FOREVER: KEELE - Keele University

FOREVER:
KEELE
For Keele People Past and Present
Issue 8//2013
Keele
University

Contents
P1
P6
Who’s Who in the Alumni
and Development Team
P2
P4
Dawn-Marie Beeston:
I graduated from Keele in 2011. I enjoyed
my time here so much I didn’t want to
leave and last year I was fortunate enough
to get a position in the Alumni and
Development team. When I’m not at Keele
I spend my time with my horses, dogs
and family.
P8
P10
John Easom:
P12
P14
I studied at Keele back in 1980-1981. After
twenty years in the Civil Service I moved
on to international trade development
and then finally got back to Keele in
2005. This is the best job of my life. If I
could do it wearing skates my joy would
be complete.
Union Square Lives
P18
Contacts
Alumni & Development Office
Directorate of Marketing & Communications, Innovation Centre 2,
Keele University, Keele ST5 5BG, United Kingdom
www.keele.ac.uk/alumni
P32
Alumni & Development Manager – John Easom | +44 (0) 1782 733370 | j.c.easom@keele.ac.uk
Alumni & Development Assistant – Dawn-Marie Beeston | +44 (0) 1782 733856 |
d.m.beeston@keele.ac.uk
Alumni & Development Assistant – Emma Gregory | +44 (0) 1782 733286 | e.gregory@keele.ac.uk
Fundraising Manager – Robin Cross | +44 (0) 1782 733003 | r.i.cross@keele.ac.uk
Emma Gregory:
I started with Keele in 2012. I trained as a
Vet Nurse but being allergic to fur created
a bit of a barrier! After four years in the
Civil Service, it was time for a complete
career change. Since starting at Keele I
have gained a wealth of knowledge and
the interaction with an eclectic mix of
students past and present makes every
day great!
Front Cover Photo
by Keele student
Matt Thompson
The views expressed in Forever: Keele
are not necessarily those of the editor,
alumni or Keele University.
Fireworks and lasers lit up the Students’
Union Building and the sky above as
alumni, students, staff and local residents
gathered on 28 November 2012 to witness
the official lighting of the ‘Forest of Light’
at the heart of the campus. The 50 slim
gleaming stainless steel columns – each
one representing a Class of Alumni since
1962 encircle a central plinth inscribed
with a phrase echoing our founder, Lord
A D LIndsay of Birker: “Search for Truth in
the Company of Friends”.
Union Square Lives On
On the same night as the lighting of the
Forest of Light, Neil Smith (1980) flew in
from New York to open the remodelled
ground floor of the Students’ Union
Building. Neil is the only person ever to
serve as both SU and AU President.
During the renovations the illuminated
Union Square bar sign – so memorable for
Keelites from the 1990s and 2000s – had
been rescued from a skip. It was auctioned
and will be preserved in memory of the ‘old’
Union Square. The winning bid of £200 by
Pritpal Singh Nagi went to local charities.
01

Keele International:
Our Man in Cairo
The late Paul Rolo, a founder member of
the Keele faculty, was a man of many parts.
As Professor of International Relations, he
had to be. The IR course he coordinated
back in the 70s, actually a triple honours
in economics, politics and history, was a
little like the reality of diplomacy today:
his small IR group was akin to a modern
foreign ministry, trying to give coherence
to a host of subjects that in substance were
driven by others, often better resourced
and each with their own agendas.
But using a combination of authority –
he was also Deputy Vice-Chancellor and
a formidable negotiator, as I discovered
when I was Union President – intellect and
charm, he somehow managed it. Such
were his diplomatic skills. He was also an
extremely kind man, as indeed were most of
his colleagues at that time, infused with the
tenets of Lindsay’s homespun philosophy.
Paul’s seminars in the Chancellor’s building,
laced with his dulcet tones, smoke from his
beloved Chesterfields and sharp-edged
discussions of late nineteenth century
diplomatic history were, to coin a phrase,
most agreeable.
Fast forward 40 years to Cairo, where I am
now the European Union’s man in Egypt,
and reflecting on life’s connections: just a
few weeks ago I found out that Paul Rolo in
fact hailed from Alexandria, which given its
extraordinary ethnic and linguistic diversity
was the perfect place for nurturing a 20th
century IR professor. No wonder he was so
good at it.
We arrived here last February, a year
after the Egyptian revolution erupted in
Tahrir Square. That revolution is far from
over, and the country is still immersed
in a difficult and messy democratic
transition that makes my life extremely
interesting but also challenging: in the past
year, we have seen numerous elections,
changes of governments and endless
street demonstrations.
The EU is a major player here: since the
Lisbon treaty, we are responsible for
political coordination at European level
and in a volatile situation like this we must
make sure that we get our messaging
right, whether on democratisation, human
rights, security or foreign policy. And given
Egypt’s place at the heart of the Arab world,
our stance here has repercussions for the
region. This is complex when you consider
that for the first time we are dealing with
a new phenomenon here: a democratically
elected, Islamist-led administration.
We’re also the country’s major civilian
assistance provider and its main trade and
investment partner. And we deal with the
Arab League, which has its HQ in Cairo. In
all, the EU Delegation (diplomatic mission)
which I head has a staff of about a hundred
Europeans and Egyptians to cover all
this, and managing them can be quite an
interesting proposition.
Egypt will likely be my last post in a career
that after a few years of HMG service and
in the private sector has been devoted to
‘taking Europe to the World’. Beginning
in Brussels 30 years ago, we went first
to Ethiopia in the late 80s, spent most
of the 90s and early noughties as EU
Ambassador in Jamaica and Jordan, then
back to Brussels for a decade, where I was
the Asia Director and out again to Libya
in 2011 as the revolution unfolded there.
Notice I say ‘we’. That is code for my wife
Randa and a gaggle of kids, all of whom
are now (semi) independent and as far
as I can tell relatively undamaged by the
Bedouin lifestyle that we have imposed
on them.
Apart from Paul Rolo, there are other
abiding connections with those halcyon
days spent in the Sneydian Groves. One is
my link with the European idea: while at
Keele I discovered Europe through working
for the yes vote in the 1975 referendum,
and I remember knocking on doors in
Silverdale, explaining the merits of the then
EEC to the good burghers of that fine old
town. Memory fades, but I recall reactions
ranging from utter bewilderment, through
‘capitalist plots’, to one very dignified
old lady who had lost her husband at El
Alamein (another Egyptian echo there)
and was for anything that would help
prevent another European catastrophe. I
wish I could remember her name.
As important, I wish we all could remember
the essential reason for the EU in the first
place. But as I said, memory fades and it is
no longer enough to invoke Armageddon
to justify Britain’s continuing engagement
in Europe. I have spent most of my life since
Keele outside of the UK, and while I love
to come home I am the first to admit that I
am out of touch with public opinion there.
But frankly, I am worried by recent trends
toward little Englander-ism. There are far
too many opportunistic interests, whether
in the media or elsewhere, whose negative
views on Europe go unchallenged. Time
for another real debate, perhaps?
In the meantime, I am eternally grateful
for the Keele experience, and I can only
wish the University and its students all
that is good for the future.
Jim Moran (IR, 1976)
02 03

Americans get the
Premier League treatment
American exchange students at Keele have
lent their support to Premier League
footballer and fellow American Geoff
Cameron. In January 2013, thirty American
exchange students met compatriot
Geoff Cameron at the Britannia Stadium.
The Stoke City FC player was very eager
to meet our American cousins, who had
drinks in Delilah’s bar, watched the match
and explored the Stadium before posing
for photos with the statue of Sir Stanley
Matthews. Geoff Cameron observed, “It’s
great to hear some American accents
in Stoke!”
Keele lecturer Dr Jon Parker (American
Studies) set up the link with Stoke City
FC and said “This was a fantastic chance
to experience British culture and get to
know the local community first-hand. It
will teach our visiting students more about
England and Stoke-on-Trent than I could
possibly get across in a classroom. This
is one of the things they will remember
and talk about for years to come when
they return to America.”
The Keele connection with Stoke City FC
is not new… Sir Stanley Matthews, Gordon
Banks OBE and Peter Coates (the current
owner) are all honorary graduates of
Keele University.
Keele’s University Challenge in 2013
Keele’s team for University Challenge has
made it through to the filming stages for
the 2013 BBC series. Filming started midway
through February and will continue
until the team get knocked out (or, more
probably, win the title). The series will be
screened on BBC TV later in 2013.
Keele’s first and so far only UC triumph was
in 1968 just five years after being surprise
runners-up in 1963. You can read about Keele’s
University Challenge triumphs and travails on
the Keele Oral History Project: www.keele.
ac.uk/alumni/thekeeleoralhistoryproject/
keeleonuniversitychallenge
The winning 1968 team Paul Brownsey,
Pam Maddison (Groves), Aubrey “Larry”
Lawrence and Andrew MacMullen
04 05

Month by
Month
JANUARY
Keele’s planet-hunting research has a
starring role on the BBC’s ‘Stargazing
Live’. The programme includes a live link
to Keele’s WASP-South observatory in
South Africa.
Dr Nigel Cassidy, Research Institute for
Environment, Physical Sciences and
Applied Mathematics (EPSAM), is selected
by the European Association of
Geoscientists and Engineers to represent
‘The Best of Near-Surface Geophysics
2011’ at the 25th Anniversary Symposium
on the Application of Geophysics to
Environmental and Engineering Problems.
Maureen Morgan, School of PP and PP,
is awarded an OBE in the New Year’s
Honours for her work in primary and
community nursing.
FEBRUARY
Nadine Foster is awarded a National
Institute for Health Research professorship.
Professor Foster, Arthritis Research UK
Primary Care Centre/Primary Care
Sciences, is to receive funding for her
research programme which will ensure
GPs and physiotherapists offer treatments
and services that help people with
musculoskeletal pain and disability.
Jonathon Porritt, the eminent writer,
broadcaster and commentator on
sustainable development, takes up the
office of Chancellor of Keele University at a
special ceremony in the University Chapel.
Keele’s Astrophysics Group wins a
Science and Technology Facilities Council
grant of £1,048,698 that will fund three
Post-Doctoral Research Associates,
working on a study of winds from
supermassive black holes in distant
galaxies; a large survey of star-formation
regions and young stellar clusters in our
galaxy and the WASP search for
extrasolar planets.
Keele launches a pioneering
community-based volunteering strategy,
‘Keele Community Connections’, linking
its student population, through the
Students’ Union, with three North
Staffordshire organisations. The University
also joins the NSVC and Volunteering
England to become a branch of NSVC –
the first university in the country.
MARCH
The University achieved National
Collection status by Plant Heritage for the
240 varieties of flowering cherry trees on
the campus.
A celebration of International Women’s
Day takes place at the Sustainability Hub
with the theme ‘Inspiring Futures’. Sara
Parkin, Founder Director of Forum for the
Future, speaks on ‘Every Day is
Women’s Day.’
Professor Elaine Hay, Director of the
Arthritis Research UK Primary Care
Centre, is appointed a National Institute
for Health Research Senior Investigator.
APRIL
The first Charter Year overseas visit is to
Canada and the USA. Meetings and events
are held with alumni in British Columbia,
Oregon and California. New alumni
ambassadors are identified in America
and Canada and a new vision is unveiled
by the North American Foundation for
Keele University.
Malcolm Peckham is appointed
Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council.
Malcolm has been on the University
Council since 2004 and was appointed as
Deputy Pro-Chancellor in 2008.
The Students’ Union wins a Silver Green
Impact Award for the third consecutive
year. Green Impact seeks to encourage,
nurture, reward and celebrate good
environmental practice in Students’ Unions.
MAY
The Institute of Leadership and
Management, the UK’s largest awarding
body for leadership and management
qualifications, officially recognises Keele’s
new Distinctive Curriculum – the first time
an entire university curriculum has
been accredited.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick
Foskett, leads a ‘Keele in Kenya’ event at
the British Institute for Eastern Africa in
Nairobi. The aim is to build on existing
links and establish new partnerships,
providing opportunity for the University
to extend its relationships with HE
institutions and businesses in East Africa
and to extend opportunities for Kenyan
students to study at Keele.
Kenya’s Minister of Higher Education,
Science and Technology, the Hon.
Professor Margaret Kamar, EHG, MP, visits
Keele. She sees the Keele Active Virtual
Environment (KAVE) in the School of
Pharmacy, tours the Library and visits the
Sustainability Hub.
JUNE
Dr Sami Ullah, EPSAM, is part of a
successful consortium grant, worth £2.5
million, titled ‘Analysis and simulation of
long-term/large-scale interactions of C, N
and P in UK land, freshwater and atmosphere’.
Keele is ranked 61st in the inaugural
Times Higher Education 100 under 50 list of
the world’s best young universities. Keele is
11th among the 20 UK universities included.
A thousand visitors attend Keele’s first
Community Day and join in more than 40
sessions/workshops across campus, as
well as other family activities.
Ron Pate, School of Pharmacy, is
awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours for services to hospital pharmacy.
JULY
Professor Peter Jackson, Emeritus
Professor of Medieval History at Keele, is
elected to the British Academy Fellowship.
Dr Maria Heckl, EPSAM, secures a major
European grant worth €3.73 million for a
four-year project called TANGO – Thermoacoustic
and Aero-acoustic Nonlinearities
in Green combustors with Orifice structures.
Baroness Williams of Crosby gives a
seminar on the topic of ‘Challenges of a
Political Career’ – an overview of British
political history since 1945, the period of
her own political interest and career.
AUGUST
Dr Zoe Robinson, School of Physical and
Geographical Sciences, is awarded a National
Teaching Fellowship for her contribution to
Education for Sustainability and other
teaching innovations around Open
Educational Resources and employability.
Dr Jonathan Hill, Physiotherapy, is
awarded the 2012 Arthritis Research UK
prize in physiotherapy for his trial which
explored the effectiveness of back
pain treatments.
SEPTEMBER
Keele is rated amongst the best in
the country for student satisfaction.
The University, with an exceptionally
high score of 91%, exceeds the national
overall satisfaction rate in the National
Student Survey.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick
Foskett, and Joe Turner, President
KeeleSU, welcome students to the
University. Their addresses are followed
by Keele’s first ever ‘Welcome Festival’,
with performances from student societies,
games, activities and information stands.
Business Secretary, Vince Cable,
officially opens Keele’s dedicated business
growth programme – The Nova Centre – and
highlights the important role that universities
can play in helping to support business.
Speaking at the Universities UK
conference at Keele, David Willets, Minister
of State for Universities and Science,
addresses an audience of UK vicechancellors
and praises universities as more
central to our society than ever before.
October
Keele is placed, for the second
consecutive year, among the world’s top
universities in the Times Higher Education
World University Rankings. The University
is positioned in the band 350-400.
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor David
Shepherd, and Dr Matthew Brannan,
Co-ordinator of International Programmes
for the School of Management, visit
Malaysia for the award of Keele degrees
at the Convocations of KDU University
College (near Kuala Lumpur) and KDU
College (Penang).
Keele’s former Chancellor, Professor
Sir David Weatherall, returns to the
University for a special ceremony to name
the Medical School building after him.
Dr Maggie Atkinson, Children’s
Commissioner for England, officially
opens the new £2.7 million Day Nursery.
A special celebratory reception to mark
the 50th Anniversary of the Keele Charter,
hosted by Keele Honorary graduate Lord
Puttnam, takes place at the House of
Lords, with guests representing Keele
alumni, MPs, Keele Council and staff.
Keele Law students are in a major pilot
scheme that explores a new way to deliver
legal assistance for self-represented
litigants in North Staffordshire. Launched
by Keele’s School of Law, the Community
Legal Companion is an innovative new role,
which will train Law students, under the
supervision of partner organisations, to
provide unrepresented litigants practical
assistance throughout the legal process.
NOVEMBER
The Forest of Light sculpture is
unveiled by Pro-Chancellor, Malcolm
Peckham, to mark the completion of a
major project to transform the heart of
the campus and the grand finale of Keele
50th Anniversary year.
Dr Raphael Hirschi, Astrophysics,
EPSAM, secures a prestigious 1.4 million
Euro starting grant from the European
Research Council – the first awarded to
a Keele academic. The grant will fund
a five-year multi-disciplinary project
entitled SHYNE (Stellar HYdrodynamics,
Nucleosynthesis and Evolution).
Dr Jon Herbert, SPIRE, is a guest on
BBC Breakfast discussing the US elections.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick
Foskett, is joined by senior colleagues on a
visit to Hong Kong and Brunei to celebrate
the Charter Year with Keele alumni.
DECEMBER
Professor Alicia El Haj, Director of
the Research Institute for Science and
Technology in Medicine, is shortlisted
for the 2012 Women of Outstanding
Achievement Award for Leadership
and Inspiration.
TV historian Michael Wood gives
the keynote speech at a national history
conference, ‘Joined up teaching’, at Keele.
This charter event, co-hosted by the
University and Stoke-on-Trent Central
MP Tristram Hunt, is opened by the Vice-
Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett.
Dr Joanne Protheroe, Senior Lecturer
in General Practice, is interviewed on BBC
Breakfast on new research into health
literacy levels across England that has shown
that health information is too complex.
06 07

