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Post by samir on Jul 31, 2006 17:55:00 GMT
Assalamu alaikum,
I hope everyone is well and enjoying their holidays.
As far as the bowling is concerned Yasmin and myself and in charge of organizing it but it would be great to have any suggestions and thoughts to try get things off the ground.
The general feedback seemed pretty good from last year’s bowling/dinner event. About 4/5 freshers went to Rowans in Finsbury Park followed by dinner at Mezbaan. I thought the event went well, I liked the food and it wasn’t to far away. But I think Suleman made a point in our last meeting about Finsbury Park not being the safest place to take freshers (what do the rest of you think?) so I've looked into a few alternatives near UCL and easy access by tube (there aren’t that many!).
All Star Lanes in Bloomsbury (near Holborn tube) not too far from UCL is an option but a little pricey at £7.50 per person per game compared to Rowans at £4.50.
Another option would be Funland in Trocadero (near Piccadilly Circus tube) which is also £4.50 per person for the first game and £3 for the second game. This is cheaper and we could have dinner somewhere nearby. I’m sure some of you guys have been there before so any thoughts would be great…
I’m not sure how many freshers would attend given that 4/5 went last year, but I'd plan for say, 10, spread over, say, 3 lanes?
From the minutes the bowling/dinner was planned for the week after freshers week, so as things come together we can confirm the final date (I’m thinking thursdays of that week?).
Wassalam Samir
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Post by mrakhtar on Aug 1, 2006 19:55:02 GMT
Salaam Samir, InshAllah i hope you are well and that you are enjoying your time in Al-Khobar. To begin with, i agree to an extent that the finsbury bowling is a tad unsafe, but i wouldn't not go there because of this reason alone. Personally i think it was a bit far away and out of the way to get to. I like the idea of bowling at the Trucadero. Have never been bowling there, but its got a nice central location. The prices seem nice too. However its going to be ramadan when we do this bowling event, and most likely were going to need to find a place to do iftar after bowling, and then taraweeh. There is a small kebab shop on the way down to leicester square, so i guess we can eat there,although when i say small, i mean SMALL. lol. Alternatively we can always go to TinselTown which is in Farringdon and have dinner there? After which we can go to Regents park masjid to pray Maghrib? People can stay behind for Isha and Taraweeh if they want to too? All of the thoughts above are just ramblings from my brain, but if anyone likes any of the ideas then post here guys! Thursday sounds like a nice day....i would have prefered wednesdays, so clinical students can come too, but then its sports night right? But as far as i can remember i dont think anyone has not been able to come to an event of ours due to sports commitments. But then theres always a first.. K guys, im off,, keep posting Wasalaam Rashid
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Post by yasmin on Aug 4, 2006 0:30:55 GMT
salam al alaikum, hope ur all enjoyin ur holidays too and are all well inshAllah i reallly like the idea of goin to trocadero, coz if we say bowling an then dinner near piccadilly circus it would sound really excitin and londony and loadsa ppl wud b tempted to come. an doin that an then goin to tinsel town an then regents park mosque sounds awesome!! as for unsafety of frindsbury, havin thought about it, i dnt think itd b too bad to go if we had to, coz we'd b accompanyin the freshers an so they shud feel safe the whole time inshAllah, and if i ever mentioned anethin bout it bein far away, tht doesnt apply nemore, coz tht was jus me tryin to find a way to get to frindsbury from the area tht i went to in the sports trials, an so i jus gave up in the end coz it was too complicated an difficult to figure out an do considerin id only been ther for bout 4 days. but tht shudnt be a problem if we're not doin it in freshers week or on a wednesday; But as far as i can remember i dont think anyone has not been able to come to an event of ours due to sports commitments. But then theres always a first.. lol am i the first then? so basically, as long as we accompany all the freshers ther an bak, or bak to wherever they are familiar ie a station, if they live in london, then they shud be fine the whole way. about it being on a thursday, will the freshers hav the afternoon off coz no pds or ssm yet? wot do they do at the start? an if theyr free, would they hang around for us to finish? is ther any way we can find out when we'd finish as well? also, samir, at what sort of time in the day were you thinking of doing the event? wasalam yasmin
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Post by samir on Aug 6, 2006 12:30:47 GMT
Assalamu alaikum,
Thanks for the input which has raised some valid points.
