The University of Edinburgh is home to an ever-growing collection of wild and wacky societies. There are currently over 350 societies, not including the many sports clubs, which regularly meet around Edinburgh to exercise whatever special interest is worth giving up simpler evenings at the local pub.
Edinburgh’s oldest society, established 10 years after the United States of America (as one committee member couldn’t help letting me know), is the Diagnostic Society. Colloquially known as Di-ag, members must regularly dress up in black tie to yap about nonsense notions while as drunk as possible – basically the House of Lords in training! Another society which similarly enjoys a tipple, is the distinguished Wine Society which hosts wine-tasting socials for a £20 membership fee. Members can begin their first steps towards becoming a sommelier or, if you’re a first year living in Chancellors Court, you could order a couple of cases of your favourite bottle to stock your inevitable future wine cellars in your second-year flats.
On to more sobering pursuits, Blue Tits (not a fan club for your favourite British bird) hosts communal wild swims for those who think they are better than everyone else. For a small fee of £5 per year, the club allows you to risk hypothermia each Sunday morning in exchange for bragging rights and a Mcvittie’s Hobnob. At least it’s cheaper than a gym membership.
Speaking of exercise, as the Hockey Club has been banned from every venue this side of Hadrian’s wall, perhaps they should rebrand as the Crochet Society to avoid having to retreat to a local mountain to host its balls. Although, that may sound like the dream to the ever-intrepid Mountaineering Society!
For those who came to university to study, there are many societies that teach you practical skills for life, which may be especially helpful for those studying humanities, i.e. those mainly here for the laughs. Recently, a friend took one for the team and ventured over to the trading and investment club (EUTIC). Wonderfully, she can now teach us how to be finance bros without having to be mansplained to by a small man in a quarter-zip, holding his iPad like a purse.
For the more artistically inclined, Film Making Society produces top notch short films featuring your campus crushes, premiered at illustrious institutions such as Brass Monkey. The Galley Society hosts life drawing classes to help you become the next Leonardo da Vinci, but I can’t promise your campus crush will also be in attendance.
Some societies provide the opportunity to offset the havoc you created last Friday night with some public good. There are 20+ student-run charities making an amazing difference in the wider community. CHV (Children s Holiday Venture), for example, takes children from underprivileged areas of Edinburgh on activity trips once a fortnight to improve their emotional well-being.
If none of these, or 300 others, appeal, perhaps consider starting your own society! Believe it or not there is room for more bizarre ways to spend your time.
However, on a more serious note, are these societies just cliques, angled towards those trust fund babies with time to kill between visiting their polo ponies and ‘studying’ Art History? Although this may have some truth to it, I think the majority of Edinburgh societies are a lot of fun and not too expensive to join. When else in your life will you have such a broad range of random pursuits available to you?
And finally, at the risk of dying a slow and painful social death, at least some parts of this article are written in jest!
“File:The Diagnostic Society of Edinburgh Coat of Arms.png” by The Diagnostic Society is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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The Weird and Wonderful World of Edinburgh’s Societies
The University of Edinburgh is home to an ever-growing collection of wild and wacky societies. There are currently over 350 societies, not including the many sports clubs, which regularly meet around Edinburgh to exercise whatever special interest is worth giving up simpler evenings at the local pub.
Edinburgh’s oldest society, established 10 years after the United States of America (as one committee member couldn’t help letting me know), is the Diagnostic Society. Colloquially known as Di-ag, members must regularly dress up in black tie to yap about nonsense notions while as drunk as possible – basically the House of Lords in training! Another society which similarly enjoys a tipple, is the distinguished Wine Society which hosts wine-tasting socials for a £20 membership fee. Members can begin their first steps towards becoming a sommelier or, if you’re a first year living in Chancellors Court, you could order a couple of cases of your favourite bottle to stock your inevitable future wine cellars in your second-year flats.
On to more sobering pursuits, Blue Tits (not a fan club for your favourite British bird) hosts communal wild swims for those who think they are better than everyone else. For a small fee of £5 per year, the club allows you to risk hypothermia each Sunday morning in exchange for bragging rights and a Mcvittie’s Hobnob. At least it’s cheaper than a gym membership.
Speaking of exercise, as the Hockey Club has been banned from every venue this side of Hadrian’s wall, perhaps they should rebrand as the Crochet Society to avoid having to retreat to a local mountain to host its balls. Although, that may sound like the dream to the ever-intrepid Mountaineering Society!
For those who came to university to study, there are many societies that teach you practical skills for life, which may be especially helpful for those studying humanities, i.e. those mainly here for the laughs. Recently, a friend took one for the team and ventured over to the trading and investment club (EUTIC). Wonderfully, she can now teach us how to be finance bros without having to be mansplained to by a small man in a quarter-zip, holding his iPad like a purse.
For the more artistically inclined, Film Making Society produces top notch short films featuring your campus crushes, premiered at illustrious institutions such as Brass Monkey. The Galley Society hosts life drawing classes to help you become the next Leonardo da Vinci, but I can’t promise your campus crush will also be in attendance.
Some societies provide the opportunity to offset the havoc you created last Friday night with some public good. There are 20+ student-run charities making an amazing difference in the wider community. CHV (Children s Holiday Venture), for example, takes children from underprivileged areas of Edinburgh on activity trips once a fortnight to improve their emotional well-being.
If none of these, or 300 others, appeal, perhaps consider starting your own society! Believe it or not there is room for more bizarre ways to spend your time.
However, on a more serious note, are these societies just cliques, angled towards those trust fund babies with time to kill between visiting their polo ponies and ‘studying’ Art History? Although this may have some truth to it, I think the majority of Edinburgh societies are a lot of fun and not too expensive to join. When else in your life will you have such a broad range of random pursuits available to you?
And finally, at the risk of dying a slow and painful social death, at least some parts of this article are written in jest!
“File:The Diagnostic Society of Edinburgh Coat of Arms.png” by The Diagnostic Society is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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