Liverpool Guild of Students is the students' union of the University of Liverpool. The Guild was founded in 1889, with the building constructed in 1911. The title also refers to the Guild of Students building, which is the centre point of activity in student life at the University and is run by the four sabbatical officers who are elected annually in an all-student ballot. Following a £14.25m refurbishment in 2013, it now contains a cinema, a theatre, a shop, two dance studios, four bars, a 2,300 capacity gig venue and an underground nightclub. This is as well as administrative offices and society meeting rooms. The Guild regularly hosts live music, theatre and comedy. Governance The Board of Trustees are responsible for overseeing the management and administration of the union, making the financial decisions, responding to student demands and ensuring activities are within union aims and remain within the law. The board consists of 12 trustees: the 4 student officers, 4 student trustees and 4 external trustees. The chair of the Board is ex officio the Guild President. History Origins of the Guild The origins of the Guild may be traced back to the establishment in 1892 of two Students' Representative Councils at University College, Liverpool. However, students were forming societies long before this, such as the Athletic Club in 1885, the Medical Students' Debating Society (later known as the Liverpool Medical Students Society) in 1874, the Women's Literary Society, and the Arts and Debating Society in 1888, among others. The University College Magazine documented the activities of these new groups, being first published in 1886. The Guild building has been located on Mount Pleasant since 1911. 20th century The Guild building is the work of Charles Herbert Reilly and was originally built with the west side for women and east for men, with the architecture of the building reflecting this. The building was built in three stages; the original building, housing the Gilmour Hall (then the debating chamber) was built in 1911. The middle section was built in the 1930s and the largest part, housing the Mountford Hall and the Courtyard was opened in 1966. 21st century and refurbishment In 2013 a £13.8 million refurbishment began on the Guild of Students building, in order to generally improve the building and add a new bar, cafe, and meeting areas. The Guild hadn’t been renovated since the early 1990s. The work was