President

James Lake

johns.president@durham.ac.uk

Hello!

I’m the President of the Johns Common Room which means I’m responsible for leading JCR and the Exec and representing your views to others.

My role includes:

Co-ordinating the Exec/JCR: I set the agenda for Exec meetings and make sure that we’re all working together to provide the services that everyone needs and expects.

Student Representation: I sit on oodles of committees to make sure that you and your views are represented fairly. I work with College Officers and the Principal, the DSU Sabbatical Officers, the other college Presidents and Senior Men and the University staff, including the Vice-Chancellor.

Office of Trustee: As a Tier 1 Exec member I am a Trustee along with the three Vice-Presidents and the Treasurer. This means I am financially and legally responsible for the JCR’s money and the actions of all of its officers.

Company Directorship: I am a company director of St.John’s College. This allows me to sit on College Council, the governing body of the college, and add the students’ point of view to the discussions on business and educational strategy.

Sign-Posting: When JCR members have a problem quite often the first person they come to/e-mail is the President. I spend a lot of time replying to e-mails and pointing people in the right direction on an innumerable number of issues. Also, as a Welfare contact, I am able to deal with issues of a Welfare nature.

So, that is what I do. If you have any problems or ideas for the JCR, please do e-mail me or better still; visit me in my flat at the top of Linton. I have an Open Door policy so please do pop in for a cup of tea and a chat!

James

Vice-President (Undergraduate)

Matthew Warburton

johns.vp@durham.ac.uk 

Hi, I’m Matthew Warburton, the Undergraduate Vice-President. The job of VP is quite varied and flexible, which means it’s pretty hard to sum up exactly what I do, but here it goes...  

Dealing with Issues in College - I’m your go-to person for any problems you have in college. Be it with food, your room, post or anything domestic. I go to lots of committees and meetings where I talk to the students and staff who can get any issues sorted out. Please let me know if you have any complaints. It’s an important part of my job and I’m always happy to help. 

Assisting the President - Lakey is always very busy sorting out lots of important stuff and representing the JCR to the university and beyond. Part of my job is dealing with anything he hasn’t got enough time to do which may involve going to the odd meeting instead of him, or generally doing whatever he asks. I’m also a Trustee of the JCR along with the rest of Tier 1 Exec (JCR President, CCR and  MCR Presidents and the Treasurer) Its basically our job to make sure the JCR acts responsibly and in its best interests.

Helping to Organise Projects and Lending a Hand to the Rest of Exec – I help co-ordinate John’s Chad’s Day, a fantastic day of competition (sports and otherwise) and general frivolity with our neighbours St Chad’s. I also work with other exec members and JCR officers to assist them in implementing their plans and help out with bigger projects.

Essentially, my job is making sure whatever needs doing gets done, while representing your interests in all the meetings I attend and supporting the rest of exec.  So, if you have a question, concern, problem or idea and aren’t really sure who to take it to, I’m your first port of call.

Please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me, you can email me (or use the anonymous contact form on the website) or call me on 07590 573 343.

See you around college!

Matthew

Vice-President (CCR)

Julie Wearing

j.a.wearing@durham.ac.uk

Hello, I'm Julie Wearing,

I have the dual roles of being Vice-President of the JCR as well as President of the CCR (Cranmer Committee Room) which exists as a smaller student body within the the JCR.  This represents the trainee vicars and ministers section of St. John's.  These roles allow me to represent both student bodies as a director of St. John's College and on various committees to look after the welfare and interests of students of St. John's College.  This includes yours.  I would encourage you to get involved with the JCR, clubs and societies, it's a great way to have fun and meet lots of people.

I am a good listener, so if you just want to talk or ask some advice, then I am around.  I am usually in the vicinity of the Bowes/ Haughton dining room or in the CCR by the whiteboard - you'll soon learn where that is.

I am also contactable via email or leave me a message on the whiteboard.

Please do stop me and say (shout) hello or wave when I am out on my bike.

