May 2013

A TEAM of salvage experts from Oxford have taken pieces of the National Library’s historical collection to be dried and con-served after suffering damage during the fire at the Library on 26th April.

Although the fire is believed to have dam-aged an area mainly used for office space and new acquisitions, the water used in the extinguishing efforts leaked through “five or six floors” according to Arwel Jones, Direc-

tor of Public Services at the Library and has damaged a “small part” of the collection.

The salvage company arrived in Aberyst-wyth on the evening after the fire was extin-guished and worked over the weekend to assess as much of the damage as possible. Speaking before The Courier went to print, Jones said that he has “every confidence that the salvage experts will be successful and they will report back to later in the week.”

The fire broke out at approximately 2:40pm, and up to 300 staff and 100 visitors

who were inside the Library at the time were immediately evacuated before a reported 11 fire crews (from Aberystwyth, Lampeter, Machynlleth, Tregaron, Llandysul and an incident command unit from Carmarthen, along with a number of ambulances and po-lice units) arrived and extinguishing efforts began at 3:15. It took roughly 50 firefight-ers over four hours to get the fire fully under control.

THE SECOND annual Student-Led Teach-ing Awards were held on Tuesday 30th April.

The awards night, which took place in Me-dRus, was attended by nominees and their nominators, along with members of Uni-versity and Union staff and Senior Course Representatives.

Set up to recognise and reward the efforts of staff and student representatives through-out the University, each of the winners of

the eight awards were announced with three highly commended nominees, and all were invited on stage to collect their certificates of commendation.

The eight awards covered areas of stu-dents’ education experience, with categories for Innovative Teaching, Employability Im-pact, Personal Tutor, Student Representa-tive, (undergraduate and postgraduate) Support Staff, Teaching Through Technol-

ogy, Outstanding Teaching and Department of the Year.

Over a four-week period prior to the event, students were invited to nominate staff who had a positive impact upon on their time at the University, with a small summary of why they thought their nominee should win the award. The final winners were chosen by a panel of judges.

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Magnificent Seven win Hockey Sevens

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Bridger trial over April Jones’ death begins

Arts Centre: the saga continues

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‘THE MOST DIFFICULT MOMENT’

Laura Say

Operation underway to salvage the priceless collection at risk after National Library fire

Students recognise outstanding staff

Guy Drury

2The CourierMay 2013

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Any opinions expressed in articles in this newspaper are solely those of the contributors and are not to be attributed to the Aberystwyth Student Media committee, Aberystwyth University Students’ Union or Aberystwyth University.

The acceptance of advertising by The Courier is not an indication that The Courier, its editors or contributors or anyone associated with The Courier either supports or opposes any activity in which the advertiser may participate.

The Courier is published by Aberystwyth Student Media, an unincorporated association. Union Building, Penglais, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DX. © Aberystwyth Student Media 2013.

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in depth 05

opinion 06

arts 10

Extinguisher 13

puzzles 12

sport 14

lifestyle 08

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Letters should be sent to [email protected] may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.

LETTERS EDITOR TO THE

Aberystwyth Student Media is the integrated student media organisation for Ab-erystwyth. We produce The Courier, Bay Radio and Bay TV.

We operate independently of the Students’ Union and University; all of our content is produced by Aberystwyth students on a voluntary basis.

We’re always looking for new members - however you want to be involved, Aber Student Media is the place for you! To find out more, come to our fortnightly meetings at 6:30pm on Wednesdays in the main room of the Students’ Union, or drop by our office, G2, on the ground floor of the Union between 10am and 4pm weekdays.

If you’ve got any queries about joining, email our Membership Manager, Amy: [email protected].

You can find all the articles from this issue of The Courier, and more, online:

Dear Editor,

As a third year (hopefully) about to graduate, I would like to take this op-portunity to set out some of my views on how this University is run.

Aberystwyth University systematical-ly disregards the role of students in to-day’s higher education system. Students who pay £9,000 a year do not deserve to be treated like children.

The practice of submitting hard cop-ies of essays belongs in the Dark Ages. Why can we not submit all our essays via Blackboard? Is it so much to ask to have these printed for us?

Student representation at the highest levels of the University is scandalous. From this year, student tuition fees are by far and away the largest source of in-come for the University. To give them just two seats on Senate and three on Council is plainly absurd.

I am no left-winger, but it is not left wing to demand to be taken seriously in my University. Staff exist in a culture where students are the junior partners - or not even that. They regard themselves as experts in everything to do with the University. They treat students with contempt when they ask questions, and the senior management run consulta-tions that would fail any judicial review - their favourite timing being during ex-ams and vacations.

The University, as our Charter re-minds us, consists of our staff and our students. Let us not forget this.

Hugh Owen

Dear Editors,

I am writing about the current drama surrounding staffing matters at the Arts Centre. Although I do not doubt or question the commitment or dedica-tion of the venue’s senior managers, the fact remains that the annual reports and accounts showing a steadily increasing deficit. Money doesn’t grow on trees, and the way this government is taking the country there’s less and less of it about. The University cannot sit back and throw ever-increasing amounts of cash at the Arts Centre, as valuable a re-source as it is.

To suggest that it would be wrong to use the space for educational activities is similarly ridiculous. The Great Hall lies empty for much of the day; why can students not use it as a lecture theatre? They struggle to fit into even the largest spaces at the moment.

The Black House event was a disgrace. It was a prime example of the culture of complacency that exists in Aberystwyth: can we really believe that the staff and police found anything more than 1% of the drugs being taken in?

I hope the suspensions are ended as soon as possible, but I hope the Univer-sity have the guts to make the right de-cisions for the future of the Centre and University, however locally unpopular they might be.

Faithfully,

Rhodri Gwynn Bryn

Guy DruryDeputy Chair, Aber Student Media

aberstudentmedia.com

Editors

Sub-EditorNews EditorOpinion EditorLifestyle EditorArts EditorSports Editor

Grace BurtonRhian EvansKathryn HillLaura Say Callum McDonnellAlys HurnSteph SchultzHarry Taylor

[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@aberstudentmedia.com

Well, it’s been two years slaving away helping put this newspaper together and they finally let me edit it, just as I’m leaving.

I jest. Over the last two years, I’ve had the privilege to work with a group of brilliant people. The first issue of the modern Courier was in September 2011, when Joe Landers and Steffan Storch restarted the paper after an interregnum of several years. In the months that followed we spent many pizza-fuelled late nights in the back of the Union fighting InDesign to bring you the best we could do.

We were lucky enough to be joined by Cei Whitehouse in February 2012, when our news operation massively improved. Following the merger of The Courier and Bay Radio into Aberystwyth Student Media, Cei stepped up to the plate as Editor and took the newspaper and online edition to a new height for the start of the 2012/13 academic year.

Following Cei’s departure in October 2012, we somehow managed to persuade Grace Burton and Rhian Evans to take on the job as Co-Editors. The improvement in the gender balance was matched by an improvement in the quality of the output, and for that we owe Grace and Rhian a huge debt of gratitude. Grace has stepped down following her election as Education Officer and Rhian has (sensibly) decided to concentrate on academic work for the time being, so Steff and I have taken on this edition.

The first editions of The Courier that

we all worked on weren’t great; we had little idea of how to use InDesign and our design skills weren’t amazing. But the important thing was that we got a paper out there, and since then The Courier has rapidly become a powerful force on campus - and a force for good.

The support we’ve received from the Union has been vital as well. Without the provision of office space and a computer we wouldn’t have got off the ground. Although it might at times seem to some people at the Union like they’re not helping themselves, the truth is that a strong student media organisation is something to be proud of.

A Students’ Union is not a cabal run by five sabbatical officers, nor is it a company that exists to make a profit. A Students’ Union is made up of its 12,000 members, and their interests must come first. The interests of the student body are best served by being as well informed about the goings-on at their Union as they can possibly be. Student media does this, and it does it well. Long may it continue.

There are so many people who deserve thanks along the way - far too many to name. Thank you to everyone we’ve kept in business over the last two years: Relentless, Monster, Red Bull, the Union bar and shop, Desi, Hollywood Pizza and CKs. Most importantly: to every contributor, editor, proofreader, photographer, designer and advertiser, we say thank you.

Guy


[email protected]/news

NEWS EDITORLaura Say

APRIL JONES

THE STUDENT housing report recently written by our Students’ Union Student Sup-port Officer Laura Dickens has been com-mended in an Early Day Motion put forward by local MP Mark Williams, with signatories including Aberystwyth alumni Jonathan Edwards MP (Plaid Cymru, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr), and Dan Rogerson (Lib-eral Democrat, North Cornwall).

Backed by 12 Members of Parliament, the motion states “That this House commends Aberystwyth University’s Students’ Union (AUSU) on the publication of its recent Student Housing Survey Report 2012”, and

praising “AUSU for recognising the posi-tive work of many landlords and the need to encourage good practice through initiatives such as landlord awards”.

It also notes that “more must be done to ensure that both the standard and amount of student housing is satisfactory”.

Williams, Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion, said “This is a valuable piece of research, highlighting the needs and challenges fac-ing the student community in Aberystwyth. Basic quality standards are something eve-ryone in our communities are entitled to.”

Dickens commented that she is “really pleased that [the report] reached Parliament. It’s good to see the positive work we’ve been

doing on housing mentioned and the need to work on improving standards is a priority. There’s a lot more work still to come but it’s an exciting step in the right direction!” Ab-erystwyth University Vice-Chancellor April McMahon said that it was “terrific news”.

The report has also been acknowledged by the Welsh government. Dickens met with Rebecca Evans, Welsh Assembly Member for Mid & West Wales, about housing in Aberystwyth. In January, Evans strongly en-couraged Aberystwyth University students to get in touch with her about their housing experiences. Evans also forwarded the re-port and her concerns to the then-Minister for Housing, Huw Lewis AM.

