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edge-hill-university · 7 years ago

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All the Fun of the UCAS Fair

The UCAS HE fair. Despite teasingly suggesting ‘a gathering of stalls and amusements for public entertainment’ [Oxford Dictionaries], the reality is more ‘an exhibition to promote particular products.’ It doesn’t sound quite as much fun, but making a decision that will seriously affect the direction of your working life is a biggie. Not that there’s no fun to be had, just the likelihood of finding a coconut shy or a rollercoaster is vanishingly small. But we wouldn’t put anything past the ingenuity of student recruitment teams.

So what do you do at a UCAS fair? The idea is to narrow down your options before you apply to uni, via UCAS. So before you hit the fair you should discuss your next step on the academic ladder with as many people as you think necessary – parents, relatives, teachers, friends, pets, careers advisors, even the postman if you think he has something worthwhile to contribute. You just need to be sure about what you want out of higher education, and then focus your search on that. You may want to follow your best friend to Scumbag College (that’s one for classic comedy trainspotters), but if it doesn’t offer the course you want to take, or has a weak reputation in that subject area, it isn’t going to help you in the long run. And part of the fun of HE is visiting your friends at other unis.

So, with that in mind, here’s a checklist for your day at the fair.

1 Do some homework. I know, it feels like a day off, but try not to waste the opportunity. If you know what subject area you’re interested in you’ll save yourself a lot of time on the day, time you can put to better use checking out the various workshops, seminars and tours on offer. Make a shortlist of university stalls you want to visit, and arm yourself with all the right questions: - What are the grades required for this course? - How is the course taught? - How many contact hours per week would there be for this course? - What modules are available on this course? - Are there work placement opportunities? - Can I study abroad?

2 Of course, uni isn’t all about writing essays at midnight. So don’t forget to ask about creature comforts. Is it a campus uni? Is accommodation guaranteed for first years (at Edge Hill, we certainly try)? Are there any lakes on campus (arguably not an essential geographical feature, but it’s a nice touch, and at Edge Hill we have not one but two of ‘em)? What’s the social life like? Is there a society for people who love bananas (at Edge Hill there are societies from the Acoustic Society to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Society (no, us neither), and always room for more, including fruit-based fan clubs)? Are the sports facilities up to scratch (Edge Hill have spent over £30m on its sports environment over the last five years)? Oh, and do you have a bag? Prospectuses can be heavy. Just take those from unis you want to take a closer look at. And everyone has a website.

3 Then there’s the less glamorous, but still important stuff: money matters; scholarships; financial assistance towards work opportunities; support services; track records on Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) issues, and stances on gender and sexuality rights. We’ve thought a lot about these things at Edge Hill, and amongst many other initiatives we’ve set up many scholarship opportunities, created a Student Opportunity Fund to help you chase career dreams, and our students recently elected one of the UK’s first Trans and Non-Binary Officers to the Students’ Union team. And other unis will have devised their own student support and wellbeing schemes.

4 When you’ve finally ticked off all the unis on your shortlist, then it’s time to cast your net wider. In the spirit of adventure, follow your nose. You may only end up with a few badges, some kitsch sunglasses, a beach ball, and an interactive VR experience that ultimately took you nowhere, but keeping an open mind is the most important thing you will learn in HE.

5 Finally, find out when unis are holding their Open Days. See if the promise of rainbows and unicorns frolicking around a campus of milk and honey is for real, or just a cynical marketing spiel. And, if you’re not planning on taking a Geography degree, it’s handy to know where they actually are. Edge Hill is based in Ormskirk. “Where?”, I hear you ask. Well, it’s a small market town in West Lancashire, with strong transport links to nearby Liverpool and Manchester. We have five Open Days between June and the end of the year – it’s certainly worth a look, if only to check out the rainbows and unicorns.

Check out your nearest UCAS exhibition.

#open day #UCAS

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icpucbcrob · 7 years ago

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Blackburn Train Station

There has been a station on the current site since 1846, when the Blackburn and Preston Railway (a constituent company of the East Lancashire Railway) was opened - the contract to build the station having been awarded in November 1845. This route was extended eastwards to Accrington in March 1848 and subsequently through to Burnley and Colne by February 1849. Meanwhile, the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe & West Yorkshire Railway had built a line through to Bolton from the town by 1848, but were refused permission to use the ELR station and had to open their own station at Bolton Road, a short distance south of the junction between the two. The Blackburn company subsequently extended their line northwards along the Ribble Valley to Clitheroe in 1851, but it was not until both railways had amalgamated with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway that traffic was concentrated at the main station (the Bolton Road station closing in 1859).

The first of two major upgrades to the facilities came the following year, but the opening of the Lancashire Union Railway from St Helens Central and Wigan North Western in 1869, the Great Harwood Loop in 1877 and the extension of the Clitheroe line to Hellifield in 1880 to give the L&Y a through route to Scotland via the Settle-Carlisle Line led to significant increases in traffic that put the station under major strain. A fatal collision there that led to the deaths of 7 people in 1881 prompted the L&Y to make plans for another expansion & remodelling project, which was completed between 1886 & 1888. The new station had two island platforms, each with west-facing bays to give seven working faces in total plus an impressive two-bay overall roof. Destinations served included Liverpool Exchange via Ormskirk, Blackpool Central, Skipton, and Southport via the West Lancashire Railway in addition to those mentioned previously. Long distance through coaches to Scotland and London Euston (via Manchester Victoria, Denton and Stockport) also operated from here well into British Rail days.

