St. Martin's College 1995 starters reunite on campus
A group of graduates from St Martin’s College (now the University of Cumbria) have returned to the campus on Bowerham Road in Lancaster to celebrate 20 years since they all enrolled there as students. Around 70 alumni made the trip to Lancaster to attend the reunion on Saturday 5 September. The idea for a reunion came from alumnus Claire Biagioni (Nee Stewart).
Claire says, “My husband and I were chatting about uni (where we met) one evening and how much we loved it, only to realise that it was almost 20 years since we'd started. With the growth of social media, we've both been able to reconnect with many lost friends over the years and I thought how wonderful it would be to celebrate our memorable time at St Martin's with a reunion at the college where it all began!”
A reunion Facebook page was set up by Claire and during the final few weeks before the event, everyone was posting old photographs and reminiscing about the ‘good old days’. It was very obvious that they were all really excited about catching up with old friends.
On the night, a buffet dinner was followed by a 90s disco, the music provided by Darren James, himself an alumnus from St. Martin’s, class of 1996.
“The reunion itself was a great success”, explains Claire, "everyone slipped back into the old routine and it honestly felt like it was only yesterday that we were at St Martin's. Even our old year group band Phud played a few tunes and it was a perfect end to a perfect night. The reunion enabled us to reconnect with lost friends, revisit our old haunts in Lancaster and we all agreed we'd love to do it again in five years.
Alumni Relations Officer Joanne Lusher said:
“It was lovely to welcome our alumni back to campus and to put faces to the names of guests who I have been emailing and hearing their memories. It is very special to be part of a reunion and see how excited and nervous everyone is when they first walk into the room.”
We would love to hear from anyone considering their own class reunion, we can help organise your event. Get in touch with Joanne by emailing alumni@cumbria.ac.uk.