Evans has also written to the new Minis-ter for Housing, Carl Sargeant AM, with a copy of the report. She identified the serious problems with student housing including unfair administrative fees, poor commu-nication with landlords and the struggles faced by international students, particularly when needing a guarantor.

She has suggested how improvements can be achieved, such as a student housing guide written by the Welsh government and ensur-ing local authorities have staffing capacity to deal with Houses in Multiple Occupation.

The housing campaign was also recog-nised as ‘Campaign of the Year’ at the NUS Wales Awards 2013.

Aberystwyth student housing report commended in ParliamentBen Holihead

ALMOST seven months after the disap-pearance of five-year-old April Jones near her home in Machynlleth, the trial of Mark Bridger, the man who is accused of her mur-der, has begun.

Bridger, 47, will face trial over charges of abducting and murdering April, as well as the unlawful concealment or disposal of her body with the intent to pervert the course of justice. He entered a not guilty plea on 14th January, but has previously admitted that he was probably responsible for her death. When appearing in court on Monday 29th April, he spoke only to confirm his name.

Prosecutor Elwen Evans QC said that Bridger had played a “cruel game” in pre-tending not to know what he had done, and called it a “game to try and save himself.”

It has been revealed that Bridger’s com-puter showed he had an interest in child sex images, had photographs of local children and an interest in child murder cases; in particular the Soham murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

His computer also revealed that he had

previously searched for “naked young five year old girls” and “nudism five year old”. On the day April was abducted, he had also viewed a pornographic cartoon which ap-parently depicted rape.

As the first day of the trial went on, it was revealed that blood with a ‘billion to one’ match to April’s DNA and fragments which are bone fragments consistent with those of a juvenile human skull were found at Bridg-er’s home in Ceinws, Machynlleth.

The prosecution also revealed that Mr Bridger used fire to dispose of evidence and used detergent as part of an “extensive clean-up” but listed the places where an in-dication of April’s presence was found; in-cluding a concentration of blood near his wood-burner and DNA mixed with Bridg-er’s and an unidentified individual on the shower curtain.

April’s disappearance, approximately 20 miles from Aberystwyth, sparked one of the biggest search operations in UK history, utilising teams from around the country - marine units, experts in searching confined spaces and mines, fire and rescue urban search and rescue teams, coastguard and mountain rescue teams and specialist dog teams. Whilst the search effort has now end-ed, a spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said that “a reactive team of specialist offic-ers will still be available to respond to new information.”

Jury selection began at Mold Crown Court on 29th April, with around 50 poten-tial jurors originally called into court. The final 12, consisting of nine women and three men were decided on Tuesday 30th.

Mr Justice Griffith-Williams, the trial

judge, told jurors that “it is very important that no person on the jury has any present or past connection with the Machynlleth area, and certainly no connection which would cause any concern about that particular ju-ror sitting on the case.” Jurors will visit loca-tions in the area surrounding Machynlleth during the trial, and will hear evidence from up to 50 witnesses. They have also been warned that they will have to view some of the images stored on Bridger’s computer.

April’s parents, Coral and Paul Jones were seated in the front row of the public gallery in the court, wearing pink ribbons, the sym-bol of the search effort.

The trial could last until mid-June.

Mark Bridger trial begins as April Jones search reaches an end

Laura Say

For up-to-date information on the Bridger trial, visit www.aberstudentmedia.com>read more

5 year old April went missing in October 2012

(continued from front page)On the day of the fire, people including

students, University staff and residents ex-pressed their concern for the collection held within the Library, described by Mr Jones as the “memory of the nation”. However, of-ficials at the Library were quick to assuage fears that the majority of the collection has not been affected. In a subsequent interview, Jones expressed his relief that the main dam-age is to the structure of the building and to the offices, stating that it could be “much, much worse than it is.”

The Library, which was established in 1907 and located to its current building in 1916, is home to over six million books, 30,000 manuscripts, archives, works of art, maps, pictures, a million photographs, films and music. Several extensions have been added since it first opened, one of which is where the fire broke out on.

Library president Sir Deian Hopkin called the blaze “the most difficult moment” in its 100-year history.

It is reported that a 100ft (30m) section of roof was destroyed at the back of the build-ing (known as Building Two) near the Uni-versity Sports Centre. An investigation into the cause of the fire and assessment of the full extent of the damage is underway.

The Library have not yet confirmed any details about how much damage was caused or how many pieces have been taken to Oxford. In the mean time, officials at the Library have stressed that “it’s business as usual at the Library, for readers, users and visitors” after it was shut for two days fol-lowing the fire and a few events cancelled as a precautionary measure.

NATIONAL LIBRARYInvestigation into cause salvage operation underway

Bridger departing court after being charged with the abduction and murder of April

4 The Courier May 2013

UNIVERSITYNEWS

aberstudentmedia.com/news

IN BRIEF

If you’d like to help write an article, or know of a local issue you think needs more coverage, get in touch today! email [email protected] phone 01970 621738

AWARDS

Staff and student effort recognised at Student Led Teaching Awards

Appeal against FOI request refusal rejectedTHE INFORMATION Commissioner’s office have rejected an appeal against a refusal to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In July 2012, Aber Student Media asked the University to provide a copy of the report into alleged wrongdoing in the University’s Finance and Estates Departments. The University refused to supply the report.

The rejection of the appeal means that students, who are now the biggest source of income for the University, will be denied information into what exactly happened to University funds, or any firm knowledge of the outcome of the investigation.

However, the investigation did reveal that the University is currently being taken to an Employment Tribunal, relating to a matter covered in the report.

(continued from front page)The panel of judges consisted of Rebecca Davies (Pro-Vice Chancellor), Jess Leigh (Education Officer), Sam Reynolds (Student Representation Co-Ordinator), Kieron Rees (NUS Wales Representation and Policy Of-ficer) and John Glasby (Union CEO). Each nominee and their nominator was welcomed for a three-course meal before the awards were announced.

The winners of the awards span the entire institution, with almost every department receiving a nomination in at least one of the categories and final winners coming from several different departments.

The evening was hosted by Leigh with speeches from Union President Ben Meak-in and Vice-Chancellor April McMahon. Meakin began the ceremony by asking all Senior Course Representatives to the stage and praising their efforts over the past aca-demic year before welcoming some of them (or a member of the Union Executive) back on stage to present the awards, along with a member of the University Executive.

The eight awards and their recipients were: Innovative Teaching, awarded to Dr Alun Hubbard (IGES), Employability Impact to Dr Iwan Owen (IBERS), Personal Tutor to Balasz Pinter (IMAPS), Student Representa-tive (postgraduate) to Alexandra Kilcoyne (IGES) and (undergraduate) to Kevin Wing-field (IMAPS), Support Staff to Gwennan Creunant (International Politics), Teaching Through Technology to Dr Madeline Carr (International Politics), Outstanding Teach-ing to Mike Smith, (English & Creative Writing) and Department of the Year to the School of Education and Lifelong Learning.

Winners were presented with a glass tro-phy and a certificate of commendation which was also given to three other nominees who were acknowledged as highly commended in their category.

Laura Say

Get involved in student media next year!Nominations are now open for the Aber Student Media committee 2013/14. Whether you’re interested in writing for the newspaper or website, producing TV shows and live broadcasts, or presenting a radio show (or helping with any of those things), there’s a place for you. Every position is available, from the Chair of the organisation downwards.

You don’t have to have any experience at all to join - everyone is welcome!

To find out more, just go to aberstudentmedia.com/elections

The winners (L-R): Madeline Carr, Keving Wingfield, Alexanda Kilcoyne, Gwennan Creunant, Alun Hubbard, Mike Smith and staff and students from the School of Education and Lifelong Learning

Joe Landers

Aber-filmed TV show picked up around EuropeA NEW DETECTIVE series, filmed in Aberystwyth and the surrounding Ceredigion villages, has been picked up by BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Four and Danish broadcaster DR.

The multi-million pound production is being filmed in both Welsh and English and stars Richard Harrington as DCI Tom Mathias.

The working title of the show was Mathias - however the final names have now been released.

In Welsh, it will be called Y Gwyll (translated as Dusk in English) and the English version will be called Hinterland.

The director of content for S4C, Dafydd Rhys, has expressed his hopes that it will be a “platform for the Welsh language.”

The premiere of the series will be shown on S4C in November 2013, with the English version premiering on BBC Cymru Wales in 2014.


IN DEPTHaberstudentmedia.com/features

Arts Centre: the saga continuesOver the last few weeks, much controversy has been generated by the suspension of a number of members of staff from the Uni-versity. Critics have characterised the sus-pensions as being part of a co-ordinated plan relating to a reorganisation of the Cen-tre.

Although refusing to confirm or deny re-ports of suspensions, the University say that if suspensions did occur they would not be linked to a reorganisation.

Here, we take a look back at the events of the past few weeks.

Staff suspendedIt is understood that a number of University staff were suspended in early March. The local press named Alan Hewson, the Direc-tor of the Arts Centre, and Auriel Martin, the Centre’s Operations Director, as having been suspended.

Today, The Courier can exclusively reveal that another member of staff has been sus-pended in relation to the investigation. At present, we are not naming the member of staff or their department.

The University have denied that any sus-pension that might occur would be in rela-tion to the reorganisation plans.

A spokesperson said: “If any member of staff were to be suspended, this would al-ways be in response to evidence or allega-tions about that individual which need to be investigated. Under the University’s process-es and procedures, no suspension could take place purely as a response to organisational change.”

Petition presented by campaignersA petition was presented to the Vice-Chan-cellor on April 19th, the day after National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke dedicated her poetry reading at the Centre to Alan Hew-son and Auriel Martin.

