The "40 Years After" Reunion, already being dubbed
the "Miracle" Reunion by those in the know, took place on 10-11
September 2010. Those still living amongst you will notice that only 8 years
have elapsed since the "30 Years Reunion" in 2002. Look
below to view a blessedly fast slideshow of the event. Or if you
want to look at the pictures in more detail, double click on the thumbnail.
Here's co-organiser, Derek Megginson's, account of another
memorable reunion:
Well, tempus fugit, as they used to say in Rome two centuries ago. So the
latest in our sequence of reunions brought together a bunch of sixty-year-olds
to reminisce about their university days of 1968 to 1972. Everyone was
instantly recognised, and nobody had changed one bit over the past forty years
or so. We remain a healthy, happy and friendly bunch of people. Maybe it took a
little longer for people to sit down or to stand up, accompanied by various
creaking noises, but the only major change was that almost everyone now carries
a pair of reading glasses around with them.
The really keen ones arrived on the Friday at various times and spent some time
wandering around the city centre, drinking coffee or shopping for toothpaste
and other items they'd forgotten to bring. We then met in the hotel bar for a
general chat before making our now-traditional walk around the fringes of the
large building site which still forms a large part of the city centre and
heading for the Kashmir curry house in Morley Street. A superb meal as always,
salad, poppadums, various starters, a main meal with as many chappatis as you
could eat, and a total bill of just over £70 for twelve of us. And many
thanks to Alan who'd had the foresight to bring a dozen bottles of beer (and
even a bottle opener) for us to accompany the meal. And then back to the hotel
bar for another natter.
On the Saturday, the university was due to formally open its new Union
building. So most of us (attracted chiefly, it has to be said, by the offer a
free lunch - who said there was no such thing?) wandered up Great Horton Road
before trying to find our way through the maze of new university buildings to
"Student Central". The new building contains meeting rooms of various
sizes, a lecture theatre, offices, and the HQ of the university's radio station
("Ram Radio"). We listened to a couple of speeches and then had a
guided tour of the new facilities. We were particularly impressed by the new
toilet blocks each with four (four?) different rooms. There were female
toilets, including baby-changing facilities, male toilets, including
baby-changing facilities, disabled toilets, presumably and quite rightly
including baby-changing facilities, and, er, a fourth category of toilet for
anyone who didn't feel comfortable with any of the other three types of toilet.
I think we were told that they were called transgender toilets, but the sign
outside consisted of the male logo and the female logo with a big
"plus" symbol in the middle - our first impression was that they were
toilets for couples to attend together, but apparently that's not so. At least
one of us (well, me, of course) obviously had to go inside to have a look, and
I can report that they were pretty much like any other toilet (in the UK, that
is, not France).
So we inspected the toilets, we collected our free lunch, and we sat around in
the Union bar for a while. There was a further speech to which we were invited,
but somehow the time flew past and we neglected to attend that one.
Instead, some of us took advantage of the "open day" at City Hall to
tour the council chamber and other rooms where the city's council tax is spent.
Just in front of City Hall was a display of old buses including one which had
been first brought into service in 1968 - indeed, some of us may even have
travelled on it forty years ago!
The main event began by everyone gathering in the hotel bar - this may sound a
little repetitive, but it's a true reflection of what happened - before moving
upstairs to the Forster Suite. The buffet contained some rather exotic and very
tasty savoury items in addition to some basic salad and sandwiches. It seemed
to go down very well with everyone.
After the meal we had the speechy bit of the reunion. (Yes, the word
"speechy" is indeed in the Oxford English Dictionary, albeit
handwritten in the margin of my copy). Mike - the organiser of the whole event
- welcomed everyone before allowing Derek to direct our memories back to 1968
with a few anecdotes and some written reminders of world events (sheet attached
later). Our "Freshers Dance" in 1968 featured music from The
Searchers (woohoo!) and the Freshers Ball had The John Dummer Blues Band,
Chicken Shack, and Status Quo. Derek explained how his journey from the
university back to Tong Hall went via Bingley and took rather longer than you'd
expect!
The next speaker was Arthur Williams, our popular ex-German lecturer, who gave
a really interesting account of how the Languages Department had gone from a
progressive and popular course in our days into a long decline which has now
seen the closure of the department. The reasons were many and various,
including internal disagreements, funding problems, the increase in overseas
students and the major problem of the perceived image of the city of Bradford
itself. Arthur's talk was fascinating, and I'm not just saying that in case
Arthur should read this report!
Everyone sitting around the table was then invited to contribute their own
thoughts and remeniscences. Ron, John, and others, told some excellent stories.
And then - somewhat predictably, you might say - we adjourned to the hotel bar
for another glass or two of lemonade. Jean, Chas, and others had brought some
photos and memorabilia which were much appreciated once we'd all found our
reading glasses.
At the outset we had been fairly certain that this was to be "the last
reunion". Maybe sixty-year-olds don't give the impression of enthusiasm
for such events, but, once we were actually there, talk soon turned to
"the next reunion" with suggested venues such as London, Paris,
Brussels and of course Bradford. We'll have to wait and see whether we can
persuade the ever-gullible Mike into organising the whole thing once
again….
| Also, why not look at the
Past Reunions page to remind yourself what fun these
occasions can be? |
|
