Traditions
The RCSU has many traditions, including the chanting of the kangela at bar nights and other occasions when seen fit and the sport of mascotry, guarding a college mascot called Theta. Theta takes the form of a thermometer, chosen as an instrument used by all scientific disciplines. Theta has had a number of incarnations, with the current mascot, Theta Mk.IV being a seven-foot steel thermometer weighing over 100 pounds (45 kg).
The RCSU also keeps an 'inviolate mascot' (i.e. it cannot be stolen), which is a Dennis N-Type fire engine known as Jezebel. Built in 1916, 'Jez' was donated to the college in 1955 when she finished her working life, and is equipped with 9-litre engine capable of pumping around 400 gallons of water per minute. There is a dedicated RCS Motor Club which maintains and takes care of Jezebel. She is involved with charity work and appears at various motor shows.
The RCSU also has a "Gentleman's" Club, founded in 1922 and called "The '22 Club". The Club is still active today, with only male members, and membership by election only. Members are usually found in the Union Bar on a Wednesday evening wearing their club tie, which is made up of navy, red and white stripes.
Read more about this topic: Royal College Of Science Union
Famous quotes containing the word traditions:
“But generally speaking philistinism presupposes a certain advanced state of civilization where throughout the ages certain traditions have accumulated in a heap and have started to stink.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Napoleon never wished to be justified. He killed his enemy according to Corsican traditions [le droit corse] and if he sometimes regretted his mistake, he never understood that it had been a crime.”
—Guillaume-Prosper, Baron De Barante (1782–1866)
“And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)