Vice-President (MCR)

Edmund Waddelove BA (Dunelm)

johnsmcr.president@durham.ac.uk 

Hello, I'm Edmund, your friendly local JCR Vice-President on behalf of Postgraduates.
 
As VP, I represent the Johnian postgrads to the JCR, so that the JCR can in turn represent them to College, the DSU, and the wider world. Whenever a question comes up which is postgrad led, or might involve postgrads in any way, I'm there to give our side of the story, and work with Exec to reach an agreement which is beneficial to everyone, postgrads, undergrads and Cranmerites alike. I also work to publicise JCR events, functions, sports and societies to the members of the MCR (Middle Common Room), so that postgrads, however busy their lives and however far away they live, can enjoy the same opportunities as everyone else. A major part of my role this year is to encourage Common Room integration - we're all part of John's, after all, and can learn a lot from each other.

As a student trustee of the JCR, I also have a set of different responsibilities: I'm the only postgrad representative on the trustee board, but also have to listen to the debates to work out and advise upon the best course of action for the whole JCR. So this can encompass everything from overseeing finances to democracy to strategic direction. Phew! Luckily, I've worked closely with two previous Execs, so having been elected in October, can paradoxically attempt to be both the wise old hand (hah, yeah, right, I hear you cry) while bringing a breath of fresh air (hah, yeah, right, I hear you cry).

I wear yet another hat as MCR President. In this role, I lead the 5-strong MCR Exec who provide services, democracy, representation and communication to MCR members, and represent Johnian postgrads at College and University events (and therefore get to wear my gown and hood from time to time :)). The MCR was formed to look after the interests of postgrads, and while it is part of the JCR, it has the independence to run its internal affairs, its own social events and so forth. Our lair is - oddly enough - the Middle Common Room, in No. 7 South Bailey. :)

Please do get in touch if you have an questions/queries/suggestions/comments!

Treasurer

Alistair Bounds

johns.treasurer@durham.ac.uk

Hi,

I’m the JCR Treasurer, which means I’m in charge of the JCR’s finances. The JCR has a turnover of around £80,000 a year and that money comes in from and goes out to things like social events, services, sports and societies, welfare, administration, JCR meetings, VAT returns and hundreds of other things.

As Treasurer I have to keep track of what’s coming in and going out and making sure that the two balance, checking budgets for any events on college, logging and writing huge numbers of cheques for anything from flavoured condoms to face painters and being the go to guy for any money questions you might have. I sit on Chairs Committee, Finance Committee, the Members Fund Committee, and some college committees.

I work closely with other exec members and officers and college staff and I have an Assistant Treasurer, Henry Sleath, to help me.

My goals for this year are to get the JCR Paypal account up and running, to make it easier to pay the JCR for any social events, and to ensure that the JCR can operate effectively as a registered charity. This means getting a lot of different types of insurance, ensuring that the JCR meets its accounting requirements, documenting what JCR officers can agree to on behalf of the JCR and ensuring that officers can’t commit to something without the knowledge of the JCR, and ensuring that external trustees will feel comfortable accepting joint responsibility for the actions of the JCR.

I can be contacted at johns.treasurer@durham.ac.uk and you can always try ambushing me round Durham with any questions you may have.

Alistair

Communications Officer

Kat Williams

johns.comms@durham.ac.uk

Hi all,

I’m your Comms Officer for the year. This makes me responsible for all JCR-communications, including:

This website. It’s your best source of information for all things JCR-related. Any comments, questions, or features you’d like to see, drop me a message.

This Week. This is the weekly newsletter that appears on the This Week noticeboard, in the Common Rooms, the dining hall and also in electronic form on this JCR website. It includes Exec reports explaining what we’ve been working on for you, as well as useful reminders about things going on in college.

The weekly email. A bulletin sent to your Durham email address once a week. It contains all sorts of JCR-relevant notices. If you want to add something to the weekly email, send it to me and I can include it.

