Class of 1981 Reunion Lancaster
On the afternoon of Saturday 31 August nine alumni from the St. Martin’s class of 1981 returned back to the Lancaster campus.
A friendship spanning almost forty years is certainly cause for celebration. So a weekend in Lancaster was organised with a plan to re-visit old haunts, take a tour of campus and reminisce about happy student days.
Joanne Lusher, the university’s alumni relations officer worked with the group to plan their visit.
Joanne explains: “The group have kept in touch with each other since they graduated, so this visit was not a traditional reunion. There have been many changes on campus since the group were students, so we booked a room in College Main, which is a building they would be familiar with, and somewhere to gather over a cup of tea. College Main has always been the administrative hub of the campus, in the very early days some of the senior staff actually lived on the top floors. Today the Vice Chancellor and the executive team have their offices here.”
The group enjoyed afternoon tea and lively conversation followed by a tour of campus. A Student Ambassador joined the group for the tour to explain what the different buildings are used for today.
A surprise met the group in the library, Joanne Lusher, working with colleagues in the library arranged for some archive objects to show the group. The library holds a small archive of papers and objects for each of the legacy institutions. The highlight of the St. Martin’s collection are what we have called ‘the facebooks’. These are books containing passport photographs and names of every single student who attended the college. There is a book for every year from 1964 up until the early 1990s.
“These books are such an important treasure for our alumni”, explains Joanne. “Obviously students in the earlier days of the college did not carry a good quality camera in their pockets at all times so photos of student days are quite rare. To see the faces of all your classmates together is pretty special, these books are always very popular with our alumni.”
The group were delighted to see the book, carefully going through each and every page and sharing stories and memories in the faces they saw.
If you would like to book your own reunion, or make a visit to see the ‘facebooks’, please get in touch with Joanne Lusher, Alumni Relations Officer on 01228 616391 or email alumni@cumbria.ac.uk