On 23rd January 2013, Julia Leyden
(Western), Class of 1963 presented an
outstanding piece of art for inclusion in
the Keele University Art Collection. At
first glance the viewer might assume that
it depicts a traditional Christian crucifixion.
In fact it explores different types of
passion and their impact through history.
A veil or curtain of words blows across
the central figure but they are difficult to
read, suggesting that time has made their
interpretation sometimes uncertain.
Julia selected the quotations, and the
passions they illustrate, from:
The Song of Solomon – sexual passion
Nero, described by Tacitus – megalomania
Viking raids – the impulse for conquest
The Rapacity of Barons from the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle – greed and self-interest
The death of Queen Elizabeth I – the need
to secure succession
The execution of Charles I – the desire for
regime change
The storming of Drogheda by Cromwell –
the use of religion to support slaughter
The death of Suffragist Emily Wilding –
the longing for equality
The riot at the premier of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite
of Spring’ – resistance to the new
The first aerial voyage in England 1784 –
new perspectives on our place on this earth
The boyhood interests of Sir Isaac Newton
– the spirit of scientific enquiry
The Black Hole of Calcutta – revenge
The figure on the cross represents the
spiritual leaders who have inspired the
great religions. The cross represents the
massive impact on historical development
made by religious institutions of all kinds.
The footballers at the foot of the painting
are absorbed in their sporting passion
and appear oblivious to the themes
described above them.
Julia explained to the Vice-Chancellor
that it was indeed her passion for Keele
University that drove her to donate her
work to the collection.
‘Passion, the Driver of History’ hangs by
the Staff Common Room in Keele Hall.
The Raven Mason Collection is housed in
Keele Hall and contains many important
pieces outlining the development of
Mason ceramics in Staffordshire from the
beginning of the nineteenth century. The
Raven Mason Trust has now been awarded
a small grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund
as part of the All Our Stories programme
to run a project celebrating the history of
Mason Ironstone. A key theme is to bring
together collectors and people involved in
manufacturing Mason Ironstone to express
its importance for Stoke-on-Trent and for
British ceramic history.
Passion, the Driver
of History
The Raven Mason Collection
A number of events are planned – including
the collection of oral histories from people
associated with Mason Ironstone, a
community celebration and the
development of resources for schools to
support learning about the significance of
ceramics to Stoke-on-Trent and what the
Potteries area was like when manufacturing
dominated the local economy.
For more information
E: ravenmason@keele.ac.uk
Original Soundtrack
You may not know the name, but you
will almost certainly have heard his work.
Andy Quin is a prolific composer of music
for film, TV, radio and commercials, and
he honed his craft at Keele.
Andy Quin arrived at Keele in 1978 having
already turned down an invitation to study
at the Royal Academy of Music. He studied
Electronics and Music at a time when Keele
boasted one of the best music courses in
the country and Andy was able to ‘swap
chops’ with Visiting Professor, Cecil Lytle, a
great jazz pianist himself from the Juillard
School in New York. Andy also benefited
from a strong departmental interest in
American music generally, inspired by
Professor Peter Dickinson.
Away from the classroom, Andy formed
a band with other students on the same
main subject as him, including Simon
Hargreaves and Mark Ayres. Random
Access was a rock band with funky
and psychedelic overtones – almost as
eclectic as Andy’s own musical tastes.
His dissertation was on the group, Earth,
Wind and Fire, whilst his finals recital
featured Beethoven and Franz Liszt!
Random Access was popular on campus
and played the Union Ballroom several
Keele Encounters
Adunola Okupe (2006) was the guest
speaker at this year’s International
Students’ Welcome Ball. Adun is the
internationalisation representative of the
Keele Society Advisory Committee and
she shared her experience at Keele and
how important her Keele connection has
been since she left.
“I had a decade-long walk down memory
lane, attending the International Students’
Welcome Ball, which I had attended
as an international student myself ten
years ago! The food was considerably
better and the spread of the nationalities,
I think, was wider. But it was all made
extra special by unexpectedly meeting
a Nigerian neighbour, Femi Awopegba
from Ibadan at the ball! I had never met
him before and to meet him at Keele of all
places added another treasured memory
of Keele. What are the chances?”
A current Nigerian student is a face to
remember. Eugenia Abu is a national icon.
She is a leading broadcaster, prize winning
essayist, poet, short story writer, motivational
speaker, multimedia strategist, mentor, wife
and mother. She is a member of several
national and international bodies, including
the Human Rights Commission. To further
her already glittering
career, Eugenia is
currently pursuing
a Master’s degree in
Creative Writing at
Keele University.
times, vying with other Keele bands of
that time such as The Man Upstairs and
Blue Moves. Random Access created the
now legendary ‘Cheese Monster’ which
was, reputedly, responsible for stealing
food from the group’s flat in Barnes Hall
and was later famously photographed
occupying the Professorial Chair in the
Physics Department.
Andy worked closely with Keele’s studio
technician, Cliff Bradbury, and composer,
Tim Souster, producing recordings on a
Fairlight CMI (the world’s first computer
sampler) and this proved to have a major
impact on his future professional work.
He was recommended by Souster to the
music production company DeWolfe
and this was the beginning of a long and
productive career writing music for film,
TV, advertising and radio.
At the same time, Andy was writing
regularly for Central TV in Birmingham
and his music could be heard at the
Queen’s opening of the ICC and
Symphony Hall. Central TV went on to
make a documentary about Andy’s work.
Writing for the DeWolfe Music Library
has enabled Andy develop compositional
technique in all kinds of styles from avant
A Golden Graduate has celebrated
50 Anniversaries since leaving the
University College of North Staffordshire
or Keele University. The Royal Charter of
the University was granted in 1962, so in
2012 we held the first Golden Graduates’
Reunion to coincide with the 50th
Golden Anniversary of our Charter.
Who are our Founding Graduates?
One hundred and fifty-seven students
attended the University College of North
Staffordshire in October 1950 and the
first 150 graduated in 1954. Anyone who
was part of that first class is termed a
Founding Graduate.
garde electro-acoustic and computergenerated
musics, through jazz and
easy listening to big band, rock and film
music. He has also virtually documented
the history of jazz and the brilliance of
his playing is especially highlighted in
ragtime and stride styles of the 1920s and
1930s. Along the way he has worked with
the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC
Concert Orchestra. His music has been
used by Disney and in a multitude of TV
commercials, including the After Eight
Mints ad with Stephen Fry and a cast
of Hollywood greats, not least Liberace
miming to Andy’s piano score!
Andy leads a busy life and is hoping to
find time to play more jazz piano gigs in
the future. He is married to Anne and has
three children, and when he has any time
left over he enjoys badminton, walking,
reading, aviation sports and astronomy
(but not necessarily in that order!).
Sean Rourke, STR Music Marketing
Golden Graduates
Who are our Pioneers?
The Pioneers are the Classes of 1954 to
1961 who graduated from the University
College of North Staffordshire. They and
the Founding Graduates formed the
Students’ Union, the Athletic Union and
the Keele Society and created the heritage
and traditions that have exemplified the
Keele spirit for all later generations.
The 2013 Golden Graduates’ Reunion will
welcome home the Classes of 1954 to
1963 on May 11th - 12th 2013.
08 09

Close Encounters of
The Beatles Kind
Revolution in the Air
In December 1968 two Keele students –
Maurice Hindle (1968) and Daniel Wiles
(1970) – interviewed John Lennon
and published it in a Keele students’
magazine called UNIT. The interview
had an impact far beyond Keele because
Lennon spoke frankly about the socalled
‘Black Dwarf’ letters which implied
that the Beatles were “less revolutionary
than the Rolling Stones”. Lennon’s
comments prompted a discussion
that continues to intrigue observers of the
sixties cultural scene.
We spoke to current student Aynel
Tekogul about her journey of discovery of
this remarkable moment in Keele’s history.
Aynel, how did you find out about this
fascinating part of Keele’s history?
I was researching about old times at Keele
for Yearbook and somebody mentioned
a John Lennon interview. I wondered
how two Keele students managed to
interview such an icon and then publish
it in a students’ magazine. I knew the
music of the Beatles but I didn’t know
much about John Lennon himself. Helen
Burton, the Library archivist, helped me
to find the UNIT interview and many more
press items about the interview. It was
interesting to read the interview and news
pieces about it but there were so many
contradictions that I wanted to find out
what really happened. Lennon sounded
so human and sincere in the interview and
I wondered how he seemed to the two
students interviewing him.
Did you find the interviewers?
Yes, we exchanged emails after the
Alumni Office put me in touch with
Maurice and Daniel. I didn’t get to meet
them but they were very kind and helpful.
The information they gave me was very
insightful, and they were willing to
tell me the story in detail. This formed
the interview I aimed to write after
my research.
Has this experience changed you?
Yes, it’s given me more confidence to
interview people even if it seems hard
to reach them at first. I realised we can
reach people outside Keele and get
involved. Alumni can play a part in this
by supporting and encouraging students
with their experience and knowledge.
This can be from their time at Keele and
what they have done since they left. In
my case, with Daniel and Maurice I shared
an interest in writing and journalism – we
even lived in the same accommodation
at Keele! This shows that previous and
current Keele students really can have a
shared experience and familiarity between
each other even if there is 40 years of
time difference. The success of past
generations can become an inspiration
because they can be models for us.
I hope Keele will make it possible for more
students and alumni to get together and
to help each other in the future.
1968: a year of revolution, a year when
people – many of them students – took
to the streets of London, Paris, Prague,
Berlin, Mexico City and a whole host of
other cities, to protest against the Vietnam
War and vent their feelings at the deaths
of Martin Luther King and Senator Robert
Kennedy. Revolution was also in the air
on the music scene, where The Beatles’
unchallenged supremacy suddenly found
competition in the form of those angry
young upstarts, The Rolling Stones.
If the juxtaposition of global riots and the
battle for No 1 records seems trite, we
must remember just how politicised music
was in the sixties. Through their music and
through their interviews, both John Lennon
and Mick Jagger exerted considerable
influence on the people that followed
their every move, even if sometimes their
views came from an artistic, rather than
deliberately political standpoint.
And in 1968, the two frontmen – and
their music – were never further apart.
In the same year that The Rolling Stones
recorded ‘Street Fighting Man’ and
‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and Jagger took
part in the London riots, The Beatles
recorded ‘Revolution’, a song which
brought Lennon an unprecedented level
of criticism for his apparent indifference
to the uprisings happening all around
him. Jagger and The Rolling Stones were
portrayed as leaders of the revolution
while The Beatles, with their OBEs and
their messages of love and peace, were
labelled part of the establishment that the
Left wanted to bring down.
Against this backdrop, John Hoyland wrote
the first of what have become known as
the ‘Black Dwarf’ letters, published in the
radical newspaper of the same name. In it,
Hoyland berates Lennon for the ambivalent
lyrics in ‘Revolution’, and for his message
of personal change and freedom, coupled
with an apparent resistance to challenging
the system. Hoyland also praises The
Rolling Stones, in a move which he must
have realised would antagonise Lennon,
for their commitment to the revolutionary
cause and for the increasing brilliance of
their music.
Lennon responded immediately with a
vitriolic response in a ‘very open letter’,
also published in Black Dwarf. He attacked
Hoyland’s belief that ‘smashing it up’
can bring change to the world order and
defended his own ideals. Predictably
enough, Lennon was particularly defensive
of his music and his own reputation as a
pioneering artist. For Lennon, whether in
the context of his political beliefs or his
music, to be considered less revolutionary
than The Rolling Stones was the worst kind
of insult.
The Black Dwarf letters caused a sensation
when they were syndicated across the world
in late 1968. Inspired by their publication,
Maurice Hindle, then a first year student
at Keele, wrote to Lennon requesting an
interview in which he would counter the
growing feeling against the Beatle.
Shortly afterwards, Maurice Hindle and
fellow student, Daniel Wiles, found
themselves at Weybridge train station
in Surrey, having hitchhiked down from
Keele. They were met outside the station
by a very familiar man with shoulderlength
hair parted in the middle and
trademark pebble glasses. They spent six
hours in the company of Lennon and Ono,
and their interview remains an important
contribution to discussion around that
turbulent year of 1968.
Chris Harrison
Read more about the John Lennon
interview in the Keele Oral History
Project: www.keele.ac.uk/alumni/
thekeeleoralhistoryproject/
thejohnlennoninterview
10 11

