The Sidney Sussex College Students’ Union (SSCSU) has announced that it will host a May Week event in the Sidney Gardens on 25 June, in place of the Sidney May Ball.

Sidney Sussex’s May Ball was cancelled in November, with the committee explaining at the time that it “didn’t have enough people with the experience and availability” to organise the event. Sidney’s 2025 May Event was also cancelled due to “low ticket demand”.

Students at the College were informed by email that a garden party would be organised in May Week on 5 March, and were invited to complete a feedback form on how they would like the event to be structured.

On the reasoning behind the SSCSU’s decision to organise the event, Sidney’s JCR president told Varsity: “Our covid-era reserves have been giving college a reason not to increase our annual budget for years, so we were keen to find a good way to spend them down without temporarily inflating all our other allocations.”

The president continued: “Since I was elected at the end of Michaelmas, bringing together the different year groups has been a top priority.”

The event is being organised by the JCR officers, each overseeing different aspects of the evening, including music, activities, decorations, drinks, and food, while the disability and BME officers are tasked with “ensuring the event is as inclusive as possible”.

On 5 March, the SSCSU circulated a “have your say” survey to students, in which students were asked to rate various “visions” for the event out of five – it received 141 responses within a couple of days.

The JCR president added: “This is by no means a June event, let alone a May Ball, but every student deserves an opportunity for a great send off in their college. That shouldn’t always have a £200 price tag.

“While the event is a one off, I hope it sets a precedent for other colleges to adapt to the changing May Ball culture in Cambridge.”

The garden party’s theme, ‘The Summer of ‘71’, was selected based on responses to two surveys sent to students. The JCR president explained that, based on the first survey, “we produced four themes that encapsulated the most popular ideas. 53 people then responded to a survey to narrow themes down to one vision.”

The JCR president said that “the ticket price will hopefully be no more than £25, with a ticket value of up to £50 per head,” adding: “we hope to offer unlimited drinks (within reason), good food (we hope), live rock music, some activities. Crepes, a photobooth, glitter artists and a truck load of peronis are all in the process of being booked, with more to be confirmed.”

The SSCSU has not yet determined whether the event will be open to the rest of Cambridge.

Reacting to the announcement, one Sidney fourth-year told Varsity: “It was a shame the May Ball had to be cancelled in my final year, so I’m glad there will still be a bit of a celebration to conclude my time at Sidney. The theme sounds fun, and the price accessible enough that I should be able to go, even though I’ve now booked a different May Ball. I’m impressed they’ve managed to organise it all so quickly.”

The College said that it will organise an event during May Week in June 2027.