Of course things are provisional as far as the dates etc. at this stage but I’m just thinking of the logistics….
If we just say for the time being that the bowling/dinner at Trocadero (near Piccadilly tube) is on the 5th of October (a Thursday), Iftar on that day is due at 6.32pm.
I think going to Regents Park Mosque afterwards is a good idea cos the freshers would familiar with it if they haven’t been there before, they can pray Taraweeh afterwards, Iftar is free if things remain the same as previous years and it’s only two stops from Piccadilly Circus to Baker Street (Bakerloo Line).
But the question is this. The 1st Years have PDS on that day (intro to culture…blah, blah) which ends at 3.30 (from our ’05 timetable), which may of course change for this year, but I can’t imagine it ending after this time. SSMs wouldn’t have started. So do you think it’s possible to say meet at 4pm (or even 3.45) on that day and head over to Trocadero for bowling and still make it for 6.30 at Regents Park? That would give us maybe and hour and a half for bowling. I think that may be enough time, do you? So the Iftar would be at Regents Park and after Maghrib we could go to Edgware Road for dinner, or something like that?
Any thoughts? Wassalam Samir
p.s. If you have a free min could an outgoing 2nd year flick through their timetable and tell me what they had on the 2nd week and what time the day ended on weds, thurs and fri of that week.
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Post by mrakhtar on Aug 6, 2006 22:10:23 GMT
Salaam Samir,
quik few thots....
One problem that i have considered may arise if we start between 3.30 and 4pm on that Thursday...If the PDS students in actual fact do finish at 3.30 that day, taking into account where they are (Royal Free / Whittington), and how familiar they are of the area, as well as whether they actually finish on time, it could take them upto 35 to 40 mins to come meet us at piccadilly circus... I would recommend starting atleast 45 mins to an hour after the expected time of PDS finishing as then we can guarantee that we're not leaving anyone out..
Lets say we start at around 4.30 latest-- that means we have around 1 and a half hours bowling till 6 right? Thats more than enough time i think...From picadilly circus we can make our way to Regents park mosque, eat iftar, do maghrib, and then go out for some more food at edgeware road....would mean we get to talk with the freshers alot more and spend time with them...
I hope i answerd all of your Q's..regarding times.. im going to have to dig thru loads of boxes to find it, so if anyone has it on hand, would be grateful...if not ill try get that for you sameer
Take care
Jzk
Waslaam Rashid
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Post by yasmin on Aug 11, 2006 1:51:19 GMT
salam al alaikum all, the plan sounds good; just one thing, about how the freshers will get there should one of us be at each site and meet them and take them to piccadilly circus? or we give them comprehensive instructions of how to get to underground, which line to take, and where to get off, and even which exit of the hospital to leave from etc - we should probably give them maps of the area showing which way to go? (we could ask pds tutors at each site to hand them out from us at the end of pds, this will also be good advertisement for it too, an they should accept coz they know that the freshers are new and could get lost) and if we give them instructions, we at least wait outside the piccadilly tube and take them to trocadero? about us giving them instructions, this may actually be more beneficial for them, as they will get to practise how they can go places; or there'll be plenty of opportunity for that later as time goes by and they may get a little lost coz its not even ucl area so may be more difficult, and maybe it would look more professional of the isoc if we met them at each site? what do u guys think? wasalam yasmin
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Post by samir on Aug 11, 2006 22:32:47 GMT
Assalamu alaikum, I was thinking it might be a better idea if we met the freshers outside the cruciform building and take them en masse to piccadilly circus.
The reason why is that everyone knows where the cruciform is and it means they can get to us from the whitt and royal free more quickly i.e meet at cruciform at 4.15 rather than at piccadilly circ. station at 4.30 after PDS (see rashids post 6/8/06).
More importantly avoid freshers getting lost right in central london or changing their mind ('Hey this place is great for some shopping!').
Also this would avoid us having to try ring each other and the freshers to clarify things as some of us would be on the tube so no signal and overall we'd spend more time waiting.
Finally, last year we met outside cruciform and went together to finsbury park and it seemed to work.
So what we have so far is this.