The 1923 Grouping saw the station pass into the hands of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, but it wasn’t until after nationalisation in 1948 that traffic and services began to decline. The Great Harwood line was the first to lose its passenger services in 1957, whilst the through coaches to London were ‘temporarily’ suspended in 1959 for electrification work to take place on the Crewe to Manchester route but never reinstated. The biggest losses came through in the 1960s - Wigan trains were withdrawn in January 1960, those to Hellifield in September 1962 and the Southport line & Blackpool Central station both fell victim to the Beeching Axe in 1964. By 1970, the through links to Skipton and Liverpool had also gone, leaving only the Manchester via Bolton & Colne to Preston lines along with a few seasonal trains between Leeds and Blackpool North via Hebden Bridge and the Copy Pit route to serve the station. Thus when the lines & station were signalled in 1973 (control passing to the new power box at Preston as part of the WCML modernisation scheme), three of the station’s seven platforms were closed and a fourth (the current platform 4) reduced in length and downgraded to emergency use only. The remaining trains could quite easily be accommodated on platforms 1-3 (the northernmost island of the two). This method of operation would remain until the station underwent its most recent major rebuild in 2000 (see below). The 1980s & 90s would though see a revival in service provision, with the reopening to regular passenger traffic of the Copy Pit line in 1984 (initially on a twice-daily trial basis with services funded by a local building society) and the Ribble Valley line to Clitheroe a decade later in 1994. The latter would be served as an extension of the existing route from Manchester via Bolton, whilst the former brought regular services to & from Blackpool, Leeds and York to the station for the first time in more than a decade.

Services running through Blackburn

On the Ribble Valley Line, there is generally an hourly service southbound to Manchester Victoria (half-hourly at peak times) and northbound to Clitheroe. An hourly service runs on Sundays, with one or two through Dalesrail trains to Carlisle in the summer. This service was extended, from mid-September, 2013, to cover Sundays throughout the remainder of the year - a pattern that continues as of March 2016 (though terminating at Hellifield, where connections are available for Carlisle). Additional services to/from Manchester Victoria and Clitheroe start or terminate here.

On the East Lancashire Line, Monday to Saturdays there is an hourly service all stops to Blackpool South to the west and Colne to the east. Two-hourly on Sundays.

On the Caldervale Line, Monday to Saturdays there is an hourly Express service to Preston and Blackpool North westbound and to Bradford, Leeds and York eastbound. This also now runs hourly on Sundays during the summer since the May 2009 timetable change.

From 17 May 2015, direct services to Manchester Victoria through Accrington and Burnley were introduced with the reopening of the Todmorden Curve - these run on an hourly frequency (including Sundays) and serve most local stations south of Todmorden.

This is a brief history of Blackburn train station. I am looking into a variety of areas of research for Students Union, due to this could be a great connection through our Union to others by rail.

#ICP #SU #Blackburn

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edge-hill-university · 7 years ago

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Our Guide To Your Open Day

Bienvenido a Edge Hill! Bienvenue à Edge Hill! Willkommen bei Edge Hill!

Wherever you’re from, Emma, a BA (Hons) Primary Modern Languages undergrad and student Open Day guide, “love[s] to talk about Edge Hill as it’s one of [her] favourite places.”

Midlander Emma didn’t know much about Edge Hill herself, initially: “I stumbled across it by accident. If I hadn’t come to an Open Day, I probably wouldn’t have even applied, which would’ve been a shame, because Edge Hill was my first choice the minute I stepped onto campus. I fell in love with the mix of the old and new buildings, and the lecturer was so enthusiastic and encouraging.”

Emma and her fellow purple-bibbed student guides are here to help out during campus visits, Open Days and campus tours. Or, in teaching undergrad Marcus’ case, to “inform prospective students of my fun and amazing University experience.”

Student guides are here to help you get maximum value from your Edge Hill visit. So, to help you prepare for an Open Day, picking and mixing the things you need to know about the student experience to make a fully-informed decision, we gathered together a few of our student guides and asked them what you should look out for, or actively hunt down.

Our first question is, what questions should you be asking?

Emma: “A lot of parents tend to ask how I found settling in to university, to which I always reply – it was easy! I found second year a little bit harder, because the work was a bit of a step up, and I wasn’t surrounded with as many people because I wasn’t living in halls.

“Prospective applicants often ask about the social side of university, and I always make sure to inform them about the free things you can get up to while you’re at university, such as joining our EHU Arts Centre Membership scheme.

“I think if I were an applicant now, I’d be asking about how supported students feel while on placement. And how would I reply to this? Placement is what you make it. Like with anything, both Uni staff and placement staff are more than willing to put the effort in and go the extra mile for you, so long as you're willing to do the same.”