Speaking after the petition was handed in, Professor April McMahon described the meeting as “constructive”.

“We weren’t able to agree on everything and there were certain areas we’ve not been able to discuss. However, there can be no doubt that we have a shared commitment to the arts in mid and west Wales.

The Centre’s Strategic Plan, released with little fanfare in mid-April, sets out three Strategic aims for the venue: “Innovate and Inspire”, “Professional Development, Research and Training” and “Community Engagement”.

In response to suggestions that changes might see an end to popular local events

such as Black House, Swing City and Ska-fari, a spokesperson said that they “don’t foresee any significant changes to the na-ture of performances/events being staged at the Arts Centre”.

They added: “All scheduled performanc-es to date have gone ahead as planned.”

The future of the Arts CentreProtesters ring the Arts Centre on April 20th

Guy Drury Investigation underwayThe University is currently undertaking an investigation into events that took place at Aberystwyth Arts Centre in February and issues arising from them, and a spokesper-son clarified that this was “nothing whatso-ever to do with any alleged restructuring of the Arts Centre”.

They added: “Since the investigation is on-going the University will not comment on its nature, neither will it comment on any member of staff who may be involved.”

The Courier understands that the inves-tigation relates to the running of the Black House event on February 2nd. The event made national headlines after the police stopped the music in the Great Hall to search for a mother who had been spotted carrying a baby. However, The Courier understands that the “baby incident” is not included in the investigation.

A security log obtained by The Courier under the Freedom of Information Act lists numerous incidents that occurred during the evening the event was held, including drug use, an attempted burglary, an attack on University staff and several fights.

In a statement relating to the suspensions and investigation, the University said:

“Aberystwyth University has not con-firmed or denied alleged suspension of staff in any public statement or to any press or media, and will not do so. The University does its utmost to ensure that staffing mat-ters remain completely confidential at all times and has a general policy not to make public any information relating to individu-als. It remains resolutely committed to this and therefore will not be drawn into any discussion regarding members of University staff.

“There are long established, clear and transparent processes to follow if any mem-ber of staff were to be suspended, processes that have been agreed with our recognised trades unions. It is not possible to give a pre-cise timescale for any such investigations as they are approached on a case by case basis. Whilst the University aims to complete the work as quickly as possible, all investiga-tions must be undertaken in as thorough and comprehensive a fashion as possible, so as to ensure the fairest possible outcome. It is standard practice for neither employer nor employee to comment during the course of an investigation.”

Facebook page set up in support of Arts CentreFollowing reports in the local press that two senior staff members had been suspended, a Facebook page entitled “Support Aberyst-wyth Arts Centre” has attracted over 1,500 likes.

Since launching on March 22nd, the page has been inundated with comments from members of the public suggesting that ru-moured upcoming changes could see the services reduced and access for the public restricted.

However, shortly after launching, Vice-Chancellor April McMahon made the unu-sual step of sending a special email to staff and students in which she denied that there were plans to close the Centre, or “radically change its use to alienate or exclude any member of the community”.

Protestors link arms to “protect” Arts CentreAround 250 protesters linked arms and cir-cled Aberystwyth Arts Centre in a protest on April 20th.

Backed by campus trade unions, attendees were invited to wear red, and an email sent to union members and seen by The Courier says “If you feel comfortable wearing a gag please bring a red or black one.”

Local artist Stephen West said: “Today’s protest was really called ‘Injustice’ – we’re expressing a feeling of injustice. Hundreds of people turned up today to ring the Arts Centre because of the actions of the Univer-sity, which we feel are against the Arts Cen-tre.”

West called for the investigation into the pair to be conducted as quickly as possible.

Aberystwyth University Students’ UnionAnnual General MeetingFind out what your elected officers have been up to all year, find out what the Union’s spent its money on and debate and set policy for next year

MAIN ROOM, STUDENTS’ UNION · TUESDAY 7TH MAY · 2:30PM

Every student can attend, speak and vote

Guy Drury


OPINION OPINION EDITORCallum McDonnell

aberstudentmedia.com/opinion

POLITICS

[email protected]

ON WEDNESDAY 17th of April 2013 we buried a truly heroic Briton. Margaret Hilda Thatcher rose through the ranks of society. She went from working behind the counter in her father’s grocery shop, to become the first female Prime Minister in the western world. She would serve in that post until 1990; her eleven years the longest tenure of any PM in the 20th Century. She had been criticised by some who assumed their opinions were universal, seemingly igno-rant to the fact that she won three elections on the back of many working-class votes.

Similarly, it is often said that Margaret Thatcher ruined British industry and yet industrial output grew by 7.5% during her tenure in No. 10. She was also accused of having destroyed the trade unions’ ability to protect workers but this is completely false. Even to say that she ‘broke the unions’ is too simplistic; in reality she made them more democratic so that the power of the union bosses was destroyed and the rights of the individual worker were safeguarded. For the first time workers had to be balloted before a strike could be called and, what’s more, the ballot was secret. Before these reforms, un-ion bosses had effectively dictated terms to many previous democratically elected Prime Ministers, after, they could do no such thing.

Let us not forget the dire situation in this country before Margaret Thatcher be-came PM. The endless strikes of the trade unions brought working Britain to a stand-still and made home life unbearable; coal strikes led to power cuts, bodies went un-buried in the graveyards and rubbish ac-cumulated in great rancid heaps. Then the winter of our discontent was transformed to a glorious summer by this daughter of Grantham, as she overcame the unions and restored order. But the passage from winter to summer was a difficult and painful one. The responsibility for this pain does not lie solely at Margaret Thatcher’s door; much of the fault was Arthur Scargills. It was Ar-thur Scargill who vetoed an expected bal-lot of the miners and called a strike with no democratic consent whatsoever. This was the sort of unreasoning belligerence which the Iron Lady faced down and defeated, en-suring that democratic governance ruled, rather than the violence of a baying mob.

Margaret Thatcher did not stop her quest for the free-market ideal there. A radical pro-gramme of privatisation followed with the ‘commanding heights’ quickly moved from state ownership to that of private compa-nies. This consequently allowed the general public to buy vast amounts of shares in the newly privatised industry and along with the right-to-buy scheme for council house tenants, helped Lady Thatcher to realise her dream of a free-market democracy. Her dogged pursuit of victory over socialism, both at home and abroad, helped to bring down the USSR and end the Cold War, mak-ing the world a freer and less calamitously

dangerous place. But perhaps her finest hour came during the Falklands War, when it was her steely resolve and unshakeable faith in the nation’s armed forces which allowed her to defend British freedom in the South At-lantic and overcome the Argentine fascists.

Perhaps Margaret Thatcher’s greatest fail-ing in the long view of history will be her failure to realise that the economic liberalism she espoused could only strengthen her na-tion if it was coupled with a healthy dose of social conservatism. She could not see how far the moral framework of British society had decayed and did nothing to encourage the re-invigoration of Christianity which would have acted as a balance to her pursuit of potentially ‘selfish’ economic remedies to the socialist disease. However, the Iron Lady now rests in peace eternal. Much like her own hero, Winston Churchill, she will be remembered as an anchor, about which the m i g h t y ship of h i s tor y turned.

S h e m e t with tri-u m p h and dis-aster and was unbowed, even to the end.

THE 8TH OF APRIL 2013 saw the press, politicians and right-thinking members of the public alike all stepping on the biggest collection of egg-shells ever metaphorically seen. “Divisive” was the buzzword for every TV report, every newspaper article and nu-merous tweets.

The passing of Margaret Thatcher was seen as a tragedy for some on the right, and a rea-son to party in the majority of the old indus-trial heartlands of the country. Many of the ‘heartless lefties’ kept quiet and took the high ground, however I challenge you to examine the responses of the right when Michael Foot passed away a few years ago and see if it was the same treatment for him.

South Wales, Yorkshire and the West Mid-lands all saw their industrial centres torn apart due to the actions of Maggie. Was it right that people were partying in Glasgow

City Centre the day of her funeral? Prob-ably not. Also, was it right that Maggie

tore apart industry in this country that meant skilled workers would never find work again? Certainly not.

Those in favour of the ‘Iron Lady’ will argue that she brought in effective

economic policies which broke down the class barriers, where market traders

from East London could become stock brokers. This was true, but she was the lead-

er who turned this country into the London-centric country we see today, everything

geared towards the capital meaning we forget anybody else. What invest-

ment was put into the areas that had lost so much

under Thatcher? The example of the London Dock-lands Develop-ment Corporation is often cited, but is exactly the epit-ome of the Lon-don-centric view that the Thatch-er government helped generate. The revamp of run-down Birmingham City Centre didn’t start until 2000.

Thatcher also felt a need to privatise

everything. Nation-alisation is inefficient, it doesn’t meet the needs of the people, it holds them back in their am-bitions. It liberalised our economy, freed our citizens from the state. Is that why ener-gy bills are now spiral-

ling out of control, and many elderly and infirm

are freezing to death at Christmas because they’re scared to put the heating on due to the cost? Has Thatcher’s privatisation liber-alised them? Are they more free from the state? Clearly not.

She aimed to triumph over socialism and, in the end, succeeded. This says a lot about her brand of ‘conviction politics’. She didn’t disagree with a policy, multiple or singular but an ideology. Not because it was an ex-treme ideology, but because it was some-thing she disagreed with, it had to be con-quered. According to her supporters she helped to defeat socialism in the Soviet Un-ion, but anybody who has read a background of Soviet history between 1980-1991 can see that Gorbachev did far more than she did. She was a simple bystander, who claimed the credit, just because she was there.

