Eastbourne Looking Back: Memories of a PE student at the University of Brighton - part 8

‘The BIG PE Party!’ is an event taking place on Saturday, May 11, at the Winter Gardens, in Eastbourne.

It is the reason I have been writing fortnightly articles for the Retro section of the Eastbourne Herald, since January 19, this year.

The purpose being to relate and show snippets of the life of a student over the years, at what is now the University of Brighton, but was once Chelsea College, based in Meads. Sadly, as we all know, in June of this year, that tenure will be ending.

Recently, the five of us in the organising group decided that it might be helpful to introduce some of the older, local ex-students to each other, before the event.

Any event can be intimidating when visiting alone. But, the large venue and maximum capacity ticket sales of nearly 1,500 meant that walking through the doors of the Winter Gardens that night could possibly be quite terrifying.

Consequently, we invited Joan, Frances and Pam to the Hydro Hotel on Friday, April 12, for afternoon tea and to meet each other. And an added bonus for me, was to organise it!

What could be better? Tea, cake and chat: three of my favourite things!

Furthermore, with several ex-staff still living in the area, the three of us from the organising group were soon playing host to twelve! And what a fab afternoon it turned out to be.

To be expected was the predominance of memories of Chelsea College, as it was. Such as, the various sports we played, how ‘good’ we were as students (interesting!) and of course, the friendships forged, which have lasted 40, 50 or even 60+ years!

Without exception, everyone, both students and staff had positive memories.

Eventually, we made our way home, but not before planning another get together later in the year. And for me, that is one of the best memories of the afternoon!