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Ramsay Ball 2017: a social highlight for first year students

18 July 2017

Having to overcome unexpected challenges from the beginning of the year, which were beyond our control, meant that hope for a third successive ball at Café de Paris for first year students, looked unpromising.

Ramsay Ball 2017: a social highlight for first year students However, this did not deter a core group of individuals in Ramsay Hall who were determined to see that their first year ended with a great night.

Once we secured the date and venue, ticket sales opened online in early May to all first year students just three weeks before the Ball. 150 tickets flew out in the first couple of hours helping to generate a huge buzz on campus. In the meantime, myself and a few other students worked with venue management to finalise arrangements and allowed us to begin promoting the evening.

Importantly, for the first time, the social committee decided to use the Ramsay Ball to support Mind - a charity that continues to focus on raising awareness and support for those suffering from mental health problems. We set a target of £1,000 to be raised on the night and amazingly, we achieved our target. Hopefully, Mind will be able to streamline this money for their student support work.

Ramsay Ball 2017: a social highlight for first year students

On the night, over 300 students enjoyed canapés, live jazz music and Oliver 'N Criss, two successful disco artists flew over from Holland. The night was finished off with a set from resident DJ from London's XOYO.

Special thanks must be given to Ellie Wardell for her work as Ramsay Hall's representative this year. To Ryan Isaac for his great designs in relation to the artwork and posters for the event and also to Jonah Ramchandani for his tireless efforts liaising with different musical artists and jazz bands to ensure that we got the right music for the best price on the night.

Altogether, none of this would have been possible without the continual commitment and drive of the committee and my close friends who still found time, during their exam period, to pull together and offer support in organising the ball. Without all their hard work, this event certainly would not have been possible and we would have all missed out on a great evening to celebrate finishing our first year at UCL.

Fergus J Wills, Ramsay Hall & Ian Baker Social Committee