What Song Means Keele to You?
Gigs that Burst
the Bubble
Every generation – indeed every year –
has its own memorable soundtrack. And
that is so true of our university years
when music provides the unforgettable
backing track to life, love, learning
and lunacy.
In 2007 we began to ask Keelites to
name the ‘song that means Keele
to you’. This was used for our first
Homecoming disco and the list has
been growing ever since. Over 270
titles now appear in the Soundtrack of
our (Keele) Lives at www.keele.ac.uk/
alumni/thekeeleoralhistoryproject/
thesoundtrackofourkeelelives
‘Never Forget’ by Take That is still top of
the pops but if you want to add your song
– from any era – let us know through our
Forever: Keele Facebook group or direct
to Emma Gregory at Keele. Who knows,
your choice might make the playlist for
Homecoming 2013. If you can’t wait till
Homecoming, find the ‘Keele Soundtrack’
playlist on Spotify.
Jayne Winstanley (2001) on
the decks at Homecoming
Our success with the Keele Soundtrack
has inspired us to discover your favourite
gigs from any era – and that includes
classical concerts or jazz combos! Again,
please send us your choice and your
memories through our Forever: Keele
Facebook group or direct to Emma
Gregory at Keele. We hope to create a new
Keele Oral History project page with
memories of the most Glorious Gigs.
Here are a few to get you started:
Mike Beattie (2002): Jools and his Rhythm
and Blues Orchestra for 2002 graduation.
We had our customary fire alarm go off
and while we were outside the orchestra
kept our spirits up by playing a few tunes
on the Union fire escape.
Richard O’Hagan (1989): Primal Scream
stalking off stage after about two songs
because Bobby Gillespie thought someone
had thrown a skiff at him (about 1988).
Mark Holtz (1993): Atomic Kitten around
2000. The pre-gig interview was longer
than expected and we ran out of questions.
Shania Twain was playing in the
background so, rather feebly, I asked:
“What’s the best thing about being a
woman?” to which Kerry Katona grabbed
her breasts and said “THESE!” Now
that’s class.
Chris Parkins (1981): Ian Gillan (Deep
Purple) jumping off the stage and
punching a member of the audience was
pretty memorable. Mind you, the guy was
asking for it.
Gordon Mousinho (1975): Elkie Brooks
wearing a skirt that can generously be
described as ‘micro’. And Spirit, with
Randy California playing in just a jockstrap
and cowboy boots!
David Harris (1970): In 1972, Cream at the
Royal Ball with Princess Margaret dancing
with a triple vodka in one hand and a
Gauloise in the other.
The Hollywood Festival at Madeley (May
23-24 1970) was the first outdoor festival
in the UK – and it was largely staffed by
Keele students! There was an exceptional
line-up including the first UK appearance
of the Grateful Dead and a performance
by Mungo Jerry which raised them from
invisibility to eternal glory with one song.
Find out more at: www.keele.ac.uk/
alumni/thekeeleoralhistoryproject/
thehollywoodfestivalandmusicatkeele
12 13

Keele for Life
In 2002, Antony Sutcliffe (2008) was a
local Stoke student who had just dropped
out of his A-Levels. Now he works at the
University as an Outreach Officer,
overseeing community engagement
projects and running summer schools. We
asked Ant why is he is so passionate
about inspiring young people to go into
further education.
Tell us a bit about your background?
I’m originally from Burslem in Stoke-on-
Trent so I’ve been familiar with the
University ever since I can remember.
You work as part of the Recruitment,
Outreach and Access team, how did you
find out about the programme?
I attended one of the Keele Link sessions
when I was at school in 2001. I really
enjoyed it and it changed the way I
viewed education.
So did it inspire you to come to study
at Keele?
Yes and no. I was a bit of an unruly
teenager and dropped out of my A-Levels
after a few months. I got a job at a fruit
and veg warehouse and never thought I’d
end up at University. My girlfriend was
doing her A-Levels at the time and she
encouraged me to go back and study.
After getting my A-Levels we both
enrolled at Keele in 2005 and we got
married a few years later!
So when did you join the Outreach team?
When I became a student at Keele I was
actively involved in community projects,
joining the widening participation scheme
and helping at a number of summer
schools and term-time events. As I was
coming to the end of my studies in 2008,
I found out about a vacancy in the team
and secured an interview on the very
same day as my last exam! It was a
stressful day to say the least but just as I
got home I got the call to say I’d got the
job. I never looked back!
What does your day-to-day job involve?
My job is to liaise with community groups
and local schools to arrange for them to
attend Outreach sessions. One of the
biggest projects I worked on was the IAG
Roadshow, offering advice and help to
more than 3,000 local young people last
year. We also run a range of school
sessions, which encourage young people
to get involved in subjects such as English
and Science by engaging in fun activities.
Some sessions involve dressing up as
Harry Potter and we can transport an
inflatable Stardome to local schools. My
job is pretty varied and
very rewarding.
Why do you think it’s important for
universities to engage with young people?
Universities shouldn’t underestimate the
impact that this sort of activity can have.
Just last year I received a letter from a
student saying how much one of our
sessions changed his life. I believe that
education is key to liberating young
people by giving them the confidence to
raise their aspirations and to achieve
things they didn’t think were possible.
Kate Dawson
14 15

Hume’s
Heroes
Coming up for Air
“I hope you’ll do some more research and
writing when you have a chance to come
up for air.” Said with a twinkle in her eye,
these were the last words I heard from my
PhD supervisor, Marjorie Cruickshank.
That was in 1982 when I was just about to
take up my first teaching post in a wideability
secondary school in Kent.
Perkin Warbeck
(c. 1474 – 1499)
Thomas Crapper
(c. 1836 – 1910)
Gretel Bergmann
(c. 1914 – )
Warbeck was a pretender to the throne
of England in the time of Henry VII. He
claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury,
Duke of York, one of the Princes in the
Tower allegedly killed by Richard III. As
the death of the Princes had never been
confirmed, Warbeck was able to gather
support for his claim, whether due to a
genuine belief in his case, or because of
a desire to overthrow Henry and the new
Tudor dynasty.
Warbeck remains a man of mystery, with
numerous conflicting stories as to his true
Disappointingly, Thomas Crapper did not,
as is widely believed, invent the toilet.
Nor did his name give rise to a popular
word for faeces. He was however, a
hugely influential inventor and did make
a number of important advances in the
manufacture of sanitary ware, including
the invention of the ballcock. All in all, he
held nine patents.
Crapper was a plumber by trade, whose
company was known for the quality of its
products. He had several Royal Warrants,
one of which was for fitting out the
Gretel Bergmann was a German high
jumper whose dream of competing in the
1936 Berlin Olympics was destroyed by
the Nazi regime on the basis that she
was Jewish.
Bergmann prepared for the Berlin
Olympics and one month before the
Games were to begin, she tied the German
record with a jump of 1.60m. But two
weeks before the start of the Games, she
was expelled (having already been
expelled once previously, in 1933) and her
German record was expunged from the
record books. The excuse given was that
background. It is generally now believed
that he was a convincing imposter, though
not everyone agrees. What is known is
that he undertook a number of attempts
to overthrow Henry, backed variously
by Margaret of Burgundy, James IV of
Scotland and even the people of Cornwall!
Warbeck’s quest ultimately ended in failure
and he was hanged at Tyburn, London
in 1499.
plumbing at Sandringham House, at the
behest of Prince Edward (later Edward
VII). He also worked for George V.
Crapper was also a pioneering
businessman. He owned the world’s first
bath, toilet and sink showroom, which was
on the King’s Road in London, and he did
much to promote sanitary plumbing and
make conversations around bathroom
fittings more commonplace.
she was being removed due to
‘under-performance’.
Bergmann emigrated to the United States
in 1937, vowing never to set foot on
German soil again. She won the US
Championships in 1938 and 1939, also
winning the Shot Put in 1938.
More recently, Germany has acknowledged
her achievements, with a variety of
honours. Her records have been reinstated,
and she even attended a ceremony in her
home town of Laupheim, where the local
stadium was named after her.
What a baptism by fire that was into the
teaching profession, as I tried to prepare to
teach four subjects: history, local studies,
religious studies and Special Needs Maths
(it had been my Statistics subsidy that
had got me the position!).
I learned (a bit) from my mistakes, changed
school twice and was not bad at my job (I
even received a teaching award one year).
But I found myself completely bogged
down and exhausted by the preparation
and piles of lower school exercise books
to mark. As for research and writing, I did
very little for the next ten years.
Thanks to the Schools’ History Project I
was at least able to introduce my students
to what I most enjoyed from my research
days – using historical sources to carry
out investigations, evaluate evidence
and form interpretations. My favourite
booklet was the ‘Mystery of the Princes
in the Tower’, and this gave me the idea
of writing something on Perkin Warbeck
who claimed to be the younger of the
two princes. How serious a threat was
he to King Henry VII? From my research
into Perkin’s life I wrote a historical novel
called Ruling Ambition, an article for the
brand new BBC History Magazine and a
children’s book The Boy who would be
King for Short Books.
I have now written about a dozen books
and lots of articles for magazines and
newspapers. Of special interest to me
are individuals who have been left on the
sidelines of history and, I feel, deserve
to receive more credit. It has led to me
writing on an eclectic range of subjects –
almost as wide-ranging as the Foundation
Year. I am particularly interested in writing
fast-moving short narratives for the 12-16
age range, a kind of advanced version of
the old Ladybird series I enjoyed as a boy.
Hooked by a BBC2 series called ‘The
Murder Rooms’, I went up to Edinburgh
one summer holiday to research the life
of Dr Joseph Bell who I was intrigued
to find had inspired Arthur Conan Doyle
with the character of Sherlock Holmes.
Back in my home town of Broadstairs, I
paced up and down the seafront dressed
in a deerstalker and sporting a Sherlock
Holmes pipe, during the annual Dickens
Festival in 2005.
To coincide with the bicentenary of Britain
abolishing the slave trade, in 2007 I wrote
a short biography of Olaudah Equiano,
a slave who became an abolitionist.
Traditionally, William Wilberforce has
received nearly all the attention because
of his work in Parliament. I was interested
to see what black people were doing for
themselves to abolish the trade, and found
that Equiano had started campaigning and
touring Britain making speeches several
years before Wilberforce. BBC South East
Today came into school and filmed my
Year 9 students reading passages from
the book: that evening they were TV stars.
After writing about two men I thought
I ought to research a woman next, and
I chose Mary Shelley. In many respects
her itinerant and tragic life has been
overshadowed by that of her more famous
husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
One writer has recently suggested that
she did not have the ability to write, and
that Frankenstein was in fact the work of
her husband. The book has been bought
by school libraries and some English
departments studying Frankenstein
for GCSE.
In 2010 a book to commemorate the
centenary of the death of the Victorian
sanitary engineer Thomas Crapper proved
irresistible. Very quickly I found out that
Thomas Crapper did not invent the flushing
toilet as is often still assumed (Thomas
Harrington did that in Queen Elizabeth
I’s time). But Crapper, who is buried in
the same cemetery as my grandparents
in Beckenham, did make important
improvements to it. Out of the research
came Thomas Crapper: Lavatory Legend,
fully illustrated, with a very silly multiple
choice quiz at the back, together with a
list of euphemisms meaning to go to the
toilet. My Year 7 students spent a term of
lunchtimes helping to make a giant toilet
out of papier mâché and were thrilled
to demonstrate it on TV on the day of
the anniversary.
My brother suggested I write my most
recent book. On the way to work in
London he spotted a paragraph in the
Metro about a Jewish high-jumper called
Gretel Bergmann who had finally had her
record of 1936 reinstated by the German
Athletics Association. Her life is a tale of
injustice. Shunned by her former friends,
thrown out of her sports club and banned
from taking part in the Olympics, she had
no choice but to go to the USA to begin
a new life.
Although by now I had almost thirty years’
experience of teaching and had quite a
stock of lessons prepared, the research
for all these books had mostly to be done
in the summer holidays. In term time I was
increasingly being ground down by targetsetting,
assessment, lesson observation
after lesson observation, OFSTED – and
even mock OFSTED! About three years
ago I decided that I had had enough and
took early retirement.
Nowadays I spend most of my time
travelling, and writing (mainly lighthearted)
articles with a historical
connection for newspapers and magazines.
So, I did “come up for air” – well, eventually.
I only wish I had done so sooner.
Robert Hume (1978 History & Psychology)
16 17

I started at Keele in September 1997 and in
many ways that still feels recent! I made some
amazing friends there and I still see them
whenever I’m back in Britain. I prolonged my
contact with Keele by being a member of the
Keele Society Advisory Committee for a
few years.
At Keele I studied Geography and American
Studies (including an awesome semester at
Oklahoma State University) and, although it
didn’t help with my immediate career following
graduation with GlaxoSmithKline, it’s certainly
helping with my current job.
I was in the ski club at Keele, attending annual
BUSC trips and racing throughout the year, as
well as the trampolining club. Both of these
stood me in good stead for the crazy sport I
took up at the age of 26. I had moved into hotel
sales and although I loved it, it was never quite
challenging enough, so I took up aerial skiing…
I pestered the local dry ski slope to put me in
contact with the freestyle coach and I hounded
him for two months before I finally got to try
out for the team. Amazingly, I got selected and
began training in Switzerland while working
full-time in the UK. I didn’t do anything
outrageous but training with the British and
Swiss teams was an incredible experience. I
stopped aerials training in 2008 – being a
26-year-old beginner was tough!
I then started as a National Account Manager
at Eurostar with a £25m portfolio, frequently
dashing across to Paris and Brussels with
clients. I absolutely loved it and would probably
still be there now if I hadn’t met my boyfriend
Gavin in September 2010 – he has a LOT to
answer for! This is also where my dual honours
degree came into its own!
From Ski to Sea
Gavin was in marketing when I met him but he
was also captain of an 80ft luxury sailing yacht.
His old boss asked him to run the boat again
and Gavin agreed as long as he could bring me
along too! I was happy in my job, had never
done any sailing, and not lived abroad since that
semester at OSU in 1998. Nevertheless, by March
2011 I was simultaneously working my notice at
Eurostar, training for the London Marathon and
trying to revise for sailing exams. In May 2011 we
drove to Italy to crew the SY Holo Kai; Gavin as
Captain, me as deck-hand and stewardess.
Another girl was the chef.
I took a huge risk to start a job with no
experience and living in very close proximity
with a guy I had known for barely six months.
On ‘charter’ you work 17 hour days and have to
be available around the clock. I pushed on
through; the places we were seeing were
incredible and generally the guests were lovely!
That summer we were along the French Riviera
and the Tuscan coastline and we also visited
Sardinia and Corsica.
In the winter we took Holo Kai across the
Atlantic to Martinique, and sailed up through
Antigua to the British Virgin Islands where we
raced with other Oyster yachts, and on to
Puerto Rico. Then I got promoted to chef so
Gavin and I ran the boat, and raising our
workload by 50%. I had not cooked very much
previously, as my Keele friends will attest, and
suddenly I was cooking for six people and crew.
I had to serve three meals a day to
‘restaurant standard’.
We’re frequently asked by people what we
do when the guests aren’t on board.
We certainly don’t work such long days as we
do at sea but boats are notorious for breaking.
Gavin is usually wearing his engineering hat
fixing things, while I’m menu planning and
cleaning meticulously.
Gavin and I are now enjoying a six-month
sabbatical from the boat; we are due to rejoin
her in June 2013 in Los Angeles. Gavin is also a
huge fan of snow sports so we have bought a
truck camper to follow the snow around the
USA and Canada.
“I thought you may like to know that Gavin proposed to me (needless to say
I said yes). It was very romantic as we walking out on Jackson Lake (which
was frozen) when he dropped to one knee with the Grand Teton mountain
range as the backdrop! As he didn’t know what type of ring I would like, he
had made one for me out of box wood on his dad’s lathe when we were in the
UK in November (I had no idea!). I wore it for about a week but unfortunately
as it was wood it was rather fragile and split. Two rounds of superglue later
and it now lives in my little jewellery box instead! We did in fact purchase a
‘real’ ring yesterday which we had made to include the Grand Tetons, so it
acts as a permanent reminder of where he proposed!”
I have finally been able to use my degree –
navigation, planning trips in different countries
and conversing happily with Americans about
their history, culture and politics. I didn’t think
when I left Keele that twelve years later I would
be making a career out of what I love – travelling
and being a host. I owe a lot of that to Keele. I
wasn’t the most confident student when I
started, but I was when I left. A lot of it is to do
with the Keele community and being at a
campus university. Keele really improved my
belief in my own abilities and gave me the
courage to embark on something entirely
different and never to look back.
Emma Broome (2000)
18
19

