ICU President Sen Ganesh confirmed on Tuesday night that there would almost certainly be no Summer Ball this year, as first reported by Live! in December. "I do not think we will be able to run the Summer Ball this year," said Mr Ganesh, confirming the conclusion most ICU officers had already come to.

The fundamental problem with the Ball arose during budgeting for this year's event, which revealed a £20,000 hole in the finances. The Summer Ball has never been considered a profit-making event, however a loss of that size is considered beyond even the Union's ability to absorb without choking a little. Last year's Ball benefited from a series of unique conditions which led to massively lower costs than would usually be expected and still failed to break even. "I would very much like to see this Ball return," said Gus Paul, Arts & Entertainment's Board Chair and someone involved in the budgeting process for this year, "but until sponsorship can be guaranteed or College will donate money to it, it just cannot happen."

The cancellation of the ball leaves a significant gap in the Imperial College social calendar that will doubtless lead to a number of other events vying for supremacy during the normally quiet summer term. City & Guilds College Union are be considering moving the planned Bo' centenary dinner into the summer but are believed to be grappling with similar problems to the ICU Summer Ball (lack of money). According to C&GCU Honorary Secretary Neil Madhvani the current hole in the budget for the C&GCU dinner is a slightly smaller £15,000, unless someone can find a free marquee from somewhere...