Venue: Trocadero (Bowling) and Regents Park Mosque (Iftar/Maghrib) and Edgware Rd (Dinner) Date: 5th Oct 06 Time: 4.30 to 6pm (Iftar is at 6.30pm on that day) Meet: Outside Cruciform at 4.15pm Number of People: I'm thinking we should be ready for say 15-20 including a couple of committee/isoc members (last yr 10-12) spread over 3 lanes. Any thoughts?
Ok, if you all have any suggestions or anything has been missed out just keep posting and I'll try e-mail Funland at Trocadero 'bout the details ie.cost, date etc. Hopefully they'll reply soon. When we're ready to book I'll let you know.
Wassalam, Samir
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Post by mrakhtar on Aug 12, 2006 13:37:51 GMT
Salaam Samir,
I like the final details you have of the event. I would say the time should be 4.00-4.15, with us leaving Cruciform at 4.15pm sharp. It'll take us around 15 mins to get to trocadero, giving us enough time for bowling.
I need to submit the event details to Shirin and Shaarifa so that they can include it in the booklet. Can i go with what we have above? Hope everything else is fine, and that you are enjoying your summer.
Also hope you like the new look of the forums. Some feedback would be great. lol Take care! Wasalaam Rashid
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Post by yasmin on Aug 14, 2006 3:06:19 GMT
salam al alaikum, i like your reasoning samir bout meeting the freshers outside the cruciform, an it would prob make things easier, and may avoid wasted time tryin to get into contact with everyone else and also looking for the freshers at each of the sites; just a thought tho, sorry if im messing up the finalities,....but about them gettin bored and sidetracked on the way, wouldnt it be worse meetin them at ucl, coz they may decide to go home/halls instead of catchin the bus/tube to ucl again, whereas if we meet them straight there at the sites, they have no choice really/no room to change minds .....wot do u guys think, or do u not think tht this will be a problem?
assuming we're meeting them outside the cruciform, is 30mins-45mins max enough? it is prob from the free, but im not sure bout archway, does anyone know how long the bus ride is? and maybe we should leave extra few mins in case they miss the bus or finish a little after 3.30? also, for anyone tht doesnt catch up, should we leave a phone number in the isoc booklet on the freshers event page; or if this is not good idea, should we email it to ppl who have signed up to the mailing list, tht way reduce the number of ppl with the number, or even jus ppl who reply to an email asking if they are interested in coming - or is this not worth the trouble? maybe we could jus say go to piccadily circus trocadero and find your way to the bowling place if they dont catch up with us (and give basic directions in an email prior to the event)
another thing, would 3 lanes be enough - if we end up havin 10 ppl to a lane tht might be too much; are we able to get an extra lane on the day if we have too many ppl? - next time someones gonna call them to ask stuff, could u ask them this as well, or do u want me to call?
...sorry to be pickin holes; the plan's goin nicely tho by the way guys, alhamdulillah, (well done on ur decisiveness samir!; decisiveness is what helps get things done(another NMA style comment!)
wasalam yasmin
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Post by Sana :) on Aug 14, 2006 19:02:00 GMT
Asalamu Alaikum!!! ;D Extremely sorry for my general lack of activity on the forums..... I have been travelling for the last month, but inshallah I will be in one place for the next 2 weeks or so, so I will be able to provide a bit more input on the topics at hand. OK , mashallah its nice to see you guys dooing so well in organising freshers week. I am liking the sound of the bowling event much more than last years event. everyone knows of or has been to trocadero, and for a freshers event it would be extremely hard to resist ! ( on a side note, has anyone considered having a small amount of time alotted to chilling out in the games area? im pretty sure one game of bowling takes like half an hour or so... so i think we`d have enough time. although this is something we can always just turn up and do. So, in terms of meeting point, i agree that definately in front of cruciform will be the simplest and most practical answer. Typically for the first few weeks at the hospital site people tend to travel back to Uni together, so inshallah i dont think anyone should get lost; its simply a matter of following the crowd. However i think it is imperative that they have some contact details of both a bro and a sis, who will have their phone handy for this purpose -- to guide the lost freshers! if it normally would take approx 30 mins to get from the hospital, I would probs give them an hour, taking into account mingling and the general lack of direction of the crowds... Okay, in terms of segregation. I am sure this has already been discussed, but i think it is useful to clarify this on the forums here, as well as in the freshers booklet. I was under the impression that last year some sisters did not come to the event due to the lack of segretion; of course having completely separate events is not practical at all, but we need to make clear the arrangements we are making to keep everything halal. Take care WS Sana
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Post by Shayan on Aug 14, 2006 19:05:47 GMT
AA,
Just a thought - I think you could arange to meet people at UCL (since 1/3 of the year will be at Bloomsbury for PDS) and inform anyone who is at the Free or the Whit that they can either come to UCL and travel with you guys or if they prefer then they can make their way directly. The advantage to meeting up in a group is that some of the Freshers may be unfamiliar with London's transport and may be more confident travelling with someone who knows their way!