The Icing on the Cake
We love to welcome alumni back and to
involve them in student activities and
one person we particularly look forward
to seeing is Kath Warrilow (2010). That’s
because, after graduating, Kath combined
her culinary talents with a shrewd head
for business to set up Cupcake Yourself
– her own business offering personalised
and branded cupcakes.
As a Keele student, Kath enrolled on the
Speed WM programme, a six month
funded programme to help young people
kick-start their business ideas. Within a
few weeks she had turned a part-time
hobby into an operational business.
In 2012 her cupcakes were featured in
VOGUE magazine and she was receiving
calls from the 02 Arena.
Kath returns regularly to campus
providing cupcakes for various events
and she spoke recently to the Keele
Enterprise Society, a student society for
budding entrepreneurs.
Kath owes a lot to Keele: “The Speed
programme was a fantastic opportunity
for me as it enabled me to turn my love
of baking into a full-time career. I got
a huge amount of support from the
Student Enterprise Team during the
programme and made contact with a
lot of experienced entrepreneurs who
gave me fantastic advice and guidance.
I definitely think there’s something to be
said for talking to a business entrepreneur
your own age as they were in the same
position as you just a few years ago.
That’s why I jump at the chance to come
back and talk to Keele’s current students.
It feels very worthwhile to talk to the next
generation of entrepreneurs and I really
enjoy hearing about their future plans.”
The Keele University SPEED Plus
programme is expanding: applicants
are invited to a Dragons’ Den type
panel to pitch their business idea and
the most promising are accepted onto
the programme.
For more information on the SPEED Plus
programme, please visit www.keele.ac.uk/
speedplus or email speedplus@keele.ac.uk
Keele Key Fund and
Fundraising Review 2012-13
I am pleased to report that once again the
Keele Key Fund had a successful year with
over 35 applications to the fund of which 24
projects received grants totalling £74,122.
The Disbursement Committee has been
able to offer grants to a wide range of
projects this year, including the organ
restoration project, the Forest of Light
sculpture, the ‘ages and stages’ project,
the Moot Court, the Observatory and
a number of sports projects. Whether
assisting with research projects, public
realm developments or simply enhancing
the student experience, the Keele Key Fund
continues to make a valuable contribution
to the Keele community.
The Disbursement Committee continues to
meet three times a year, and as ever remain
a passionate and enthusiastic group. We
were delighted to welcome Pritpal Nagi
onto the Committee this year.
I would like to thank all of our alumni who
have been very generous in their support for
the Keele Key Fund despite the economic
climate. Your contributions enable the Fund
to make a difference to student life here
at Keele.
Rama Thirunamachandran
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost.
Chairman of the Keele Key Fund
Disbursement Committee.
The 50th Anniversary Keele University Appeal
Student of the Year 2012
£5,000 for the addition of an extra rank
of pipes for the Swell department.
We have received a generous gift from
Edward Lee Spencer (1954) in the USA,
to the value of around £11,000.
Andreas Steffensen is the seventh recipient
of the Neil and Gina Smith Student of the
Year Award. The annual prize of £5,000
is sponsored by Neil and Gina Smith to
recognise a final year student who has
demonstrated outstanding achievement
at Keele.
Outstanding achievement takes many
forms – but in this case, the panel looks
for academic excellence coupled with a
significant contribution to the life of the
University and the wider community.
Andreas graduated with First Class
Honours in Educational Studies and
English. He has secured a training contract
with a Midlands-based law firm which will
begin after he has completed a graduate
qualification in Law. He then hopes to
embark on a career in Environmental Law.
Andreas consistently impressed his tutors
by outstanding academic performance,
averaging 80% across both subjects over
three years. His degree dissertation was
judged by the Programme Director in
Educational Studies to be “master’s level…
already publishable”.
Andreas’ achievements are even more
impressive when viewed in the light of his
personal circumstances. Andreas is a Danish
student with English as a second language
who has settled in North Staffordshire
with his wife. He is in the first generation
of his family to attend university. During his
first year at Keele, shortly before his exam
period, Andreas donated a kidney to his
wife who suffers from chronic renal disease.
Last month, just after he completed his
final year assessments, he became a father
when his first child was born.
Andreas has made a strong and lasting
contribution to Keele through his work
for the Widening Participation team. He
has served as a Student Ambassador
in roles of mentor, administrator, visitor
guide and events leader. He has been
praised for portraying Keele to prospective
students in a “realistic but very positive
way” and for inspiring young people to
think positively about the benefits of
higher education. He was rewarded for his
commitment, maturity and hard work with
the Ambassador’s Ambassador Award and
the Student Leader Award for 2011-2012.
The combination of Andreas’ academic
achievements, his quiet determination to
succeed and his commitment to making
a positive impact on the lives of others
confirm that he deserves to be named
Keele Student of the Year.
Andreas Steffensen
The Keele Chapel Organ was installed
in 1966 and has enjoyed a distinguished
history, including being played at
hundreds of graduation ceremonies.
Many famous organists have played
the organ, among them Dr Francis
Jackson of York Minster, Marie-Claire
Alain, the most-recorded organist in the
world, Peter Hurford OBE, Lionel Rogg,
the noted Swiss organist and
Dame Gillian Weir.
Sadly, the condition of the organ has
deteriorated over the years and this
somewhat restricts its use. It is now
some way off the ‘concert standard’ it
once enjoyed for teaching, recitals and
choral performances.
In 2011 Keele alumni supported the
Organ Fund with £3,500 from the Keele
Key Fund to make emergency repairs.
This allowed the organ to continue
to be used at Chapel services and at
graduation ceremonies. We now need to
raise a further £38,000 to enable three
major areas of work to be carried out
to restore the Keele Chapel organ to
peak condition.
£23,000 for refurbishment of the main
Console and replacement of the old
electro-mechanical system
£9,000 for restoration of the Chests,
Bellows, Swell Shutters, Draw Stop
Blower and to retune the organ
If you can help bring the organ back to
top condition, please send your gift to
The Keele Chapel Organ Fund through
the Alumni & Development Office –
or download a donation form from
the website at keele.ac.uk/donations
specifying ‘Chapel Organ Fund’.
20 21

Recent Awards by the Keele Key Fund
VE @ Keele Student Volunteer Programme
Quidditch Project
Keele Oral History Project
Star Dome
Moot Court Project
Grey Matters
Fencing Club
Lacrosse Club
Bhangra Society
Airsoft Society
Ages & Stages
Research Into Action
Boat Club
Students’ Union Stripes
ENAS Conference Student Representative
Autistic Spectrum Disorder Support
Capoeira Society Workshops
Forest of Light
Picture Your Future
KUSU Exam Packs
Trampolining Club
RAG Week
22 23

Winner of the Best Team
Member Award Keele Key
Fund Telethon 2012
Telethon 2012
A team of thirty student ambassadors
called alumni during November to share
experiences of Keele and to invite support
for the Keele Key Fund. We thank all our
alumni for the time they spent on the
phone with our team of students – and
for their support. We also want to thank
our callers for their commitment to Keele.
Telethon Team Roll of Honour 2012
Manager: Athena Wilson (2010)
Deputy Manager: Zoe Richards
Team: Samuel Bercik, Stephanie Boateng,
Tom Bowen, Madeline Campion, Matthew
Christopher, Nancy Chuchu, Kulthum
Dambatta, Joseph Forsyth, Samuel Hill,
Lizzie Hunter, Kathleen Johnson, Davina
Kanani, Ayisha Karim, Ambreen Mizra,
Christopher Murphy, Bhavini Patel, Afra
Rasheed, Stephanie Rawson, Taliah Safavi,
Amnah Shaikh, Kate Sidwick, Lawrence
Snelgrove, Victoria Spencer, Embri Stuart,
Louise Taylor, Kirsty Trent, Emma Walker,
Jessica Willis, Lucinda Witts.
Over five years the Key Fund has received
pledges of over £500,000 to enhance the
student experience and environment at
Keele. This year we added pledges of a
further £102,144 for the Key Fund.
More and more applications for awards are
being received as students discover just how
influential they can be. The Disbursement
Committee looks for new projects that
enhance the student experience and the
campus, adding these to over 30 projects
that have already been supported.
The great majority of awards benefit
students directly through volunteering,
co-curricular or study-related projects, but
the Key Fund Disbursement Committee
also wants students to enjoy the campus.
We are considering the restoration of
the legendary ‘clock with no hands’ in
the Clock House and the renovation of
the famous (or infamous) Amphitheatre.
These are just the latest in a series of
heritage and campus improvements that
bring new life to the place we called home
for a while and which remains our homefrom-home
forever.
“I joined the telethon team because
I wanted to get more involved at Keele. I
had never worked in this way before and
I thought I would gain some new skills and
enjoy being part of a team.
“I learned a lot about Keele’s history.
I hadn’t heard about the original Foundation
Year before (I soon learned always to call
it FY) but it sounds like a fantastic idea! I
already loved Keele – the campus and the
feel of the ‘bubble’ – but I now understand
so much more why Keele is special
and different.
“I also learned a lot about myself. I wasn’t
sure whether I could make conversation
with people I didn’t know and I had no
idea what to expect before each call. My
most memorable conversation was with a
woman who had worked at the Ministry of
Defence and with the Army. She inspired
me to open my mind up to options I had
never even imagined before. All the alumni
gave me helpful advice but she suggested
some unexpected and exciting ideas.
“My plans for the future are still a bit vague
– joining the Police, maybe – but my dream
would be to become a Scenes of Crime
Investigator. I teach dance too, so who
knows whether something might come of
that? That’s in the future, but for now I am
glad I made some new Keele friends in the
telethon team. I am proud that we were
able to have some successful and enjoyable
conversations with alumni. I hope they
enjoyed them too.”
24 25

Keele
Key Fund
1954
Robert Lee
Sheila Lee
1955
Bob Miles
Michael Taylor
1956
Stanley Cooper
Roger Hartley
Howard Mounsey
Janet Murrell
Peter Paice
Margaret Roberts
1957
Bill Hanna
John O’Sullivan
Angela Parsliffe
Aileen Roberts
Barbara Ryder
1958
Alan Ball
John Carey
Bob Collicutt
John Sutton
Barbara Thomas
Jack Thomas
1959
Brian Cramp
Pauline Hanna
David Kerry
Peter Maybank
Mary Reed
Maureen Sudlow
1960
Derek Edwards
Christopher Foote
Jim Pierce
David Pownall
1961
Gillian Biggins
Steve Biggins
Clive Borst
Lorraine Fletcher
Mike Fulker
Peter Humber
David Jeremy
Brian Webb
Tony Winnall
1962
Joe Batt
Roger Betts
Malcolm McRonald
Anne Parker
Martin Rogers
Cliff Smalley
Sue Smalley
1963
Kay Bailey
Jill Budd
Tony Budd
John Mallen
Barbara Newby
1964
Celia Cheshire
Faith Flower
Christine Francis
Michael Hurdle
John Samuel
Hilary Williams
1965
Mike Cantor
Ivor Davies
Linda Holroyd
Geoffrey Stanton
1966
Dave Edmonds
Elizabeth Key
Arthur Williams
1967
Keith Cuninghame
Roger Fellows
Peter Fletcher
Joanna Hallett
John Head
Barbara Thomas
1968
George Fraser
Russell Haggar
Geoffrey Hooker
John Meager
Joan Newton
Bill Proctor
Josie Wheeler
1969
Mary Bryning
Kaye Larbi
Pam Maddison
Alice Meager
Mary Mountjoy
Chris Tew
Janey Walder
1970
Anita Gerard
Rob Hedges
Alison Hodgen
David Hodgen
Andy Macmullen
Tom Mayhew
Leo Pilkington
Connie Robertson
David Todd
John Walder
1971
Phil Davies
Gill Laver
Frankie McGauran
Linda Sohawon
Alec Spencer
Jo Williams
Diana Wright
1972
Hugh Coolican
Paddy Costigan
Will Montgomery
Janet Phelps
Stephen Plant
Stephen Robinson
Ian Snaith
Brian Stewart
Daphne Wade
1973
Warren Colman
Shirley Dex
James Fisher
Susan Fisher
Xandra Gilchrist
Jennifer Hedges
Fergus McGauran
Ruth Nicolson
Sue Steging
David Watkins
1974
Trevor Curnow
Christopher Graham
Brian Heaton
Steven Johnson
Derick Parry
Christine Spratt
1975
Sharon Barker
Roger Brandon
Nici Hildebrandt
Martin McArthur
Janet McCartney
Gordon Mousinho
Annie Stewart
We also thank the very many
alumni who wish their gifts to
be anonymous.
1976
Patricia Blackburn
Gina Hall
Richard King
Alison Nicolson
Beverly Rickwood
Barbara Vallonchini
Stephen Walton
1977
Nigel Bentley
Anne Blackburn
Nick Hammond
Eli Hirst
Susan Murray
Katy Mousinho
Michael Murphy
Val Newman
Steve Russell
Helene Wander
1979
Alex Hunt
Sarvanjan Kaler
Susan Maddox
Teresa Macleod
John Patton
Graham Stroud
Martin Webster
1980
Joan Bennett
Carol Botham
Siobhan Burrows
Nick Hughes
Sean McCarthy
1981
Jonathan Brown
Jeremy Daines
Lisa Lee
Helen Lightfoot
Pat Main
Peter Wentworth
1982
Mark Ayres
Terry Bird
Mike Cooper
David Ellis
Timothy Hunt
Simon Knock
Carol Mason
Sona Osman
Kathryn Parson
Richard White
1983
Ian Brunt
Amanda Croft-
Pearman
Cicely Davey
Andrew Eisner
Dave Gambling
Wayne Goodwin
Christine Herbert
Angela Hogan
Phil Isbill
Catherine Martin
Barrie Pope
Janice Price
Margaret Reid
Peter Sheahan
Jeremy Sogno
Ian Wrathall
1984
James Berriman
Paula Blellock
Laurence Broyd
Paul Byham
Paul Howard
Neil Infield
Roger Jackson
Alison Prowse
Christine Snaith
Julia Taylor
Melanie Warburton
Jo Willis
1985
Mark Brundrett
Jon Davey
Phillippa Frost
Ro Gorell
Carol Gray
Liz O’Connell
Anne Smithson
Christopher Spencer
Fiona Whitelaw
1986
Andrew Benn
Vanessa Kearns
Joanna Killian
Robert Oldfield
Richard Russell
1987
Martin Field
Jon Gould
1988
Tracey Baldwin
Martin Bazley
Richard Blows
Wendy Gibson
Katherine Gosling
Simon Jones
Philip Lucas
Susan Smith
Philippa Tyler
1989
Martin Alcock
Catherine Casale
Matthew Hill
Kathryn Maddock
Lorraine Tucker
1990
Katherine Bradshaw
Steve Coles
Jemma Farrance
Marie Fogg
Hafisi Kadiri
Dylan Reynolds
1991
Martin Baker
Fiona Bazley
Aelwyn Guest
Sean MacGloin
Matthew Reed
1992
Lisa Allen
Matt Barker
Robert Dixon
Kay Dowdall
Benson Greatrex
Michael Langford
Irene Plant
Nicholas Preston
1993
Edna Collis
Andrew Freeman
Dave Gambling
Emily Haithwaite
Richard Lawrence
Mary Levesley
Joanne Louff
Colm Perry
Kate Read
James Stonebridge
1994
Richard Batty
Andrew Cooper
Sandra Drewett
Andy Dutton
Helen Harrison
David Hazelwood
Charles Hutchinson
Melanie Jones
Glynis Kirkland
Franco Milazzo
Marsha O’Mahony
Mo Ray
Alan Schofield
Marion Unwin
Roger Walker
1995
Mark Elliott
Peter Granby
Peter Harris
Mark Hetherington
Catherine Holland
Chris Kirby
Mitchell Waterman
1996
Chris Asker
Tony Ball
Linda Beacom
Mark Brannan
John Brookes
Neil Bunford
Roger Burgess
Heather Bush
Leo Chatteron
Jenny Cook
Christopher Dawson
Steven Flanagan
Jennifer Gillian
Richard Gorman
Joanne Green
Robert Gunnell
Esther Jones
Karen Kear
Nicholas Maxey
Ruth McGregor
Helen O’Neill-
Adkins
Jessie Palmer
Antony Philcox
Matthew Russell
Ken Smith
Michael Williams
Nicola Williams
Fiona Wilson
Stephen Womack
1997
Georgina Chancellor
Lindsay Coates
Sara Hedges
Sophie Kelman
Caroline Panting
Naima al-Rawe
Jon Short
Ruth Watkins
Josephine Watson
Tom Woodman
1998
Mark Archer
Paul Brothwell
William Buckley
James Danaher
Krysia Dziedzic
Paul Edens
Simon Forman
Steven Grainger
Jacqueline Harden
Helen Johnston
Alastair Jones
Helen Jones
Simon Jones
Trudy Jones
Warren Legg
Pauline Mifflin
Olutayo Oke
Keith Pugh
James Rivers
Andy Samu
John Skelley
Susan Smith
Ruth Stewart
Judith Stubbs
Sara Taylor
Helen Williams
Matthew
Worthington
1999
Graham Baker
Robert Betts
Heather Craddock
Joline De Ste Croix
Dipak Dutta
Peter Hampson
Sandra Haynes
Katherine Lundie
Hill
Heather McLennan
Teresa Newbon
Faye Nicholls
Maureen Poole
Sarah Richards
Catherine Scott
Nina Shuttlewood
Sankar Sinha
Julia Swainson
2000
Lesley Bunn
Ruhi Singh
Deborah Sutton
Paul Unsworth
2001
Jenny Gray
Janet Parker
Charlotte Pearson
Emma Turner
Thomas Pearson
2003
David Allsop
Amy Church
Sandra Nicholls
2006
Michael Banks
2008
Ryan Bailey
Simon Charlton
Laura Hartley
Natasha Kinsmore
Naomi Lander
Sarah McIntyre
Nick Renshaw
Joe Ruppert
2009
Margaret Allen
Michael Bennett
Adam Betts-Symonds
Lisa Burns
Ganapathy
Dhanasekar
Ododo Ediagbonya
Alexander Fuller
Ewan Henry
Tara Lal
Ian Mahoney
Sarah Northrop
Candida Outridge
Richard Simmonds
Roger Weston
Nicola Wycherley
2010
Kathryn Allan
Alison Beech
Cheryl Bennett
Leanne Brady
Thomas Coppen
David De Lisle
Kirsty Elliott
Ellen Emes
Oliver Fox
Thomas Fox
Lauren Horne
Lindsay Horne
Samantha Horridge
Thomas Kelly
Philip Krone
Amber Lewis
Leigh Martindale
Iain McDonald
Wayne Millard
Mohamed Rahim
Rahat Rashid
Trudi Rogers
Martin Rowlands
Kariba Sasegbon
Tom Shears
Mark Short
Catherine Talbot
Laurence Woodcock
Wilson Yeung
Dilara Yurtmen
Nela Zebrakova
2011
Craig Shearstone
We apologise to the two following
supporters whose names were missed
inadvertently from Forever:
Keele in 2012
1955
Anne Thompson
Don Thompson
We also thank the following supporters
for their gifts:
Mohammed Amin
JM Dean
J L Dickinson
P J & N Evans
John Hartley
R J Walker
Samantha Woodall
And
Lynn Rivera for her gift in memory of
Jack Fry
Donors to the North
American Foundation for
Keele University Inc
and Keele in Canada
during 2012
Edward Lee Spencer (1954)
Tim Gibbs (1970)
Richard Levak (1971)
Clive Blackwell (1974)
Mark Hill (1974)
Jatinder Sehmi (1985)
26 27

