spa Universi-ty students through the Creative Bath Intern Scheme, which aims to retain graduate talent in Bath, a shadowing scheme, and work experience opportunities with mem-bers’ companies.

The University recently hosted a Speed dating event with a focus on networking rather than the usual ‘date’.

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Religious adventures

Pic: HCI students

Students from the University’s Study of Religions course have recently been on two field trips to learn more about both Hinduism and Sikhism.

Students studying Hinduism have visited Bhaktivedanta Manor, the British headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The Manor was a gift from George Harrison in 1973 and one of the highlights was seeing a garden dedicated to the late Beatle complete with benches and plaques into which his song lyrics are carved.

During the day students joined in the chanting of the Mahamantra in the shrine, participated in a question and answer session, observed how dev-otees introduce Hinduism to school-children and enjoyed an Indian-style vegetarian meal.

The visit culminated in the demon-stration of a Gopuja, the worship of cows, in the farmyard of the Goshala (dairy farm) that provides milk, butter and cheese to the community in accordance with its principles of Cow Protection.

Students studying Sikhism have visited the Royal Pavilion in Brighton that served as a military hospital for Indian casualties of the Western Front from 1914 to 1916.

Sikhs formed a significant proportion of the troops serving in the Indian Army and, for them and their Hindu and Muslim brothers-in-arms, the authorities made every provision to ensure they could fulfil their religious and ritual obligations.

On a specialised tour, students were shown around the erstwhile Royal Palace’s ornate public rooms and had the opportunity to examine photographs and records including soldiers’ letters home.

They then went to the Chattri, the war memorial that marks the place on the South Downs where Hindu and Sikh soldiers were cremated and all the Indian soldiers who died in Brighton are com-memorated, and laid a wreath in their honour.

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Pic:Daryl and the rest of ‘Origins Sound’

Music was my firstlove, and it will be my last...

“I started DJing when I was fourteen; my Uncle got me into it. I DJ under the name ‘Trebor’, which is Robert (his name) backwards; it’s a sort of homage to him.”

Meet Daryl Hoadley: a third year Graphic Communication student at Bath Spa University.

When he’s not expressing himself through graphics, Daryl is also – as you may have guessed – a DJ. More importantly, he is one fifth of music collaborative Origins Sound whose free house music events at The Porter have been taking Thursday nights in Bath by storm.

“We have a lot of friends who are into it (house music),” says Daryl, who came up with the idea of Origins Sound after meeting fellow student, Ali Mehrkar from the University of Bath, who shared his interest in hosting a house music night in Bath that ‘removed exclusivity’.

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“I’m not sure how it came about. I got a phone call about it quite late on, but Ali had always said ‘we need to get more people involved’. Then an opportunity arose and he got his two flat mates (Joseph Price and Josh King) involved and I got my friend Ryan Birse involved, and it just grew.”

Since the first event back in September 2012 which featured Bristol-based Eton Messy, Origins Sound have seen their Thursday eve-nings at The Porter develop a huge following. They have so far brought in local house DJs like Applebottom, Panel, Ha55le and Taneli.

Along with his involvement as a DJ, Origins Sound has presented Daryl with plenty of opportunities to exercise his Graphic Com-munication skills.

“I’m in charge of design for Origins… so I do the posters and flyers etc, which is good for me because it’s an outlet. I can design it in my image, exactly how I want it,” he explains.

“Music is one of the main reasons I got into graphic design and now design is part of my playing music.” He elaborates, “I used to buy vinyl, which was 12”, so the album art was massive. There’s one design for Mylo’s album, ‘In My Arms’, which is probably the most influential thing in design for me. I saw that and thought ‘this is what I want to do with myself’.”

Whilst Origins Sound is something he’s very proud of and passionate about, Daryl still feels his future lies somewhere in the world of graphic design.

“Graphics is definitely more of a career choice, that’s why I decided to come to Bath Spa. I’ve tried production, and it didn’t work. I mean, when everyone was learning pro-duction software, I was trying to learn Adobe Suite, Photoshop and Illustrator,” he recalls. “Graphics and design have always been the direction I intend going in.”

