The SSAGO Spirit: Anwen’s Story
Melissa Roberts (Aberystwyth)
Sunday 13th of August 2017
"This incredible pool of friendly faces, based all around the country means that wherever you are you’re probably not far away from someone you’ve met; even if you don’t know them that well. This idea was recently tested when one member of Aberystwyth managed to abandon one of their mascots in Stockport Station..."
SSAGO is an amazing community, whether you know everyone or no-one you’re always welcome. Clubs form welcoming groups to help freshers through their first year and older students through the difficulties of uni, and form some of the strongest friendships people find during their time as a student. On a national scale many may think that it is more difficult to form strong relationships; we only see each other three or four times a year afterall! But those who are sceptical are wrong. SSAGO friendships are strong friendships, however infrequently we may see each other! Arriving at a national rally for the very first time may be a very daunting experience, but any future national events you attend there’ll always be a smiling face there wanting a catch up!
This incredible pool of friendly faces, based all around the country means that wherever you are you’re probably not far away from someone you’ve met; even if you don’t know them that well. This idea was recently tested when one member of Aberystwyth managed to abandon one of their mascots in Stockport Station. On the evening of August 4th 2017, Phil Mottershead the Quartermaster for Aber accidentally left a bag on the platform and the un-stealable dragon Anwen with it. In the panic Phil failed to tell his club that he’d lost one of his bags too, only telling them that he had left Anwen at the station! That’s dedication to the mascot game!
As a joke an American style “missing” poster was made and posted into the national SSAGO facebook group. Not really thinking it would work but hoping it was worth a shot the poster didn’t even contain a genuine contact number, but it did get shared across Facebook. Anna Duncan shared the post and luckily her friend who works on that railway saw it and was able to stop off in the station and find the missing bag! The power of Facebook and community managed to save a very scared Dragon lost in the very big world!
Anwen (and the other kit) has now been reunited with Phil and is safe and sounds in his home, hopefully recovering from her adventure! Some say this was typical Aber; losing their mascot and needing help, but I think this is typical SSAGO; one person made a mistake and everyone else rallied together to help! Thank you for being awesome SSAGO-ers.