Ws,
Shayan
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Post by yasmin on Aug 14, 2006 21:20:46 GMT
salam al alaikum all, hope ur flights were ok sana, glad ur bak yeh i think its a good idea to meet at ucl, just my one concern was tht if they live in london in opposite direction of ucl, or theyre in camden or halls not near ucl, they may be tempted to jus go home an not come all the way bak to ucl from the other 2 sites, so i was thinkin if a couple of us met them at each of the sites an took em to trocadero then this would be avoided; alternatively, it could work as u say, the ones living in london should be able to make their way straight to trocadero if they want, and for the others not wantin to go via ucl, we can provide them with simple instructions and possibly a basic map of the route (hand drawn and scanned in by us, so its customised, takin into account nearby streets an underground stations, jus showin the 2 routes from the 2 sites) im gonna try an find out how long takes to get from archway to ucl, but i hav a feelin it may be slightly slightly longer than from the royal free and i agree with sana tht we shud allow extra time for the excited herd to make their way bak from their first pds session for those at bloomsbury, should we say, we'll be waitin there from ... (20ish minutes or somthin before we're sposd to be meetin, or call us if ur bored an waitin) so can mingle beforehand, or ask us loads of questions while ur waitin/if u end up waitin - coz if they finish way early an they got nothin better to do, an their halls are far away ? about the phone numbers, wot do ppl think? i might be able to give out my number as the sisters number, as i hav 2, an could give out jus one of my numbers, and carry both with me..... i think sana mentioned about the arcade, i found this is on (and edited a bit - we can jus say in the booklet (from www.... ) we dont need to quote it as the below has been adjusted slightly and so wouldnt be an exact quote) www.funland.co.uk/aboutus.html "Set in the heart of London's West End... Funland has all the very latest simulator rides and over 250 of the latest hi tech video games as well as indoor dodgems[, an American Pool Lounge ...and] a brand new state of the art 10 pin bowling alley." I think we should include this quote in the freshers booklet, and then say: this is where we'll be going; first we're gonna go bowling, then after that we'll have some free time to spend at Funland Trocadero before heading off to the mosque to pray and then break our fasts and feast at a restaurant in ...... or words to tht effect; this makes it sound even more tempting and exciting i think than it already sounds.should i post the above in the freshers booklet thread or message/email shirin and shaarifa? - same with the next bit about the poster, coz i think rashid posted it on that thread as well: about the poster, we could put pictures of the neon blue staircase at trocadero as the background pic for the poster (is on www.ivanweb.net/images/Mondo/Londra/bynight/Trocadero.jpgand ive saved it on file as jpeg in case ad doesnt work) and loadsa cool pics on the middle row of pics in www.odenhausen.de/fotos/londontrocadero/page.html could use instead (particularly the second pic in tht row) regarding the segregation, i think we should make it clear tht sisters and brothers will be seperate and in their own groups and lanes, but not necessarily state "segregation" as some of the freshers may think this is a bit much, and may not have been used to this, and they may get the wrong impression like we're gonna carry around a brick wall with us separating us an we'll be really strict an tell em off or somthin if they come anywhere near anyone else etc....... sorry for long email wasalam yasmin
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Post by samir on Aug 16, 2006 10:22:56 GMT
Assalamu alaikum,
I hope you are all well and I have Alhamdulillah got a reply from Funland at Trocadero and a few more details.
I think the first thing we need to clear up is the costing, if we can get over that, the rest should be a little easier Inshallah.
In the first post of this thread I mentioned £4.50 per person per game at Trocadero. Well, it turns out this price is for bowling before 4.30pm. In fact the most annoying thing is that they do STUDENT DEALS all day Monday and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until 4.30 pm which are pretty cheap (see below). But our plan was Thursday afternoon from 4.30-6pm!!
