Students arriving at Winchester University this week were keen to get a bit of Boris at the party stand.
The University of Winchester has come a long way in recent years and today (Saturday 27 September) saw the 2008 Freshers Fayre, held at the West Downs Student Centre on Romsey Road.
The traditional start of year event is a chance for new (and returning!) students to collect information and dozens of local groups and student societies at the University itself.
This year sees the launch of a brand new Conservative Student Society which has seen a sharp rise in popularity in recent years. Prospective Winchester MP, Steve Brine, was there with his team to meet first year students and hand out free goody bags containing discount vouchers for a whole host of goods and services in the city.
Hannah (a first year History student from Brighton) was one of the first to sign-up; “The Boris Johnson thing really caught some many peoples attention – we love Boris because he’s a normal guy and he’s a politician! The contrast with the Liberal Democrat stand, which was in the same room, could not have been greater. Steve and the Conservatives had a Wii computer screen se-upt, a really great goody bag to hand out and the team on the stand were all young people having a good time. The Lib Dems were presenting bar-charts of some election results and were all middle aged people in suits!”
Steve Brine said after the event; “We set out to have some fun with the first year’s and from what they told us, they enjoyed coming by and we enjoyed meeting them. There was a time when the Conservative stand at a freshers fayre would be very quiet – we were mobbed today and we can now get in touch with hundreds of university students very easily with more great offers and ways to get involved.”
If you would like to find out more about the new Conservative Student Society, you should email Owen Millward via [email protected] and also find our page on Facebook.