UofG Freshers’ Festival: EXPLAINED
We explain how the Freshers’ Festival is going to work and what we’re doing to ensure your safety.
The Freshers’ Festival is your chance to meet and sign up for over 100 of our fantastic student clubs and societies!
Usually this event (formerly the Freshers’ Fair) takes place in the Main Building, and is one of the biggest events we run on campus during Freshers’ Week. This year due to COVID-19 we’ve had to approach this event differently and very carefully. Thanks to a lot of intense planning over a number of months and collaboration with staff all over the University, we’re confident we’ve come up with a fab system that will allow you to enjoy the experience of meeting clubs, societies and sports clubs, in a safe, risk-managed and enjoyable way.
The Freshers’ Festival will take place on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th, also from 09:00 – 18:00. Using our ticketing and streaming site Native, you’ll be able to book a time slot to attend the event – 1 ticket per person. Each time slot is for 1 hour, allowing each group the chance to move through the fair, talk to some clubs, then move on and allow the next group to attend. You will not be allowed to bring a plus one.
To ensure your safety and the safety of others there will be some important rules to abide by while attending the Festival:
- If you feel unwell on the day of the event, please stay home and consider contacting the NHS. The same goes for if someone in your household (your house or flatmates) feels unwell.
- We suggest that you do not travel to campus using public transport, and instead travel by foot, bike or private car. Please be aware that parking on campus and in the West End is very limited, and will be even more so during the Festival as we’ll be limiting traffic around the campus.
- Please remember to maintain 2m physical distancing when walking along the event route, or in the event of any queues forming. Teams of support staff, security and Freshers’ Helpers will be on hand to guide and direct you and ensure that physical distancing and other regulations are respected.
- To protect yourselves and others, you will be asked to wear a face covering for the duration the event. We ask that you bring your own face covering, but some will also be provided should you forget. You won’t be able to enter without a face covering unless you have a valid reason for not wearing one. Please make us aware of your not being able to wear a face covering in advance by emailing freshersweek@src.gla.ac.uk
- There will be sanitisation stations located throughout the route and we would encourage you to use these to lower the risk of infection. The entire fair is taking place outdoors as this has been shown to a significant factor in lowering the risk of transmission, but we still need to be very careful and ensure we follow the government guidance.
- You’ll have 1 hour and no more to move through the Festival – you won’t be able to hang around and any crowds that form will be dispersed. We suggest taking a look at the map of clubs and societies below to plan in advance who you want to talk to!
Please also make sure to check out our Freshers’ Week 2020 Code of Conduct page before attending any of our events to ensure you’re following the safety regulations we expect everyone to abide by. We’ll continue to remind you of the safety regulations in the run up to the event and during, and we’re relying on your cooperation for these events to be a success.
The Festival will follow a one-way system that will guide you through the main building area. You will start at the Main Gate, where you’ll be asked to arrive just before your time slot beginning. Please be on time as we won’t be able to let you in if you’re too late or early. If there is a queue you’ll be directed where to stand so that we can maintain 2m physical distancing and also respect our local community.
From the Main Gate you’ll walk toward Professor’s Square where you’ll be directed to our Welcome Tent and asked to show off your ticket (there will be no traffic on the roads during the events so don’t worry about that). Please be prepared with the ticket on your phone, either using the Native app or by showing your confirmation email. At the Welcome Tent you’ll be given a goody bag which will allow you to safely store any freebies you collect. If you don’t already have your UofG-branded face mask, you can pick one up here. The Professors’ Square area will contain some temporary toilet facilities for use during the event. Toilet facilities will be limited so please bear this in mind.
The route continues up towards the South Front of the Main Building. During the Festival, there will be stalls in the car park here. You’ll be able to chat to stall holders, who will be in physically-distanced outdoor booths – 1 shielded booth per society. Click the link below for a detailed map of where different societies will be so you can find who you want to talk to!
Freshers Festival Map – FINAL
The route will continue inside of the West Quad, and stalls will be placed around the edges of the grass. Here you’ll be able to chat to the different clubs, and learn about what they do. During the Festival, you’ll be able to collect flyers and freebies to put in your goody bag. To minimise any contact with others, you will be asked to collect the flyers from the tables yourself. Once you have picked up a flyer, please do not put it back – just stick it in your bag even if you change your mind. All stall-holders will be following strict hygiene regimes, including cleaning their hands and stalls regularly.
From the West Quad, you’ll be directed round to the famous cloisters. Here you’ll be able to hear some live performances from some of our musical clubs and societies as you move through the space. The East Quad will have more stalls, held in a much larger tent. You’ll be able to chat to some more clubs, then once you’re finished you’ll be directed out back on to the South Front. Here we’ll have a few more stalls here, including some local businesses. Once your 1 hour slot is over, you’ll be directed out towards Pearce Lodge.
On the way out you’ll be able to pass the Domino’s Stall on the way out and collect some free pizza! Domino’s will be following the strictest hygiene regulations.
Once you’re finished, we’d ask that you leave the main building area and disperse – allowing for the next group to attend the event, and also bearing in mind that we need to respect the peace of the local West End community.
And that’s the Freshers’ Festival! We know it seems like a lot to visualise right now, but we are sure that you’ll have an amazing time, and we’re so happy to be able to be holding an event like this on campus which is safe and within the latest government guidelines. All of our Freshers’ Week events have been extensively risk-assessed by the University, and should government guidelines change will be subject to cancellation.
If you don’t feel comfortable coming on to campus or don’t manage to get a slot for the Festival, we’re also holding a fab online alternative – this is our Freshers’ Festival Live Chat. From 09:00 – 17:00 on Wednesday 16th you’ll be able to login to our chat platform Unibuddy and ask questions to clubs, societies, sports clubs, Freshers’ Helpers and student media groups!
Tickets for the Festival and all of our events are live now via Native so jump on there to grab a slot: https://uofgfreshers.native.fm/
See you very soon!
ACCESSIBILITY
We have endeavoured to make the Festival route as accessible as possible. There are no stairs on the route, and we have installed ramps where they are needed. For an accessable guide to campus head to the University website: https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/accessibility/