Alex and Ruth’s Rainbow
Wedding at Keele
Ali Lovegrove Photography
Ruth Arnold (2006) and Alex Hayward
(2006) were married in 2012 and their
colourful Keele photos featured in “British
Brides”. You can see some beautiful
pictures of the couple and of Keele
looking marvellous as the backdrop
for their colourful Keele nuptials!
www.rocknrollbride.com/2012/09/arainbow-wedding-inspired-by-theirliving-room-ruth-alex
28 29

Phil Davies photo by
Alexander McIntyre
Wide Open Campus
New Trees
Bring Colour
to Union
Square
The 24 semi-mature trees newly planted
in Union Square may look like they are
there ‘just to look nice’, but there is
meaning behind their selection for the
University arboretum and the heart
of campus.
Keele held its first Community Day on
Saturday 23rd June 2012 as part of the
50th Charter Anniversary celebrations.
We threw open the doors and encouraged
visitors to join us for a fun-packed day for
all the family.
Keele staff and students joined together
to create a programme of over 70
activities for visitors to enjoy. Visitors
could explore the beautiful campus
through historical and geographical tours,
or experience sustainability debates,
volcanic eruptions, muggle quidditch or
make virtual or visual observations of
the earth, sun and stars. They viewed art
exhibitions, tried a language or sport or
science taster session. Many goals were
booted in a penalty shoot-out with Stoke
City FC, while others hunted forensic-style
for buried bodies. Live music and other
entertainments provided a wonderful
background to all the activity.
The day had a huge impact on people from
the surrounding area who were warm in
their appreciation.
“We brought our primary school-aged
children and visited the sports centre
and medical school. The children had the
opportunity to hold a Barn Owl, learn
how to play golf, trampoline, go-kart,
put the siren on a police car, dress up as
fire-fighters, see models of the human
body and palpate a model abdomen
to feel a baby in the uterus, learn about
resuscitation, see slides of bacteria, as
well as learn about healthy eating and
how to burn calories. There was a broad
range of activities and opportunities on
offer as demonstrated above which held
our interest and increased our knowledge
and skills.”
“We enjoyed the variety of things to do.
We spent two hours in the medical school
alone. We enjoyed the walk around the
Uni. Our kids enjoyed the medical school,
the animal skulls and the trampolining
the best. It was nice that the activities
were free.”
“We found the whole day to be enjoyable,
because it was educational, informative
and fun for adults and children alike.”
“We would definitely like another day.
There was so much to do we did not have
the time to do everything we would have
liked. It’s a great way to visit the University
and find out what you do.”
Given the overwhelming support,
Community Day will become a regular
event in the Keele calendar – in 2013
Community Day will be Sunday 2nd June.
Two red maples and three cut-leaved
silver maples turn red and gold
respectively in the autumn, matched
by the foliage of six hybrid elms in
front of the Library. These and the
deep green foliage of two Persian
ironwoods and a Japanese hornbeam
between the Chapel and the Union
combine to complete a display of
the University’s colours of red, gold
and green.
These trees also symbolise the former
Soviet Union and North America. Much
of the funding for these outstanding
trees was given generously by Phil
Davies (1971) in memory of his late wife
Ros Davies (Patton) (1971). Phil studied
American Studies and Ros studied
Russian at Keele, so Phil’s trees bring
both glorious colour and a meaningful
international tribute to Union Square.
30 31

RAG is an essential part of the student
experience and Keele kicked off the
tradition as early as 1956. Growing out of
the 1956 Charity Ball, RAG became a huge
annual enterprise, to collect for charity and
build bridges between ‘Town and Gown’.
RAG day usually involved a long procession
of imaginatively decorated floats around
the Potteries, accompanied by student
collectors in fancy dress. There were bucket
collections and a ‘humorous’ magazine
called ‘WOOP!’ was sold. Stunts, some
meticulously planned and others more
spontaneous, were a key feature. RAG
gradually lost momentum as regulations
restricted the options but in 2009 RAG was
revived by the Students’ Union as ‘Raising
and Giving Week’. The Charter Year gave
new impetus to RAG and in 2013 even the
procession has been resurrected.
In 2013 RAG is dedicated to the memory
of Ticker Hayhurst.
If anyone coupled a lifelong love for Keele
with the soul of a prankster it was Ticker
Hayhurst, lynch-pin of some of the most
memorable RAGs in Keele’s history.
Christopher Hayhurst graduated in 1960
and married Maureen ‘Mo’ Paskell (1962).
In Ticker’s own words, “My main interest
at Keele was rugby and academics but Mo
and I were deeply involved in the Students’
Union and in the RAG. I was Chairman of
the 1958 and 1959 RAG Committees and
Maureen was chair of Royal Ball Committee
and the Union social committee”.
Ticker loved pranks, and he recalled: “I
have found two photos of Tulla Tallianos
with the Lord Mayor of Stoke, Dennis
Delay and myself. We played a hoax on
one of the national papers pretending
Tulla was a famous Greek film star and we
got away with it. We had a good year in
1958 with the kidnapping of Miss Great
Britain and putting a teddy bear with a
space helmet in the newly opened Jodrell
Bank radio-telescope dish. We also stole
the anvil from the Gretna Green wedding
smithy… aaah happy days!”
The key person behind RAG Revival is
Keele student Danny Walker, so we asked
him what inspired him.
I got involved in RAG Week in a limited
capacity in my first year in 2010-11. I was
sad to see that RAG was not organised the
following year as it gives students and the
University such an amazing opportunity to
do some really good things through
fundraising. During the summer vacation in
2012, I noticed that Loughborough RAG
raised over £1.6 million for charity but
Keele, as far as I was aware, may have
raised nothing. I could either sit on the
side-lines and complain or stand up and do
it myself. I became RAG Representative
and the rest is history.
Speaking of history, I began looking through
the archives and saw what RAG used to be
like. One name kept appearing: Ticker
Hayhurst, Chairman of the RAG Committee
in 1958 and 1959. The tales of his and his
many fellow students’ exploits have inspired
me to do everything I can to make RAG a
massive part of Keele once again.
We have decided to support three
local causes:
• The Peter Pan Nursery for Children with
Special Needs in Newcastle;
• The University Hospital of North
Staffordshire Charity Appeal for
support for a new PET CT Scanner; and
• Combat Stress, a charity supporting
ex-service personnel with mental
health issues.
Danny Walker
Ticker’s World
RAG Revival 2013
Ticker passed away on 5th February 2012
and Keele was high on the list of people
for Mo to inform: “Sadly, Ticker died
yesterday much, much sooner than
expected”, just a few months before the
first ever Golden Graduates reunion. Mo
came to the reunion but Ticker was
greatly missed.
Brian ‘Ned’ Lusher (1960) reveals: “Ticker
was a gentleman. For some weeks we
shared a room but this came to an end
because I snored and his pocket watch
(his grandfathers, I believe) sounded like a
time-bomb. The watch gave Ticker his
nickname. He enjoyed Keele immensely
and the opportunities it gave him, not just
academically, but because it provided for
his sense of humour and his ability to plan
and organise pranks. He was always
collected, cool and clever at finding
“Ticker always ‘saw’ what to do
practical solutions. He was a master of
sociability and by the end of our first
week at Keele he had organised a party in
the women’s residences, complete with
cider and plenty of fair ladies…”
Find out more about the early history of
RAG in the Keele Oral History Project:
www.keele.ac.uk/alumnithekeeleoral
historyproject/keelerag
We’ve planned lots of events for RAG
Week 9-15 March 2013 from street
collections, to comedy and quiz nights, a
resurrected RAG Parade and even bungee
jumping above the Union car park!
Keele has a great history of pranks and, as
this Forever: Keele will not hit your
doormats until after RAG, I can risk telling
you about one prank we are planning. I
plan to dress in black and wear a balaclava,
‘break in’ to Staffordshire University
Students’ Union, sneak past Security,
enter the President’s Office and kidnap
him. We’ll bring him out during RAG Week
and gunge him in front of a big crowd in
the KeeleSU Ballroom! The President at
Staffs is happy to take part so we are not
doing anything illegal. Honest!
The RAG Parade will set off from the
Peter Pan Nursery on Saturday 9th March
and will finish along Ironmarket in
Newcastle, where there will be a stage for
musicians and performers and lots going
on along the High Street. The parade will
show the best of Keele, with societies,
sports clubs and local groups and
charities joining together to travel in
unison with lots of colour and sound.
I hope RAG is now firmly back in the Keele
calendar and it will be the catalyst for
ever greater charity fundraising. Alumni
have been really kind to us this year as the
Keele Key Fund has sponsored the
parade. I would like to say thank you to all
Key Fund supporters; it really does make
a huge difference to people at Keele. If
anyone wants to donate directly to Keele
RAG, then you can do so online via
www.justgiving.com/teams/keelerag
32 33