Then there are the trade unions. As Frank-ie Goes to Hollywood filled the airwaves in 1984 with ‘Two Tribes’, you could be mis-taken for thinking they were referring to the Miners Strike of that year. Those referred to as the ‘Enemy within’, the ‘scabs’ were those fighting for their jobs as miners, something they had done all of their lives and afterwards they had little chance of doing something else. Were these people able to jump into the financial services revolution that Thatcher was helping to foster? Of course not. Arthur Scargill had helped her to break down his own Union, not balloting the members was the most catastrophic of errors and showed sheer arrogance from the N.U.M. General Secretary. As a result Maggie, the caring P.M. as many have referred to her as after she has passed, put them all out of a job, and the trade unions were vanquished like another ‘Baddie’ in Thatchers comic book strip of conviction.

The result is that normal people are no longer represented in politics, and can no longer truly hold the Government to ac-count. The amount of power that the Unions had in the 1970’s was too much, and nobody looks back positively on the three day week. However, the majority of those currently in Parliament are private school educated. Do these people represent the majority of ordi-nary people? Definitely not.

So, what is Thatcher’s legacy? She trans-formed politics and this country as a whole, and not for the better. Her effective abolition of heavy industry in Britain meant when the financial crisis struck in 2008, we had noth-ing to fall back on. Her moves to free up the banks in the 1980s lead to the crumbling of Baring Bank in 1994 and the lessons were not learnt leading to a lot of the problems in 2008. Politics has shifted to the right, with the two mainstream parties now not offering a proper alternative to the other. Areas that were stripped by her axing of the industry in this country have still not recovered. Jobs and careers are not permanent, just dead end and often temporary. Is this a positive lega-cy? Unfortunately not.

Harry Taylor

Thatcher: for better or worse?Nathaniel Hayward


Averages can be meanBRACE yourself: your Facebook newsfeed is imminently going to be completely inun-dated with images of Eddard Stark declaring that “exams are coming.” But whilst we’re drawing ever closer to a month of staring wistfully out of the window of the library – half-hidden under a mound of revision notes – at what is seemingly the entire popu-lation of Aberystwyth spending all day on the beach, there will be plenty of students for whom the exam period will be almost a welcome relief after weeks and months spent unable to think about anything other than their dissertations.

However, for many final year students the pride they will have felt holding their bound and completed dissertations – a tangible symbol of months of hard work, persever-ance and frustration – will have been bit-tersweet due to the release of the cascade calculator to final year students earlier this semester. For those unfamiliar with it, the cascade calculator is released at the same time as your penultimate module grades on student record and asks you to enter a ‘guess-timate’ of what marks you’ll receive in your final semester, allowing you to see a reason-ably accurate indication of what degree class you’ll be graduating with.

On the morning of its release, my Face-

book and Twitter feeds were flooded with an equal mix of euphoria and disappointment. For some the calculator was the confirma-tion that two years of treating the silent floor of Hugh Owen as their second home was go-ing to pay off. For others there was the so-bering realisation that the degree class that they’d had their heart set on was no longer achievable, often by a matter of a few marks.

I am almost entirely sure that every stu-dent in this University understands that when it comes to grades and marks and degree classification, you essentially get out what you put in; overly harsh markers, incomprehensible assessment criteria and unsympathetic submission policies aside, if you can honestly say that you’re working to the best of your ability, you’re likely to find that your hard work will pay off by the time it comes to receive your diploma.

My contention with the cascade calcula-tor is not because I want to sulk about the fact that I didn’t like that it had told me that I’ll have to work harder than I’d expected to achieve the degree class that I’d always want-ed, however. Rather, I believe that access to it

was granted way too late into our time here at Aberystwyth. Never passing up an op-portunity for a healthy dose of melodrama, I spoke at length with friends and fellow students about how this system didn’t seem entirely fair. The consensus began to emerge that if we had had access to such undeniable evidence at the beginning of second year that achieving a 64 instead of a 68 in a module three semesters ago could mean the differ-ence between a 2:2 and a 2:1 or a 2:1 and a First, the cost of occasionally not living up to our full academic potential across the last two years would have held much greater sig-nificance.

Within the current system, many students found themselves in a position where they were faced with the evidence that if they’d worked ever so slightly harder last year, then achieving a higher degree class would be considerably more feasible; however, short of conducting a ceremonial sacrifice in ex-change for a perfect 100 across all remaining modules, the opportunities to rectify past academic mistakes are slim.

As a result, the motivation to persevere

with ensuring that every essay, assignment and exam is completed to the best of one’s ability is at an all-time low for many of those for whom the calculator revealed that re-gardless of whether they spent the rest of the semester working tirelessly in PJM Lounge or wrapped up in bed watching cat videos on YouTube, they were basically guaranteed the same degree class.

It is up to every individual student to de-cide the level of effort and commitment they wish to dedicate to their studies, and I am by no means suggesting that “the cascade calcu-lator made me do it” is a viable excuse for not handing in an essay all semester. However, I do believe that making the calculator avail-able to all students throughout the course of their degree would make certain that the consequences of constantly pushing them-selves and working to the best of their ability are as evident and tangible as humanly pos-sible. It is impossible to avoid the hundreds of headlines screaming at us every day that life after university is a bleak and dismal wasteland when you don’t have a first-class degree, and whilst the accuracy of these as-sertions are questionable, I see no reason not to do everything possible to ensure that Aberystwyth University students have all the possible tools at their disposal to ensure that they leave the university with the best degree classification that they are able to achieve.

OPINIONaberstudentmedia.com/opinion

CASCADE CALCULATOR

Zoe Barnes

The calculator is only available to final year students at the start of semester two

Main Room, Students’ Union (Tier 1 & 2)Hosted by Club MTV and Blackhouse, featuring BBC Radio 1’s MistaJam, Matrix & Futurebound, Varski & R3wire, Black House residents and Buzz vs Mega.

Get your hands on a ticket today! Online at: abersu.co.uk/mayball - In person at the Students’ Union Shop - In town at Andy’s Records, Off the Wall, Spellbound and Beauty Spot

Great Hall, Arts Centre (Tier 1)

More attractions than ever before, including the FREE fun fair, headphone disco tent, inflatable games area, cocktail bars PLUS Aberystwyth’s first ever ICE SKATING RINK!

MASSIVE ATTRACTIONS

EXCLUSIVE MAY BALL UPDATE! Additional 4th stage added! Taking over the Arts Centre bar, top DJs from Latin Quarter will be livening up the building with Latin flavoured music.

Cwtch, Students’ Union (Tier 1 & 2)Hosted by Alt Bay and UMCA, featuring a mix of local, student and Welsh bands, including Gypsy Wine Cartel, Benign Sun, Space Cadet, Swnami and Y Bandana.

8 The Courier May 2013The Courier8

LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE EDITOR

[email protected] Hurn

aberstudentmedia.com/lifestyle

Flat wars: when pranks go badHALLS

Liam JonesAS ALL GREAT ideas come from experience, the idea for such an article as this came to me as I walked into my flat kitchen on an otherwise ordinary Wednesday evening. All seemed normal (a total mess everywhere), except for the fact one of my flatmates was angrily pouring vinegar into someone else’s cupboard. Naturally, I asked what the meaning was of such a seemingly vicious and unprovoked attack. Response: “he started a war and I most definitely finished it.” However, ‘finished it’ he hadn’t, and for the next few weeks I observed, mostly in amusement (though occasionally in horror) a full-scale, bona-fide flat war took place.

Of course, this wasn’t the first prank to be pulled in my flat. This sort of thing is almost commonplace. Maybe it’s a dominance thing, or maybe it’s simply for the sadistic pleasure of seeing a flatmate inconvenienced in some way. Regardless, it’s something that occurs in abundance in the safari that we call University accommodation.

The list of pranks one could pull is endless, but I’ll try to give you an idea of just a few. To begin with, there appears to be a few pranks that are used almost universally. These involve: covering a person’s floor in cups filled with water, Sellotaping kitchen utensils to the ceiling, taping over bedroom doors, wrapping all of a student’s possessions in wrapping paper and filling people’s rooms with: leaves, balloons, shaving foam, newspaper, paper shavings, bin bags, popcorn or, apparently, anything that can be found in abundance. As well as this, I’ve seen pictures of people getting their walls covered in everything from Post-It notes to pictures of David

Hasselhoff (no, me neither?).Then there are the pranks that seem

exclusive to my flat. These include: cabbaging (where everything in someone’s room that isn’t bolted to the floor is turned upside down), tomato puree squeezed under a bedroom door, yeast placed behind someone’s radiator (causing it to expand when heated), a whole jar of tobasco sauce poured into an innocent jar of tomato pasta sauce, pumpkins smashed around someone’s room, facial hair drawn onto the faces of women on every page of a saucy mag, and people’s door handles removed more times than I’d care to mention. The ingenuity of these things could be considered impressive by many but frightening for others.

In the case of pranks, the debate is often ‘how far is too-far?’ This is always down to personal opinion, of course, and thus many an argument has ensued in my flat as to whether someone has crossed the line. Luckily, peace treaties often follow such an argument, so drastic measures have been avoided so far. However, should you find yourself feeling frustrated or annoyed at pranks in your flat, don’t hesitate to email your accommodation services, who would be more than willing to sit your flat down for peaceful negotiations. Like a domestic UN, if you will.

I guess there isn’t a black and white conclusion to such a debate. Pranks liven up the monotony that occasionally comes with being a student, and are certainly not a negative thing. However, they must be done light-heartedly, and not to cause to harm or upset. So remember, before you prepare a batch of yeast, crack out the Sellotape, or start printing out pictures of the Hoff: how will they take it?

Chase Urich


LIFESTYLETRAVEL

aberstudentmedia.com/lifestyle

TRAVEL

Couch-surfing, haggling, hitch-hiking: how to visit Morocco on a student budget Marianne LehnisLAST summer I did an ‘off-the beaten-track’ holiday with a friend from uni; we travelled through Spain and Morocco, couch-surfing and hitch-hiking whenever possible. Here are a few highlights and tips from our expe-rience to inspire you to leave your comfort zone and explore the unknown.

