Homepage | About Us | Events | Media | Membership | Blog

---

Blog

Name: Charlie
Position: Treasurer

What has been the highlight of your time on committee? Getting involved with a flourishing society. I have really enjoyed putting myself to the test with getting to grips with the society's finances. I love the socials too!

What has been the hardest part of the job? Committing enough time to the cause. Keeping track of who owes what to who is pretty tough too :P

What skills do you think you have learned/developed? My accounting and financial skills have definitely improved.

What are you responsible for? I keep track of the society finances. I make sure we don't spend (too) much more than we earn.

What advice would you give to your successor? Make sure you keep a written record of everything!

Name: Nicola
Position: Secretary/Interfaith Co-ordinator

What has been the highlight of your year on committee?

The highlight of this year has definitely been Perspective and Darwin Day! Perspective has been a massive success and despite my worrying that the speakers wouldn't turn up, they all did. Interfaith assassins was lots of fun too. Watching Atheist Society grow from a few loyal members to one of the bigger societies on campus has filled me with quite a bit of pride, definitely another highlight!

What has been the hardest part of the job?

Dealing with the emails! It is quite a feat to not let them get on top of you.

What skills do you think you have learned/developed?

I have really developed in terms of confidence and the ability to approach a vairety of pople and get them to do what I want. My ability to target my audience has also greatly improved.

What are you responsible for?

As secretary, I deal a lot with the Union and especially the ARC. My main duties are focussed around membership and other admin type roles. I also take notes and minutes at the meetings. I basically control all the society paperwork. The interfaith part of my job means I am responsible for co-ordinating all the itnerfaith events we do, both in terms of organising speakers and ensuring we maintain a good relationship with other societies on campus.

What advice would you give to your successor?

Learn to use Facebook! Everything the society does is on Facebook.

Name: Norman Ralph
Position: President

What has been the highlight of your year on committee?

The highpoint of my year as President was leading the society into the newly formed national umbrella organisation for atheist societies, the AHS. Leeds A-Soc was heavily involved in setting up the AHS and hosted their first AGM in November 2008 where both AHS representatives from Leeds were elected the the Exec.

What has been the hardest part of the job?

The hardest thing about president is trying to make sure that the multitude of events that A-Soc runs actually happen. Most of the plannign and organising is carried out by the various co-ordinators and secretaries, but it is still nerve wracking every time you turn up to an event and seeing if the hard work has come to fruition!

What skills do you think you have learned/developed?

I have definitely improved my committee and communication skills. Having to co-ordinate the communications that emanate from a large society like Atheist Society is quite a task! My organisational and time management skills have also been hugely increased.

What are you responsible for?

As president, I am ultimately responsible for everything that goes on in the society. On a day-to-day basis I am repsonsible for manageing the rest of the committee team, ensuring that everything is done to the same high standard our members have come to expect. I am also the main contact with the Union, so I deal with the ARC and our development co-ordinator on a regular basis. As an experienced A-Soc member, I also take responsibility for delivering a lot of the talks and for chairing the meetings.

What advice would you give to your successor?

Buy a diary! Then make sure you use it as your time can fill up pretty quickly some weeks.

Anything else?

I have served on the A-Soc committee for over two years now as both Secretary and President and I have thoroughly enjoyed both roles immensely. The friendships and relationships you build, both within A-Soc and with other societies, are incredible and I have seriously enjoyed the task of helping build A-Soc up from a handful attendees in the Green Action Zone to the successful society we are today.

Have you ever fancied running your own society? Have you ever been sat in a meeting and wondered "I could do this"?

Well, you can now have your chance!

The A-Soc Annual General Meeting is only a couple of weeks away now. The AGM is where we elect the officers to run the society for the coming academic year. So, if you have always thought you would make a good manager or leader, here is your opportunity.

Almost all employers look favorably on a candidate that has committee and leadership experience at university, so if you want that extra string to your bow then why not run for office?

All of our current committee positions are avaialble, plus a couple of new ones to reflect the growth of Atheist Society over the last few years.

We will be doing a small profile on all of the positions on the blog for the next few weeks and if you have any questions then just speak to an existing committee memeber or drop us a line at leeds[at]atheistsoc.org

Check out this link!

http://www.makkahmasjid.co.uk/wp/index.php/2009/02/24/perspective-islam-leeds-university/

First off, I want to say a huge apology to anyone who turned up for yesterday's debate with Islamic Society to find that it was cancelled.

The event was being run by the Islamic Society and we only found out the plug had been pulled at about noon yesterday, we tried to get the word out to everyone but obviously you can't reach everyone in the five hours we had.

On the plus side though, we therefore win by default so there officially is no god!

I'm blogging from the train heading down to London for the national press launch of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, or the AHS as it is better known.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day with Polly Toynbee, A.C. Grailing and Richard Dawkins speaking alongside out very own el presidente Norman.

No doubt there will be much reporting going on from the members down here as well as planty of photos on the website after the event!

Interestingly we're taking a total of ten members down from Leeds. This is unmatched by any other society other than Royal Holloway which is a London based university so it's not really a challenge for them. As such I think we can give ourselves a good pat on the back for effort.

Keep your eyes pealed on the site for further updates.

Exams are over! I know I am relieved to go back to my normal timetable of lectures and at least four A-Soc events a week to keep me occupied.

Well, with the launch of our new course, Perspective, starting on Friday our wish has come true.

We kick off by inviting Ba'hai Society to come and tell us a bit about themselves and what they believe in. We will be hosting them in Meeting Room 5 in the ARC at 7pm this Friday. As usual food and drink will be provided.

We will be introducing a different society each week, including the Christian Union, Islam, Paganism and more besides.

In keeping with this Semester's focus on education, I will be giving a talk on the Life and Times of Mohammed this Tuesday in Meeting Room 3 at 7pm.

Hope to see you there!

We try out best to let people know is going on in the society. But despite our efforts sometimes vocally, at every meeting, via email, via text message, via Facebook, via the website and via RSS feed just aren't enough. Where then will people find out what is happening?

Luckily, having recently made the move onto Twitter I have also now set up an account for the society that all of the committee can tweet at so now you can follow us here.

Tonight say the first A-Soc event of 2009 take place in the Old Bar. We officially kicked off the new year with a social,a chance for those back in Leeds (and those that never left :P ) to take a break from work and chill out with soem good company. the decent sized turn out shows that there are many of you no doubt working hard for the upcoming exams.

To help ease you back into the A-Soc calendar we have a couple of relatively light events during the exam period. We start with Sinnimation - a collection of cartoons specially chosen by your committee that have a slight connection to religion, but are just plain funny! Expect The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, God, The Devil and Bob and many more! The second week back is a little more serious with us showing the moving docu-film "Baby Bible Bashers", a look at young Christian evangelists and their 'work'.

---

---

© Leeds A-Soc. All rights reserved.