A Coming of Age
Jocelyn Ryder-Smith took this photo of the
old Union and huts in 1960; two years later,
as Union Vice-President, she and president
Colin Thomas laid the foundation stone of
the new Union Building.
The “Keele Experiment” began in 1949
to explore a unique new approach to
interdisciplinary scholarship and as a
campus community. The experiment
came of age in the 1960s with the award
of the Royal Charter in 1962, at the start
of a decade of radical change. By 1969
Keele was being described as: “The most
original innovation in British university
education in the 20th century”. In 1973
the keystone of the Keele experiment
– the Foundation Year – ceased to be
obligatory for all undergraduates and
Keele was forced onto a new path.
Our history of Keele ‘by alumni for alumni’
begun in First Decade continues in ‘A
Coming of Age: Continuity and Change’,
a labour of alumni love completed in
February 2013.
The DVD offers an audio-visual account
of Keele students’ experiences of
continuity and change from 1962 to 1973;
with contemporary photographs, film
and music.
The production team in typical
low-tech surroundings
The new Union Building
In his CD ‘In Our Own Words – Keelites
look back at the Turbulent Years’,
Brian Walker adds insights through
contemporary accounts and interviews
with alumni.
The support of the Keele Society Advisory
Committee and the Keele Key Fund are
greatly appreciated. We thank the scores
of alumni involved but especially the
production team: Gerry Northam (1970),
Nici Hildebrandt (1975), Brian Walker
(1970), Matt Bowling (2008), Pam Jones
(1970) and John Easom (1981).
Copies of ‘A Coming of Age’ can be
obtained from the Alumni & Development
Office – there is no charge but we do invite
contributions to the Keele Key Fund.
Heritage,
Myths,
Legends and…
Volunteers
“It has been a privilege for me to
discover the heritage of Keele through
the eyes of 60 years of Keele alumni.
Having led many tours of Keele for
staff, visitors, guests, alumni and others,
I have found that current students are
equally hungry to know about our
history, heritage, and our myths and
legends. Keele students are now leading
the way in rediscovering and sharing the
wonders of Keele.” John Easom (1981)
(Alumni & Development Manager)
“When students were approached by the
History department about a volunteering
project concerning Keele Hall, I jumped at
the chance. The first time I stepped into
the Hall I found it completely beautiful.
It was only when I began training as a
volunteer guide that I realised how closely
linked the beginning of Keele University
was with Keele Hall’s history. The more I
researched the Sneyd family and the Hall
itself, the more I loved this piece of history
on our campus. It means a lot to me to
use the passion and skills of my history
degree and to meet others who feel the
same way. The Keele Heritage Volunteers
project is now registered as a volunteering
group with KeeleSU Volunteering. It hasn’t
just been facts and dates that I’ve had
to learn, but also the skills inherent in
organising training sessions, creating solid
contacts with Keele Hall and KeeleSU
Volunteering, and organising my time so
I can be a part of this project. It’s been a
learning experience that I never thought
possible when I first came to Keele
and, for that, I’m incredibly grateful.”
Ariana Sevilla (2013)
“The Keele Heritage Society started in my
second year. I had walked in the grounds of
Keele Hall, but previously never seen inside
or really considered the links between
the Hall and the University. Training as a
guide has shown me how little I knew of
the University’s history and the extent to
which I had merely accepted the Hall as a
beautiful building on campus. In addition
to guiding tours, each volunteer conducts
their own research into the history of the
estate and the University. Understanding
the foundation of the University and Lord
Lindsay’s vision has made me proud to be
a Keelite. It has also given me a chance
to utilise skills I have learnt in my history
degree, and enabled me to engage with
students with similar interests. It has
been a wonderful experience, and an
unexpected opportunity. I hope that we
continue to recruit new volunteers so
that the society can continue to grow.”
Georgie Fitzgibbon (2013)
Green Week
Keele University has partnered with
Nissan to provide an electric vehicle for its
staff to use for business travel. The Nissan
Leaf was unveiled by Keele University
Chancellor, Jonathon Porritt, along with a
Nissan charging point installed on campus,
as part of the University’s Green Week.
The vehicle, which has a 109 mile range,
will be available for Keele University staff
to travel to meetings and schools around
the West Midlands as part of a 12-month
trial. The electric vehicle is just one of
many green initiatives introduced at the
University, which has a strong record
of addressing and responding to the
environment and sustainability agenda.
Keele was among the first universities
to be awarded Carbon Trust Standard
Networking with
Keele Alumni
“Alumni circles” exist by different names
to help alumni who want to keep involved
with some of our academic Schools; they
are usually informal and have grown from
relationships between staff and former
students. Keele’s Careers, Internships
and Volunteering teams are keen to
involve alumni similarly in support of
students and one another through
advice, information and opportunities.
Networking with Keele Alumni is a new
initiative to achieve just that: the first
pilot event will take place at:
and topped the government’s Carbon
Reduction Commitment (CRC) league
table in 2011. The car will contribute
towards the Keele’s target to achieve
a 34% reduction in carbon emissions
by 2020.
Efficiency measures implemented on
Keele campus include the development
of a multi-million pound Sustainability
Hub, the refurbishment of a number of
buildings to improve energy performance,
the introduction of a new sustainable
catering and recycling programme and
the increase of Fairtrade goods made
available to staff and students. Earlier
this year, the University also signed an
agreement with npower to install solar
Keele Sustainability Hub
(Home Farm)
Wednesday 15th May 2013
5.30pm to 7.30pm
A Joint Event by: Keele Alumni/
Careers Employer Engagement. We
hope Networking with Keele Alumni
will become a regular opportunity for
Keelites to meet students and for less
experienced alumni to meet fellow
alumni further on in their careers. We
think this is a good way for Keelites to
Arrival of the Nissan Leaf at Home farm.
Vice-Chancellor Nick Foskett, Chancellor
Jonathan Porritt and Kevin Childs of Nissan GB
panels on a number of university buildings
and McCamley UK Ltd has installed a
prototype urban wind turbine on the
University Science and Business Park.
Jonathon Porritt said: “I’m pleased that
we are introducing an electric vehicle on
campus; it will not only provide a green
form of transport for our staff, but will
also encourage car sharing for employees
travelling within the region. Universities
are in a privileged position to be a test bed
for new technologies and initiatives, and
at Keele we are focused on introducing
greener thinking to our staff and students
to help educate future generations.”
help other Keelites where it really
matters – through career progression
and improving prospects.
The format will involve networking with
students and fellow alumni. A buffet will
be served and we have arranged entry to
the Students’ Union afterwards, for those
who wish.
This magazine is a little early for full
details but if you want to know more
about Networking with Keele Alumni,
contact Emma Gregory in the Alumni and
Development Office.
We know that Keele is not always the
easiest place to get together so if this
event is successful we plan to hold more
events in Birmingham, Manchester and
London, and perhaps beyond. If you
could help to host an event near you,
please let Emma Gregory know.
34 35

Keele in Canada
Scholar 2012:
Cristina Polsinelli
(2012-2013 MA
Criminology and
Criminal Justice)
Cristina Polsinelli is the recipient of 2012-
2013 Keele in Canada scholarship, which
was created by the generosity of our
alumni in North America. She graduated
from Windsor University in Ontario in
2012. She spent one semester at Keele as
a Study Abroad student in 2008. We met
Cristina a few weeks into her MA course
to see how things are going.
So, Cristina, what are you doing at
Keele now?
Dynamic Duo
Combine for US
Bestseller
Neil Smith (1980) has sent us a great
reason to attend Keele events for alumni.
Neil says, “I don’t think that even you realise
how your newsletters and the events you
put on for Keele alumni pay off in all sorts
of unpredictable ways. Little did you know
that when you introduced Rick Levak (1971)
to me at a Keele event a couple of years ago
that something creative would come out of
it. We put our heads together and I have
just published a book – and Rick is a key
contributor. The book is now a New York
Times Bestseller! So... the moral of this story
for all Keele alums is that you never quite
know where a Keele reunion, homecoming
or event might lead and the more Keele
guys you put into a room, the more the
creative juices flow!”
They Wouldn’t Let
Homecoming Die
“I am doing a postgraduate course – MA
in Criminology and Criminal Justice. I have
always found the subject fascinating – I
remember it was sparked off as a child
when I read about Jack the Ripper. On
my first trip to England I walked around
Whitechapel but this year I plan to track
down a Jack the Ripper guided tour
in London!”
How did you first hear about Keele?
“In my second year at Windsor (Ontario),
I decided to do an overseas exchange.
My grandfather told me a lot of stories
about England because he had lived in
England for a few years after leaving Italy.
I narrowed my choice down to Keele as
soon as I saw the photos of Keele Hall
on the website. I even got a little bit
emotional when I saw it – but it’s proved
to be even better in reality...”
What was your first impression of Keele
when you arrived?
“As a Study Abroad student I was
nervous at first of all the new people,
and it was my first time in England. But
after I tried out and joined the football
team that all changed. The football girls
were sitting on Keele Hall lawn and one
afternoon they invited me over. It was just
like some of the pictures I had seen of
students sitting on the lawns and it felt
perfect! I also joined the Drama Society
and my friends were so supportive of
me during my performances. I have met
some wonderful people at Keele and I
have made true friends – everyone has
been welcoming and friendly. In fact I
am planning a reunion in London in 2013
with all my old Keele friends together.
I feel at home here – I love the campus,
the people and the education system.
I really enjoy the flexible approach to
learning – it’s more exploratory and more
like a discussion than a lecture. In fact,
it’s magnificent, far above and beyond
anything I expected.”
What are your aspirations for five years
from now?
“I am going to stay focused on my course
and then I hope to work with the police in
Canada, using my criminology knowledge.
I am also open to opportunities in the UK
too. Whatever happens, I plan to travel
and to stay part of Keele.”
What do you hope to gain from your
scholarship year at Keele?
“Well, the course is already better than
I hoped. The lecturers have tailored
the programme to reflect my specific
interests and those of the 24 or so people
on the course. My particular topic is
‘Edgework’ – the ways in which extreme
or ‘on the edge’ behaviours occur in
modern society and how that applies to
criminology. I am so excited to have the
opportunity to study at Keele again.”
Anything you would like to add?
“My scholarship depends on the kindness
and generosity of fellow Keelites in
Canada – I want to thank them for
being so kind and supportive. They have
changed my life and made my dream
come true, to study again at Keele! I met
some Keele alumni in Toronto a couple
of years ago and they were wonderful,
and it felt like one family despite our
difference in years from a gentleman
in his 80s right down through all the
generations to the youngest, me, who
had not even graduated yet. Thank you
all so much!”
Whether you are in the Class of 2012 and
this is your first anniversary since leaving
Keele, or your fifth or even your tenth,
celebrate at your old home-from-home
with your Keele friends.
The Alumni Office and Students’ Union
created the first Keele Homecoming in
2008 and the disco was attended by over
350 alumni. Numbers each year usually
exceed 400 at the legendary Never
Forget Disco in K2 (Students’ Union).
Our dream is for Homecoming to become
that regular sunny date around which all
Keelites build a get-together with their
own circle of friends. We postponed
Homecoming in 2012 but the Back to
the Bubble Gang and the League of
Extraordinary Keele Gentlemen wouldn’t
let Homecoming die! In 2013 for the first
time, alumni volunteers from the Gang and
the League are planning Homecoming.
Help them make it live in 2013.
The Union promises food and drink all
day and the Lounge Bar will be open
with free pool and live sport on screen!
Plus, breakfast on Sunday morning. Our
volunteers promise activities to revive old
memories and create new ones.
Homecoming is FREE to attend during
the day.
Disco tickets £5 available from the
website KeeleSU.com or buy on the day
or FREE to holders of a valid silver or
gold Gradcard.
Book your Horwood room at
conference.management@keele.ac.uk
Confirm attendance on the Homecoming
2013 Event (Forever: Keele) or email
Emma Gregory in the Alumni &
Development Office.
Homecoming is Saturday 29th June 2013
3pm to 2am.
36 37

What
Happened
To…
1954
Stan Beckensall: I can share the publication
of my two books, Northumberland Hills
and Valleys and Hexham Through Time,
and one on Northumberland old churches
will be published soon. I have recovered
well from my stroke last April.
1956
Stanley Cooper: Still sailing my boat.
1957
Mary Bianco (Becker): An eventful year
with travel and reunions. The big trip was
to show my family where I grew up in
England and Scotland as well as the Keele
50th Reunion.
1960
Isobel Palmer (Miller): I have recently
downsized from a large, old, Georgian
style house giving me more time to devote
to voluntary work for the National Trust.
1961
John Idris Jones: I had a short novel titled
Madocks, based on the life of William A
Madocks. He gave his name to the town of
Porthmadog. I have completed a second
novel on a Porthmadog theme, Sail.
1962
Ann Hall (Butcher): I emigrated to teach
in Montreal. I married a Canadian teacher
and we returned to Scotland. We divorced
and now I live in Moffat. We earn a living
by book indexing and teaching indexing.
Both my children also went to Keele and
loved it!
1964
Christine Francis: My work has chiefly
been in science journalism. I now enjoy
a happy retirement, devoting time to
playing the recorder.
1965
Janet Toye (Reason): After jobs in the Civil
Service, teaching and research, I retrained
as a counsellor and psychotherapist. I am a
Quaker and Universalist and join others in
campaigning on behalf of asylum seekers,
economic justice and sustainability.
1966
Jennifer Robertson (Castle): I was county
commissioner for Western Isles Girl
Guiding and a trainer.
1967
Ros Kane: I wrote a book called ‘To have
an only child,’ and founded Carefree
Kids which trains community volunteers
to do therapeutic play in schools. I also
founded the News From Nowhere club in
Leytonstone with monthly meetings on
the arts, history and other topics.
Ian Taylor: I am executive chairman of
Living PlanIT SA which develops software
for urban areas connecting devices,
sensors, and infrastructure. I chair the
European Advisory Board of Brooks
International and advise the Dolma
Development Fund which works mainly in
Nepal with local entrepreneurs to alleviate
poverty by creating sustainable jobs.
1968
James Harris: I retired from science
teaching and Elizabeth (Addington-Hall)
(1970) retired from being a school
librarian. We have moved to Poland to
encourage and strengthen the
Protestant church.
Judith Hollingsworth (Fletcher): Our
daughter is studying for a PGCE at Keele.
Susan Soyinka: Since retiring as an
education psychologist, I have become a
writer. First book was From East End to
Lands End and my second A Silence that
Speaks was published recently.
1970
Stephen Booth: I have retired after 42
years teaching history. I dabbled with local
politics, becoming a councillor and Stone
deputy mayor. I am a local history speaker
as well as treasurer of Stone Historical &
Civic Society. I have published several local
history articles using Keele’s facilities.
Julia Ibbotson (Adams): As well as
running our home, kitchen garden and
orchard, and being wife, mother to four
and grandmother to four, I’m still working
as a senior lecturer at the University of
Derby. I’ve reduced my hours this year
as I am growing my work as an author.
I returned to creative writing with The
Old Rectory: escape to a country kitchen
about the renovation of our Victorian
rectory and am writing my new novel
‘Drumbeats.’ My academic work, ‘Talking
the Walk: should CEOs think more about
sex?’ is re-issued too.
John Park: My novel Janus is scheduled
to be published by ChiZine Publications in
Toronto in September 2012.
Ian Robinson: Recently retired after 17
years as Principal of Sterling Hall School
in Toronto.
1971
David Cotton: After a short spell teaching,
I trained as a town planner and worked in
Lincolnshire and Leicester before retiring
in 2011.
John Heys: I’m a director of a number of
companies including Career-Cam Online
Ltd, a career guidance company.
Frankie McGauran (Shaw): I was one of
5,000 people randomly selected to run
five miles into the Olympic Stadium on
March 31, 2012.
Steve Mills: Having retired from teaching
American Studies at Keele in 2009 I
taught history at Ruskin College, Oxford,
for three years. I have now fully retired in
order to write full time.
Ellen Oliver (Ryan): I have just retired from
teaching and am in the process of setting
up my quilting business, working from
home and teaching patchwork classes.
Jeff Sedgley: I have finally retired and
now live in Spain with my partner.
1972
Nick Leonard: I taught history for 10 years
and worked for a number of international
companies in business development roles.
Nine years ago I retrained as a professional
tour guide and now guide parties, families
and individuals of all ages and nationalities
to attractions throughout the UK.
John Wilde: After leaving Keele, I went
to live in Le Mans where I have been ever
since. I retired in September 2011 from
teaching at the local university here.
During my career, I worked on a committee
which decided the national curriculum for
teaching English and was an examiner
for the competitive exams which enable
students to become teachers in France.
Aris Zacharoff: I have recently become a
father to a beautiful girl!
1973
Jil Dobson: Now semi-retired but still
working as an examiner for the English
Speaking Board.
Margaret Lee (Davies): I gained an MSc in
Business Systems Analysis and Design from
City University in London; have been in IT
ever since. I still manage two weeks of skiing
every year. I am now working as a project
manager with Tata Consultancy Services.
Owen Kelly: I worked as a community artist
in London and wrote Community, Art & the
State. I worked as a freelance designer, and
created and taught a multimedia course at
Lambeth College. I moved to Finland and
taught online media at Arcada University
in Helsinki. I am currently completing my
doctoral studies at Aalto University.
John Strain: Now in my fourth career:
teacher, naval officer, academic and
now a vicar! Met Margaret on my first
day at Keele in 1968 – and now married
for 40 years with two children and
two grandchildren.
1974
Diane Charnock (Wainwright): Set up
my own executive search business in
2011 and enjoy the freedom working for
myself brings. Able to spend more time
travelling and looking after my two-yearold
granddaughter Constance.
Brian Heaton: Having reached the age
of 60 and about to become a granddad
for the second time, I have passed the
advanced driving challenge and urge
many of my age to try it!
Ann Lester (Mason): Remarried in July
2012 and very happy. Gave up teaching
eight years ago for a less stressful life but
still working in a school three days a week.
Stuart Raymond: We have moved to
Trowbridge after 20 years in Exeter.
Andrew Williams: I went to Switzerland in
1975 in pursuit of Jane (Campbell). We now
have two kids and are probably planning to
leave Scotland in a few years’ time to live
in France and make the perfect ratatouille.
1975
Peter Hall: Married to Anne Hall (Thackray)
(1975) for 36 years. Retired from RBS/
NatWest as regional director after 35
years and now partner in Executive
Recruitment. Still playing a lot of squash
and golf and managing to get into the old
men’s Yorkshire team (over 50s).
Peter Tillisch: For 30 years I have been
running a business supporting people
who may need help because of their
disability or age. I now own two care
homes supporting older people. I live in
North London, am married to Christine
and we have three children in their teens.
1976
Tony Bartley: Became a teacher at Sandbach
School, married a Keele graduate. We have
three sons, two of whom went to Keele.
Stella Lambert: Retired from Staffordshire
Probation Service – now breeding rare
breed sheep on a smallholding. My son,
Edward, graduated at Keele in 2005 and
is now a probation officer.
Jim Moran: Took up my new post in Cairo
as EU ambassador to Egypt in February. A
fascinating time to be in this ancient land!
Read more about Jim’s story on Page 3
1977
Andrew Cassie: Have been running CIB, a
marketing agency for 27 years now. I have
started to coach my grandson’s under 8’s
football team.
Gillian Cook: I was awarded a scholarship
year to the University of Massachusetts
at the end of my third year at Keele. To
earn the money for my return ticket I got
a job working with emotionally disturbed
adolescents in a residential treatment
programme. I loved the work, stayed, fell
in love and got married. I worked in mental
health for 18 years, got divorced, remarried,
and had two children, Kate (20) and Nick
(16). For the last 15 years I have worked as a
textbook editor. I live in in an old farmhouse,
have a large vegetable and perennial
garden, and am looking for ways to live and
work in both the USA and the UK.
1978
Andrew Howitt: After leaving Keele I
went into teaching and followed the
career to two secondary headships. I
started my own consultancy company in
2008, training teachers and working as
education consultant to F1 in schools. I am
now CEO of Louth Education Community
Interest Company, managing and
developing Louth Town Hall as a major
community and education hub.
Robert Hume: I work for the East Kent
Health Needs Education Service, teaching
children who are too ill to go to school.
I write features for the Irish Examiner
and books, including several children’s
historical biographies. In 2010 I wrote
Thomas Crapper: Lavatory Legend to
commemorate the centenary of Crapper’s
death. My latest book, Clearing the Bar,
is about the German high jumper, Gretel
Bergmann, and her dream of taking part
in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Read more about Robert Hume on
Pages 16-17
Rick Potter: Can’t believe we have been in
Argyll now for nearly four years. Started
to record my second album (first was in
1994) and playing twice a week now. Still
working in recruitment and still enjoying
finding engineers new positions.
1979
Lilian Atkin (McConway): I remained in
Newcastle for three years, working as a
probation officer. I then moved to East
Yorkshire to marry Keele grad Tony Atkin.
Have worked for Humberside Probation
Trust ever since and currently manage a
team of offender managers in Bridlington.
Tony and I have a son (aged 28) and a
daughter (aged 26).
Edward Charlton: Living in
Pennsylvania, running a small publishing
company, Scribbulations.
Annabelle Howard: Married the American
on campus, Forrest Stone. Our older child
is called Keele and is a stand-up comedian
in New York City. The younger one is at
university in Connecticut. Forrest and I
created a non-profit that runs an online
‘motivational learning league.’ We had
22,000 kids enrolled last year. I also write
fiction and occasionally try to step away
from the computer.
Peter Meade: I have been working as a
freelance science writer and photographer
for the last five years. I write for the
pharmaceutical industry and photograph
equestrian sports. During the summer, I
watch and umpire as much cricket as I can.
Phil Osborne: Phil and Vana (Honsdale)
(1978) are living near Farnham. Phil works
for Surrey County Council as Head of the
Early Education and Childcare Service.
Vana is assistant head at Calthorpe Park
Secondary School in Fleet. We have two
children, Dagan and Aleiya.
Barbara Smith: I work in peace-building
in post-conflict countries, recently in East
Timor, Angola, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Sudan and DR Congo.
Guy Walsh: Married with three children,
working in Birmingham for a Dutch bank,
providing funding for businesses.
1980
Paul Garland: Took time out last year to
walk the Camino Frances to Santiago de
Compostela in Spain and plan to do the
same next year, starting from Lisbon.
Currently in the hospitality industry.
Carlos Piedrahita: I went to the London
School of Economics then came back
to my home country of Colombia where
I have worked for 30 years, the last 12
for Grupo Nutresa (branded processed
foods), as CEO. Married with a son and
a daughter.
Helen Terry: Radical changes in jobs
(journalism, press officer, Anglican priest,
now music teacher). I suffered from cancer
and now live with two adult children.
1981
Jenny Bending: Went back to Zimbabwe
the year after graduating but left in 2004;
now living in New Zealand.
Jeremy Daines: Petroleum geologist, now
a consultant.
John Dawson: Established and ran The
Spark Magazine in Bristol for 15 years. Since
2000 I have been passionately helping
people who hate public speaking to get
over it. Married Clare Hughes in 2003.
Kim McKibbin: After 30 years in London
working as a criminal barrister, I have left
the Bar and escaped to the country with
husband and dog.
38 39

