Former names Atholl Hotel Type Student residence Renovated 1962 | Alternative names Atholl Town or city St Andrews, Fife Cost £40 000 + £25 000 Function Hotel, Dormitory | |
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Similar University Hall, Agnes Blackadder Hall, St Regulus Hall, Andrew Melville Hall, Deans Court | ||
John Burnet Hall (also known as Atholl) is the smallest capacity Hall of Residence owned by the University of St Andrews. It was formerly the Atholl Hotel and is located in the town of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It has 76 bedrooms, of which 34 are shared in the main building and 36 single, en-suite rooms in the annex. All the rooms are catered, with meals being provided 3 times a day during the week and breakfast and lunch at weekends. Prices for 2013–14 are £5,780 - £6,975 per year.
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Naming
The hall is named after the Scottish classicist, John Burnet. It was formerly called the Atholl Hotel before it was purchased by the University of St Andrews.
Location
John Burnet Hall is located on the main road coming into St Andrews, it overlooks the 18th hole of the St Andrews Links Old Course and the North Sea and West Sands can be seen beyond that.
Facilities
Communal areas include a computer room and library, TV room, laundry room, common room, known as the West Lounge, with a foosball table and ping pong table. The hall also has a Nintendo Wii, often used with a projector, and an Xbox 360 complete with an array of games. WiFi is available throughout the hall through the university's eduroam service.
Traditions
Due to John Burnet Hall's small size, each year its residents will often form a close-knit community, continuing the traditions relayed by past and returning residents. Its traditional events most notably include three annual balls: one held in north-east Fife's Fernie Castle at the beginning of the first semester, the Hall Ball towards the beginning of the second semester and finally the Traditions Ball held near the end of the second semester. In terms of in-hall student traditions the hall has its own purity test, a 'Yipping' fertility chant and a John Burnet anthem, to name a few. On the anthem, it is believed to have originated in the early 1990s, with its chorus being 'John Burnet // La la la' and its verses containing dimetric couplets detailing the Hall's best features, for example, 'Good at sports // Avoiding courts'. As of 2015, John Burnet has its own official poem titled 'Ode to an Elderly Athollite', provided in every room and recited on special occasions. Written loosely in iambic tetrameter, the following poem features an elderly speaker joyfully reliving the more nuanced traditions of John Burnet.
Ode to an Elderly Athollite
When thoughts run through my senile head
That rests upon a hospice bed,
I hope that I will not forget
That I was once in John Burnet.
I’ll yip when nurses leave in twos!
‘I want IV in green and blue!’
To hear piano come through floors
And see Front Hall behind each door!
On Rainbow Road I whirl wheelchairs
To Fernie, to West Lounge: I’ll be there!
With each new patient: ‘a semester abroad!’
It’s Gents’ Night tonight on the Geriatric Ward!
O Slap Cup, Flip Cup with my medication!
Screaming ‘He drinks in moderation’!
I’ll coin each cup that’s filled with pills
For John Burnet will cure my ills!
So be it in world or hospice bed,
John Burnet breathes inside my head.
For I am Foster, and I believe,
I, Athollite, will never leave.