The noticeboards. These are for notices and advertisements. I keep them tidy and up-to-date. All posters need to be signed and dated by a member of Chairs-Comm or a Common Room President. Unauthorised posters will be removed. Posters not on a noticeboard will also be removed. If you have posters to display around college you can leave them in my pidgeonhole in the Exec flat and I will get them put up.

Minutes. I minute all JCR meetings (and various committee meetings) and publish them for you on this website. That means that if you miss one you can catch up on what happened!

The Exec Handbook. This is sent out to all freshers in addition to the Freshers Handbook. It introduces freshers to the Exec and JCR system so that they know what the JCR is for and how it works.

The room ballot. I oversee the room-selection process for everyone who decides to live back in college. In brief, everyone who wants a room is randomly assigned a place in the queue, I provide a list of available rooms and whoever is first gets to choose first, etc. If you have a special request for a room based on exceptional circumstances please let me know.

Last but not least, as a member of Exec I represent the JCR. I am a port of call for any questions or issues you may want to raise. Feel free to email me!

- Kat.

Senior Bar Officer

Charlie Deans

johns.bar@durham.ac.uk

Hello!

I’m Charlie and I am this year’s Senior Bar Officer at St. John’s College Bar. My role is to oversee all things Bar. This includes day to day smooth running of the bar, appointing new staff every term, organising bar events like quiz nights, the Christmas party or St. Patrick’s Day celebrations – check out the John’s Bar Facebook account for more info on these, and to make the bar’s presence felt at college events such as the Bailey Ball and John’s Day.

The Bar does tend to be a general hub of fabulousness throughout your time at Durham. Whether it’s for a few drinks before you move into town, a randomly-themed bar crawl, a casual meet with a friend or a much needed sugar fix during revision sessions in the Library, it’s there for you throughout – Open Days, Fresher’s Week and Graduation Week! The amount of people from other colleges always in the bar is testament to the good times it provides and it’s much coveted (unofficial) title as Best College Bar.

I have a wonderful team who have focused roles – Charlotte and Livvy deal with the financial and budgeting side of things, and Rob and Will the more practical side, like making sure we actually have drinks to serve (always good) and keeping the beer in tip-top condition.

If you have recommendations for events to be held in the Bar, requests for particular drinks, or want any further information (such as the calorie content of a Tripod), feel free to email me at the address above.

Look forward to seeing you in the Bar!

Senior DSU Rep

Edward Hauschild

johns.dsu@durham.ac.uk

Hi, I’m your Senior DSU rep for this year; this means I’m responsible for everything DSU related, including:

Attending DSU Council- Council is the main decision making body of the DSU, it elects all of the non-sabbatical officers and the DSU’s representatives at the NUS National Conference.

Attending DSU Joint Committee. This is the committee made up of the four Sabbatical Officers (President, Education and Welfare Officer, Societies and Student Development Officer and the DUCK Manager), this is the chance for colleges to get their say in how the DSU is run, and to steer the agenda for DSU Council.

Organising the John’s University Challenge Team, this year I want to get as many Johnians involved and try and beat a few other colleges (I have a good feeling about this year).

Keeping everyone in the know with what’s happening in the DSU, including meetings, elections and referenda, making sure everyone votes and gets involved.

Also, as a member of college Exec, I represent the JCR and am a port of call for any questions/problems you may have.

Edward.

Services Manager

Joe Hunt

johns.services@durham.ac.uk

Hello,

As Services Manager, it's my job to look after all the services provided by the JCR in college. I intend to ensure that they are run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, since almost all of you will engage with them at some point over the coming year. The services are run by a team of people comprised of myself, Assistant Services, Shop Manager, Toastie Bar Manager, Stash Rep, Toastie Bar volunteers and Shop helpers.

My job covers a variety of things which happen within college:

The Laundry - If something goes wrong give me a call and I'll sort it out as fast as I can.

The Shop - This is situated in the Bailey Room and I have the Shop Manager's help in running this service. Here you can buy a range of goods at a discounted price including sweets, crisps and drinks.