We took a ferry from the southernmost point of Europe, the Spanish kite-surfing town of Tarifa, down to Tangier; it was 50 Euros for a round trip with an open return. One pound is worth 13 Moroccan Dirham which will go a long way in Northern Af-rica, so it’s a great holiday destination for students on a limited budget. However you do need to be careful so watch out for scams set for tourists, hassling traders and over-priced goods; we usually bargained what we bought down to about a third of the original price. Although we opted for staying with couch-surfing hosts most nights, accom-modation is cheap in Morocco and you can rent a room for only about 60 Dirham (five pounds).

The outdoor food markets are a treat and a must-do for all foodies. I went crazy over all the good, cheap food; I wanted to buy and try everything. I recommend taking plenty of time to thoroughly explore them. If you live in Britain and have only experienced the artificially ripened supermarket goods, Mo-rocco is your opportunity to indulge in an abundance and variety of fresh, sun-ripened

fruits and vegetables. There were piles of ol-ives, tropical fruits, dates and melons. The pastry shops sell intricately decorated sweets – mostly with a sweet, nutty almond paste filling, and savoury pastries that are equally delicious; many have a variety of spicy rice and meat fillings. Also, don’t miss out on an avocado milkshake, or the almond, date, ap-ple and banana alternative. Tagine is also a ‘must-have’. As Morocco’s most traditional dish you can buy it in a restaurant for only six pounds. Food is cheap in Morocco so you can gratify your taste buds, splash out and try it all. Do budget your holiday carefully though, as the cheap prices can lead you into a false sense of security and lead to overspending – don’t risk running out of money like we did!

In our five days in Morocco we were constantly on the go; we did a round-trip, starting in Tangier, and travelled by bus to Tetouan, Chefchouen, and Assilah before returning to Tangier. Of all the places we vis-ited, Chefchouen was my personal favourite. Chefchouen is a little gem of a town in the midst of some dusty mountains. I remem-ber standing on the hostel’s roof terrace at dusk and admiring how silent and peaceful the surroundings were. The mountains sur-

rounding the maze of square, white build-ings, was a sight to behold. The hostel we stayed in was bustling and alive with hippies and young travellers; we slept on mattress-es on the roof terrace (for only four Euros each!).

During our trip another couch-surfing host, a student, Mohamed, took us to the beach near Tetouan. He told us about his life as a student in Northern Africa while swimming and sitting on the beach drinking

sweet Moroccan tea. It was amazing how at home you could feel in a strange, far- away place. The following day we squished into a ‘petit taxi’, our driv-er drove confidently (meaning much too fast and while using one hand for his mo-bile phone) up the mountain to a nature reserve. I was happy

and relieved when we stumbled out of that car in one piece and could hike through the reserve and swim in the river.

After an action-packed five days, it was time to head begin the journey back to Spain and then home. Our couch-surfing host, Rida, drove us down to the port. We couldn’t have thanked him enough for all his hospitality and help - we were Rida’s first couch-surfers!

We arrived back in Tarifa with a real sense of adventure even though we had only 9 Euros between us; we had to rely on hitch-hiking to get us back to my friend, Manon’s host family in Cadiz.

I took many amazing memories home with me; drinking my first avocado milk-shake, bartering and haggling in the mar-kets, an old lady grabbing my arm and then my leg to paint with henna, and our last morning in Morocco when our couch-surf-ing host from Tangier, Rida, took us to his friend’s apartment for a Moroccan breakfast. There were some tough moments; losing my phone, when we were followed by an un-wanted ‘guide’, when our cash supply started to run out too soon, when we waited in vain for the last bus to Malaga and had to change our plans.

But due to the outstanding hospitality of our couch-surfing hosts like Antonio, Rida and Mohamed that we were able to hike through a canyon, abseil down rocks, star gaze from the top of a castle, learn to salsa and Argentinean tango, watch an after-work game of football and swim in the cool river of a Moroccan national park. We experi-enced a lifetime and a half of adventures in those two weeks. We had made good friends out of strangers who welcomed us into their homes and shared precious moments of their lives. It was well worth trying out couch-surfing as it allowed us to get to know these different cultures from the inside out and have adventures in places far beyond the tourist trails.

“The outdoor food markets are a treat and a must-do for all foodies. I went crazy over all the

good, cheap food”

Mark Fischer


ARTSaberstudentmedia.com/arts

MAY BALL

May Ball 2013 Preview

FIRE in the Mountain was conceived by the farm-owners and their friends as a means of regenerating the farm and finding new uses for the ancient stone outbuildings and beau-tiful oak forest. Through a series of “work-ing weeks” utilising volunteers from across Wales and the Country, the run-down farm was transformed. To generate the funds nec-essary for the initial refurbishments and to generate interest from volunteers, they de-cided to stage a small event. Now in its third year, the event is proving popular in the lo-cal community and across the country.

The venue is Cwmnewidion Isaf, de-scribed by the organisers as “where Red kites soar above lush green ravines, with oak grove and wild meadow below. Located between the fringe of the magnificent Cam-brian mountains and the beautiful coast of Cardigan bay, where hare and horse graze, natur’s spirits ebbing and flowing” is just 20 minutes out of Aberystwyth by car.

Quickly earning itself a reputation as a hugely valuable and respected Folk Music Festival for Mid Wales, this year’s extensive line-up (A&E Old Time Stringband, Ali An-war, Allan Yn Y Fan, Andy Hickie, BARD,

Barker Band, Bruce Molsky, Bonnie Pilgrim, Cakes and Ale, Christine Cooper, Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog, Cut A Shine, Dolly May, Dan Korn, Dave Owen, Ed Hicks, Finikity Chaos, Fitty Gomash, Flamin’ Mamies, Flu-tatious, Harlequin Dynamite, Heal The Last Stand, Hittites, Jimmy Lions, John Langan Band, John Lawrence, JS Mabon, Kidnap Alice, Meilir, Manieres Des Bohimiens, Medicine Creek, Old Dance School, Or-

chard Twnpath (Corelw), Quercus Bur-lesque, Ramshackle Union Band, Richard James, Rosie Slieghtholme, Santa Mozarella, Sidney Baileys No Good Punchin’ Clowns, Sheelanagig, Stompin’ Dave and his Blue-grass Band, The Gentle Good, The Harri-son Brothers, The Loose Moose Stringband, The Turbans, Tir Eolas, Vera van Heeringen Trio, Wara, White Blacula) come all the way from the USA, Canada, Scotland, Ireland,

England and, of course, Wales.With an eye on sustainability, the festival

isn’t the only part of the project. The Cwm-newidion Isaf farm houses 10 locally owned horses and a small pig farm throughout the year. It is the intention of the farm owners to, over the coming years, renovate and re-furbish the farm buildings, with a view to installing a bunk house, kitchen unit, show-ers, and water mains into the camping field, to encourage camping weekends for schools, charities and for commercial uses. The festi-val is run and managed by a dedicated team of volunteers, and all infrastructure hired and secured from local businesses. As the festival grows over the years, it’ll develop artistically and increase artist budgets to continue delivering a line up of cutting edge music, and as the organisers say: “explore, promote and develop the folk arts.”

Tickets are £80 and available from www.twoforjoy.co.uk and www.wegottickets.com The festival is from the 31st May to the 2nd June and is based at Cwmnewidion Isaf, Cn-wch Coch, Aberystwyth, SY23 4LL.

You can find more information at www.fireinthemountain.co.uk

MID WALES MUSIC FESTIVAL

Fire in the Mountain 2013: 31st May - 2nd June

ADVERTORIAL

Jozef Raczka, Chris Humphries & Steph Schultz

THIS year, May Ball has returned to cam-pus with a fresh line up and a lot of inter-est. Currently, the May Ball Facebook page is posting daily about the low availability of Tier 1 tickets - there are about 100 shared between the Student Shop and selected out-lets in town: Andy's Records, Spellbound, Off The Wall and Beauty Spot. Tier 1 tickets entitle you to access all areas - the Arts C e nt re , t h e

Concourse, the Students' Union and Chapel Green - and are on sale for £45 each. There are also Tier 2 tickets available which give you access to all the stages and attractions, minus the Art Centre's Main Stage, and these are selling at £35 each.

Many students were expecting the ticket prices to be lower due to the recent change in location, from Pontrhydfendigaid to

campus, but a price hike hasn’t hindered ticket sales, with the more expensive

Tier 1 tickets still disappearing quickly a week before the event. So, if you’re in for a massive day and night, grab a few friends and get to the May Ball to

make some fabu-lous memories of

the final term.Along with a slew

of artists playing in dif-ferent areas of the Union

and the Arts Centre, a variety of attractions have been promised;

including a free fun fair, headphone disco, ice skating rink, inflatable games

area, and fish pedicures. There will also be cocktail bars, a chocolate fountain, live per-formers, amongst other activities available to ticket holders. For those with Tier 2 tick-ets who do not have access to the main stage, there will be a live feed to watch and enjoy the artists performing there. With exams coming up quickly, this is everyone’s last chance for a final hoorah before we all put

our

heads down into revision – or at least claim to.

The raise in price from £40 to £45 a ticket is said to have occurred in order to raise the budget for artists and entertain-ment. That being said, the Union did put to-gether quite a diverse group of artists, rang-ing from the songs you hear in Yoko’s once an hour to the local bands that make up Aberystwyth’s small but superb music scene.

For those of you with Tier 1 tickets, you’ll get the chance to be up close and personal with quite a few large acts such as Tinchy Stryder, The Futureheads, Sam and the Womp, Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Experience, and Gentleman’s Dub Club.

