May Ball in Cambridge
A May Ball is a ball at the end of the academic year that takes place at any of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. They are elaborate and lavish formal affairs, requiring black tie or sometimes white tie, with ticket prices ranging from around £100 to as much as £640 for a pair of dining tickets at Trinity.[1] May Ball budgets (excluding VAT) can exceed £200,000; a report by the student newspaper Varsity in 2016 found that the budget for the 2015 Trinity ball was £286,000.[2] The balls are held in the colleges, starting around from 6-9 p.m. and lasting until well after dawn. "Survivors photographs" are taken of those who last until morning. Other colleges frequently hold winter balls, such as the popular Selwyn Snowball, who recently had acts such Tinchy Stryder and Mumford and Sons headlining.
Ball crashing[edit]
Colleges with larger May balls pay considerable attention to security and the prevention of ball crashing.[7] With tickets priced at over £150 and in short supply, students often try to gain unauthorized access, climbing high walls, arriving dressed as gorillas pretending to be part of the evening's entertainment, and posing as journalists. Typically, college porters are joined by both student and professional security staff and, at larger balls, police to identify and apprehend the crashers. Some colleges have painted walls with anti-burglar paint, which stains the crashers' clothes with luminous green paint, making it somewhat difficult to blend in. More courageous crashers can be seen swimming down the river Cam holding their clothes in a plastic bag above the water in an attempt to enter colleges from the banks.
As part of the security arrangements, students living in parts of the college and not attending the May Ball are often required either to vacate[8] their rooms or remain in them without leaving overnight, in spite of the inevitable loud music.