“All the time that Origins works, I want to be doing it. I love it, it’s great and people enjoy it. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but this is something that has started now, and it’s something we want to carry on, wherever we move after uni.”

And despite their obvious hard work and dedication, Daryl attributes their progress to a few other important factors.

“If I was going to summarise it in one word, it would have to be ‘friends’. If no-one turned up, it would be rubbish!” He goes on, “There’s something I read on a bathroom wall that said ‘good luck matters’, and I think that applies to everything. Origins is here because we got lucky; we had an opportunity, we went for it, and it worked. So, you know… ‘good luck matters’.”

Find out more about Origins Sound and their upcoming events on Twitter @originssound and Facebook www.facebook.com/originssound.

Written by Adam N. Smith, @ANSMITH90, http://justanothersmith.netPhotography by Gini Standard-Sheader, @v_sheader, www.standardsheader.com

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This opportunity is exclusively for current and recent graduates of Bath Spa and will require the shortlisted artists to present their designs to a panel of external judges. The prize winners will receive a fee of £700 (for each artwork) plus material and studio costs, transportation and technical support during production and installation.

The artworks are to be designed for two very different rooms within the hotel. One mural will be placed in the restaurant and the other in the private dining room.

The competition is offered by the University in collaboration with YTL Hotels, who own Gainsbor-ough Bath Spa and Champalimaud Design.

A shortlist of five applicants will be invited to a site visit on 15 April, before giving a formal presenta-tion to the selection panel during May. The artwork will be installed in October 2013.

Five star painting competition Students and Alumni of Bath Spa are invited to produce paintings for the multi-million pound development of the Gainsborough Bath Spa, Bath’s premier five star hotel.

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The University’s Contem-porary Writing Research Centre sponsored the event which featured a conversation between Nobel prizewinning poets Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott. The event attracted an audience of over 4,000 at the Hynes Confer-ence Centre in Boston.

Celebrated poet and trans-lator Seamus Heaney is the author of more than twenty volumes of poetry, essays, and translations, including Opened Ground; District and Circle, (winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize); Human Chain; and Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001. Poet, playwright, and essayist Derek Walcott is the author of eight collections of plays, a book of essays, and fourteen poetry collections, including Omeros, Tiepolo’s Hound, and most recently, White Egrets.

Dean of the School of Human-ities and Cultural Industries at Bath Spa, and playwright and novelist, Dr Steve May introduced the two Nobel Prize-winning poets and pre-sented readings of their work. A discussion followed which was moderated by the poet and critic Rosanna Warren, author of Ghost in a Red Hat.

Dr May said: “It was a privi-lege and pleasure to be pres-ent at this event, where two great poets, and great friends, discussed their work, their influences and the events that shaped their work. The atmos-phere was electric, and the audience rapt. A great night.”

President of AWP, David Fenza, said: “This was a truly historic event which would have been impossible without the support of Bath Spa University.”

Each year, the AWP holds its Annual Conference & Bookfair in a different city to celebrate the authors, teachers, writing programs, literary centres, and independent publishers of that region.

The conference typically fea-tures 550 readings, lectures, panel discussions, and forums, as well as hundreds of book signings, receptions, danc-es, and informal gatherings. More than 10,000 writers and readers attended the 2012 conference, and 600 exhibitors were represented at the book-fair. AWP’s is now the largest literary conference in North America.

Nobel Prizewinning poets

Bath Spa sponsored the keynote event at the Association of Writers and Writing programs (AWP) conference in America.

Pic: Book, photographer Amy Lamborn

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Bath welcomed the finest writers and creative minds to discuss topics as diverse as religion, sci-ence, morality, art and the environment. The focus was on the themes of Freedom, Landscape and as the centenary of the Great War approaches, Europe in 1913.

