Close wins for Halifax HCSA 09/10 candidates

The Halifax election results for 2009/10 were announced at the Snowball on Monday, 7th December. Exactly a week after voting closed, tensions had mounted and the candidates were itching to find out whether they had achieved the position they wanted. With two people running for the top job of college President, Lydia Blundell and Chris Edwards, and most positions on the HCSA contested, everyone in the room wanted to know the results.

The results were announced amid storms of clapping and the team this year certainly looks like a formidable one, with all involved looking to make a valuable contribution in the upcoming year. All those running for positions had to make a 30 second video the week before, which was played to all at the Snowball.

As the anticipation mounted we finally discovered that the new President of Halifax College is to be Lydia Blundell, a very organised second-year student who will certainly put her all into the job. As a key member of the HCSA last year, Blundell did much to raise college morale and promote integration within the courts with events such as the Bar Quiz in JJs.

This year, Blundell is looking to take the HCSA on a step towards better things. She intends to do this by improving things for the students living in Halifax. She stated that, as one of her many policies, she wants “to heighten security with the installation of security cameras through routes into Halifax, as well as inform students of the security services available”. Blundell’s policies seem very practical and worth spending HCSA funds for.

Beth Fieldhouse and Jamie Salazar won the positions of Services Vice-President and Welfare Vice-President respectively. Once again it appears that both are up to the job, especially with the experience they had gained from being a part of the HCSA last year.

The RAG representatives’ positions went to the ‘Croydon/Hare’ duo despite being contested by three others. James Croydon believes that this was down to “an effective and realistic three point policy scheme”, which is his affectionate term for the pair’s plans for RAG week, RAG events and RAG awareness combined. He also added that ‘a dynamic campaign didn’t hurt’.

James Croydon and Jonathon Hare made a series of posters, some serious and some entertaining, as part of their campaigning program, which helped them to win the Halifax student vote. The duo has their policies planned and already in motion, James Croydon thinks it’s important to “keep the ball rolling”. They have several ideas, which they plan to carry out before Week Three of Spring Term. Both are looking forward enthusiastically to their time in office and say they “can’t wait to get our teeth into the challenge ahead”.

The competition was certainly tough and we found out exactly how tough when the results were disclosed. The position of Treasurer was a particularly close call, with only 11 votes between the winner, Graeme Osbourn, and Laura Whittaker.

Several of the college's higher positions were closely contested, with only 16 votes separating Beth Fieldhouse and Stephen O’Ryan for Services Vice President. Similarly, Lydia Blundell beat Chris Edwards in the race for President by a mere 24 votes.

At a Glance:

President: Lydia Blundell

Welfare Vice-President: Jamie Salazar

Services Vice-President: Beth Fieldhouse

Treasurer: Graeme Osbourn

Common Room Officers: Ozge Bektasoglu, Jonathan Wood, James Young

Male Sports Reps: Mark Lund, Harry Pearson, Alex Simon

Female Sports Rep: Frankie Hall

RAG Reps: James Croydon and Jonathan Hare

Female Welfare Officers: Hannah Armatey and Lorna Bowling

St. Lawrence Court Rep: Daveds Mootanah

Younger Court Rep: Mark Young

Ingram Court Rep: Chris Timperley

Merchandise Officer: Aman Brah

Press and Publicity: Jon Paul Ward

Male LGBT Rep: Philip Morris

Female LGBT Rep: Hannah Lewis

Student Action Officers: Phoebe Cairns and Melanthe Grand

International Officer: Tomasz Dobrzycki

College Council Officers: Roberto Powell and Phil Walker

Live Music Officer: Grace Picking

Ordinary Officer: Rachel Harding

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