On the final day of May week, as students receive their examination verdicts, St Edmund’s College held it’s annual May Ball. As St Edmund’s is a mature students’ college with majority of students on year-long master courses, the event usually has particular significance for the attendees, large number of them leaving soon after.

For those with dining tickets, the ball began with an excellent five course formal dinner, with musical accompaniment, or rather decoration, of harp and then a string quartet. The food was good, especially the honey cheese cake, topped with wonderful ice cream.

Unfortunately, rain was persistent the whole night, but this didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the attendees. The usual ball fare of hog roast, burgers, pizzas, and crepes were served constantly. Drinks supplied included the normal bitters, red and white wines, and cocktails- though the cocktails didn’t last very long past midnight. On the whole the service was good, but there was some disappointment as food started to run out towards the early hours. The lack of the advertised Baileys fountain was a minor disappointment.

As for music, a main acts marquee hosted various music groups such as the CU Brass Ensemble, Clare Jazz band, Fernando’s Kitchen and others throughout. A disco marquee was present for the whole night as well.

At 1am there was a showing of the play ‘Fantasmagoriana’. Though the play was possibly well acted, 1am was probably the wrong time to have a discourse drama involving Lord Byron and the likes, lulling the audience into sleep.

Nonetheless, the casino tables were especially popular and fun. Hosting a caricaturist was an interesting idea but there was no proper queuing system and the caricaturist left by midnight. The originally advertised bumper cars were replaced with a machine rodeo and a wheel ride, which proved very successful. The wheel ride was especially intense and drew a lot of excitement. The laser quest was also very popular. The ball on most accounts was however significantly smaller than last year's, which involved fireworks and a hot air balloon.

On the whole the St Edmund’s ball, though small (with only 400 guests), was a pleasant intimate affair. Everything one  expects from a ball was provided. The decoration was original and unique, and mostly with taste, (though with a handful of notable exceptions); around a hundred attendees were featured on the walls in cleverly photo-shopped pictures. Many of those who attended partied right up to the end at 5.45 am, when the survivor's photo was taken.