Swinging 60s
Student of the early 60s at Keele, Tudor Jones, shares his memories - articles on this page include:
A Good
Sport
Stalag Keele - we have ways of
making you study
I put a few questions about Keele in the early 60s to Tudor, here's his responses
Keele was notorious in the late 60s and 70s for
a being a hot bed of political unrest - was this the case when you were there?
I don't recall any major protests in my time (60-64), though perhaps a few
minor ones. One was when the new (to us) Library was opened. There was a concrete
pillar placed between the 2 lots of steps leading to the entrance; atop this
was a concrete model of an open book. It looked dreadful! One night the pillar
was decorated with red paint so that it resembled a barber's pole! It was
removed, and never seen again!!
Students in the 50s had to wear quite formal dress
to lectures, was this the case when you were there?
We had to wear gowns to lectures, but not caps (they came on graduation day).
All the Foundation Year lectures were held in the Walter Moberley Hall, and
the admin staff would carry out ocassional spot checks on attendance and gown
wearing!! We would run like hell to get the gown! If you became identidied
as a repeat offender then you could be hauled in front of the Wardens' Court
(heard of those?)
Where there any restrictions on students?
There was no restriction on being out at night. The restriction was on the
hours you were allowed to visit the opposite sex. I seem to remember that
you were not allowed in before 1.00pm; but I am certain that you had to be
out by 7.30pm! The trick was in trying to outwit the wardens who patrolled
(especially later on). In the early days it was almost a capital offence to
be caught breaking the curfew. So, you can imagine how many afternoons wre
spent!!
Sports clubs suffered because of the relatively small student numbers (less
than 1000) at Keele. I was A.U. President (62-63) and so was closely involved
with all clubs.
My own sport was rugby and we had a great bunch of lads! In those days we
played in the Midland UAU (does it still exist?) against Birmingham, Nottingham
and Leicester Universities, and the might of Loughborough Colleges!!! What
chance did we minnows have? I still vividly remember us going down by 72 -
0 at Loughborough!! But we won the drinking contest afterwards! To be honest,
I don't think that we won a match against any other University in my time!!
One of the craziest things I remember was returning to Keele one Saturday
evening after an away game. As the coach approached Longton, we hit a really
thick Potteries smog. It was so bad that our driver could see less than 3
yards in front. So, we took it in turns to jog slowly in front to guide him!
So slow was his progress that we realized that we could run ahead to the nearest
pub, and have a pint before the coach caught us up!
Our cricket team was very good. Thet played and beat excellent opposition
at University and club level. I seem to recall that, at one time, 6 of our
players were registered members of the M.C.C.. One was "head-hunted"
by Oxford for his PGCE, so that he could be in line for the next season's
Varsity match.
It was the smaller clubs which were most successful - notably judo and basketball.
Both teams came close to winning their respective national UAU titles!
The most successful club was our Netball team. They were superb, and swept
all in front of them. They won the English Universities championship - a great
feat!
Keele may not have been very successful at sport in those days; but the friendship
and loyalty whuch we all shared was immense. A great feature of Keele.
My first year at Keele (60-61) was spent in a hut! These were, I believe,
left over from when our campus had been used to house German prisoners of
war! There was a legend that the ghost of one of these could sometimes be
seen near the staff houses, close by.
The huts had 2 double rooms for Freshers, and 3 single rooms for the more
senior residents!! We had 1 toilet, a washroom with 3 basins, and a primitive
kitchen. It sounds spartan but it was great fun! The huts were situated up
a lane which ran from behind the Walter Moberley Hall up towards the Chemistry
Department.
I lived in Hut 20, close to the notorious Hut 21 - filled with P1 (2nd year)
students who were great fun, but crazy!! I well remember one (no names!) who
was thrown out after his second year; and he told me that he would go to Australia
to breed ostriches!! Another narrowly avoided arrest for knocking a policeman's
hat off his head in Newcastle!
The huts were warm and comfortable, but lacked luxuries like proper carpets!
It always amused us that when Princess Margaret came to Keele (she was Chancellor)
she would be taken to inspect a hut. It was always hut 3. This was fitted
with proper carpetting, the roof beams would be covered and beautiful curtains
hung. As soon as she left, it reverted to type!!
My one abiding memory of that year was walking to a lecture and passing the
R.H. Tawney building on my left, and seeing that someone had placed an inverted
dustbin on top of the cupola!
Our warden was Patrick Day, who lived, as I recall, in a sumptuous hut! A
lovely man, who was too nice to be a stentorian warden.
One of the huts housed the changing rooms for visiting sports teams, and the
most primitive showers imaginable!
But, happy days.
