Party like it’s 1884!
The School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology held their first student-staff Christmas party on December 17th 2013, when everyone was encouraged to help raise money for charity and ‘Party like it’s 1884’!
Harriet Weller, the School’s Head Peer Guide, explained why staff and students decided to hold a party:
Novelty jumpers out in force
“During Welcome Week, the School always holds a cheese and wine party for Freshers and staff. When the idea about a Christmas party first started circulating, we were delighted!”
The theme of the party- novelty jumpers - raised £117.55 for two charities selected by the students: the local drop-in centre for the homeless at the Pentecostal Church in Bangor and the CoppaFeel breast cancer charity.
The School’s Peer Guides led the organisation of the party, working closely with Karen Pollock (Archaeology lecturer) and Tracy Williams (School administrator). According to Tracy:
“Organising the Christmas party gave me a great opportunity to really get to know the students, and I feel that it has reinforced the close bond between staff and students in the School. I helped the students with a ‘who’s who’ quiz, where 
The party in full swingthey tried to identify members of staff from photographs of them as children. Probably one of the highlights as well was having Martin Hanks, a History PhD student, to DJ at the party. Martin gave us a proper disco, which encouraged students, and even some staff members, to dance!”
Victoria Allen, a 3rd year Peer Guide and Student Representative, explained that “Students really enjoyed themselves at the party, and we are so pleased to be donating money to very worthwhile charities. It was a bonus to see staff members being dressed up as snowmen for one of our party games! Students are now keen to hold an end-of-year event, so hopefully we can organise another party in the summer of 2014.”
In the words of the Head of School, Dr Peter Shapely:
“The success and fun we had at the Christmas party demonstrates the excellent relationship that exists between staff and students at the School of History. I would like to extend my thanks to all of the Peer Guides and student volunteers whose hard work made this a memorable event.”
Publication date: 4 March 2014