Sharing memories

Do you have a story to tell about living and studying in St Andrews? Perhaps you would like some help filling a niggling memory-blank, or simply want to relive some of the magic of the ‘bubble’? Whether you spent your university career in the library or the pub, revising or beating your friends at a sport you hadn’t heard of before the Freshers’ Fayre, this is the place for you to tell each other - and us - what you recall of your student days. Please send your recollections, anecdotes and questions to langsdoer@st-andrews.ac.uk, along with your name and year of graduation.

Modern Languages Alumni Reunion 25th June 2011

 Well over a hundred alumni who graduated any time between the 1950s and the Noughties attended our recent reunion held in two stages. In the afternoon we gathered in the Buchanan Building most graduates will remember well. The classrooms and lecture theatre have undergone a total refurbishment but many of the offices have changed little over the years. Current and retired academic and support staff joined the reunion and after a few short speeches by the Head of School Professor Margaret-Anne Hutton, Professor Emerita Helen Chamber and Morven Fraser, a current research student, there was time to catch up, to spot friends and teachers in old photographs, to share memories of peers and professors present and absent, and to hear about recent developments in Modern Languages teaching and research. Read more

Wartime memories

 These documents were supplied by Margaret R. Cameron (1938-1942) who graduated seventy year s ago – and then went on to do Honours. Whilst she was a student, Margaret taught English to Polish servicemen who were stationed in St Andrews. Having graduated with Honours in 1942 she joined the war effort and right after the war she spent time in Hamburg helping with the de-nazification of schools. Her peacetime career was spent in teaching. Margaret has been enjoying her retirement in Edinburgh. Read more

1952 Bejantine
Jean Miller (neé Ogilvie) 1952-55 MA French and German

 I went up to St Andrews in 1952. We didn’t need winter wear as the red gown was impervious to all weathers. There was still a hangover of rationing after the war and we had to take our ration books. I stayed in Chattan for my three years at St Andrews under the eagle but very understanding eye of Dr Steele. Undergraduates shared a room and I was fortunate to share with my best friend from school who is still my best friend. We didn’t share the same taste in boyfriends! Read more

Memories of St Andrews (1957-61)
by Raymond Calcraft

 "That man will sing!", said Professor Woodward of the Spanish Department, pointing at me, a few days into my first term at St Andrews in 1957. Little did we know that becoming students of Spanish was likely to involve an invitation to sing in the Renaissance Group, conducted by one of our other lecturers, Douglas Gifford. Read more

Alastair Reid, MA (Hons)
French and German 1973-1978

 At this time most of the Modern Language Department (and library) was concentrated in the Buchanan building. Unlike many of the older, more beautiful University buildings, the ‘Buch’ was a paradox. The place always seemed cool and empty whenever you walked in, but as your ears grew accustomed to the stairwell, it filled with a distant, gentle murmur of endless fascination. It was like some harsh Tardis lined with monastic cells of excellence, each decorated with its own chaos of books, scattered papers and images of mediaeval treasures. But the place inspired, or rather the people inspired. Read more

"Gracias por todo, Ferdy"
by Howard Davies

 I graduated from St Andrews in 1975 with an MA Honours degree in "Hispanic Languages and Literature". The title of the degree is significant - we all took at least one extra language other than Spanish itself and Portuguese, Catalan, Quechua and Guaraní were all on offer. The Spanish Department then was considered one of the liveliest in the University and life in the Department had a habit of spilling out well beyond the lecture theatre. It helped that the Department was housed in Castlecliff by the Castle overlooking the North Sea and the staff very quickly made the house feel more like a home. Read more

The way things were in 1968
by Bernard Bentley

There was a great buzz in the air, as there is every year when Bejants first arrive in St Andrews for the pre-sessional week even if they are now called Freshers and arrive for Orientation and no longer looking for the purchase of a second hand red woollen gown. The new buzz was further intensified by the student demonstrations and paving stones in France and Spain earlier in the year. It was also the year of the Beatle’s “White Album” (two LPs) and when I first listened to Leonard Cohen. This was also the last year that the train linked Leuchars to St Andrews. Read more