Eric Rose: After serving as Social Secretary
at Keele in 1981-1982, I worked in the
entertainment industry. In 1986 I moved to
New York where I spent several years in
the newspaper business and attained an
MBA before becoming a financial planner
and ultimately opening my own practice.
1982
Christine Clarke (Foster): I am a
police constable.
Peter Chadwick: Travelled the world!
1983
Jazz Matharu: Had fun making music until
parents asked me to get a ‘proper job’.
Was chairman of Arts Club Mayfair and
run own tax practice for people in film,
TV and music and the arts and also run an
IT company.
Val Clarke (Dodd): Now living in
Huddersfield with my husband Wayne
(1983), working in Christian retail.
Wayne Clarke: I’ve now left the BBC after
working as a radio producer and presenter
for 11 years. I’m now minister of New North
Road Baptist Church… Val (Dodd) and I
have been married since 1984 and our two
children are both undergraduates.
Eileen Harrop (Chew Khean Geok): The
Rev Eileen Harrop is the first woman from
South East Asia to become a Church of
England ordained minister. Married to
Brian Harrop (1990), Eileen first worked
in an English inner-city high school then
after a Masters degree in Diplomacy,
managed hospitals. A telephone call
from a ‘headhunter’ took her into the
world of business and industry, advising
international blue-chip companies around
Australasia. She and Brian returned to
England to set up in business working
with clients from Britain to the Urals.
Illya Torbica: I’ve been in International
Sales, working in North and East Europe.
In October 2011, I met by chance Ian Brunt
(1983) on a plane and have kept in touch
with him since then, and he’s the one who
directed me to reconnect through the
‘Lost Class of 83’. Cheers Ian, we`ll have
that weekend drink soon.
Chris Hill: After living for many years
in New Zealand I am now settled in
Sydney, Australia.
Olwen van Woerkom (Enright): In
September 2012 I began studying
International Development at University
of Amsterdam.
1984
Jo Baldwin (McKellow): Living in
Oxfordshire, remarried two years ago in
the snow in Cornwall. Now have three step
children plus two boys of my own aged
21 and 18. Working as an FM Manager
for Carillion.
Robert Evans: After working in London,
Canberra and Belfast, I ended up in
New Zealand.
Miranda Mawer (Barry): Working in
Wellington, New Zealand; hoping we’ll
have a house built by next year.
David Vayro: I am a partner in Gateley, a
UK top 50 commercial law firm. My area
is construction and engineering and I
specialise in EU and domestic procurement.
I am married to Ruth and we have two
gorgeous boys, Oscar (6) and Luca (4).
1985
Rosemary Gorell (Mee): About to move to
Perth on the next stage in my life journey
and in the process of writing another book.
Peer Schmitz: I am now working in
Munich as a systems administrator for
a medical research centre. Married with
two wonderful daughters!
1986
Gillian Jowett (Bourne): I did an MSc
in Land Management at UEL from 1989
and have been a Fellow of the RICS
since 1993 and a surveyor for 24 years. I
remember my time at Keele as a mature
student with much pleasure. I met Sir
David Attenborough and Patrick Moore
at Keele. A fabulous four years.
Simon Miller: I work in PR and currently
run government and media relations
projects for Telefonica O2. I have been
married to Kate Jenkins (1988) for 20
years and we have two sons.
Grace Osuman: I have become an author
and publisher. I write for Primary Education
in Nigeria. The books are titled My Aa
Bb Cc Book Series, for nursery/primary
children. I also have written poems for
secondary education, a novel for senior
education and currently have a book
being reviewed.
Martin Williams: Now happily remarried
and living in Perth, Western Australia.
Niall Wilson: After leaving Keele I moved
to Stockport with Christine Baker (1984).
Chris and I married in 1989 and have two
sons who are both now at university.
I taught in primary schools, before
training and working as an educational
psychologist. I now work as an NHS
clinical psychologist with children with
autism and mental health problems. I
haven’t acted on stage for years and
instead satisfy myself vicariously with
visits to the Edinburgh Fringe.
1987
Bridget Appleby: Now back in the office
after a decade of working at home (and
looking after James and Matthew). Now
Malcolm is retired I have completed
a Masters in Occupational Health and
Safety, and I’m currently on contract to
Cancer Research UK, helping with health
and safety guidance.
Marcus Brown: From being made redundant
last year, I am now working freelance as
a self-employed SEN consultant in East
Riding. We now have three daughters with
Sophia being born last October.
Julie Draysey: Primary teacher; driving
instructor; emigrating.
Antony Edwards: A long and varied career
in the oil and gas industry with BP and
BG Group has led to me starting my own
consulting company. Married to Marcela
who is from Chile, with three small children.
We travel and ski as much as possible.
Julie Jones: Lived in London after
graduating and started my career in HR.
Moved back to the North West over 20
years ago and live with my lovely partner
Steve and our dog.
Jennifer Sutch (Ibbott): I married just
after graduating and have four sons –
three of whom are now experiencing
university life for themselves! I continued
to write but nothing published. After
years of being a full time stay-at-home
mum, I’m now a newly qualified teacher
– of English of course!
Alwyn Teh: Married Clare Lucas in 1991
and we have three children, living in
south-west London.
Karen Walsh (Costello): Am married
to Ian and we have a six-year-old son.
Have recently started work at Lancaster
University project managing a new HR
system implementation.
1988
Amanda Carr: I am now working at the
UCL Institute of Ophthalmology for The
London Project to Cure Blindness.
1989
Bernard Emmett: Worked as a maths
teacher in Botswana (1995-2001). Since
returning, have worked as a supply
teacher and for Royal Mail since 2005.
Maria Skrzypiec: Happily living in the south
of France, working as a freelance editor.
Sian Sweeting (Williams): After graduation
I worked in IT for 11 years. I am married to
Jim and have two sport-mad sons! We
have moved around a bit for job reasons
and lived in Staffordshire, Yorkshire and
now Nottinghamshire. We also spent three
years living in New Zealand, before settling
back in the UK. I have now retrained and
work as a School Bursar in Leicestershire.
Andrea Veale: Living and working in
Devon as marketing manager for an
architectural firm. Two teenage kids and
more grey hair than I’d like!
Julie Welch (Harrison): Living in Herts – still
in HR after entering it over 20 years ago.
Now Group HRD of medium-sized logistics
company. Married with two teenage children.
1990
Maria Cavanagh (Dodd): Working in Nigeria
on a justice sector reform programme.
Andrew Fountain: I live outside Glasgow
with my wife and son. I still occasionally
ski, sail and run (if my son insists on
having company).
Sara Guy (Clift): After 17 years living in
East Yorkshire, our family has moved to
Dorset where husband David is director
of sport at Sherborne School. My children
are now 8 (Lucie) and 5 (Jamie).
Andrew Hartshorn: Married Jill Smith and
now working as an IT lawyer in Birmingham.
Dawn MacKay: Would love to hear from
old friends!
Stephen Thornley: Was made redundant
after 20 years in local government. Currently
retraining as a primary school teacher at
Homerton College, Cambridge University.
Colette Wilson (Hunt): Now mum to
Zachary (born 2009) and Savannah (born
2011), I currently work part-time.
1991
Gavin Coles: Moved to Hong Kong in early
2012 after five years in fantastic Australia,
I am still jumping back to Europe many
times a year to spend time with my two
children from my first marriage. Remarried
a rugby-mad Kiwi and a new baby on the
way in 2013. Still enjoying working in a
specialised field in banking which involves
stopping people doing bad things.
Dominic Crisp: Made and lost a million.
Married twice with three beautiful kids. Live
on a remote farm in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Michele Gates (Al-Ghashi): Went on to
Chester College of Law and qualified as a
lawyer in 1992.
Claire Hogan (Metcalfe): Since graduating
in 1991, I have worked in a variety of roles
for international companies in finance
in London and Microsoft (in Seattle and
Dublin). I am currently the central marketing
group controller for Microsoft based in
Seattle. I am married to a ‘Seattleite’ and we
have two children, Oliver and Alicia. Spare
time is spent following football (US version)
and having fun!
Abd Zabar Sion: I continue to pursue my
career in IT as a Business Analyst working
in the gas and power industry with a
Shell joint-venture company, Brunei LNG
Sendirian Berhad.
Yvette Thornley: After Keele, I worked
with the homeless and unemployed in
Cambridge before studying law and
qualifying as a solicitor. Now a lecturer in
law for the Open University.
Francis Yam: I have been working in IT
since graduating. The family migrated
to Australia in 1995 and later became
Australians. Later got an MSc in UTS in
Sydney. Currently working for Scotiabank
in a strategic investment project as the
Deputy Head of IT in the Bank of Xian in
the ancient city of Xian, China.
1992
Randhir Amoganathan: Worked in
London and subsequently returned to
Singapore. Got married and moved to
Perth in Western Australia. Currently
balancing time between work and an
energetic young son.
Shelley Brooks (Ruddell): Enjoying being
a really old first time mum! Just got into
cycling and love working in public relations.
Cheung Chock Mun: Was originally the
general manager of Diageo Plc, the
global drinks giant, heading the travel
retail business for Greater China. Left
the company last year and embarked on
our business. Now own a chain franchise
across Shanghai with six outlets.
David Harrison: I headed to Sheffield
to do a Master’s and PhD in Philosophy.
I added a PGCE and became an English
teacher, before moving into education
research. Just moved to Cambridge to
make a new start and a new life!
Amba Wade: I did MA Medieval History
from York University before joining the
National Railway Museum as a curator.
I published a book on royal train travel.
I moved to the charity sector for five
years, working for Marie Curie Cancer
Care and then Barnardo’s. I now work for
central government in communications. I
got married to Stan in 2004 and our son
Alexander was born on Christmas Day 2010.
1993
Stephen Booth: After over 12 years in the
same house (longest I’ve stayed in one
place without living somewhere else at
least part-time), I have moved into a flat
owned by my sister.
Begona Carreno-Gomez: Married, living in
Switzerland, working for Novartis Pharma
and awaiting my first baby due in January
2013. Still enjoying skiing and Eastenders.
1994
Gary Moss: Since October 2010 have
enrolled as a bell ringer at St Andrew’s
Church, Chippenham. Now ringing for
Sunday Service on a regular basis.
Stephanie Riviers (Glasson): Divorced in
2007 and remarried in 2010 a Frenchman
called David. I am stepmother to an
11-year-old boy who lives in Paris. For my
40th birthday last September, we walked
on the glacier in the Vallée Blanche
underneath the Mont Blanc which was an
experience never to be forgotten.
Catherine Williams: Now living in South
Devon with partner Chris, and working
at the Peninsula College of Medicine
and Dentistry.
1995
Robert Bray: I’m now a songwriter,
performing musician and recording artist.
Recently married and became a dad.
Shoa Abedi: I have emigrated to the USA.
Zoe Hancock (Thomas): Currently living
in Singapore with my family. My children
have just started school so I am keeping
busy volunteering and starting to look for
a new job and career.
1996
Laura Neilly: Living and working in Kyoto,
Japan, as a high school teacher.
Nicolas Olivari: I completed military
obligations in Limoges (obligatory back
then) where I taught English as a Foreign
Language to military personnel. I moved
back to the UK to read International
Political Economy at Warwick. I have been
working in banking since late 1999, first in
Bristol and then in London.
Sonja Smith: I recently changed jobs
so I’m now working out in Essex rather
than Central London. I’m still working in
education but I’ve started working with
14-19 learners rather than just adults.
1997
Nikolas Katountas: I am currently in
Athens, having established my legal office
since 2006. Prior to that I graduated
from Athens Greek Law School and
took theatre lessons. Been working as a
musician as well.
Emma Tovell: I joined the Tesco graduate
training programme and went on to
hold national HR roles in logistics
and manufacturing, as well as a spell
in management consultancy before
deciding that although the money was
great, life was boring! I left it all in 2009,
moved back to Norwich and did my PGCE
at the University of East Anglia in 2010. I
am now a reception teacher in a fantastic
school in Norwich. In the middle of all of
that, I am now a mum to Joe who arrived
in March 2010. I’ve never been happier!
40 41

