60 years of memories
Celebrating UEA
You are a part of us. You've made us what we are. Here's our story, told by you.
Welcome to a special celebration of the University of East Anglia (UEA) as we commemorate its 60th anniversary.
Since its establishment in 1963, UEA has become a beloved home for countless individuals, leaving an indelible mark on their lives. These stories capture the essence of what makes UEA so special and showcase the enduring bonds formed within our vibrant community.
We invite you to rediscover UEA through your collective voices. From the lively atmosphere of the LCR, where friendships were forged and music filled the air, to the vibrant hub of Union House, these stories capture the essence of UEA. Step into the heart of campus life at the Square, where impromptu gatherings formed an essential part of student life; explore the inspiring Ziggurats, where you found your best friends. And finally, look back at your time with UEA sport, where getting to tournaments alone often left lasting memories.
Whether you are a current student, a proud UEA graduate, or a curious visitor, these stories pay tribute to the 60-year legacy of UEA and the enduring memories that have shaped its remarkable history.
In the beginning
UEA began its life in 1963, sitting in the middle of what was an old golf course. All teaching was done in the village.
"I went up to UEA in 1965, liked it so much that I spent a total of 7 years studying there!
In 1965 the intake of 400 freshers doubled the size of the University. Everything took place in the Village and in 1967 the transfer to the permanent site began."
Dr Mike Muncaster
BA History 1965-1968 (and later MA and PhD Social Sciences)
"The Campus then was the University Village on Earlham Road consisting of prefabricated buildings which included laboratories, lecture hall and seminar rooms, the Union and refectory."
Dr Richard Edwards
BSc Biological Sciences 1966-1969
"Nick, Dave, Mike and I were freshers in 1966. The university campus was just the Village, with its temporary buildings: an administration block, seminar rooms, a bank, lower and senior common rooms, a small, over-heated library that Nick remembers was conducive to a good nap, the most substantial building being the refectory. It served up flaccid and uninviting dinners. Students were forced to buy wads of dinner tickets, whether eating dinners there or not, something that really riled us.
The student protests of '67 abolished the system of prepayment tickets and overnight the quality and variety of food at the refectory rose markedly! The refectory also served as the cultural centre of the Village, a meeting place for larger gatherings, events and clubs such as the immensely popular UEA Folk Club (that we took over running in our second year) and the Jazz Club etc.
The background for Bookshop Blues was frustration felt by our tutors and students on the prelim European Studies over the fact that the bookshop didn't have the VICO course book in stock when required. Days went by with the bookshop manager repeatedly claiming that the order was 'imm'nent.' With days turning into weeks of the 'imm'nent' delivery Nick, Dave and I put together Bookshop Blues. It probably wasn't the bookshop man's fault that the VICO books never arrived. As Mr Sabean was prone to say whenever things didn't work out, 'That's the way the cookie crumbles.'
Nick and and I were thrown together in a double room in P-block, furthest away from the breakfast block and closest to the perimeter fence with the part of the airbase that was still in military use. Dave too was housed in P-block. In no time the double room evolved into a crucible for folk music. With Dorothea 'Dot' Proffitt (née Imrie) joining us, we formed a folk group. Alex Atterson of the Norwich Folk Club had christened us The Hairies (beards and long hair). With Dot not sporting facial hair we renamed ourselves The Woodburners, the name arising from the wood-burning chimney smoke Horsham houses as autumn evenings grew chilly. The best acoustics for practising our songs were in the P-block toilets. And we sang ourselves through prelims and much more with fiddling Mike Vollar in the following two years.
Although UEA was quite out in the sticks, we were still influenced by the upheavals, protests and demands for radical change of the mid 60s. Student unrest in the USA and France spread to some campuses in Britain.
At UEA, arose a demand, in the name of equality, for undergraduates to have access to the Senior Common Room. Demonstrations were held in the Village. The cry: storm the SCR! Prepare a sit-in! Students of action, we stormed. The tutors greeted us, welcomed us in, and gave us cups of coffee and biscuits! Those hours of action, UEA-style! Having stormed we quickly withdrew and left the seniors to their own common room. It was in those heady days of social unrest, of CND marches, of Vietnam War demos that Nick, Dave and I launched ourselves into protest song writing.
The result was Bookshop Blues and the wise words of Mr Sabean's evaluation. I guess the song had just one performance at a seminar with Mr Sabean. Says Nick, “One of the (probably many) reasons Bookshop Blues didn't turn out to be either an instant hit or a long-term classic was that we never really had a consensus as to whether the tune was essentially 'St James Infirmary' or 'Streets of Laredo'. And of course none of us were really a blues singer. But it's a fond memory of a great time at UEA.”
Mr Sabean's final comments and evaluation (50 years later)
This poem unfortunately rates barely a pass. However it shows effort and considerable creative talents. D
On second reading I've decided it would be a mistake to encourage you in your poetic careers. F++
Martin Pope
BA European Studies 1966-69
The Square
Denys Lasdun's vision for UEA was for a place where disciplines could mix freely. The Square represents this vision. From graduation memories to chemistry hijinks, the Square remains central.
