Alex, I'll try to answer as best as I can.
1. A large sign on the front door explaining the rules for signing in guests. I would preferably like these rules changed but a sign explaining the current rules would suffice.
There shouldn't be any problems with this, but most people know the rules. The question would be - is it worthwhile? It's something we'll look into, but it would be easier to email everyone on linkup, and considerably cheaper.
2. A rope barrier for the Bop queue on busy Friday nights to prevent the chaos of queue jumping etc.
The problem with this would be health and safety issues. The queueing for the bop is one of the limitations of the Marys place building. However, puttin up a rope barrier would be a health and safety obstacle.
3. The raised metal seating area in Venue 1 is nice but it looks somewhat scruffy as it is bare plywood. A lick of paint would be far more professional and would cost under a tenner. I'll do it for free if need be.
The reason that it is bare is that it is not a permanent fixture. It is made up of several nevos (stage blocks) that can create raised areas. Not only do we need these to be moveable, but the very nature of what they are means we cannot paint them. When the theatre season, starts, this area will dissapear for a while.
4. The draped green plastic in Venue 1 really looks terrible.
We are looking at getting matt black covers. Thsi we will hopefully have reasonably soon. This is some thing we have already considered.
5. The new policy for Thursday and Saturday ... is a terrible policy.
Why? Do you get to look inside a club before you choose to go in? Why should the Union be any different? If you want it to be more professional, accept that we will run it more like a club. The situation of 'the bop is empty, I won't go in' is crippling the bop. Instead if people chose to go much in the same way as you would if you were to go to a club, then it would be easier. It also better in terms of access for people to be queueing down the corridor.
6. Instead of making a Thursday night bop free before a certain time, why not charge the standard rate and offer a free drink or two? This would commit people to staying in there as they have paid money.
Because of the unique position of the Union, we offer both alcohol for sale, and also condone drunkeness, despite that we most of the Unions money from it.
As such, we cannot give away free alcohol. We are looking at 'bop only' drinks promos, which basically would make it more financially viable for you to goet drunk in the bop. However, offering free drinks could get us into murky legal territory.
I think that the fundamental problem with the union is that there is a lack of professionality about the place, it has been run with the worst features of a youth club and a business.
I agree, the Union is distinctly amateuristic. One of the problems is the yearly staff change-over, with each years new people having all these great ideas about how to improve the Union without actually thinking of how these would work, or knowing how the Union works.
Now I have a question.
It has been ascertained that the Union needs to become more professional if it is going to hold an audience, as it is under pressure that never existed before from Dundee and Edinburgh. So why have the Union decided to stop paying DJs? The quality of the music is one of the distinctions of a good atmosphere, and good DJs quitting the Union because they don't want to work for free is understandable. Why don't you pay the DJs, and then you could attract better ones, and avoid the problem that the Union DJing is only set to get worse, as complete amateurs are allowed to DJ. I think this is completely unacceptable, and in the long term will prove to be a disastrous policy change.
Sorry that one of the Sabbaticals didn't get around to answering your question, as they ought to respond to these questions. However, as a member of the Ents committee, I felt obliged to respond, and if you (or anyone else) has any more questions, email me on
djv@st-and.ac.uk
Dave Vinton
DJ Convenor