Meet Glasgow University’s very own Taylor Swift Society

The Taylor Swift Society is one of the latest societies to join the University of Glasgow. What initially started out as a very small society a few months ago, now has grown to have 300 members. It has clearly been a huge hit with students.

The Tab Glasgow caught up with the President, Katie Fish, to ask her about the society.

Katie said: “The University of Glasgow Taylor Swift Society is a new society this year. We are an exciting group of people who like TS’s music, we range from cottagecore to pop idol to old school country vibes. Our club allows students to make new friends through shared enjoyment of music and also get to relive all of her eras with us as her re-records get released.

“The society aims to have an equal mixture of drinking and non-alcoholic events to address the need for more social activities for students who don’t want to drink as well as providing some daytime events which are accessible for home students who are not on campus for evening events.

“Although first and foremost a social club, we also aim to develop our members’ understanding of the songs she has published and the impact she has had within the music industry and pop-culture within our society (through sober and drunken TS small talks). You don’t need to be a die-hard Swiftie to join, we’ll be enchanted to meet absolutely anyone who’d like to come along.”

Instagram: @uofgswiftsoc

What activities does the society have planned for the coming year?

“So far we’ve got a Red listening party organised and are in the process of planning an event in collaboration with TS Strathclyde. We plan to host a range of activities throughout the year from TS themed club/karaoke nights to wholesome listen-along parties and group study/chill acoustic sessions. We are currently in the process of putting together an events committee which should help us to be able to organise a lot more events. We’re super excited to get more people involved in the running of the society and to be able to organise events around what they’re keen on doing.”

What inspired you to start the society?

“I was really excited about the release of Red (Taylor’s version) so decided to invite a few friends over to listen to it all together for the first time. I invited three people and said “invite any of your Swiftie friends” and suddenly there was ten of us. I knew you could book out the Gilchrist café for small events so got in touch with them and decided to look into hosting it as a small solo event there. My good friend Hailie (who is our secretary now!) came along to the meeting at Gilchrist and we jokingly said to Markee, the woman who is in charge of Gilchrist events, that we should make a society and we all just looked at each other like “we have to do this”. After that meeting Hailie and I created the society. It’s safe to say we did no uni work that afternoon.”

Instagram: @uofgswiftsoc

Have you seen Taylor live?

“I saw her in London during her Reputation tour with my Mum. It was incredible.”

Were you a member of any Swift societies before? (Or followed/ran fan accounts?)

“I had a Taylor swift fan account briefly when I was 15, I think I only posted on it about five times though before deleting it.”

Were you inspired by the Strathclyde TS Society?

“Yes! I remember I was in Billiards (GUU union) when it came up on my Facebook feed and I’ve never signed up for something so quickly. It didn’t occur to us to create our own society at the time though. The decision to make a society really stemmed from the listening party we wanted to host but knowing there was a Strath TS society definitely gave us confidence in putting ourselves out there and becoming an actual society. Interestingly to form a society in Strathclyde you only need two whereas to make a society at Glasgow Uni you need three board members and 15 sign ups. When we first made the society, we were initially unaffiliated as we didn’t have enough members.

“On a side note, TS Strathclyde are amazing, we speak a lot on Instagram and went for a coffee only today to plan events. It’s so lovely getting to grow both our respective societies with the support and encouragement from each other. I also noticed that Oxford and Cambridge Taylor Swift societies were collaborating on an event. The power of Taylor Swift to bring people together. ”

To learn more about the society, follow them on instagram @uofgswiftsoc or find them on Facebook as University of Glasgow Taylor Swift Society. You can also attend their next event, the Taylor Swift HIVE that is happening this weekend: https://fb.me/e/dygzTIQw6 .

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