The Main Room of the Union will be filled with DJs to get the energy levels up. Hosted by MTV and Black House, this should be a mash up of some of the best dance nights this year. Radio 1 and 1Xtra presenter and DJ, MistaJam is an exciting addition the May Ball line up. Following him are Drum and Bass DJs Matrix and Futurebound, as well as Var-ski and R3wire; the Black House DJs return

t o A b -erystwyth, and Buzz and Mega go head to head for a sound battle right in our very own Union.

If you ventured out to the most success-ful alternative night this year, Alt Bay, you’ll be pleased to hear that Alt Bay is hosting a stage in Cwtch. Aberystwyth’s best are com-ing together yet again to smash out their original music and rock the audience in a homegrown, Aber fashion. Gypsy Wine Cartel is the headliner for this stage, with their Gyspy Ska sound coming back yet again to get everyone moving and grooving right before they release a debut album. Be-nign Sun is a band with an eclectic influence pool and promise for a rocking atmosphere. Space Cadet features Aber Student Media’s very own Bay Radio DJ, Liam Jones from Refresh.

ARTS EDITOR

[email protected]

Steph Schultz


aberstudentmedia.com/arts

DANNY Boyle. Genre-hopping Oscar winner, eternally optimistic Mancunian, film student favourite and a post-Olympic national treasure. He could easily have surfed the wave of national appreciation after the success of his Olympic open-ing ceremony but has instead chosen to do things his way, with what is without a doubt his most narratively complex film to date.

Giving a plot synopsis that does the sprawling narrative justice while not spoil-ing anything is almost impossible (Boyle has sent an open letter to film critics plead-ing them not to reveal its twists and turns).

On a basic level, the film revolves around an art heist in which Simon (James Mcavoy) acts as the inside man but double crosses professional gangster Frank (Vin-cent Cassel) by hiding the stolen piece of art. Having also taken a blow to the head he develops amnesia and cannot remem-ber where he has hidden the painting, causing Frank to seek the help of hypno-therapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson).

The first half of the film plays it by the book with the semi-successful heist and its aftermath being shown but there is a peri-od after the midpoint in which it threatens to fall off the rails, seeming to lose itself in its own ideas. Characters and their actions become too ambiguous and it becomes a mesh of seemingly standalone scenes for a short while that culminates a bizarre sex scene between two of the main characters. This is where film will divide audiences; some may lose patience with the lack of cohesion whereas others will stick with it and will be rewarded come the (somewhat hysterical) climax, as all of the scrambled scenes are all tied up in a final twist that while hinted at throughout the film is nev-ertheless delivered like a hammer punch

The film’s ace up its sleeve, however, is Boyle’s trademark stylistic touches, not since Trainspotting has he played around with audio and visual in such an exuber-ant manner. This aspect of the film is near flawless, Boyle seeming to keep the camera in perpetual motion, mirroring the film’s pace as once it gets going (almost from the off) it doesn’t hold back.

The cast too do a largely fine job. Vin-cent Cassel adds yet another threatening yet strangely charismatic performance to his back catalogue, but it is Rosario Daw-son who is the pick of the bunch. Her controlled performance manages to keep the audience on edge as she switches alle-giances between Simon and Frank.

Overall, Trance fits nicely into Boyle’s filmography, and while some members of the audience will have trouble connecting with some incomprehensible scenes and unlikable characters, others will simply let the film wash over them, willing to be taken along for the ride that only a director like Boyle can take them on.

FILMIron Man 3Anwen Hayward

Jozef Raczka

TVDoctor Who

Geraint Newton-Walker

ARTSTV & FILM

IT IS SAFE to say that, following the phe-nomenal success of The Avengers in 2012 (it has since grossed over $1.5bil to become the third highest grossing film of all time), Mar-vel had something of a point to prove with its latest offering. Thankfully, with the first instalment in the much anticipated Phase Two, Marvel has managed to more than match its previous success.

Iron Man 3 boasts an impressive cast and a host of characters that’ll make fans of the comic books start jumping in their seats. In the wake of the events of New York, which have left Tony battling his own personal de-mons, America is faced with a new terrorist threat in the form of the formidable Manda-rin (played by Ben Kingsley, whose surpris-ing performance is perhaps the highlight of the entire film). Throw in a megalomaniacal scientist with a luxuriant bouffant, a rather worrying development in the biomedical field, a whole host of conspiracy theories and Gwyneth Paltrow’s bare midriff, and

you have the season’s biggest film.As the first Iron Man film without Jon

Favreau at the directorial helm, there’s defi-nitely a different feel to proceedings, with Shane Black opting for a far more humor-ous approach than his predecessor. There are more one-liners in this film than the first two Iron Man films combined, and for a franchise with Tony Stark at the forefront, that’s saying something. The effects that the events of New York have had on Tony are deftly conveyed, and the results are heart-breaking. On the surface, this film really does tick all the boxes: plausible character development, groundbreaking special ef-fects and dialogue so sharp that it rivals Guy Pearce’s jaw line.

That’s not to say that the film is without fault, however. A much toted turn by Rebecca Hall as a scientist with a secret starts off promisingly but falls flat, probably due to the fact that h e r

character ultimately seems to serve no point other than to demonstrate Tony’s prowess with the ladies, despite her impressive quali-fications and job title. The biggest flaw at hand, however, is that perhaps typically for a superhero movie, the plot does tend to stray into the overdone and clichéd – how many films have we seen now with a middle-aged, white male president getting into a spot of bother at the hands of a charismatic, socio-pathic villain? – but it’s easy to overlook this when it’s wrapped in such a shiny package.

In summary, Iron Man 3 is fun, surpris-ingly thought-provoking and just generic enough to be self-aware – three things that Marvel seem to have turned into a winning formula. We can only hope that the rest of Phase 2 continues in a similar vein, and that

Marvel keep upping their game. If they do, then the next few years should be very interesting – and rewarding – indeed.

Oh – and just a hint to any first-time Marvel viewers – don’t leave the

cinema before the very end of the cred-its. Really. Trust me on this one.

DOCTOR WHO has a very canny market-ing strategy. Any time it seems like things are starting to become stale, they can simply throw in a new assistant or a new Doctor. It also carries with it an immense strain from history, every new Doctor or assistant bears the weight of every actor before it. So, when a flagship programme like this announces two of its longest running companions are leav-ing mid-series, it places a severe strain upon what comes next.

By the time we reach ‘The Bells Of St. John’, we are being introduced to the character of Clara for the third time. This lends the epi-sode a solid, yet familiar feel. You can’t help but feel like it is more set-up than true en-tertainment. This is not to say that there is not plenty to enjoy in the episode, from Ce-lia Imrie’s glorious villainous turn to an anti-gravity motorbike but it has nothing to set it apart from numerous other fun and inconse-quential adventures.

More disappointing though was the second part of the series ‘The Rings Of Akhaten’, it felt like an odd fit, as if attempt-ing to force Matt Smith into a classic Doctor

adventure. Whilst individually a lot of the elements worked, it suffered from an over-stuffed script that attempted to push for an emotional catharsis that was never achieved and some particularly bad C.G.I work upon the face of the villainous Sun God.

Luckily the series has recovered with two excellent episodes ‘The Cold War’ and ‘Hide’. Doctor Who is consistently at its best when acting as a gateway drug for other science fiction and horror. Both episodes use famil-iar settings well, a Russian submarine and a

haunted house respectively but add a science fiction twist to both. What neither forgets is that horror is never just jump scares, build-ing atmosphere and tension whilst relying more on actor’s reactions than effects for the grand part. ‘The Cold War’ is particularly ef-fective in its use of Soviet nuclear deterrents as a backdrop but never relying on them for tension. Mark Gatiss, the writer of said episode, is a man with a strong knowledge of horror and he puts it to good use, playing up the claustrophobia of being trapped on board such a small vessel with such a large threat.

Yet overall, what do these episodes mean as a cycle? This has been a mixed series overall with some very strong moments mixed with some very weak. Perhaps it is a programme getting used to change. Jenna Louise Cole-man certainly seems a capable actress so far ,but the series seems to be leading towards a central mystery surrounding her and, in some ways, it seems to represent a major problem of certain moments in recent Doc-tor Who: it forgets that its most interesting character is still the one it draws its name from.

FILMTrance


PUZZLES

Across

1-A fish, the genesis of Magikarp (4)3-Grizzly or teddy (4)6- Long-necked creature, provider of wool, found in Peru (5)7- Like a whale, but with a horn (7)8- &12- Republic of Ireland13- A bird, symbol of the US (5)15- Part of the anatomy, used to listen (3)16- She sells _________ on the sea shore (9)18- When driving, you may be required to keep two of these away from other drivers (7)19- Multiple water fowl20- Colloquial term, often used to refer to a ‘load of old rubbish’ (4)21- May be said on a boat, or when answering a telephone in the nineteenth century (4)

Down

2-Little House on the _______ (7)3- Brains or _____ (5)4-The event of practicing before putting on a show (9)5-Long sea creature, can be served jellied (3)6- Extensive foliage (7)9- Breed of parrot (9)10- Put what you want, nothing would fit (5)11- Imitation or repetition (7)14- A hedgehog-like creature, of which Knuckles in the Sonic games is an example of (7)17- A particular period of time marked by dis-tinctive features (5)18- Domestic animal, you might feed it tuna (3)

Answers on page 14 SUD

OK

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THE EXTINGUISHER

Union still unsure of correct apostrophe usageDespite the nation’s six year olds being taught the correct way to use an apostrophe, the Students’ Union has issued a heartfelt plea in an email to students asking where the apostrophe should go in their own name.

“We hedged our bets with the May Ball poster and put apostrophes all over the place, but I don’t think that really worked. As such, we’ve decided now is the time to commit to some consistency and pick one spelling. The problem is that we’re just not sure which one to use,” a spokesperson wrote to all students/student’s/students’/studentses last week.

