Queen Mary student and President of the Sober Socials Society
Sober socials hosts fun social events without alcohol, encouraging new friendships within these events and promoting inclusivity - no matter whether members drink alcohol or not, or why they might be alcohol-free.
This society was formed to provide more alcohol-free events, as some students felt unrepresented and sometimes uncomfortable in events with alcohol. Queen Mary has a very diverse student body and there are many reasons why students may not drink alcohol, including religion, culture, health and personal preferences.
We have had many successful events such as ‘Tasty Taster’, a free taster event where we played board games and ate pizza with 76 attendees, and ‘Mub Quiz’, a play on Pub Quiz but with mocktails like the Virgin Mojito (recipes taken from the Instagram Mocktail of the Week) and Kahoot quiz questions. We also adapted to Covid by hosting online events through Discord and Netflix Teleparty. So far, during the academic year of 2021-2022, we’ve held 24 events (usually one every week) with 3 more planned, gained 125 members and 358 Instagram followers.
We have gained a lot of interest from outside the university, particularly a sponsorship with Reward Days, a member's discount code from LaidBear Kombucha, an event in association with Drapers Bar & Kitchen and a podcast interview for Club Soda. Within the university, we have had collaborations with the Book Club and Environment Society, raised money for the charity Women’s Aid and been nominated in the Society Awards where we received a Gold Trophy Award and our social media manager received high commendation in the Communication Award. We’re so glad that the society has been receiving so much positive attention as our members keep growing and awareness for alcohol-free events is increasing!
Events are held roughly every week and are posted on our Instagram account, the QMSU website, our WhatsApp group chat and Discord! Check out any of these to stay updated on our events and projects, or talk to us at the Welcome Fair.
I appreciate that we can all have fun together while being ourselves and comfortable with each other
Check out our Instagram, WhatsApp group and other links
Sober Socials Society