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University unveil new sports facilities

By
Jennifer Hindley
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Plans for the large-scale redevelopment of Iffley Road Sports Centre have been unveiled by Oxford University this week.
The plans include a new integrated main centre, with a grandstand to house an indoor cricket school, spectator seating, changing rooms and meeting rooms.
The plans, designed by Faulkner Brown Architects, feature extensive re-structuring of the centre, except the swimming pool which will remain unaltered.
An official price tag for the redevelopment has yet to be announced, but it seems likely to exceed £19m, which will not come from central university funds.

Jon Roycroft, Director of Sport at Oxford, announced that the plans would provide “the highest quality indoor sports facilities for the 21st century and accommodate growth for the next fifty years.”

The University will apply for planning permission for the redevelopment in spring 2010.

The City Council has already approved plans for a new tennis centre adjacent to the Iffley Road site.

Plans to redevelop the existing sports centre aim to provide state of the art facilities for over 82 different indoor sports.

Rails will also be installed around the perimeter of the site, replacing the solid timber fence. This would make the historic running track, where Roger Bannister first broke the 4-minute mile barrier, visible to pedestrians on Iffley Road.

Further plans include a renovation of the central building to feature an extended cafe, meeting rooms and offices, fronting onto the running track. A double- and a single-sized hall and a two-storey gym will also be incorporated.
On 28th January, the second and final public consultation was held at the University Rugby Club Pavilion where finalised plans for the Sports Complex were revealed.

This follows the first public consultation held on 19th November of last year.
Most of the Iffley Road facilities date from between 1950 and 1972, and are becoming outdated and too small.

The Sports Centre is currently working at capacity and lacks sufficient access for disabled users.

An estimated 75% of Oxford students participate in sports and the plans intend to provide students with top class facilities.

Plans for the redevelopment had been discussed in 2006, where local residents raised concerns about Iffley’s light pollution and the threat of higher traffic levels if redevelopment occurred.

The University decided against the possibility of moving the Sports Complex away from Iffley. But it intends to engage in community-integrating schemes to benefit local residents.

The University plans to offer membership of the gym and membership of some large sports clubs, such as fencing and judo, to the local community, extending the Complex’s outreach.

Jon Roycroft, Director of Sport at Oxford, announced that the plans would provide “the highest quality indoor sports facilities for the 21st century and accommodate growth for the next fifty years.”

Student response to the plans has been positive. Izzy Westbury, England U21 Cricketer and Blues hockey player praised the plans, commenting that current Iffley facilities are currently “outdated and a little bit ramshackle” and not up to the standard of other universities’ sporting facilities.

Adam Halewood, Exeter College’s football captain summed up student reaction to the plans saying that, if everything goes to plan, “it’ll be a truly outstanding complex providing some world class facilities which is precisely what the University needs.”

State school students close gap

By
Henry Carr And Theo Merz
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The gap in higher education participation between students from the most privileged and the most deprived areas of England is closing, a new study shows.

The study comes as the popular Sunday newspaper News of the World announces a new scheme to help state-educated students win places at Oxford.

The national survey shows that thirty percent more students from disadvantaged backgrounds are going on to higher education than five years ago, in comparison to a five percent increase amongst students from the most privileged areas. The investigation was carried out by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

There was a 17% increase in state-school applications to Oxford this year, suggesting that the narrowing class gap may be also be reflected here, although the statistics have not yet been released showing how many succeeded in gaining a place.

But the News of the World still complained of a “gaping class divined that blights our education system” when they launched their project on Sunday.
The tabloid paper’s scheme will put 500 “hard-working state school students” through an intensive week-long course in the summer to help them prepare for Oxford and get an idea of the University admissions process.

The course itself is offered by the University, while the paper covers other costs and encourages its readers or their children to apply.

The programme is being funded by an anonymous “wealthy benefactor”.
Schools secretary Ed Balls praised the newspaper’s plans. “I believe no barrier should get in the way of young people making the most of their potential,” he said.

£2.8 million was spent last year on ‘outreach activities’ across the university and colleges.

On News of the World’s plans to help more state school students into Oxford, a University spokesperson said: “Oxford University is delighted to be working with the News of the World…We want to attract the most academically talented students to the university. The summer school will enable 500 students from state schools to get a really good idea of what life is like at Oxford.”

News of the World offered applicants “the education you deserve”. Daniel Webb, President of ‘Target Schools’, an organisation that recruits Oxford students to visit schools and advertise Oxford as a realistic choice, welcomed the news of a closing gap between private and state students, but said that there was still much to do.

“I think that the increased likelihood of a disadvantaged pupil entering higher education is very encouraging; however, it does not mean that the best candidates from such a background are always thinking about applying to Oxford,” he said.

“Oxford’s access schemes are showing signs of success: there was a significantly increased proportion of maintained sector applications to the university for the last admissions round” he claimed, but added, “this does not equate to places gained and does not mean that stereotypes about Oxford do not persist.”

A spokesperson for Oxford University said: “Oxford very much welcomes the results of the HEFCE study. The University has been undertaking outreach activities for a number of years – both encouraging students from all backgrounds to apply to Oxford, as well as helping many to enter higher education and raise their educational aspirations more generally.”