“But we don’t want to just ask people, so

we’re making a game out of it. We’re going to be hiding incorrect apostrophes on posters and members of staff all over the Union, and if you point out where we’re going wrong, you’ll get a discounted May Ball ticket pro-vided you have the exact change on you.

“It’ll be accessible to everyone provided they are able to climb stairs, talk to people they’ve never met before and have no other important commitments to attend.”

The ‘Apostrophe’s Hunt’, as this game has been dubbed by the Students’ Union, will take place on Monday 12th May.

’ Cut-out-and-keep

apostrophe repair kit

This week, The Extinguisher wants you to improve Aberystwyth’s writing standards. If you see a sign without an apostrophe where the should be one, cut out the apostrophe above and stick it where it righfully belongs. But, if you see an apostophe where there shouldn’t be one, you can cut out a big red X and cover it up. If you do this and take a photo, send it to The Courier, Students’ Union, Penglais, Aberyst-wyth, SY23 3DX. The sender of the best photo will receive a bottle of wine. Seriously.

x

A row has been ignited following a fire in the roof of the National Library of Wales and the subsequent claims from approxi-mately 10,000 students who they were left unable to complete coursework.

The University has come under fire, with students emailing departmental secretaries asking where they can find special circum-stance forms. According to one student,

“It’s a flaming joke. I had to leave all my work in there, and now I might fail my

module, which is of burning importance. My whole degree might be up in smoke.”

“The allegations that we aren’t able to handle this amount of special circumstance appeals are incendiary and we’re working to dampen them,” an unnamed secretary told The Extinguisher, “obviously issues like this spark a lot of passion in students, but we don’t deserve to take the heat for these unexpected events, hopefully we’ve doused some of their fears.”

Special circumstance form shortage following National Library fire

This year’s May Ball has been at the centre of many controversies.

When it was initially revealed that the event was to be held on campus, many students were disappointed to find out that they would no longer be required to take a half hour coach trip through the winding country roads of Mid Wales.

“All we’re getting now- for the same money- is a bus ride up the hill,” one stu-dent claimed. “I can drink too much and throw up on one of those buses any day, it’s just not as much of a challenge.”

The recent announcement of the line-up for the May Ball has left many feeling decidedly unsatisfied.

“I’ve heard of so many of these acts,” sec-ond year Geography student, Richard Ast-

ley told The Extinguisher. “Tinchy Stryder, The Futureheads, they’re on Radio 1 and everything. It’s sort of taken some of the air of mystery out of it. Usually you turn up at May Ball and there’s some washed up old act there, and they’re actually pretty good, they’re all about the music and how they’re never gonna give it up.”

“I know I’m mostly disappointed in the lack of tribute acts,” third year Michael Jackzon said upon hearing the line-up. “I can listen to Sam and the Womp and that on Spotify, but what I can’t listen to online is someone playing their one hit on ukuleles and spoons.”

“I’d have complained whatever they’d an-nounced,” said Tom Fucker. “Its a waste of students’ money, university is.”

Aberystwyth students in uproar over contemporary May Ball headliners

Many students were left confused and disappointed by the line-up for this year’s May Ball, as they have heard of the acts such as headliner Tinchy Stryder (pictured above, rightfully expressing their disdain.)

A recent increase in the number of special circumstances form being submitted to various departments is being linked to the fire at the National Library, students citing the “blazing inferno” as being the cause for lost work

Dear Sir,

I hear that the University have introduced a new Examination En-forcement Officer for the upcoming exam season.

In the interests of transparency, would it be possible for your fine organ to print a photograph of this woman?

Ena B. Watermelon (Mrs.), Borth

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls

Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls Ed Balls


IT HAS BEEN a double success for foot-ball at Aberystwyth University, as two players have been selected to play for the Welsh Universities team at the next tournament in Ireland later this month.

Phil Draper, former Aberystwyth Uni-versity First Team Captain and Krzysz-tof Nalborski have been selected for the side, and striker Tom Sparks was

also included in the preliminary squad.Being called-up for his adopted nation

(Draper has lived in Wales since the age of 14) has underlined a "rollercoaster season" for Draper as he explained, "Resigning as captain was hard, because I was leaving such a great bunch of lads. However, I went to Penrhyncoch with great hopes, training was very beneficial and I was asked to get

some match experience for the reserves."However, disaster struck when Draper

received an injury playing for the reserves, ruling himself out for 10-12 weeks, causing him to attend the first trial for the Welsh Universities team at less than full fitness.

Draper has now regained fitness and made his debut for 'The Roosters' last week, and he also speaks highly of the other play-ers that were called up alongside him; Nalborski also plays for Penhryncoch.

"Having Krzysztof in the side is great, it's nice to have a friendly face in the squad and we have a great understand-ing after spending half the season together at Penhryncoch." Draper also said that

Sparks was "one of the best strikers the Uni-versity has seen in my three years here."

Welsh Universities coach Gavin Al-len said "It will be a great experience for them to play against the Irish Universi-ties side and the Colleges. The colleges re-ceive investment for the development of players so they will be a tough challenge."

Their first game culminated in a 2-0 de-feat to the FAI Colleges side, with both Draper and Nalborski playing 90 minutes. The Welsh Universities side hit the crossbar in the first half, and Nalborski later had a penalty saved but despite their endeavours, were unable to salvage anything from the tie.

A View from the Terraces: Memories are made of this

UNIVERSITYSPORT

aberstudentmedia.com/sport

EDITORIAL

Aber’s double call-up for Welsh Universities team

We need your stories! If you have photos, reports or results of your matches, please get in touch with Harry Taylor, our Sports Editor:

[email protected]

FOOTBALL

RUGBY SEVENS

Ruckin’ Hell - Rugby 7s returns to Aber for another year

RUGBY 7s returns to Aberystwyth yet again as the tournament starts on Saturday May 4th at 9AM on Blaendolau fields and will finish around 7pm on Sunday even-ing. The annual tournament will feature 75 teams and around 1000 players, including current students, alumni and local players.

The Men’s Premier League will take place on the Sunday, and will showcase the best talent available throughout the weekend.

Activities Officer Ioan Rhys Evans said, “It’s the biggest amateur tournament in Wales,

and with 1000 players and 2000 spectators expected, it’s far bigger than its biggest rival Aberaeron 7s. It should be a festival of rugby.”

Admission for spectators is £2 on the gate, there will be a beer tent on-site and live music will be playing from inside the main tent, with Avarice, Static Pink and the Angry Bombs playing over the weekend.

A full fixture list for the weekend is avail-able on the Aberystwyth University Stu-dents Union website, under ‘Rugby 7s’.

"WATCH the football, watch the football, watch the football...it's going to move". So goes a sketch from David Mitchell, satirising the incessant football coverage by certain satellite TV providers, but this is a perfect summing up of sports in general.

Take your eyes off it for a minute, and you can guarantee that something will happen, and it's that time of year once again where something is happening all the time. The football and rugby seasons are ending, the cricket season is starting and the Snooker World Championships are well under way. Okay, perhaps the latter won't catch the eye too much, but it's a great time to be a sports fan.

I was back at Aggborough last week to watch Kidderminster Harriers potentially win the league, then not...then potentially get into the play-off finals...then not. Must be close to £75 wasted on both journeys. We

put ourselves through it season after season. But is such money and effort actually wasted and all in vain?

Someone who does not understand sport will probably say so, yet for those who have a deep bond with a sport or a team, they know it’s worth every penny. I'll be watching the club for the next fifty years and the memo-ries that would haveve been there if we had won would last that long, and more. In the words of Dean Martin, memories are made of this.

Congratulations to the rugby players who were victorious in their Mid-Wales Cup final recently. It's always good to see Aberystwyth University sports teams win-ning silverware again. Also, best wishes to Mike Eastwell who broke his leg in the Mor-ley Cup tournament a few weeks ago. As ever, it’s a shame to hear of players missing out on big finals through injury.

On 8th March 2013, Aberystwyth Univer-sity’s Underwater Hockey team travelled to the Student Nationals in Llandudno with probably their strongest ever squad. This year’s tournament was hosted by Bangor University, but has been held across Brit-ain and is attended by dozens of teams each year. Entering the tournament just a fort-night after an emphatic 12-0 Varsity victory over principal rivals- Bangor Octopush, Aber were in high spirits, and confident of success.

As the majority of the Aber team are third

year and above, the 2013 nationals present-ed one final chance for some players to rep-resent their University in one of the world’s most unusual, but fastest growing, sports.

Previous tournaments display mixed re-sults for Aber. In the team’s first appearance two years ago in Durham, they finished 24th (and last). At Coventry twelve months lat-er, Aber had improved sufficiently to merit a 12th place standing, a considerable im-provement from the previous year, andthe team narrowly missed out on being awarded the title of ‘Most Improved Club’ by the Athletic Union. The stage was set for one of the biggest days in Aber UWH’s short history.

A seven-nil win over York, quickly fol-lowed by a five-one mauling of Stirling set the tone for the day. Aberystwyth gave spir-ited and sharp performances in their sub-merged setting, with every player in the 12

person squad aiming their full exertion to-wards anaerobic achievement. Nine hours, 12 games, 56 goals and two nosebleeds later, the tournament was complete.

Aberystwyth finished the day having lost only three games, and placed as the 6th best University in Britain, an outstanding achievement considering the team has only two years of competitive experience. Aber-ystwyth’s performance as a team was further emphasised through the achievement of every single player from the squad of twelve scoring at least one competitive goal during the tournament.

