What can you expect from Colourclash 2016?

It’s back and bigger than ever; with a brand new name, an army of boozed up Freshers behind it and the extravgance of hall pride being at its peak, ‘colourfest’ has turned into ‘colourclash’ to what is guaranteed to be the maddest night out since the event got sorrowfully abandoned a few years ago. Happening tonight, here is what to expect from Colourclash 2016…

Who will win best fancy dress?

Tonight, Nightingales is being bombarded with 12 different fancy dress themes. An Aitken Army will be proving their existence as a ‘small but mighty force’, the Chamberlain of Secrets will be bringing a magical touch to the night and the whole of Shackleton will be dressed as ‘ Where’s Wally?’. We’d have really struggled to find them if Elgar took on that theme.

Banners will be up across the vale, and fancy dress is coming out in force. Chants have been brewing over the weekend, and come later this evening, it’s unlikely the Vale geese will get any sleep for those party-fuelled hours. Oh how the tables have turned.

Hall rivalry is great, we all love it. TC vs Mason,  Jarratt vs Vicky – it’s all a good laugh. But still, there’s always that one over excited fresher who takes it too far. Is it really worth jumping in the lake and risking cholera just for the credit of best promo vid? Oh, and just because that Maple resident, who you’ve never spoken to until now, disagrees that their sofa is less comfy than yours, doesn’t give you an excuse to have a shit on it. Nobody likes a keen bean and you’ll probably look back at yourself next year and be embarrassed to say the least.

Really?

You can expect paint, and lots of it. And following paint comes an hour long shower trying to get rid of it. And following a post-paint shower comes maintenance fines because of too much paint. Paint on ceilings, paint on cars, paint on the ducks probably. You get the idea.

3rd year English student Ciara Tomlinson remembers the paint being the key part to what was a “mental” event and “definitely the best night of Freshers.” For her, pre-drinks turned into more of a pre-paint, followed by a lot of catching up to do on the drinking side.

She recalls, “we were avatars at Liberty Court, and all I remember is blue blurs everywhere to be honest. Me and my mates ended up going home at like 10pm because it was such a heavy night and I ended up having a drunken shower to get all the blue off.”

So if you 2nd and 3rd years see any partially painted Freshers on campus on Tuesday morning, don’t be too alarmed. Give us coffee and just make sure you keep the noise down.

Anyone for paint?

Chamberlain will be new to the scene this year, but it won’t take them long to be stirring trouble in Mason with the ‘new money’ vs ‘old money’ insults; disagreeing whether the ‘West Egg’ or the ‘East Egg’ of the Vale is the more lavish place to reside. Mason will be Mason, and Chamberlain will do their very best to prove that their daddy’s are richer than those of their rivals. If I were you, Maple, I’d stay out of their petty domestics.

Enjoy the hall pride beforehand, but try and keep a little bit of dignity. Surely nobody can have an actual love  for Lib Gardens anyway? Once you get into Nightingales the rivalry will fade and the VKs will take over. They’ll be the real winners of the night.

And who knows, even Pritchatts might make an appearance.