David Williams: Since 2000 I’ve been
working as a self-employed musician and
piano teacher in Lincoln. Robin, my eldest
son, is studying Commercial Music at the
University of Westminster. Meanwhile my
partner Emiliana and I are expecting our
second child in April. Our eldest, Jacob,
was three in December.
Beverley Woolrich: I have two beautiful
children and am disabled by SPMS. I keep
smiling and remembering how lucky I am!
Keele was an amazing part of my journey,
thank you.
Ross Yiasemides: In 2011 I completed my
PhD at the University of Sydney.
1998
Samantha Bailey (Eve): Enjoyed four years
with Tim as an ex-pat in Houston, now in
leafy Hampton, still working in finance,
studying for accountancy exams. Two
beautiful children, still happily married!
Anthony Evans: After working in the sport
of boxing as writer and press agent, I
moved to the world of Ultimate Fighting
Championship in 2007. Worked my way
up to head of media for Europe, Asia and
Australia before accepting role as Head of
Media based out of Las Vegas office last
year. I published two books on the sport,
which can be bought from Amazon.
Christopher Lean: I did a PGDip in
Professional Writing at Falmouth College
of Arts. Worked for a magazine publisher
in Bournemouth and became an editor.
Moved to London in 2007. Now working for
a charity (NAS) and edit the membership
magazine. Married in 2011, baby boy born
July 2012.
Sarah Taylor: I took up a position of
lecturer in ecology at Keele in 2008 and
education officer for GeoConservation
Staffordshire in 2010.
1999
Cheryl Field: After my degree at Keele I
completed a Masters in Archaeological
Prospection at Bradford. I am currently
working as an Environmental Consultant
at Jacobs, working on water resource and
flood risk projects.
Deborah Molloy (Gooch): I moved up to
Edinburgh and got a job in the Scottish
Executive. Am now on kiddie number two
and about to become a full time mummy.
Catherine Scott: I’ve just won Pharma
Times Sales Recruiter of the Year.
2000
Nelson Almeida: Back in Brazil, living
in Recife. Teaching at University. Father
of Nelson Almeida Junior, Anna Cecillia
Almeida and Thiago Rocha.
Ralph Bunche: New York-licensed attorney
with expertise in commercial litigation
and experience advising governments
in transitional societies on commercial
transactions and law reform. I have also
advised or represented victims of human
rights abuses in a variety of contexts.
Annalisa Wooler (Schontal): Living and
working for an airline in Australia.
2001
Gillian Dobson: Have been teaching
science in a high school for 10 years.
May Jelliti: Now living in Tunisia after
having just married my delightful
Tunisian husband. We met while I was
working as the logistics manager for
Save the Children UK’s response to the
Libyan revolution.
Andrew Stoker: I have worked at Thomson
Reuters in London since January 2002
as a software developer and am now
manager for the systems management
development team. I married in 2011 and
have two wonderful children who I hope
one day will pay Keele a visit!
Jaana Rissanen: I moved back to
Finland and I am currently working in
financial services.
2002
Richard Bagshaw: I made the most of my
degree, working for 10 years in the City
of London in finance. I moved to Seattle
in May 2011 to gain some experience on
the other side of the pond – and the West
Coast lifestyle is a huge bonus!
Nicholas Brown: Kerry Taylor and I
will be getting married in April 2013 in
Northern Ireland.
Xavier Cousin: Emigrated to Australia in
2007, finally settling in Western Australia
in 2009 where I married my beautiful wife
Joelene. We have one daughter, Charlotte
and another little girl on the way in
March 2013.
Richard England: Exploration geophysicist
currently working in Brisbane, Australia.
I have worked in the UK, Nigeria
and Kazakhstan.
Diego Garro: Settled down at Keele
where I live with my wife Lily (also a Keele
graduate) and our daughter Valentina.
Emma Hill (Bough): Qualified as a solicitor
in 2007, married in 2008, first child (baby
boy) in 2010.
Diane Roberts: Did MRes in 2003, HE
Teaching Cert in 2004, divorced in 2005
and finally finished the PhD in 2011. I
worked at Keele as a full-time researcher
throughout it all then took a new post at
Manchester University in March 2012.
Alexandra Rogers (Powell): My son Finley
was born on 30th August 2012.
Katie Ta’ssell (Cunningham): Married on
26th May 2012.
Kerry Taylor: Nicholas Brown and I will
be getting married in Northern Ireland in
April 2013. In summer 2012 I performed
with the Hallé Choir in the BBC Proms.
Jane Woodyatt: Continued to study at
Wolverhampton University where I did
forensic science. I am now a science
technician in a secondary school.
2003
Brian Beckett: I moved to Hanoi in
Vietnam in July 2008 with my girlfriend
from Keele. Now my wife! We have been
living there three years and are expecting
our first child at the end of July. My Keele
degree proved very useful in getting my
first job in the development sector.
Darren Bland: Happily married with a
baby girl and another little girl due in the
New Year.
Sarah Grady (Smith): Completed a PG
Diploma in Personnel Management and
gained my CIPD accreditation and I
married my Keele boyfriend, Liam in 2010.
Jon Hopper: Following my medical
studies at Keele, undertaken while I was
working at the UK Department of Health, I
moved into executive management in the
medical devices industry.
Sandra Nicholls: Working for a
global outsourcing company as a
senior consultant.
Edward Swann: Climbing Kilimanjaro in
July 2012.
2004
Rachel Forsyth: I worked at the National
Trust for four years as a warden and
now managing volunteers, training and
community projects at a private charitable
trust in Cobham. I live in Epsom with
my partner.
James McIntyre: Now working as a
financial adviser for Taylor Patterson with
the hopes of becoming a director within
the next five years.
2005
Natalie Blackburn: Now living in the
Middle East working as a VIP Flight
Attendant for a Royal Family.
Rhiannon Brown (Jenkins): I began work
for an international investments company
in a problem-solving department. I gave
that up to do a gap year as a youth worker
in south east London schools, estates and
churches. I met my husband and became
an ecumenical youth worker. I then
went into teaching and became head of
department after my NQT year teaching
religion, philosophy and history.
David Cartwright: I’ve had a few jobs,
been travelling, got married in 2009 and
now I run my own company building
soundproof studios.
Christopher McSharry: Travelled the
world. Lived in China for a year. Studied
CIMA and passed all exams and currently
in the process of completing my career
profile to become a fully qualified
management accountant.
Roxy Rudzik-Shaw (Rudzik): I was
shortlisted for a Mental Health Hero award
under the category of Professional Hero –
Therapist’s Award for my work with RRS
Counselling Services.
2006
Gemma Daffern (Berry): Got married to
Gary Daffern whom I met before Keele
after 11 years together (2011). I joined the
Police in 2006 as a civilian and Gary and I
have started our buy-to-let portfolio.
Ellen Hickman (Lundberg): Tom Hickman
and I got married last year. As proof of
Keele’s matchmaking ability I have a
photo of 12 people at the wedding, most
of whom graduated in 2006. I met Tom
at Keele and all the other couples in the
photo also met at Keele and are now
engaged or married.
Phillip Rogers: Met Katy McGibbon on first
day of Uni in Hawthorns A block. I moved
to Liverpool and moved in with her in 2008
and married in 2012. We both worked for
Keele security; Katy was a resident tutor. I
am now a lead employment and business
advisor for mental health and Kate is
in business marketing for a well-known
architects. Babies to follow soon.
2007
Stephanie Coverdale: After working
for two years as a Mental Health Act
administrator I returned to study for my
MSc at East Anglia and qualified as an
occupational therapist in 2012. I have
now moved to Norwich permanently to
work in a medium secure forensic unit
in the therapy team helping mentally
ill offenders.
Richard Mould: I completed an MSc in
Quantity Surveying at London South
Bank University. I have now qualified
as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and
continue to work in London.
Christopher Winfield: After graduation,
I undertook the Network Rail Graduate
Programme and progressed to project
manager. I am also a member of the
Association for Project Management
and studying for an MSc in Project
Management through Warwick
Business School.
2008
Sarah Andrew: Still in the area, now in a
civil partnership with Gemma Ward (2010).
Roxanne Armitage: Applied for RAF but
was refused due to childhood asthma,
so now I’m a support worker for autistic
adults in a day care centre. I also race
motocross every weekend and go on
yearly road trips round Europe.
Johanna Jarvis: Running own
international astronomy communication
and consultancy business.
2009
Emily Gaffney (Wildon): I went to King’s
College London to do an MSc in Forensic
Science and went from there into a job in
the forensic science world.
Lindsey Wolfe: Became an HR advisor
and studying for my CIPD accreditation.
2010
Alison Beech: Currently working for an
online ordering company in the West
Midlands. In the process of buying my
first house!
Laura Inman: I recently completed my
initial teacher training at Cumbria and I
started as an NQT (English) at a school in
Cumbria in September 2012.
Caroline Wallett: I have a PGCE in
secondary education for music and drama
and I now work in Leek.
2011
Jessica Bell: I worked as part of the
security teams at the Olympics.
Russell Booth: I’m creating a new product
from scratch and will be handling all
branding. My business inventORinvest will
be launching an online uploading service,
similar to Dragons’ Den for inventors.
It’s all been very exciting and most
importantly good fun.
Dk Nor’ain Pg Haji Hashim: Made the
most of my MA from Keele. Currently, I am
working in the HR department of Brunei’s
Central Bank.
Sam Higham: Vice-President of KUSU
(Education) and I have now set off into
the world outside the Bubble!
James Marriott: I decided I would like to
make a change and become an airline
pilot. I have since begun a course at CTC
Aviation and should be flying jets within
a few years.
Udeni Mudiyanselage: Successfully
completed MSc with Merit. At present I
am working as a senior software engineer.
Thomas Parry: Moved to Harpenden
to work as payroll supervisor for an
outsourcing accounts department for
recruitment companies.
2012
Padmanaban Sekaran: Presently
appointed as Chief of Physiotherapy
& Rehabilitation Services in a leading
Orthopaedic Superspeciality Hospital
in India.
Duc Tran: I returned to Vietnam after
graduation. Now working as an investment
analyst at Korea Investment Management
Company in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
42 43

In Memory
1954
John Thomas
1956
Kay Smith
1957
Peter Shenton
1958
John Periton
1960
Malcolm Keir
1961
Judy Henman (Kenyon)
Marion Williams (Brinkley)
1962
Roy Preston
Maureen Smith (Harrop)
1963
Jack Fanning
Joan Riley (Morton)
Tony Gifford
1964
Libby Cropp (Gillies)
1965
Barbara Miatt
1966
Elizabeth Key (Sloan)
1967
Keith Cuninghame
Nigel Hollingdale
Norman Priebatsch
Nicky Stanton (Pontin)
1969
David Healey
1970
Martin Dutson
1975
Pat Scott (Bennett)
1977
Dave Chell
1979
Les Abel
1981
Robert Holdridge
1994
Thomas Ajoy (Kar)
1997
Lynn Peart (Christopherson)
1998
Natalie Bennett
James Davies
1999
Rosaleen Corvan
Kieron Legge
Tina Mackay
Yvonne Walton
2003
Jonathan Thompson
Sean Tull
2008
Sandra Hudson
2010
David Stier
Keele in the City 2013:
Rendezvous on the River
If you have ever said to one another, “We
must get together”, and then struggled
to fix a time and place, Keele in the
City is the solution. No speeches, no
presentations – just a chance to mingle
and meet Keele pals, rub shoulders and
exchange gossip and memories.
Keele in the City 2013 coincides with the
Lord Mayor’s Show so we will share our
celebration with Fiona Woolf CBE (1970
Law & Psychology), Alderman of the City
of London and recent past President of
the Law Society of England and Wales.
Make it a Big Keele Day Out!
Saturday 9th November
The Procession: The Lord Mayor’s
Procession has floated, rolled, trotted,
marched and occasionally fought its way
through almost 800 years of London
history and has become one of the world’s
best-loved pageants. Cheer the Keele float
and students between Mansion House
and the Royal Courts of Justice then via
St Paul’s and the Embankment between
11am and 2.30pm.
Keele in the City: Spend an afternoon
in London doing a few of your favourite
things with your Keele pals.
Rendezvous on the River: Join us aboard
ERASMUS 1 for an evening river cruise
along the Thames, 8pm to 11pm. Cruise
Tickets will be £10 (numbers limited by
capacity of the vessel).
44

We want to
hear from you
The Forest of Light stands at the heart of the
campus and symbolises alumni at the heart
of Keele.
Your views about Keele are very important
to us. We want to involve alumni as we plan
for the future experience of students and the
next steps in the University’s journey.
We want you to be involved with Keele:
• Support students
• Support employment and
other opportunities
• Support our academic schools
and research
• Celebrate our heritage
• Influence our ethos and values
• Enhance Keele’s reputation
• Help us improve Keele for the future
Keep Connected
• Update us online at
www.keele.ac.uk/alumni/contact
• Get the Alumni Mobile App at
www.keele.ac.uk/mobile-app
• Find us on Facebook: Forever: Keele
• Link up through LinkedIn:
Keele University Alumni
• Interact on Twitter: @KeeleUniAlumni
• International Alumni: join your Keele in
the World network
• www.keele.ac.uk/alumni
Please complete the survey booklet with
your up-to-date contact details, tell us your
news for “What Happened To” and share
what Keele means to you and how you might
be involved. All of these questions have
value for us and will be followed up.
Thank You!
And to show just how much we appreciate
your responses we are offering a prize – all
returned surveys will be entered into a prize
draw for an Amazon (or equivalent) voucher
valued at £250.