“I like large parties”
The sports ball- an eclectic gathering of well dressed students who share a passion for all things sport. Often seen as the social event of the sporting calendar, a ticket to this ball is something highly sought after. Tartan ‘trews’ (trousers), kilts and gowns scattered the ballroom at the Tree Tops where the wine flowed like water and the atmosphere was teeming with excitement.
After a classy champagne reception and when everyone was seated, the speeches began. The members of the sports union spoke of their year so far and congratulated teams on their success- snaps for fencing who won best club! There was even a “neknominate”- the Internet phenomenon where you down a drink- during one of the speeches. Marc McCorkell, the sports President, was greeted to a unanimous raucous of knifes and forks pounding on the table when he said his speech.
After the food was served and thoroughly demolished, by some people, there was a ceilidh. As soon as the band kicked in the ball seemed to snap back to the 1950s- boys approached girls asking for a dance and everyone knew the steps. Of course sometimes a classy outfit and gorgeous hairdo do not mix well with the foot-stomping steps of the Gay Gordon’s but no-one seemed to mind as everyone was having blast; a a quick trip to the powder room solved all make-up mishaps anyway. The dresses this year ranged from floor length lace detailed gowns to shorter colour popping ones which is the beauty of the ball as the girls have vast range of options to chose from. The boys however were limited to Highland or black tie; I don’t if this was just the wine talking but they were really pulling off the tartan trews look- something usually seen as twee and unsightly.
As I mentioned before, the ball is somewhat of an honour to be invited to, only committee members in my club AUWHC got tickets. However, this year there was the clashing disaster of the ball taking place when the ski trip was on. The ski and snowboard club is one of the biggest clubs on campus and attracts people from across all the clubs, so with the trip being on at the same time as the ball meant there were several empty seats to be filled. Our first XI Captain Laura Simpson decided she wanted to have her cake and eat it- she booked a flight home for the day of the ball! But Simps was met with a serious problem, her flight was delayed meaning she would miss the ball. This didn’t stop our determined Captain though, she landed and half nine in the evening and arrived at the ball looking as fantastic as ever at half past ten, just in time for the dancing!
In a true Aberdeen style the party moved from the Hilton to Institute (or Liquid for those older students)- homage to the weekly Wednesday sports “skite”. The music was fantastic; cheesy pop for a whole night- what could be better? People went from the structured dancing at the ball to the wild dancing in the club; at this point people were caring less and less about the state of their appearance and focused more on whipping out their best moves. As the night wore on and the club eventually shut, the ball goers made their way down Union Street into the various fast food joints for some post-ball scran. The evening may have started off as a classy affair but ended just like every other night, which seemed strangely comforting. The ball was definitely one of the defining moments of the year and a great way to kick start the new semester!