Yup, there’s only a matter of hours left to go before we all head off home for about three months to go on holidays, see our friends, and generally enjoy the flowers and sunshine. Ahh…
However! Before the term got out, the JCR had planned the event of the year in the format of the Moulin Rouge Extrav. You might be a bit sick of hearing about it by now, but you can check out the summary of the night’s acts overleaf to compare to Pendle’s 1974 styled offerings.

I was in Barker all night. It was blatantly the best way to do things.

This issue of The Griffin might be a bit pint-sized (that’s thanks to last issue’s mondo revision-distractor), but we’ll be back in full form next term with details of Fresher’s Week – which, by the way, you should be sure to come back early to experience – the term’s social events, some guiding-hand movie reviews for your quieter nights out, and so much more.

See you all back in September guys!

– Dom Stroud – Editor

Hi Cartmelians! I hope you’ve all enjoyed the end-of-exam freedom by staying in bed/ in Sugarhouse for far too long and ceremoniously burning all the revision notes – or is that just me? Either way, the end of term is always the time when all this freedom goes to our little exam-weary heads and enjoying ourselves has never been so much fun.

Luckily for you, we had the event of the year – our glittering night of decadent fun, Cartmel’s very own Moulin Rouge Extrav!

Tickets sold like a fast-selling thing and the JCR worked full steam ahead to get everything perfect for our big night.

There were bands galore and our bar was turned into a Parisian wonderland, not to mention the bottles of absinthe we’d ordered…

I hope you enjoy the last few days of freedom with your friends, enjoy the occasional sunshine we seem to be having and look forward to a beautiful three months off!

Lots of love,

– Amy Loddington – Editor

Bright red garlands were draped across Barker House Farm, adorned with fairy lights and ribbons, to recreate the Parisian air of our theme. We had our very own Moulin Rouge windmill elevated in the corner of the room, but the pièce de resistance of Barker House Farm was the projection of the live webcam feed from Paris. It slowly showed darkness falling over the Eiffel Tower as the night went on, creating the backdrop for the area where the six acts were to perform later on.

The atmosphere in the bar was sensual with red lighting and candle-lit tables – but the queues (and the drinks offers!) soon filled it with the chatter of over 900 people dressed to the nines. With cheaper-than-usual drinks and our themed option, absinthe, the bar was the busy centre of the action – whereas the JCR was a more chilled-out affair with cushions and sofas to recline on whilst watching (what else?) Moulin Rouge on the TV.

For those who preferred to dance the night away, though, the music on show was plentiful, loud, and awesome. I Hate Rachel Green Club kicked the night off by warming the crowd up with some modern covers, swiftly followed by The Clergy who did likewise. Guernica came on after to play their anthemic tunes, before the final support band Tape released their enjoyable take on piano pop.

The lovable ladies from LUDanS (that’s the Dance Society to you and me) did a quick Moulin Rouge inspired jig to warm up the audience for the centrepiece of the night – The Four Fighters! Unsurprisingly staffed by four rock-hungry manly men, these guitar heroes played us all late into the night, climaxing with fan favourites Everlong and Monkey Wrench. The LUDanS ladies returned for a quick gitchy-gitchy-ya-ya, and then Cartmel enjoyed the latest tunes, before resorting to some of the greatest old school cheesy pop hits our resident DJ James Davies could find.

With so much going on – from the Pancake man to dancers – we can safely say our Extrav was a huge success. A massive thank you to everyone who decorated, organised, performed or turned up on the night – we made it a brilliant event that won’t ever be forgotten… When else will you see people crowd-surfing in Barker House Farm?

– Dom Stroud & Amy Loddington – Editors

However, anti-fascist campaigners should take heart that this is probably the beginning of the end for the BNP. Although they may have gained some popular support in these elections, their format was highly unusual and they did not take place under normal circumstances. The European elections, with their system of proportional representation currently alien to Westminster, are known to give an advantage to minor parties – in a normal Westminster election not one BNP vote cast would, if these results were to be repeated, have given a seat to the BNP, and they were a long distance from gaining a majority anywhere in the country. Tellingly, they also did spectacularly badly in local council elections. Their surge in popularity can only really be attributed to the ‘bounce’ effect caused by the expenses scandal and the current malaise the population holds for the major parties. Electoral analysts believe that most voters who switched to the BNP were from a group of voters who would normally be identified as ‘working class Tories’, and who had not previously voted BNP. This switch of allegiance is likely to be temporary and, in a General Election, it is predicted that many of these voters would revert to voting Conservative, especially after the effects of the expenses row have worn off.