"I was one of the four CHE II guys that created the big froth at UEA in 1973. We used boxes of water softener, followed an hour later by potassium permanganate bought from chemists in Norwich to turn it pink and a few gallons of liquid detergent! It was carefully planned and the results stunned us all next morning when we entered the Square from Waveney Terrace. There was froth everywhere! Large boulders rolling around the Square, and even hanging in the trees. One student was having fun playing in the froth!"
Alan Brown
BSc Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy 1971-1974
A clipping from the Eastern Evening News, from 2 February 1973, calling attention to Alan's hijinks.
"My first view of the Square was on interview day early 1972. Still a bit of a building site with the Street and University House yet to be finished but even then it seemed to fit the UEA vision of 'do different.' Unlike the heavily organised open days my sons went on to experience at UEA, this was reasonably chaotic, none of us knowing where to go; away from school and our parents. A third year finally took us off to see a room on the ground floor of one of the Ziggurat blocks. So many of us piled into one room that the only escape was to climb out of the window!
It was a sunny day and we were immediately drawn back to The Square to join actual students, enjoying the spring sunshine. This seemed central to UEA life. Of course later those steps became littered with glasses from the pub. But even before that it seemed a place to meet people - without mobile phones, that was a great deal more haphazard! From the walkway you could easily spot friends and in the winter throw snowballs down and know that you were relatively safe above the Square!
The little stream meandered through the trees into the rectangular pond. Even then some bright spark would empty washing powder into it and for a while increasingly grubby drifts of bubbles would float aimlessly down to the main Square.
Do they still sell posters and old denim jeans there? Do people still shelter in the Chaplaincy on cold days, buying soup and a roll for charity, watching for friends? Are there still ceilidhs and pancake races? Is the Refectory still called Billings?
In my mind that will always be the Square."
Ingrid Marsh née Hitchen
BA English and American Studies 1972-1975
"My wife had to work that day - she worked in Bethel Street in Norwich - but took a long lunch to come and see me!! I got a 2:1 in American History and Literature. Loved my time at UEA, I was a slightly older student in my late twenties. I was at Ruskin College, Oxford prior to UEA.
Following this, on the advice of UEA subject Librarian Biddy Fisher, I took a postgraduate course at Newcastle eventually starting my career as a librarian/archivist there in 1987, moving to Liverpool in 1994."
Will Reid
BA American History and Literature 1983-1986
Colin Halling celebrating finals in the Square. (Photo: Brian McCloskey - BA English and American Literature 1989-92)
Athavan Natkuna (BSc Mathematics with Computing 1994-97) posing in the Square with friends on a revisit to campus.
GaySoc
Mark Hodgson recalls the importance of GaySoc in the 1980s, and how UEA had one of the largest GaySocs in Britain. His testimony provides a poignant window into the effect of the AIDS crisis on the LGBTQ+ community.
All images: Mark Hodgson
All images: Mark Hodgson
Ziggurats and the Broad
Two of the most iconic and best recognised elements of UEA, the Ziggurats and the Broad in front of it, were an essential part of student memories. Students would hop out of their windows and take part in activities in the field in front of them.
A photograph of Suffolk Terrace from Norfolk Terrace taken in September 1972 by Nigel Rayner (MA Development Economics 1972-73)
"From my room in Suffolk terrace, I could watch the Broad gradually emerge and fill with water. Regretfully, I don’t remember it really playing a huge part in my student life. I’m sure there were still cranes there and it wasn’t really somewhere 'to go.' But it was a growing presence and the autumn mists would roll up towards the terraces, following the glorious big sky sunsets and shroud the Broad from sight.
The Ziggurat fields however were busy. Particularly during the forgotten hot summer of 1975! There seemed to be endless football matches with teams of variable sizes kicking the ball towards little piles of t-shirt goals. Unlike now, we could climb out on to the roof, chatting across the blocks, speakers dragged out to fill the air with a varied cacophony of music, friends spotted across the divide between the terraces, finals done and put to one side along with the anxiety of waiting for results.
We had done it, finished our three years, survived corridor parties, endured the Siberian blasts which gusted through the concrete wind tunnels, eaten at Mac’s Caff and Captains A’s, made life-long friendships and enduring memories - soon we would change the world but there would always be a bit of us left on the Plain. After all we were there when UEA was, itself, a restless teenager with a determination to 'do different.'"
Ingrid Marsh née Hitchen
BA English and American Studies 1972-1975
A compilation of photographs of the tug-of-war event during Sports Day, taken in the field just outside the Ziggurats by Simon Neate (BA Development Studies 1975-78).
Sports Day, taken in the field just outside the Ziggurats by Simon Neate (BA Development Studies 1975-78).
concrete sonnet
we tip our hats!
those ziggurarts
to be mended
on the long schlepp
I ascended
as step by step
in days long gone
they caught my fall
four decades on
I still recall
on Norfolk clay
the concrete flats
at UEA
those ziggurats
John O'Donaghue
BA English Literature 1988-92
Image: Barry Graham (BSc Information Systems 1983-1986) and Ruth Graham (BA Modern Languages & European Studies 1982-1986)
"2010 - Seeing the campus and frozen Broad in snow and ice is a memory I like to think of. Normally living in a part of the country where it snows much less, it became something I always looked forward to in Norfolk."
