It was impossible to predict in March, while running for election, what the rest of the year would hold in store for the person who won the Media Officer position.

After living the role since the beginning of July, the time has come to reflect after the mayhem of Freshers’ Week, and with four issues down, the next part of the plan has to be put into action. A lot has changed in the SU Media. PS-TV finally (after two years of trying) has a home, with a gallery and recording area/studio. To accommodate this, Frequency had to move office into the next room, which provides better natural light and a shorter distance for the audio signal to travel before being streamed over the net.

Perhaps the most obvious change is to the PR1 magazine. Sitting inside Pluto for two years, readers would turn through the newspaper, fade into PR1 and then back out into Pluto again, most of the time not actually realising it was anything different. This year, PR1 has doubled in terms of page numbers to 32, and had the format squashed slightly, to show what it really is. A magazine. PR1 has a team entirely independent of the Pluto team, and so it should be treated that way. I believe, and hope, that PR1′s identity crisis is now over.

Pluto, apart from a few design tweaks, remains unchanged. It still remains an important part of student life at UCLan, and shifts around 4,000 copies every fortnight.

Standing back and looking at the whole operation in action is very rewarding. There have been huge problems along the way, things that nobody knew how to fix, tremendous pressure on all involved, and thefts from the offices. But nobody said this stuff was easy, and that’s where the volunteers are to be thanked enormously.

So, when the glue begins to set, and the routine sticks, everything moves into focus. Pluto Online is the final element of this, and seeing it blossom into what it was always supposed to be is fantastic. James and his team have worked very hard on getting everything to such a high standard in quite a short space of time, and each member of the team should be congratulated.

Opportunities to volunteer are still available, and I’d strongly recommend getting on board. This is the perfect time to be part of it.

Squire