Asked whether the result of HEFCE’s study is mirrored at Oxford, she claimed, “Oxford does not classify students by economic or social demographics such as ‘deprived’ or ‘privileged’ in gathering information.”

However, there still appears to be a sense amongst those from disadvantaged areas that access to the best universities is beyond their reach, and a fear of being looked down upon by a middle-class majority.

Becky Edwards, a Magdalen student who works for ‘Target Schools’, speaking at schools with low numbers of higher education applicants, often in deprived areas, claimed “It’s mainly about debunking the stories and myths,” adding, “They all ask, ‘are they all posh?’ and ‘are they all rich?'”

Fine Dining: Valentine’s Day

By
Conan Mckenzie
-

I hate Valentine’s Day, I really do. I loathe it with the kind of passion normally reserved for and 9am lectures and Simon Cowell. When you’re single it’s bad enough, sitting at home watching all the annoyingly smug couples through the window, holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes, whispering sweet platitudes. But it’s worse when you’re in a relationship, and your girlfriend, previously intelligent and independent-minded suddenly falls into the same commercially-induced madness as the rest of society and starts ‘subtly’ demanding roses, chocolates and dinner for two at a pretentious French restaurant. I have seriously considered dumping several girlfriends in early February just to avoid the whole thing. Waiters hate Valentine’s Day too. A good restaurant is normally a lively, cheerful place, with groups of happy friends laughing and chatting, colleagues discussing a proposal, a bevy of pensioners on their weekly lunch outing, a couple of students arguing over whether they can afford pudding. A relaxed, diverse group of customers will almost always provide a good atmosphere. But on Valentine’s Day that all disappears. The cheerful groups of friends are replaced by uniform rows of tables for two, by couples alternately simpering and awkward, murmuring under their breath, desperately wishing for the bill to arrive so they can finally escape. Half of them are nervous teenagers trying desperately to impress their girls, talking too loudly and being rude to waiters. The other half are longtime marrieds on their sole night out of the year, sitting in the silence that comes when, after long decades together, there finally arrives the realisation that there’s simply nothing left to say.

Still, though, needs must. If you’re going out for dinner this Valentine’s Day it’s probably because you don’t have a choice, and so this column will endeavour to make it as painless an experience as possible. The first rule is go to a restaurant, not a pub. If you take your girlfriend (and forgive me for assuming you’re a man in a heterosexual relationship, but it makes the writing easier, and if I’m forced to write ‘girlfriend/boyfriend/non-gender-specific OUSU-approved life partner’ this will end up sounding like the OxStu) to a pub for dinner then, frankly, you deserve to be dumped, in public and with copious amounts of beer-throwing. Yes, I know they have gastropubs now, but really, lager and pinball machines don’t create quite the right atmosphere.

Assuming you’re manning up and going to a proper restaurant, the obvious one is Pierre Victoire in Little Clarendon Street – smartly-dressed waiters, rickety wooden tables, oysters aplenty, a decent and not extortionate wine list, and a pleasant, inoffensive menu of French classics. But it’s full, so you can’t. Al-Andalus next door, which I reviewed a few weeks ago, is probably a good alternative if posh French is a bit too much of a cliché, and offers more scope for sharing dishes, which is far sexier than moodily picking at your own plate, looking enviously at whatever your partner’s got (because the first iron rule of eating out is that you always end up wanting whatever your companion’s got, unless your companion is having tripe, in which case all you want is a bucket). If you’re at LMH, Anne’s or Hughes, or you’re willing to pay for a short taxi ride, the Cherwell Boathouse, (a converted boathouse on the banks of the river Cherwell, not, unfortunately, this newspaper’s very own punthouse) takes the food, the service, and most importantly the wine list up a notch, but the price goes in the same direction. Brasserie Blanc on Walton Street has good food but a fairly tepid atmosphere, Gee’s we discussed last week, Quod is full of travelling sales reps in cheap suits, the Old Parsonage is reassuringly expensive but you’ll be the youngest people there by about half a century, Ask, Giraffe, or almost anything else on George Street just says you cheap and unimaginative. Jamie’s Italian is superb, but I guarantee all the waiters are better looking than you, and it’s therefore a slightly risky choice. If you’re feeling flush there’s le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons just outside Oxford, but it’ll cost you a term’s rent, and you really have to ask yourself whether any girl is worth the price of a week’s skiing.

Wherever you go, book now. Actually, book last week, because, in the gastronomic desert that is the city of Oxford, all the half-decent places fill up at the beginning of February. And then go, grit your teeth, and be grateful that it’s over for another year.

First night review: Rhinoceros

By
Robert Holtom
-

Many talk of the elephant in the room; however, if I were you I would be more concerned with the ever increasing number of rhinoceroses just about everywhere. The premise of Ionesco’s 1959 play is delightfully simple: the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town all suddenly start metamorphosing into rhinoceroses. So, as more and more characters succumb to rhinoceritis, we are given a glimpse of a world gone topsy turvy in which people cannot help but join the herd, choosing to live lives free of the moral, social, and physical constraints that seem to govern our human existence.