This is cut and paste from what they sent me:
OPT 1 1 GAME TEN PIN BOWLING……….ONLY £2.95
Opt 2 1 GAME TEN PIN BOWLING 1 BUMPER CAR TOKEN 2 VIDEO GAME TOKENS…………..ONLY £4.95
OPT 3 2 GAMES TEN PIN BOWLING 1 BUMPER CAR TOKEN 5 VIDEO GAME TOKENS…………..ONLY £8.95
ALL WITH FREE SHOE HIRE
Available for all students on presentation of a valid NUS card All offers subject to availability These prices are per person
If we stick to Thurs 5th Oct 4.30-6pm they’ll charge us £5.95 per person per game and 2 games for £10.95. Now that’s much more expensive, nearly double the price. What do you think we should do? Should we look for another time? Do we have any other option as Wednesday afternoons reserved for sports, or just stick our time?
About the finance, I’m a little clueless. Are we going to fund this entirely? This needs to be sorted.
I’ll talk about the rest of the points you all mentioned in another post.
Wassalam Samir
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Post by Sana :) on Aug 16, 2006 16:15:26 GMT
Salam :oWow that is a huge difference in price isnt it!!!! 8.95 sounded quite nice, option three. hmmm ... the times are a bit early though, maybe if we booked it for 415, would they still give us the deal? is 415 too early though? if PDS ends at 330, it is very possible for everyone to get there on time, but only if they left immediately and knew where they were going. perhaps in this case it would be better to meet them at the hospital sites and take them directly. for example if we made a notice in the booklet, and sent a note to the pds groups somehow that the bro\sis will leave promptly 345 from so and so place from each site. also none of the kids will have an NUS card yet, we´d have to take them to the UCL Union to get them. Often places dont accept the little NUS logo on the back of the UCL ID card. However obtaining an NUS Card takes no more than a minute from the union. We could always call in advance though to check if they would accept the UCL id, otherwise we could request everyone to pop into the union before the day of the event to get this sorted.
Tc, WS Sana
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Post by samir on Aug 18, 2006 14:36:10 GMT
AA, got some good news from Trocadero, turns out that as long as we book before 4.30pm we will be eligible for the student discounts.
So at the moment the plan was the leave Cruciform by 4.15pm latest. I think that might be a little risky coz if we’re delayed the price will double. Getting there in 15min might be a little optimistic coz of rush hour and we have to change line at Leicester Sq.
So I’m thinking we should leave Cruciform by 4.05pm latest. This might be a tad early I know, but if we provide basic directions we’re gonna have to rely on some freshers getting to Trocadero, if this involves some of us being there at the sites then so be it.
Secondly, it would be great to know what bowling option I mentioned in my last post you wanna go for. Thanks Sana for your choice and if the rest of you could get back to me that would be great.
Thirdly, about the NUS card, I think we should advice all the Freshers and all of us to get an NUS card. Maybe this could be squeezed into the booklet or something and it wouldn’t just be of benefit for this event but also for others in the future.
Ok, sorry, third point, as far as the numbers attending it gets a bit tricky to predict. In my earlier post I suggested roughly 20 people over 3 lanes (6 or 7 per lane). One lane for the sisters and two for the brothers (or vice versa)? Obviously this will depend on numbers. When I say 20 people I’m hoping most of them will be freshers but of course if lots of us could attend that would be great! That way if we’re ‘over subscribed’ a few of us could drop out and let them play (or switch around for the second game) and if not we all get a game.
Final thing, Yasmin, if you wanna contact Funland to confirm anything or have any queries, these are their details.
Speak to Judy on 0207 292 3642 Or e-mail her: judy@funland.co.uk
I’ll just e-mail her today to say that you (Yasmin) are also in charge of the booking. If you have any general query then you don’t need to mention UCL or any booking. But after I see responses to this post I’ll send an e-mail to book this and if we have to change details we can do it independently and not have to chase each other up. This would be better coz I’m still abroad.
So three things,
1) Leave Cruciform at 4.05pm? 2) Bowling Option 1, 2 or 3. Say which one. 3) 20 people over 3 lanes?
WS, Samir
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