Society Admin (Rework in Progress!)

With shield walls to command, kit to mend and comprehending Clubs Office guidance to do Wychwood requires a surprising amount of administration, something not possible without the hard work of many Committees past and present. This page details most of the information for how to run the Society as reference for Committee and anyone else interested.

Society Documents

Wychwood, being a registered Club with the University Clubs Office, is required to have specific Constitutional documents. These are the:

These provide the groundwork for how Wychwood is organised, but being generic Clubs Office documents don't provide much detail or cater to our needs. That said it is strongly advised to not change the contents of these documents, unless to update them as necessary (eg: the Welfare Officer listed in the Code of Conduct). The Clubs Office dislike these documents being changed and this causes very tedious issues with registering the Club each year. Instead to explain how the Society works in a constitutional sense we have…

The Doom Book explains how, within the bounds of what the Clubs Office has laid out, Wychwood works. This includes, membership details, additional Committee, roles and so on. If you want something made official in a Society sense add it to the Doom Book, not the Constitution.

Most of the things mentioned further down can be found in the Doom Book!

Who Runs the Society?

The short answer is the Committee do! Noble students who have stepped up to keep Wychwood going. The Committee varies in size but typically contains the following key roles:

- The President oversees the Committee as a whole and makes sure everything is running smoothly, but they also have specific tasks. In particular Presidents have booked rooms for Society kitmakings and our stall for freshers fair, which are vital for the Society continuing to function as it does.

- The Secretary is perhaps the most vital role in the Society. There job is to oversee the Society email account and be the main point of contact. They will send out weekly emails to members, respond to queries and manage things like our membership list. They must also do the vital role of re-registering the Society every year with the Clubs Office, otherwise we will not be a University Society!

- The Treasurer is responsible for recording and checking Society finances. They're in charge of the Society cashbox, recording transactions in and out of it and compiling these records onto a spreadsheet. This, alongside statements from the Bank account, must be submitted to the Clubs Office at the end of every academic year and for annual re-registration.

- The IT Officer in deals with all IT related issues within the Society, this includes renewing Society IT accounts with the Clubs Office each year but also helping to maintain our websites.

- The Battle Captain, as the name implies, is in charge of fighting! They will train the next generation of Wychwood's Warriors and accordingly are expected to organise Sunday Battle Practice sessions. They also help with organising training for larger shows should they involved combat, particularly if they are with another Society. If there is not a specific person to deal with First Aid (see Doom Book), this task is also delegated to the Battle Captain.

- The Quartermaster is in charge of keeping all the Societies stuff, mainly its combat gear but also any other kit that the Society owns.

- The Mistress of Revels organises the Society feasts, typically occuring in Michaelmas and Hillary terms. This includes booking the hall, planning entertainment and ensuring there is food and mead available for those who want it (though they are certainly not responsible for cooking all of the food!). They can also organise additional entertainment for the Society, as needed.

- The Senior Member is a "Member of the Congregation", aka someome reasonably important in the University, who is the official overseer of Society activities. We must have a Senior Member in order for the Society to exist and be registered with the Proctors! Senior Members have a five year term limit so it also means we have to find one every now and again.

Beyond this though there can be many other roles in the Society, which can be seen in the Doom Book, known as "Elected Officials". These are not Committee per se, as the Clubs Office requires us to have a maximum of eight people on the Committee, but they do have responsibilities within the Society.

What should Wychwood be doing to remain a Society?

What should Wychwood be doing as a Society?

Health and Safety

Public Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance is a particular kind of insurance. It pays out in the event of a member injuring a third party. A Third party is a member of the public, in fact pretty much anyone who is not a member. As you might imagine with Historical Reenactment this can be a concern. The University Insurance covers all bona fide activities of University Societies, which includes our combat. This is vital because PLI allows us to go to events. It is a legal requirement that performs at public performances have Public Liability Insurance. Some events take out a policy that covers us anyway, other events require proof that we have PLI. Regardless it's an important thing to remember!

Our Logo

Last but not least our glorious Society logo! We have quite a few different versions and they are all shown here.

Society Logo, redrawn 2020

Small versions suitable for web use (note the high resolution .svg is also suitable for web use where the format is supported):

High resolution versions:

Versions with text:

Other resources

There is an old version of the snakes logo but the TIFF file doesn't seem to contain a usable image.

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