Farewell to the Deputy President of the Guild

After a hugely productive two years in office, it is time to bid farewell to the legendary James Coe.

James helped to develop the Guild’s first food cooperative, an emergency loan system for students in financial need, and a new democracy structure, “Change It”, to name just a few of his achievements over the past two years.

The legend himself

In a blog post summing up his two years as Deputy, James said: “I’m really proud of some of the things I have achieved over the last two years, but it is only possible because of your support.”

James goes on to speak of his most rewarding venture, Change It. According to The Guild website, ideas “can be about anything from the food we serve, the quality of your course, a campaign you think we should run or a national issue you want us to get involved with.”

The library is getting emotional too

The soon-to-be ex-Deputy President said: “Of course there are things I would have done differently, but the thing I am most proud of is our new democracy structure, Change It.

“We wanted quiet voices to be heard, and to give you ownership of your Guild. This is exactly what we have now, and it’s great to see so many of you getting involved.”

#throwback

James shared him most embarrassing moment during his time at the Guild, he told The Tab: “At the Guild this year we launched a food cooperative.

“As part of this we decided to dress staff up as giant Vegetables to hand out food bags.

“Sadly I got lumped with dressing as a giant tomato which was both too big to fit through most doors, and too wide to go at all unnoticed!”

James dressed as a tomato and Fergy sporting a luscious carrot costume

Harry Anderson, the President of the Guild gave his appreciation, he told The Tab: “It’s been a real honour to serve alongside James and get to see all the things he’s been working on this year.

“As Deputy President, he has worked incredibly hard for our students and will be hugely missed by all of us at the Guild.”

James Coe writes some emotional final words on his farewell blog post. Confident in his successors, he is certain the Guild future is bright and we will soon be number one. He said:”The Guild will be the best students’ union in the country before long, and I know the next round of Student Officers will make sure of this.

“If changes that I have made have had the same impact on you as you have on me, then I can leave happy.”

You can read James Coe’s full ‘Thank you and goodbye’ blog post here.