Octopush excel at Student National CompetitionDaniel JohnsonOctopush Treasurer

UNDERWATER HOCKEY

Across: 1- Carp, 3- Bear, 6- Llama, 7- Narwhal, 8- Ampersand, 12- ROI, 13- Eagle, 15- Ear,16- Seashells, 18- Chevron, 19- Ducks, 20- Tosh, 21- Ahoy

Down: 2- Prairie, 3- Brawn, 4- Rehearsal, 5- Eel, 6- Leafier, 9- Parakeet, 10- A-G-A, 11- Mimesis, 14- Echidna, 17- Epoch, 18- Cat

Octopush before their 2013 Varsity match

Tomos Nolan


MAGNIFICENT 7 won the annual Hock-ey 7s tournament on Aberystwyth Uni-versity astroturf, with a 2-1 win over ironically named Everybody's Favour-ites in the last game of Sunday afternoon.

The tournament, in its ninth year, initially looked unlikely to go ahead after the fire at the National Library of Wales threatened to call the weekends festivities off, but fortunately for the former-students travelling up for the game, with half an hours notice the initial decision to call the games off was overturned.

The rules for Hockey 7s differ only slightly from the rules for the full game. The match is played at half pitch with the ball not allowed to go over knee height and as can be assumed from the name, only seven players are allowed on each team.

The opening game was full of nerves and characterised by the clash of sticks, and a rogue football from the 5-a-side pitch provided a brief distraction. The game finished 1-0 with the final goal coming from a counter-attack from the touchline.

Speaking before the tournament, or-ganiser Adam Wheeler summed up the spirit of the tournament "It's always great fun, it's been a bit more difficult to organ-ise this year and the National Library fire is a good example of that, but it's great to see people coming back year after year for it"

On Pitch 1, eventual winners of The Shield took to the field, beating a Beerfest team dressed in stereotypi-

cal Bavarian costumes 4-0, the Beerfest team struggling to get into the fixture.

However, the best fixture on Pitch 1 on the opening day was the 3-3 last gasp win for Knobs and Knockers against Wacky Racers. Wacky Racers went on to win the Plate and showed some great passing moves to get themselves back into the game in the first half. The second half saw a game of continual one-upmanship in terms of score, neither side running away with the game. Wacky Racers took a lead after a goal from a player who was hanging around the goal area hoping to benefit from a quick counter attack, but the tables turned com-pletely in the final minutes when Knobs and Knockers got a late equaliser with a well taken goal, with the goal coming via a shot from the outside of the player’s stick.

Saturday saw Knobs and Knockers hammered by a topless President’s Se-lect VII, featuring Union President Ben Meakin who showed good ball con-trol. Cool Runnings and Top Guns bat-tled to a draw, with a deserved equaliser from Cool Runnings after going behind.

Then came the pick of the morning's games on Pitch 1 with Beerfest taking on Meddling Kids. Beerfest looked to have tightened their defence after the previ-ous day’s game, and, despite Meddling Kids taking an early lead, they brought the scores back to 2-1 before the Meddling Kids stepped up a gear and pounded Beerfest,

subsequently running out with a 6-1 victory.Sunday saw the final games of the tour-

nament, Magnificent 7 running out victors in the Cup after the aforementioned game against Everybody’s Favourites, Camoflage-clad Feg's Army, a team made up of sec-ond year students and freshers, won the plate - beating Australia #roryisenglish 3-2 in the final. Wacky Racers then won the Plate 1-0 against Return of the Sex Pirates

in a tense game that saw the winner scored in added time. The dubious honour finally went to Ioan Bullied Us Into This, who won the Wooden Spoon 3-0 against Beerfest.In the awards given out that night, Simon Upshall and Jack Chitty won Top Goalscorer and Best Player respectively, both of whom play for victorious Magnificent 7. Charles Manford won Most Improved Player.

LOCALSPORT

aberstudentmedia.com/sport

ABER TOWN

A 1-0 DEFEAT to Bala Town on Tuesday 23rd April rounded off a thoroughly dis-appointing season for Aberystwyth Town. Finishing third from bottom of the Welsh Premier League, they ended up safe from relegation by only one point. The previous day, Llanelli A.F.C were wound up at the High Court assuring the Seasiders' would be safe, even if they had finished in the bottom two places in the league.

The defeat to Bala Town was also Glyndwr Hughes' last game for Aberystwyth Town after making 375 appearances for the club. The striker, who has scored three important goals this season, scored 105 in total for the club and his experience and movement will prove to be a big miss next season as Aber hope to improve on their finish this season.

This has been a season which saw the Seasiders fail to flirt with the top-six Eu-ropean places as was initially hoped, and was marred by a defence with a tendency to haemorrhage goals, conceding 59 in 32 games, including seven goals in two games against relegated sides Afan Lido and Lla-

nelli.A succession of home games in mid-April

provided a last gasp hope for Aber to get into the European playoffs, but draws to Newtown and Connah's Quay extinguished any hope of a European tour this summer.

It might have been different if injuries had not played a big part in their season. Mid-field maestro Sean Thornton failed to make an appearance after getting injured in pre-season and Matty Collins, who is favourite to win the Supporters Player of the Season Gong, broke his shoulder in a 3-0 defeat to eventual title winners, The New Saints.

With the side languishing in the relegation places at Christmas, Tomi Morgan delved into the January transfer market and signed Mark Jones from Afan Lido who netted 10 goals, along with Chris Venables and Anto-nio Corbisiero who joined from Llanelli as they looked to cut their wage budget.

With the new additions to the squad fail-ing to markedly improve Aber's form, dis-content reigned once the season had finished

at the inability for the players to perform on the pitch.

Former-student Matthew Wallace said "Tomi has had arguably the best squad I've seen assembled in my time following Ab-erystwyth Town and the likes of Venables, Follows, Cobersiero can't have come cheap either. Yes, the injury to Thornton hasn't helped the cause but the simple fact is the team haven't produced. Lacklustre in front of goal far too often and the less said about the James Woods débâcle the better. Glad we've survived but next season needs to be a marked improvement."

Speculation has certainly mounted throughout the season as to the status of Tomi Morgan's job, with former Llanelli manager Andy Legg mentioned numerous times as being in the frame to replace him. Interestingly, during the final-game fixture against Bala Town on Tuesday 23rd April, the Twitter account of the Welsh-Premier.com website tweeted "An Aberystwyth farewell for Glyndwr Hughes tonight - and almost certainly manager Tomi Morgan as well after a poor season", which will fuel speculation as to the manager’s future after failing to get a good squad on paper to per-form on the pitch.

Seasiders season review: Discontent after underachievement

Magnificent Seven ride to victory once againHOCKEY SEVENS

German costume-clad Beerfest look to attack once againTomos Nolan

Manager Tomi Morgan looks on in despairJoe Landers

All the scores, all the match reports The Courier, your home for sport in Aber @SportsCourier

SPORT SPORT EDITOR

[email protected]

Harry Tayloraberstudentmedia.com/sport

Harry TaylorSports Editor

STAND-IN captain Ioan Rhys Evans dedi-cated Aberystwyth University RFC’s 27-17 Mid-Wales Cup victory to injured player Mike Eastwell who missed the game after breaking his ankle in the Morley Cup tour-nament a fortnight previous. Speaking af-ter the game Evans said “You’ve got to feel sorry for Mike Eastwell, missing out after breaking his leg.” Club Chairman and cap-tain Ryan Murphy echoed Evans’ thoughts by saying “Such a shame he couldn’t play”

The game took place at Rhyader against COBRA, (Caereinion Old Boys Rugby As-sociation) and it was they who took the lead, using their considerable size advan-tage to drive the ball over the line for a try.

Murphy then got Aber back into the game

with a try following a break from Matt Spicer, who nearly failed to get the try but offloaded to Murphy who got Aber’s first points on the board. The subsequent con-version was missed by Illtud W. Dafydd.

Evans got Aber in front just before the half time break, his first try for the Uni-versity side. He tackled well, took the ball and went under the posts from the 22 or the try. Dafydd then failed to make up from his earlier conversion error, once again missing the resulting conversion.

It was then the turn of Murphy to lead by example once again, by getting another try, rounding his opposite winger and finishing in the corner after a flowing phase of play,

a quick counter-attack and then getting the try. Dafydd then missed the try again.

COBRA scored another try, using their physical presence to their advan-tage, driving themselves over the line.

Will Lowe scored a try after a kick-on from Harry Issac, with Dafydd having a torrid time with his conversions - missing another. Harry Issac was integral in the next try too, providing an inspirational run from which James Phillips received the ball and scored his first try for the University.

The opposition scored one final try amid heavy controversy as the referee and linesman disagreed on whether the try should have stood, but eventually it was

given. However, it made no difference as the final whistle blew soon afterwards and Aber were bringing the cup home.

Speaking in the days after the game Mur-phy said “The Aberystwyth forwards put in their best performance in a long time, this swung the momentum in our favour a few times and was integral to our win.” He continued “It was a really special way to end the year, particularly for some of us who were playing in our final game for the club. We really came together, at times the score line was close and we had to dig deep, the boys fought extremely hard for each other and it was a great team per-formance – we can be proud of this win”.

COBRA CHARMED AS ABER UNI RFC WIN MID-WALES CUP

The Aberystwyth University Cup-winning team (L - R): Back Row: James Phillips, Carl Barnes, Ryan Murphy (Usual Captain), Olisa Nwokedi, Daniel-James Walters, Matthew Gower, Illtud W. Dafydd, Will Lowe, Llywelyn Williams, Matt SpicerFront Row: Harry Issac, Oliver Elliot, Colin Overend, Dafydd Jonathan, Dylan O’Kelly-sLynch, Ioan Rhys Evans (Stand-in Captain), Andrew Sandshrew-Kingswell, Dafydd Williams, Jacob Weaver-JonesLast Ever Game: Ryan Murphy, James Phillips, Olisa Nwokedi and Oliver Elliot.

May 2013

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