My time at university was great. I met lifelong friends, learnt some stuff and, had a wonderful time. Oh, I also learnt stuff, I guess that’s meant to be the most important thing. I then used that knowledge to get professionally trained and now I pass my knowledge on to the latest generation. I don’t really teach them about aeronautics but I do try to help them get to a point when they can learn about it.
While at university I did some extra-curricula activities. I found hobbies that I enjoyed and people I liked being around. In my first year I found out about a radio station and joined that. I had a show on Thursdays and used that to play my favourite songs and learn about the technology. The radio station broadcast on a very low powered transmitter but the output was also piped into most of the kitchens in the halls of residence at the South Kensington campus. So there was a captive audience, if they turned the speakers up.
I learnt how to make radio jingles and the rules around the broadcast licence. I fronted the “Requests and Guests” show and even had posters up around college. In my second and third years I was an assistant station manager which meant I was responsible for the output for one day a week and had oversight of the station. At one point I wrote a radio soap opera with Jase and we performed the opening episode live in the station. There was not a second episode but it was excellent fun to do.
Also in my second year of university I was chairman of Aerosoc. Each department within City and Guld College had a social society and I ran one for a year. Fortunately my secretary did all the major organising of trips and visits so I don’t recall it being overly onerous. My position within the Union then meant that I represented students at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Occasionally students from around the country would meet and I represented Imperial at those meetings. I also because the student representative to the local branches of the RAeS. So I attended two conferences, one in Bournemouth and one in Chester. I was very much the youngest person at those so it was a strange experience but one I enjoyed. The conference in Chester had some other youngsters from RAeS headquarters and we had a great time together, especially as once the bar closed the beer taps were outside the security screen so we just kept drinking for free.
The above shield used to be placed on a wall at the entrance to Imperial College. However, about ten years after I left university the entrance was redesigned and the shields were stored away. Fortunately the CGCA has kept digital copies that are available online. During the second year the students’ union decided to create the post of Department Society Officer. This was to allow a smoother communication method from the departmental societies to the Union hierarchy. I applied for the job. I liked the idea of helping people who now had jobs similar to the ones I had just completed. When I say applied for the job I can’t remember the actual process but I did get the job.
It’s nice to see this shield. It lead to some interesting choices during the third year of university. Also, two of my closest friends are on painted on the wood and I’m still in touch with them thirty (or more) years later. Because of the work I did during the first six months of year 3 at Imperial I was persuaded by friends to apply to be elected to a sabbatical position in Imperial College Students’ Union. The argument was something like “most of us are going to be around for a forth year so why don’t you try out in the elections and spend another year with us”. This seemed a good argument and I reckoned I was going to be good at the job so I entered the race for election.
I made posters and placed them around the campus. They were defaced but I didn’t mind. I still have one somewhere and it’s got some original graffiti on it. I faced my opponents in hustings at various campuses and generally had an interesting time trying to persuade the electorate to vote for me. I was successful and became the second Deputy President (Clubs and Societies) of Imperial College Union. The time I spent doing that job after I completed my degree was incredibly formative. At times it was challenging but I learnt a lot and had so much fun. I got to live in student halls (again) for free but I wasn’t really around much for that social aspect of life. In the shared kitchen someone had created caricature sketches of each person in our zone but mine was empty because they just didn’t see me much it was labelled “never here man”.
The above wall exists in the Union Dining Hall in the student union building in Beit Quad, Imperial College. I was there recently and took this photograph. I don’t think I had a picture before this year and so this digital memory will last even if they decide to do bad things to the building. I’m on the right hand panel about a third of the way down. Somewhere in the mid nineties. After my sabbatical year I went to teacher training. Mainly because a friend said he enjoyed it and I applied to where he had studied. My plans weren’t to go into teaching in the state sector I was going to join the armed forces in the education branch but about four weeks into my first teaching practice I decided I loved it in schools and in schools is where I have stayed since.
