STUDENTNEWS Facelift under way for latest hall of residence


A MAJOR programme of improve- ments to student accommodation is now well under way at De Bunsen Hall, which will become the first off-campus base for postgraduate stu- dents fromthis autumn.


Over thenext sixmonths, the former


YouthHostel inHoughGreen,Chester will benefit from replacement win- dows and rain water pipes, and fresh external decoration. Aplanning applicationhas alsobeen


submitted by the Facilities Manage- ment teamfor front and rear ramps. De Bunsen has 31 bed spaces and


opened to undergraduate residents in September last year,although it will nowbe allocated tomature students.


Ithasrearparkingfor17vehiclesand


en-suite studybedrooms on the first floor of the main building and at the back of a two-storey house in the grounds, together with one-bedroom flats in a ground-floor annexe.


Police trainee Karina honouredfor bravery


A TRAINEE police officer has been honoured by her peers with a commendation for bravery after she pulled a trapped driver froma burning car. Karina Pritchardwas offduty and


just twoweeks intoher police training at theUniversity,Warrington campus, when she came across the road traffic accident while driving home from Manchester one evening last summer. Heading along the A49 towards


Whitchurch, she found an overturned car with a passenger still inside, trapped around the steering column. After calling for emergency services,


Karina, alongwith a lorry driverwho had also stopped, noticed afire under the bonnet of the car and took the decision to reachinto the vehicle to


free thewoman and pull her clear. Karina said: “It’s not something you


stop to think about. “We had wanted to leave her in


position until the emergency services arrived to access the situation, but as soonas I sawthe flames Iknewwehad to get her out. “Ihadbasicfirstaidtrainingas Iwas


a Special Constable before choosing to go into policing full-time,but Ihadn’t had any training to deal with this particular kind of incident.” Karina didnotmake a fuss about the


incident and continued on with her course. Shewas presentedwithher award at


the ‘passing out’ ceremonyshe at- tendedwith her peers. She said: “I hadn’t heardanything


since the time of the accident.The day after it I asked my trainers on the course if I needed to do anything more. “I wrote a pocket notebook entry to


say what I had found and what I had done, and then heard nothingmore. “Itwas a real surprise andhonour to


receive the commendation.” Sergeant Philip Knight, one of the


trainers on the policing course,paid tribute to Karina forher swift ac- tions. He said: “She showed tremendous


bravery and her swift actions poten- tially saved someone’s life. “It was pure instinct thattook over,


and it’sthose qualities thatwillmake her into a fine police officer.”


HONOURED: Karina Pritchard receives her commendation from Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson.


Here comes the herd for Rhino Mania event


THROUGHOUT July and September, Chester will be in the grip of RhinoMania and theUniversitywill be joining the stam- pede.


Fromnextmonthacolourful trailofbeasts


will be dotted around the city as partofthe project and, with help from four Fine Art students and arhino conservation expert, theUniversitywill be leading the charge by supporting this art extravaganzawhich has a very seriousmessage at its heart. The event is an exclusive street art project


launched by Chester Renaissance andWild in Art, in association with Chester Zoo, which aims to provide community and edu- cation projects, highlighting a range of sub- jects fromclimate change to environmental issues and animal extinction. The Faculty of Applied and Health Sci-


ences has sponsored one of the 3ft-tall fibre- glassrhinocerosreplicas,whichiscurrently being be painted by FineArt students Sam- antha Quigley, Georgina Thomas, Nathan Tomlinson and Julia Elpers with support from Biology student and project manager Helen Cooper and Biolgical Sciences Lec- turer Dr Paul O’Donoghue. “The briefwewere givenwas to represent


a biological theme,” explainedNathan. “Our design is split into three stages to


shows the anatomyof the blackrhino.The backend will be painted likethe rhino’s skin, the middle section will showits mus- cular make-up and the front section will illustrate its skeleton. “We are also going to remove the rhino’s


hornto getaconservationmessage across. The rhinoisoftenhuntedfor itshornandin some areas conservationists remove the horns humanely to prevent poachers from killing them.” DrO’Donoghue’sPhDfocusedonaunique


group of blackrhinos inDamaraland,north west Namibia, which are the only truly free-living population left in Africa as all others exist in fenced reserves. He said: “I think thatRhino Mania is a


fantastic opportunity all round and there is hugescope forthe University to do something significant.” From July 5the University’s rhino will


have pride of place at Bridge Gate, on the Chester side of the River Dee.


LEADING THE CHARGE: Fine Art students Nathan Tomlinson, Georgina Thomas, Julia Elpers, Samantha Quigley with rhino conservation expert Dr Paul O'Donohue.


STEP THREE: Transferring clear recycling bags into 1,100 litre bins at the recycling depot (by Catherine House at Chester and the Facilities Building at Warrington) for collection by Veolia and delivery to a local recycling centre off-site.


Photo supplied.


Recycling takes off


OVER the past sixmonths, there’s been a quiet revolution across the campuses, which is helping the University to de- velop its contribution towards a cleaner community.


More than 200 collection bins have


provided themeans throughwhich staff and students canmake a significant im- provement towards reducing the amount of refusewhich is taken for landfill. The grey containers have become a fa-


miliar feature in buildings atWarring- ton, Chester andKingsway and the lids are colour-coded: ■ Blue lid – paper ■ Red lid – plastic bottles ■ Dark grey lid – cans. Waste removal contractorsVeolia En-


vironmental Services have informed the University that having started froma positionwhere the amount ofmaterial being recycledwas virtually negligible, 19%is nowtaken to recycling centres. GrahamFairlie,DeputyDirector of Fa-


cilities, said: “This figure is really en- couraging, so Iwould like to thank all staff and studentswho are already do- ing their bit, and to urge the remainder of peoplewho haven’t yet used the bins to followtheir excellent example. “Recycling is nowsecond nature to


most people at home, so it is only nat- ural that staff and studentswill also want to continue disposing of refuse more responsibly at the University, so please keep up the goodwork!” Users are, however, asked not to con-


taminate the contents of specific bins, for example, not putting foodwaste in with plastics,whichwould render the entire bin-load unrecyclable.


13


STEP ONE: Students Terry Toland, Abi Hewson and Simon Daniel put specific items in relevant bins.


STEP TWO: Caretakers Jimmy Reynolds and Richard Lewis, who is on a work experience placement, pick up clear bags for recycling and black bags to put in the back of the wagon and drive them to the recycling depot.


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