It seems to me, then, that we have little need to worry that there may be a fascist future for Britain. Although it is only right that we should lament these results and attempt to prevent them from ever occurring again, I do not believe that there is an inexorable move of support amongst the populace from social democracy towards fascism. This election actually provides a great opportunity for protesters, as the increased media spotlight placed on the BNP will only serve to weaken their stance. The old adage that ‘all publicity is good publicity’ does not apply in a situation where almost everything the BNP say can be used against them in some way. These results will allow us to see the BNP for who they really are. When it comes to the ‘difficult second album’ of the Westminster elections, the BNP will have an uphill struggle on their hands, and good riddance to them.

– Robbie Pickles – President

Cartmel once again showed itself as a truly involved college with a majority of the candidates running for Non-Sabb being from Griffin-land.

For the Non-Sabb roles, those elected were: Jessica Horsfield as Management School Faculty Rep, Robbie Pickles as University Council Rep, Paul Denner as AU Non-Sabb, Aidan Williams as Race Relations Non-Sabb, Catriona Clark as Students with Disabilities Non-Sabb, Tom Mackrory as Academic Affairs, and Lizzie Houghton, Sarah Strachan, Mark Lord and Michael Benson as Block of Six officers.

Within the Cartmel elections, Mike Clarke took over the position of Publicity Officer from our co-opted officer Jen Habart.

Kat Haylock became the new Female Ed & Welfare officer to replace Sian Brigham, who is taking a year abroad, and, finally, Stephen Ashby and Lyndsey Walker were elected as College Council Reps.

A massive well done to all the candidates and good luck in your new roles to those who were elected!

– Amy Loddington – Editor

It’s an unfortunate fact of the series the game falls in that most often the lead characters suffer enormous heartbreak or death, so the future of our fluffy friend already seems a bit grim. This is especially so when you notice the amount of arrows sticking out of its feathers and its broken horn. Is it a hunted creature?

The game isn’t slated for release for a fair while yet, so details, pictures, and video resources are limited, but you can check out the griffin in action at www.tinyurl.com/ cartmelgriffin, or just look at the cute little pictures above.

– Dom Stroud – Editor

The Michaelmas term began with controversy in the dodgeball department leading to Cartmel not qualifying for the semi-finals. Korfball and volleyball were also unsuccessful for the Griffins but a solid set of performances from the ladies in women’s football got us into the semi-finals – an immense achievement.

In Lent term we began with a bit of pop-lacrosse. We only needed to win one game to qualify for the semi-finals. One game was won allowing the mighty Cartmel to march on through. Sadly, that was where the march ended despite being the better team throughout the game. Good goalkeeping from Lonsdale rendered our attack impotent (not literally) and they scored a flukey goal to send us packing.

Next came a very busy day with two sports being played at once. Table-tennis and aeroball were on the agenda for the day. This was to be the last time table-tennis was to be played in Carter Shield as it will be replaced by kwik-cricket next year. In table-tennis we came third in a group of four, beating Furness in a good warm-up for the Patriot’s Cup. Aeroball proved successful as we managed to progress into the semi-finals once more. However, they again proved to be a stumbling block as we fell against Bowland. Good effort once again though from the Cartmelians.

The final sport of Lent term was basketball. This one was always going to be a struggle thanks to nearly every other college team being full of University players. As expected we got absolutely battered. But, still, at least we turned up!

Moving on to Summer term proved slightly less successful for us in the outdoors. The first of the competition days saw Cartmel perform in ultimate Frisbee. This was one of the wettest Carter Shield days in history, but seeing as Frisbee is ‘ultimate’, we played on anyway in the bog. This was another day of struggle and toil and we didn’t manage to record a win playing against teams full of, once again, Uni players.

Touch rugby was a successful one, with a dramatic win in our final game against Lonsdale to see us into the semi-finals. The curse of the Uni players struck again in the semi’s though with Bowland/the University rugby team prevailing over us, to prevent us from reaching a final once again.

Rounders day was a scorcher. Sadly, that didn’t help Cartmel’s fortunes. Although admittedly struggling, we were dealt a very harsh decision indeed in our last game which ended our last hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals – Ben was definitely obstructed!

The final competition to be played in Carter Shield was the traditional tug of war. Perhaps the less said about this the better. We were murdered.

Finally, we must say a massive thank you to everyone that took part for Cartmel this year in Carter Shield; especially to the regulars. You were amazing! Cartmel was one of the few colleges to turn up to every single event which helped us gain a respectable sixth position…

Now let’s build on that and rise up the table next year!

– Mark Lord – Sports Rep