Cartmel College - Lancaster University - Official Website

Is Stone & Plonk the saviour of Cartmel?

Allow me to introduce you to Professor Amanda Chetwynd -the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsi-ble for colleges and the student experience. . . . or to me and you the lady who is here to make sure we have a laugh and enjoy our time in Cartmel.

Professor Chetwynd states “Lancaster is highly rated for the student experience and we be-lieve that this is strongly sup-ported by our distinctive and much-loved colleges.” Bravo I say, however I have one slight problem if our “much-loved” col-leges are so “distinctive”, why on earth do we need to ‘re-brand’ them, which is a phrase being bandied around University at the moment.

Cartmel is one of the first colleges to be re-branded -a guinea pig if you like for the University’s attempt to bring colleges and college spirit back to the fore. Well I have a message for them -how about more support and respect for student officers within colleges -i.e the JCR Execs and more money pumped into the operating systems of colleges rather than giving them a new technicol-our dreamcoat -which will prove to be a rather expensive cashmere nightmare, that not even Joseph could turn into an all singing, all dancing sell-out show.

Last week we were faced with the news that Stone & Plonk are our new college colours -fair enough I say as there isn’t much any of us can do now about losing our current identity -but this in my opinion is by the by; what we ought to be doing is actively putting Cartmel back on the map -literally. We have the facilities, the space and the pic-turesque setting to one again place Cartmel at the top of the list in this University and all we need is a little bit of enthusiasm from all students -further communication between us and our JCR and some fresh ideas to attract people down to our bar.

Whether the University gives us a new “warm red” colour which resembles Cabernet Sauvignon or a “grey” colour which resembles a few rocks from Stone Henge -one thing remains clear no vintage wine or ancient his-torical site will bring Cartmel back to the fore of the students -the “re-branding” has to come from the students. Besides in my humble opinion the colleges really don’t need re-branding -what we have is what makes Cartmel unique, all we need to do is support our bar, support our JCR, question our motives, ques-tion our JCR and build on our strengths .

Griffin or Ertz, Sue or the porters…. We all have something we associate Cartmel with, the col-leges are student communities and should remain as autonomous student ran bodies rather than University ran outlets, which are given a lick of paint and a new “graphically perfect” logo from now and then to entice more students to our University

Michael Payne
A Cartmelian who is stuck between a STONE and a VINTAGE WINE.