Marcus: “People normally ask ‘what’s it like to be a student at Edge Hill?’ My reply would consist of my day-to-day life, days I'm in University, the amount of work, and not forgetting my social life.”

Marcus is right to highlight his social life. University encompasses all aspects of life – academic, social, cultural, political, and professional, and he recommends finding out about the area you’ll be living in, and gives us a brief tour of his Ormskirk.

“Ormskirk is a quiet market town that comes alive when Edge Hill students arrive in September. There are various bars, some with really quirky, cool concepts. And there are clubs where I’ve had some of the best nights. I always look forward to October’s Farmageddon [a local farm-based horror apocalypse – and yes, there are zombies]. If you enjoy being scared out of your mind this always proves to be a great evening!

“Cobble is one of my favourite places to grab a coffee or some delicious pancakes, and Shake It Up, a new milkshake bar, is somewhere to let your assignment worries disappear.”

Primary Education undergrad Eleanor agrees, and suggests finding time for a quick trip into town as part of your Open Day visit, “as Saturday is market day and it’s a brilliant atmosphere.”

While our guides agree that finding out more about your course is a top priority, a close second is checking out our award-winning accommodation:

“Even if you’re considering commuting, I’d definitely recommend going to see our range of accommodation, as you may change your mind,” suggests Emma.

“Halls was the best experience of my life, I’d recommend it to anybody thinking of coming to university. I learned a lot about my ability to cope without family, to look after myself. I became incredibly independent, but that meant I was able to appreciate the time that I spent with my family.”

And Halls is a fertile breeding ground for lifelong friendships.

“The girls I lived with are people I think I will be friends with for life. You quickly become intimately acquainted when you’re living together in such close quarters, and those stories are ones that shall be passed on, I’m sure,” believes Emma.

All of our guides developed domestic skills essential if you’re to survive on your own in the big bad world. Emma has learned to take her washing up duties seriously, while Eleanor is now confident of pulling out the culinary stops, if the occasion warrants it.

Creative Performance student Olivia took to hall-life like an Edge Hill duck to water, but as a patron of the performing arts, she really wants you to check out the facilities she has made her home from home, and which will be in your backyard:

“The Arts Centre is a must-see. Not only does it offer free EHU membership for theatre shows [which includes tickets for four free shows a semester – that’s eight free shows per year], but also all the work displayed in there is made by students. People are often amazed as they can actually see the skills of the students, whether that’s the dresses designed, the prosthetic make-up displays, or the dance videos projected around the building.”

Our guides all tend to suffer from an increasingly common condition known as campus-pride, and are equally enthusiastic about places like media hub Creative Edge (above), new Computing facility the Tech Hub, or the Sports Centre which opened in 2015. And the new library opens in September 2018, adding to list of campus must-sees.

But guides also know about the secret places, the places to get away from the madding crowd, and are more than happy to take you to the spots on campus where they can remind themselves why they are here. Just ask to see the orang-utan, the beach, or the rooftop garden and see where they take you.

Eleanor would end the tour with the sunken garden: “It’s a perfect representation of Edge Hill’s wildlife and atmosphere. Almost every campus tour I’ve delivered has included a comment about how peaceful the garden is.”

“When I attended an Open Day some years ago,” says Marcus, “the campus blew me away. I could imagine myself at Edge Hill, and it then become my goal to get into this University.”

But it’s not just prospective students who leave one of our Open Days impressed. We know mums and dads want to be reassured about safety and support, and Marcus’ parents “loved how helpful and friendly all the staff and students were on the day”.

So there you have it. A whistlestop tour of Edge Hill University from the people who really know, people like Marcus whose goals changed when they attended our Open Day.

And can they offer some parting advice for Open Day visitors?

Eleanor recommends you get some practical pointers about the real undergraduate experience: “The student experience fair in The Hub is useful because you can find advice on accommodation, budgeting, sport, societies, applications, student finance, and more, all in one place.”

Olivia (above) stresses the importance of asking questions, and Marcus says he’s always quizzed about job opportunities, picking up essential transferable skills:

“I encourage students to get a job as soon as they start university. A small weekly/monthly wage will help dramatically, and Edge Hill offers many exciting job opportunities for their students, whether that be a student guide, a student blogger, or whatever.”

And Emma understands that living away is difficult at first, so make sure the level of support you’ll receive – academically and pastorally (that’s everything else, really) – is right for you:

“If you ever feel things are getting on top of you, or you’re feeling a bit lonely, talk to someone. There are plenty of services available at Edge Hill, and plenty of clubs and societies, so if you’re feeling a bit isolated, this can be resolved. Never suffer in silence.”

But despite the many and varied distractions and services available at Open Day, all the student guides agree that visiting the department is vital, talking to lecturers, and making sure the course is right for you.

Then go explore…before enjoying lunch on us.

Buen provecho! Bon appetit! Guter appetit!

Book yourself onto an Open Day now.

#open day #Edge Hill Open Day

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