Such an absurd work of art clearly demands a good sense of humour and here the cast were at their best. Humour was a key thread that endured throughout the production. Of particular merit were David Ralf’s portrayals of The Logician, a somewhat incomprehensible philosopher with a penchant for syllogisms, and Botard, a northern empiricist who simply would not believe the bizarre facts, until he too develops a thick hide and tusks. Arabella Lawson’s transformation from a snobbish scholar into a horned beast was also especially amusing. A clear awareness of physicality and movement added a level of almost surreal authenticity to her conversion.

Further credit must be given to the director (Lewis Godfrey) as well as the whole cast for ensuring that the wittiness and comic punch of the script was faithfully brought to life. There were the odd line slip or interruption which did detract from the fast paced nature of the humour, but more often than not these moments seemed to blur with the various occasions when the characters would be talking over one another. A moment of ironic self-reference was also well received but I felt at other times the breaking of the fourth wall was somewhat overdone, although it was quite funny having a rhinoceros bump into your legs.

One of signs of transformation was turning green so it was a clever directorial touch to have green lights bathe the audience towards the end suggesting that perhaps unknowingly we already have allowed ourselves to become one of the herd. For the protagonist, being individual meant being human but this proved surprisingly difficult for him as the temptation to give up a life of uncertainty and moral ambiguities and instead become an unthinking beast appeared somewhat persuasive. It is the classic paradox – would you rather be Socrates dissatisfied, or a happy fool – but in this case the choices were an unhappy human or a rhino. This production provides compelling arguments for both.

Four Stars

Rhinoceros is on at the Burton Taylor Studio 9.30pm, 2 – 6 February

Eye Candy: Flower Power

By
Sally Rushton
-

Fashion moves fast; so fast, in fact, that when the ready-to-wear shows kick off in New York next month we’ll already be thinking about our wardrobes for winter 2010 despite still feeling the chills from this season! Verity’s ensemble illustrates that, instead of jumping head first into Spring’s barely there whisps of fabric, a transitional look that bridges the seasons can make a real style statement (as well as prevent pneumonia!).

Verity’s dress picks up on the coming trends for eye-popping prints and fairytale florals whilst giving a nod to winter power dressing with fierce leather accessories, all along showing an awareness of what suits her shape with the body-con cut and structured shoulders. This look is no slave to fashion but conquers it by teaming the best of the trends with an innate sense of what suits the wearer. There is a fine line between fashion forwardness and simply being a clothes horse; make sure your style says something about you, not just where you shop.

Dress – axparis.com Shoes – Topshop Necklace – Mikey Bag – boutique in Nice

 

David Coulthard and the Librarians

By
Conan Mckenzie
-

David Coulthard yesterday. He was the Scottish one who was never quite as good as Schumacher. Still, nice guy in person. Tall, broad shoulders, hint of a Scottish accent: the perfect racing driver. Then he spoiled it all by admitting he drives a Smart car, – the tiny little city cars that grunt and moan if you try to take them above about 40mph. When he said that, I almost instantly lost all respect for him.

Interestingly, David Thomas was sitting next to James Kingston behind Coulthard while he was speaking. DT was working in the Librarian’s office over the Vac, and despite losing the election to Kinky (partly, it must be said, for a reason that wasn’t entirely his fault, namely the ‘is he/isn’t he the Treasurer’ debacle,) he looks like he’s basically doing all the work associated with being Librarian, short of actually holding the title. So effectively we have two co-Librarians. It’s not so much ‘if you don’t succeed, try, try and try again as ‘if you don’t succeed, just act as if you did and everything will be fine.’ You have to admire the balls.

 

 

News Roundup: Third Week

By
Antonia Tam And Theo Merz
-

LMH’s fraudulent student, student jobs, landlords facing tighter regulation and the joys of a cheeky look at Cherwell’s Lifestyle section

The Cherwell Fashion Guide to… Nautical Sailor Tailoring

By
Ling Low
-

Sally Rushton shows you how the nautical trend for this Spring can be dressed up – or down – on a student budget.

The Cherwell Fashion Guide to… Nude Shades

By
Archive
-

Cherwell Fashion Editor Joanna Wilkin shows you how to wear the trend for pastels and nude shades on a student budget.

How to Cook… Zesty Crab Carbonara

By
Ling Low
-

Marc Kidson shows you how to cook a variation on carbonara with crab, chilli and coriander – in less than ten minutes.

 

Recipe re-cap:

1 egg
100ml double cream
1 red chilli
Tin of white crab meat
Salt and pepper
Half a lemon
Fresh coriander
Pasta (fresh or dried), linguine or tagliatelle preferable

1. If using dried pasta, put it on to boil in a well-salted pan of boiling water.
2. Break the egg into a bowl, whisk lightly with a fork and add the cream, finely chopped chilli and crab meat. Season to taste.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain and return to the dry pan on a low heat.
4. Add the sauce, most of the chopped coriander and a squeeze of lemon juice. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens, but don’t let it scramble.
5. Serve into pasta bowls, grate over some parmesan (if using) and garnish with any left over coriander.

 

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