The Toastie Bar - Also situated in the Bailey Room, and run with the help of the Toastie Bar Manager. The Toastie Bar serves hot toasties with a range of fillings from normal to down right ridiculous: but all super-tasty!!!

The Stash - For any freshers who might not know, 'stash' stands for personalised clothing showing your affiliation to a group of people i.e. college, society or university. It's my job to ensure that you can get your hands on as much St John's stash as you need/want/can afford, be it hoodies, trousers, hats or scarves. So I will be organising stash orders termly. I am aided in this highly important task by the JCR Stash Rep.

The Bailey Room Facilities and Vending Machines - This means that I have to look after the pool table, the Itbox and the vending machines in college, keep them serviced and ring people up if they break.

College Photographs - Including summer photographs and freshers week photographs.

Gown Sale - In freshers week.

That is the overall summary of what my job entails. But as with everything it is subject to change, if you have any suggestions as to how Services can be improved, do let me know.

Social Secretary

Hannah Wilkinson

johns.social@durham.ac.uk

Hey everyone,

I’m Hannah and I’ll be your Social Secretary for the next year!

I’ll be heading up the fabulous team that runs all the awesome social events that makes John’s so special. Mainly I’ll be coordinating and planning all our social events which will involve lots of negotiating with college staff and external companies so you get the socials you want at the best price possible.

The rest of the Social Events Committee consists of Ruthie Melvin (Vice-Chair), Charlotte Monk and Lottie Armstrong (Ents) Aine O’Brien and Hannah Patel (Decs) and Kat Hamilton (Pubs). Treasurer, Food and Wine and Tech are currently vacant so please please think of standing if you fancy being part of the best committee in college.

So the social events we organise:

• 2 Balls – Bailey Ball (November) a night when college is completely transformed into an amazing wonderland and we party until 4am and the Summer Ball which is generally a very elegant affair in a fantastic location outside college.
• John’s Day – the most fun-filled sunshiney (hopefully) day of the year, think fairground in John’s back garden with the bar open all day and endless John’s fun.
• Mega-formals – these are twice a term, normally to celebrate something exciting, basically huge formals in Leech Hall with a champagne reception and wine on the tables for a very reasonable price (normally £5).

As Social Secretary I am also a member of the JCR exec so I get to help make the decisions that shape our JCR which is quite exciting.

The social events that SEC organise are for you so it is really important that we put on the events that you want. So any ideas, thoughts, opinions about all things social drop me an email. (johns.social@durham.ac.uk)

I hope you very much enjoy the social events we put on for you this year!

Social-love

Hannah xxxxxxxxxx

Sports and Societies Officer

James Woolley

johns.sportsoc@durham.ac.uk

Hello all! I’m James Woolley and I’m your Sports and Societies Officer! It’s up to me to keep all our sports and societies running throughout the year from the Whiskey society, to Community Outreach, to our champion winning Ultimate Frisbee team to our (not so successful) Football B team. It’s all under my watch.

Events – John’s/Chad’s day: The clash of the two smallest colleges, the mini-titans, as both colleges battle it out in most sports. However much we may love Chad’s, we also pity them for their inferior sporting capability. The Colours awards ceremony is where we commemorate the commitment shown to John’s sports and societies throughout the past year. Then there is the fresher’s fair where we help bright eyed freshers to get fully involved with all the sports and societies at Johns. Finally Team-Johns, Alcohol and non-alcoholic relays by Johns sports teams . . . across the uni college bars!

Colours Committee – Towards the end of Epiphany term I sit on Colours Committee as a voting member, where it is decided who, out of all the nominations, deserves to be awarded half or full colours depending on their commitment to and ability within their sport or society. For more information on Colours Committee please visit http://johnsjcr.org.uk/sports-societies/colours-committee  

Representation to DUAU – I am St John’s representative to DUAU (Durham University Athletics Union). I have to keep all the teams and their captains up to date and organised, which means a lot of e-mails, text messages and more e-mails. Did I mention e-mails?

