[Lifesaving] The end of an(other) era.....handover 2013

Last night saw yet another piece of my life here in St Andrews come to an end. After my final quartet concert last month, swiftly followed by my last orchestra concert, it was time to bring my membership of the St Andrews Lifesaving Club, aka the Seacows, to a close.

Man am I going to miss this club. (Credit: Teddy Woodhouse)

Every year we have a handover meal to mark the end of the current committee's reign, and the commencement of the new committee's term in office. Our AGM is before the Easter holidays, giving plenty of overlap time so that the new committee can learn their roles, and the handover takes place just before the exam period starts.

In years past we've had it at the Fairmont Hotel, but only because my academic dad worked there and could get us a discount! Since he graduated last year we've tried to keep the price down a bit, and stayed in town. This year it was decided that we'd just go to the new club president's house, and get takeaway.

Everyone enjoying the yummy takeaway. Mmmm, curry. (Credit: David Brown)

One of the features of the handover is the club photos, which we try to make as nice as possible. St Andrews is blessed by many picturesque locations, but unfortunately the weather wasn't playing ball so our original location of the cathedral had to be substituted for St Salvator's. They still turned out really nicely though. There were also the usual cards and presents for those leaving the club. This year we were given some nice custom mugs with a motivational seacow on. Mine says 'I'd hug you if I had arms'; I'm not really sure how to take that sentiment!

The other major feature, other than dinner, is the club awards. These are given out for a variety of ridiculous things; this year featured 'the award for drunken lifesaving', the 'best-dressed lifesaver' award, the 'laziest seacow' award, the 'Andrex puppy award for enthusiasm', and the 'Rube-Goldberg award for over-complication'. I personally won the 'royal father-daughter award for passing on of knowledge', and the 'lifesaver most knowledgeable Yoda' award!

Fancy dress pass-the-parcel led to some interesting costumes. Naturally we had to show

them off outside. By doing the conga? (Credit: David Brown)

But that wasn't the end of the night, oh no. The new and old social conveners had planned a series of games for us to play. We started with musical bumps (for some reason on the hard kitchen floor), then moved onto pass the orange. We also played fancy dress pass the parcel, which was a lot of fun and ended in some ridiculous costumes, which of course meant that we should go and conga around outside! After the games petered out we ended up sitting and chatting for while, with some other shenanigans thrown in for good measure. Just when everyone was thinking about leaving, we somehow ended up deciding that it would be a good idea to go to the beach for a swim! It was cold, windy, and raining down there, not to mention very dark. I decided not to go in, but the others all went for a paddle. Not for long mind you!

Heading into the sea for the second round of paddling. I'm still not sure why we thought

it was a good idea. (Credit: David Brown)

It was a great night, and a fitting way to end my time with the Seacows. I feel like I've been much more involved with the club at a social level than I ever was at Warwick. Part of that is, I think, the late training times which facilitate regular post-session pub trips, something that was much harder at Warwick. Part of it is the greater flexibility that I have as a PhD student; there's no way that I would have gone to all the competitions if I'd been an undergraduate here, just because of the travelling. Part of it is also the changes that I've gone through as a person. I'm very different to who I was when I started university the first time around. Back then music was the bigger thing in my life, and I prioritised that over lifesaving. I don't regret that for a second, and I still had a lot of fun with the lifesaving crowd, but I wonder how things would have turned out if I'd done the opposite, like I have in St Andrews. Or if I'd continued to prioritise music here as well.

The lifesaving club has been a wonderful thing for me, and I've made so many good friends. A lot of them moved on at the end of last year, but there are some that are still here. I don't think any of them realise just how big of an impact they've had on me as a person, or on my development, or how much they all mean to me. I can honestly say that the club has been a huge part of why I've enjoyed my time in St Andrews so much, and I will really, really miss it when I leave.

All the competitors from this year. Not many of us, and not our best year (for results

or attendance), but it was still a good one. (Credit: David Brown)