The University annually supports the Literature Festival and was proud to be Bath Festivals’ Cre-ative Partner. Once again, students and staff contributed in many ways to this year’s programme, including student-led events such as ‘Voices in the City’, sponsorship of the fantastic ‘Landscape’ strand and the popular free ‘Writers Surgery’ workshops for new, aspiring writers.

As part of the World Book Day celebrations on Thursday 7 March, the University ran two free events for the general public:

• Writers Surgery: Speculative Fiction – Writers from Bath Spa hosted an informal work shop helping those who are interested in writing explore the genres of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

• Pitch Perfect – Members of the public had the opportunity to hear some of our PhD Crea- tive Writing students pitch their projects to a panel of academics who then voted for the winner.

Commenting on the University’s involvement, Dean of the School of Humanities and Cultural Indus-tries at Bath Spa, Dr Steve May, said: “For many years Bath Spa’s involvement with Bath Festivals has been exciting and of great benefit to our students and the local community.

“Now that our ‘union’ has been regularised and we are formal ‘creative partners’, it gives us even more opportunities to contribute to these wonderful events in the future.”

Bath Festivals’ Marketing and Development Director, Owen McNeir, added: “In what is a challenging climate for the Arts in the UK, the Creative Partnership between Bath Festivals and Bath Spa Uni-versity stands out as a confident and dynamic collaboration. We look forward to building on our es-tablished heritage, embarking on new creative projects together and above all, to inspiring students across the University to help us grow and sustain the arts in Bath and North East Somerset.”

At the heart of the city’s Literature FestivalThe West’s biggest Literature Festival, the 2013 Independent Bath Literature Festi-val came to Bath in March.

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Coming up in apr...

Musica Viva: Composers’ Concert

Wed 17 Apr, 1:10pm, Michael Tippett CentreMusic by student composers from Bath Spa University’s Department of Music. Musica Viva events are free lunchtime concerts by students, staff and friends of the Department of Music at Bath Spa University. The concerts usually end at 1:50pm.

Tickets: Free – no booking required.

Open Space

Thurs 25 & Fri 26 Apr, 7:30pm, University TheatreTwo evenings of dance that show the innovation, high standard, and range of work from Bath Spa University Department of Dance. The evening is choreographed and performed by dance students from all years of study and includes solos, films and group pieces. Open Space also features the performance of a brand new work directed by Dr Karla Shacklock. Karla is an independent perfor-mance artist, based in Bristol and supported by Pavilion Dance South West and Arts Council Eng-land.

Full Price £10; Concessions £8; BSU Students & U16s £5. Free for Bath Spa Live members.

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Strong current now flowing through University Estates TeamThe University’s Maintenance team within Estates and Services has recently expanded to include an Electrical Division.

This means that the Maintenance Team has been able to become NICEIC (National Inspec-tion Council for Electrical Installation Contracting) registered and approved as a company. The NICEIC is one of several organisations which regulates the training and work of electrical enterprises in the UK and is one of several providers given Government approval to offer Com-petent Person Schemes to oversee electrical work within the electrical industry.

This means that the University can legally undertake, test and sign-off its own electrical works throughout its portfolio. The accreditation also means that Bath Spa could potentially sub contract its own electricians out for commercial work elsewhere should the need arise. The accreditation has been down to the willingness and hard work of Electrical technician Adrian Blake who joined as a full-time employee eight months ago.

As a Qualified NICEIC supervisor in previous roles including running his own company, Adrian was able to transfer his private business accreditation to the University and he now acts as a Bath Spa NICEIC approved principle duty holder and qualified supervisor, for all Low voltage Installations.

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Maintenance Manager Craig Smith and Adrian have also recently undertaken a HV (High Volt-age) Senior Authorised person course. This means that as a company, Bath Spa has the ability to oversee and manage works on its private 11,000 volt HV network. It also means that both Craig and Adrian now have the competence to manage any contracted works carried out and deal with any of the statutory requirements imposed when dealing with such works. The recent recruitment of skilled technical staff as well as the training of current employees means that the University is now not reliant on external contractors to resolve electrical issues.

Nursery awardOak Tree Nursery given Director of Public Health Award.