Funding – I liaise with sports teams, societies and the treasurer on funding from the JCR, as well as publicising any funds which are not being utilised to captains and society presidents. Most of this is decided at the beginning of the academic year but if you are a captain or president and want money or need help understanding how funding works, come speak to me.

Ratification – If people want to form a new society via a motion in a JCR meeting then I'm the first port of call. I also ensure the continued ratification of existing sports teams and societies.

That’s about everything. If you have any questions about the above or life in general, please email me.

James

Welfare Officer

Charlotte Armstrong

johns.welfare@durham.ac.uk

Hi!

I’m Lottie, your Welfare Officer. I co-ordinate the welfare committee, which provides a range of services such as living out and careers info, sexual health supplies, a space to talk in confidence, and a range of services beyond college. 

Here’s a little more about what I do…

Talk: Please feel free to approach me for a confidential chat at any time about anything. You can get in touch with me via email or phone, where we can arrange a meeting. Alternatively you can pop in during my office hours, which are publicized on the Welfare notice board. I am here to listen in a confidential, non-judgemental capacity at all times.

Student Support Network: I co-ordinate the Student2Student supporters, who conduct a daily drop-in service from 5.15-6.15pm in the Welfare Room (just off Cranmer Vac). During this time, you can collect welfare supplies, seek information on welfare issues or just chat. All Student2Student supporters are welfare trained and offer a strictly confidential, non-judgemental listening space.

Campaigns: Welcomm and myself come up with campaign ideas to raise awareness of particular welfare issues, and to provide relevant and up to date information where and when to seek advice.

Exec: I am a part of Exec as a student body representative. Primarily, I ensure that all discussions are sensitive to potentially welfare related issues.

Supplies: I provide lots and lots of freebies! Condoms, lube, attack alarms, pregnancy tests and Chlamydia tests are all available to collect from me, and can be arranged to be collected completely confidentially through the anonymous emailing system on the welfare website.

Signposting: I have pages and pages of contacts at my disposal. So if you need pointing in the direction of advice on a specific matter. This includes welfare contacts in college, as well as university wide and nationwide.

DSU: I also sit on the DSU Welfare Committee, where we discuss the welfare systems in place in each college, university-wide campaigns and receive details of signposting materials and contacts.

The welfare system is here for you. You can use it as little or as often as you like. Please feel free to email, text of call me any time (07730581653)

See you around!

Lottie

JCR Chair

David Bufton

johns.chair@durham.ac.uk

I'm a Second-Year Lawyer, and the Chair of the JCR.

My job in the JCR is to ensure that everything and everyone adheres to the constitution. The most visible role of the JCR Chair is as Chair of the JCR (or Ordinary General) Meetings that are usually held three times a term. Comparing the JCR Chair to the Speaker of the House of Commons would not be far wrong, except you do not have to address me as Mr Speaker!

The JCR is important because we are a charity; we are obliged by law to seek certain objectives, act in the best interests of members, and keep lots of rules. It is my job, along with the President, to ensure that these objectives are fulfilled from a democratic angle at least. I will be working tirelessly to ensure that the JCR is made as understandable as possible and to make sure that accountability is maintained.

St John's is one of only two independent Colleges in Durham; as a result, the JCR can work extremely closely with college to have a huge say in how college is run: from the meals served up daily, to the furniture in the common rooms; the freshers’ reps greeting you, to the selection of our new Senior Tutor.

It is for this reason that the position of JCR Chair is an impartial one. Under the constitution I am not allowed to express a substantive opinion in my role as Chair. The only other role in this position is the JCR Vice-Chair: Charlotte Welsh, a first year lawyer. (vice-chair@johnsjcr.org.uk). We are here to make sure that the JCR is run properly and fairly, without any personal bias. The JCR Chair also sits in a judicial capacity should the need arise, due to this requirement of impartiality. 

Additionally, there are a number of administrative and organisational duties that the Chair and Vice-Chair work on together, such as signing off posters and organising JCR meetings.

Generally, if you have any queries or comments about the procedural side of the JCR, I'm probably your first port of call!

All best wishes,

Dave.