50 years since we started at Leicester

"On 24th September 2011 seventeen ex-students gathered for a reunion to celebrate 50 years since they met as undergraduates at the beginning of their Geography Degrees in 1961. Ten spouses (some also ex-Leicester students) joined in. The group had previously organized a reunion in 1989 and many have always been in regular contact. One former member of staff was reported to have said that he thought that this was the first 50th reunion but if any group was going to do it ours would be the one because we were ‘special’.

We assembled on the terrace of the refurbished Percy Gee for lunch and to reminisce on the changes to the campus around us. Name badges and a booklet ‘Life after Leicester’ compiled from contributions from the group were distributed. Then to the Geography Department in the Bennett Building for talks by current staff on ‘Geography now’, which was very stimulating but also brought home to us how much the discipline has developed.

During a tour of the Department the photos below were taken. We were delighted to be joined for tea by some ex-members of staff who still live in the Leicester area (Dr John Rice, Dr Colin Crossley, Dr Trevor Ford and Terry Garfield). 

In the early 1960s the Geography Department was located where the Alumni Relations Office is now and we were guided there by Terry Garfield. Although there have been many changes  to the ‘geography’ of the building that made the former layout difficult to remember, several of us recognized Professor Norman Pye’s office, where we underwent ritual tutorial interrogation – undergraduate gowns compulsory!

Our sincere thanks go to Dr Sue Page, Professor Heike Baltzer, Dr Andy Carr, Dr Nick Tate, Ann Williams and Professor Gareth Lewis and his wife Vivien for giving up their time after an Open Day and making us so welcome.

The final event of the day was dinner at the Belmont Hotel and a few ‘after dinner’ stories – mostly about hilarious happenings on fieldtrips. But we also remembered the two members of the group who had died since the previous reunion.

This event was organized by Dee Edwards (with a lot of  help from Vivian Wilmut, Bob Anderson and Dave Lukes), largely because we thought that we might all be more mobile now, than in three more years! But it has been suggested that we meet again, perhaps in five years time."

Dee Edwards (Geography Student)

Photographs from the day: