Membership & Events Intern
Overall my time at the Rag, while short, has been unlike anything I have ever experienced. The variety of tasks I have done throughout the placement makes it hard to describe an average day in the life of a placement student here as every single day has been different. While there are still tasks you get with any other job such as emails, phone calls and admin work, there is a wide variety of other tasks to be done, the likes of which you won’t get anywhere else.
I started in late February 2020 working mostly with the Events Team, but also helping out membership when required. In my first two weeks I got to go to a couple of national events & hospitality conventions at ExCeL London, to find any new ideas, technology, or techniques that could benefit the club. This not only was a great experience away from the office where I got to try plenty of free samples, but I also learned a huge amount about both the events and hospitality industry.
When I wasn’t at conventions and conferences, I was learning about how the events here are booked, organised and run, this way I got the best understanding possible on how the club actually operates. This involved working both in the office (where I was booking people into rooms, making menus and more) and in front of house, this way I got to see how the rooms were set up, food came out on time and how to most efficiently allocate which members of staff did what during the event. I had real hands on experience with the running of events and even got to serve the MoD desert, which I never thought I would be able to say!
A great benefit of this placement is that you get free accommodation in the very centre of London. Having only ever been to London once when I was twelve, I didn’t realise just how great a of location the club is actually in until about a week after I moved there. It is literally just a few minutes’ walk away from Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Buckingham place as well as St James’ Park, Green Park and Hyde Park, so it really can’t get much more central than that.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to work here and will truly working here with everyone at The Rag – Army and Navy Club.
Daniel Winters
Membership and Events Intern – 2020