The Director of Public Health Award recognises and rewards schools and Early Years settings that deliver health and wellbeing outcomes for children. We are pleased to announce that Oak Tree Day Nursery is the first Early Years setting in Bath and North East Somerset to achieve this award.

The award demonstrates how the Nursery meets the health and wellbeing of children. The Nurs-ery has worked with parents/carers of children who attend the Nursery, as well as the grounds team and catering team at Bath Spa to improve the Nursery’s provision and promote healthier behaviours.

Congratulations to Emma Dixon the Nursery Manager and her team who were presented with the award at a ceremony on 21 March at the Guildhall in Bath

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BSU: in the news

David Almond

Professor of Creative Writing David Almond appeared on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs on Sunday 10 March. His picks included Doris Day, The Four Tops and Johann Sebastian Bach. You can listen again here

Pic: Bath Magazine feature on Bath Spa University Fashion course

Dressed to Impress

The Fashion course at Bath Spa was the feature of a double page spread in the March issue of the Bath Magazine. Course Leader Louise Pickles talked about how she established the course nine years ago, the success of the course’s graduates and the vital importance of students developing a personal identity in their work.

Pic: David Almond

Pic: David Almond

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BSU: in the newsAminatta Forna

Professor of Creative Writing Aminatta Forna was inter-viewed by The Sunday Times for their ‘Time and Place’ feature on 17 March. In the interview she discussed her experience living in Iran as a teenager throughout the Is-lamic revolution of 1979. Despite the troubled times, she has fond memories of travelling through the country and experiencing its culture. Professor Forna’s new book The Hired Man was released on March 28 and was published by Bloomsbury.

Stephanie Kitchen

BA Fashion student Stephanie Kitchen’s win at the annual Fashion Awareness Direct (FAD) competition in February has been celebrated in the press with Folio, Bath Chronicle and Bath Life Magazine featuring stories and interviews.

Pic: David Almond

Pic: Aminatta Forna

Pic: Stephanie Kitchen at the FAD awards

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Students’ Union

The results are in!

Bath Spa became accustomed to loudspeakers, banners, costumes, posters, flyers, stunts and being accosted at random getting off the bus or out of a car during the SU election week. The can-didates prepared their manifestos and launched themselves wholeheartedly into the pressurised world of student politics.

It was exhausting, there were tears (and possibly some tantrums!), voices were lost and sleep was deprived and yet they came through it. And… the results are in!

Congratulations to the sabbatical Officers for 2013:

• Amy Dawson as Students’ Union President

• Emma Weskin as Vice-President Welfare

• Holly Jenkins as Vice-President Activities

1,482 students voted in the elections, which was 23.6 per cent of eligible voters, well above the national average of 16 per cent.

Full details of all the representatives and officers elected can be found here

Pic: Emma Weskin, Amy Dawson andHolly Jenkins

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staff newsStarters and Leavers

In March we welcomed…

Elizabeth Watts - Executive Assistant (Estates and Services), Estates

Jennifer Foster - Academic Services Librarian (Facilities), Library and Information Services

Hazel Grainger - Academic Services Librarian (Procurement), Library and Information Services

Nigel Newbutt - Senior Lecturer in Media and Digital Cultures, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries

Peter Reid - E-resources Librarian, Library and Information Services

Melanie Abrahams - Administrator, Learning and Teaching Development

Katie Jane Millington - Senior Admissions Officer, Student Services

Ruth Russell - Alumni Relations Manager, Development and Alumni Relations Office

John Walsh - Cleaner, Domestic Services

Susan Rose - Cleaner, Domestic Services

Michal Kolec - Cleaner, Domestic Services

Evangeline Money - Cleaner, Domestic Services

We also said farewell to…

Lana Hula - HCI Staff & Student Administrator, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries

Paulette Linden - HR Coordinator, HR

Alex Hyde - Student Administration Assistant, Student Services

Please let us know if you have any interesting news for the next issue by sending your stories to j.wakefield@bathspa.ac.uk Deadline: Monday 15 April 2013.