Will Bryce
BA Music 2009-2012
A picture of a sunrise by Veronica White (BSc Environmental Sciences with a Year in Industry 2015-18).
Abul Kalam Azad (MSc Cyber Security 2021-22) in front of the Ziggurats on the 18 July 2022, in the middle of one of the UK's hottest ever-recorded heatwaves. The Broad was parched golden dry.
The LCR
The Lower Common Room and Union House are where so many students spent their evenings, dancing away or listening to great bands. It's also where a lot of famous musicians first played.
Ravi Shankar playing the LCR in 1967 as taken by Mel Bray (BA European Studies 1965-69).
Students in the bar as seen by Mel Bray (BA European Studies 1965-69)
A ticket to see Bert Jansch as part of Folkscene UEA on 30 January 1968. From Stuart Inger (BSc Physics 1966-69)
Student politics at UEA in the late 80s, including a visit by Paddy Ashdown. From Richard Grayson, BA History, English and American Studies 1987-1991
"We all know UEA LCR is/was the best uni band venue anywhere. Tickets attended 1988-1991 to prove it and on my office wall today 35 years later."
Peter Buxton
BA Economic and Social Studies 1988-1991
"The main memory of physical places at UEA is the LCR. My group of friends were always one of the first groups to go to the Hive (does that still exist?) around 9pm or so, patiently waiting for the sliding doors to open. We would then proceed to the LCR where some would go to the bar or the bolder ones, like myself, would go onto the dancefloor. During those times, the DJ would play the indie music and, later on, the music became more more retro, dance, pop crowd-friendly tunes.
The two being very prominent on the dancefloor are Rebekah Prior-Sanderson, now Richards (Biology 1998) and Michael Osborn (History 1996).
Mary Hickford
BA History 1994-97
Nexus
Long before UEA:TV, there was Nexus. Started in 1968 by Malcolm Freegard, a former BBC producer, in 1968, Nexus settled in a small studio in the mid-1970s above the LCR. The broadcast range was limited; students along Bluebell Road might manage to accidentally tune in. The main method of transmission was via closed circuit to a television in the foyer of Union House. As an outlet for nurturing student talent and hosting a particular student view on life, Nexus was a treasured part of UEA student life. It also helped nurture the careers of Arthur Smith and Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham), and featured interviews with Morecambe and Wise, Johnny Marr of The Smiths and members of Radiohead. Nexus was retired in 2009.
Take a look at one of the programmes below. More information on Nexus.
The Walkway
The Brutalist concrete walkways are like rivers running through the campus, connecting people and setting up vantage points over the lush Broad. They emphasise UEA's ethos of 'do different' with a combination of modern architecture with green space.
The Lasdun Teaching Wall in 1972. Image by Nigel Rayner (MA Development Economics 1972-73).
Two images from UEA's concrete walkways from the late 1970s. Images by Simon Neate (BA Development Studies 1975-78).
"The pic was taken in June 1983, on the day I had just taken my last Finals exam (French Honours; Lit major). Moments later, I and three friends got into a Ford Escort and drove down to the south of France for an end-of-uni-days holiday. As you can see, the mood is celebratory. And it is a very fond memory."
Andrew Puddifoot
BA English and American Studies 1983
Sports
Sports, and sports teams, can be a big part of student life. The following memories illustrate the fondness of team camaraderie, as well as some interesting stories of travelling with teammates.
"I was an undergraduate in Social Studies from 1964-67. With my friend Charles Langworthy (now sadly departed), we founded the UEA Mountaineering Club.
In order to be able to get to distant mountaineering and rock-climbing areas of Britain, the Club invested £30 in a secondhand Humber ambulance previously serving the Hoxne area of Suffolk. Club members reconstructed the fitted stretcher bed to create a bench around the inside of the back of the ambulance for perhaps a dozen members to sit , whilst the front bench seat accommodated three people.
We had several trips to the Lakes, North Wales , Derbyshire etc. but, unfortunately, on one of the trips to Froggatt Edge I crashed the ambulance, skidding in the wet on a corner, and rolling down a small embankment.
The ambulance was a write-off but thank heaven only two of us sustained injury needing hospital treatment. Rani had a scalp wound, and I got a split lip as my head went through the driver's door window.
I regret I have few momentos of those enjoyable days other than a photograph of the ambulance at the Achille Ratti Club Hut in Langdale. If you use them in the proposed collage hopefully they will stimulate happy memories for my former climbing mates, all of whom I wish well."
Dave Girt
BA Economic and Social Studies 1964-67
A clipping from the Sheffield Star from 12 June 1965 reporting Dave and his mountaineering club friends' crash.
Dr Mike Muncaster (BA History 1965-68, later MA and PhD in Social Science) recalls his time playing cricket at UEA in the late 1960s.
The UEA cricket team in the 1970s. Image by Dennis Lock (BSc Mathematics and Physics (1968-74)
UEA Rugby in the 1960s. Image by Stuart Inger (BSc Physics 1964-67)
UEA's story continues...
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