Life at Sussex

Celebrate sixty years of Sussex through special objects chosen by our student, staff and alumni community.

Bert Kitchen painting

I would like to nominate a painting by Bert Kitchen, presented to Sussex in 1969 by Granada TV for winning University Challenge in 1969.

I was on the winning team and I remember the painting went on display in The Old Refectory (now Bramber House), with a plaque naming the team members. I'm glad to hear it's now being rehung in the Library.

Sussex was on a high in those days, being the first of six new universities that launched in the 1960s. We were told that after our win, there was another surge in applications to the university. Certainly, the then Vice-Chancellor (Asa Briggs) seemed very pleased with us, and the team had a rather nice champagne reception on his lawn out near Lewes (and perhaps the UC situation was some help in encouraging leniency from some of my MAPS lecturers/tutors if my attendance at lectures and tutorials was less than 100%...).

Albert Beale, Physics with Maths (MAPS), 1969

Original Sussex scarf

I chose the original Sussex scarf as an iconic Sussex object, because apparently the original design was replaced by a scarf with a crest soon after. The original scarf is plain – blue one side and red the other.

I know that I acquired the scarf in my first year at Sussex – which was 1962. I think most students had one at that time – we were new there and the university itself was brand new (the first of the new universities established since the end of the war) so we felt a great deal of pride in where we were and who we were.

In those bygone days, prior to global warming, Brighton seemed to be one of the coldest places on earth, and the scarf was essential to ensure that one could return home with both ears still attached to one's head.

When I left Sussex in 1965 the scarf was still with me and has remained packed away so that it followed me to Israel, where I have lived since 1966, and whenever and wherever we moved. Happily, in Israel there is seldom a need to wear a woolen scarf of this sort.

Larry Adar, Social Studies (SOC), 1965

Blue milk in Park Village

I'd like to suggest a bottle of milk dyed blue. In the residences in Park Village in the 1980s, students shared one kitchen for each corridor. Keeping hold of your food was a challenge, theft and pranks were frequent. One, which was very unpopular but thought funny by a delinquent few, was to dye milk bright colours. Still edible but no one wants blue milk in their tea!

Stephanie Clay, Biology (BIOLS), 1992

Programme for the first student production

 

The first-ever student production staged at the then innovative Gardner Arts Centre was Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance written by John Arden. The play was an “unhistorical parable”, confronting the ethics and consequences of war.

Under the creative direction of John McKay, the three performances, in March 1970, were a sell-out. The lead was memorably taken by Jim Carter (later to find fame as Mr Carson in Downton Abbey). The superb supporting cast was packed with many who became luminaries in the acting world: Michael Attenborough (son of Lord Attenborough, Chancellor of Sussex 1998-2008), Nicholas Woodeson and Ian Giles. I was the production’s stage manager.

I worked for four years in the City before I went to Sussex and then went back to the world of risk and finance in 1972 and became a Lloyd's Underwriter. In fact, I only retired six months ago as a non-executive director of a Lloyd's managing agency. So, I did not become a thespian in any way.

My time at Sussex, however, was one of the best episodes in my life; especially as I met my wife Sue, in ENGAM, and we will be celebrating our golden wedding anniversary next year.

Terry Hayday, English (ENGAM), 1972

Meeting House

The Meeting House, which I first visited many years ago as a wedding guest, is one of the most perfectly realised university buildings in the world.

The circular structure, made from a honeycomb assemblage of individual concrete blocks, with a beautiful play of light through the multi-coloured glass windows, offers Sussex a metaphor for thinking and acting differently. It creates an open and hospitable forum for the meeting of minds and a dialogue between equals, bringing those on the margins into the circle of shared space.

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Vice-Chancellor, 2022

Graduation teddy

I bought a university teddy bear when ordering my graduation gown in 2007.

I went to Sussex as a mature international student, having worked full time for seven years in Japan. It was a big change, but I really enjoyed my time at Sussex and ended up staying in Brighton after graduating.

My parents visited me from Japan to attend the graduation ceremony. As a child, Jurassic Park was one of my favourite films and I could not believe I was going to receive my graduation certificate from one of its stars, Richard Attenborough, who was then Chancellor of the University.

Noake Akiba, International Relations (Sussex Institue), 2007

Students’ Union t-shirt

This is a T-shirt that I still wear, even if very old, because I am proud to be a Sussex University alumna. I bought it from the Students’ Union shop to show my sense of belonging to Sussex Uni in a simple and natural way.

I studied at Sussex in 1991-92, thanks to an Erasmus study grant. I enjoyed learning and knowing a different teaching method, besides living on campus (at York House). I made friends for life in many parts of Europe and the world. I also got my Cambridge Proficiency thanks to the University’s Language Centre. I still feel gratitude for the whole experience. Greetings from Imola, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Elena Gardenghi, International Relations (AFRAS) A Y 1991–1992, Erasmus student for 9 months, from Bologna University Alma Mater Studiorum Università degli studi fi Bologna, 1992

Aerial shot of campus, 1979 

I studied at Sussex from September 1976 – July 1979 and took this aerial photograph in 1979 from a Cessna 4-seater, which we flew from Shoreham Airport (a grass runway/landing strip in those days!).

I lived in 84 Essex House, 10-12 (I think) York Avenue (then university-owned), 63 Lancaster House, and during my final year in the Essex House Bungalow, which housed five students back in those days.

During my studies at Sussex, I met (and married in August, 1979) the mother of my children, Marion, who is also a Sussex graduate (BA in Developmental Psychology, 1979). My oldest son met his girlfriend, now wife, when he studied at Sussex, and they graduated from Sussex in 2006. With the youngest son perhaps studying there too, it is quite a “family university” for us.

When my oldest son, Tommy, and his then girlfriend, Charlotte, graduated, we were lucky enough that Sir Richard Attenborough was the Chancellor. He held the most fantastic speech I've heard in my life for the graduates and their families. Not a dry eye in the house, a real performance, from a fantastic person and actor.

(Image copyright: Gunnar Berg Kristoffersen)

Gunnar Berg Kristoffersen, Mechanical Engineering (ENGG), 1979

A photo of Sussex friendships

This photo was taken by me in AFRAS common room around 1986 and is of three wonderful Sussex women, all undergraduates with life ahead of them. Left to right – the beautiful and talented Ruth Ani and the kindest and most creative soul on the planet Alison Aird. They both sadly died young and are no longer with us. The third woman, the incredible Dr Charlotte Skeet, is still at Sussex and has spent her career teaching the next generation. She turned 60 this year and has lived every day to the fullest in memory of our two dear friends.

Sumithra Balasuperamaniam, Politics (AFRAS), 1989

Sussex Alumni Yearbook

Each year, final-year students are given the chance to the share their favourite memories, photos, and highlights of their time at Sussex in the University of Sussex Alumni Yearbook.

We have produced it a printed book since 2005, and in digital form too since 2018. Students answer up to eight questions to build a unique profile summing up their Sussex experience.

With nearly a thousand entries, it gives a real insight into what students have valued about their time here – most recently the challenges of studying through the pandemic and how important their friendships and families have been in supporting them through the journey.

There are also the funny anecdotes, stand-out lectures, and amazing facts learned on their degree course, which make for an interesting read. I’m still amazed at how many different answers we get when asking students to sum up their time at Sussex in just four words. Here's a little snapshot: “It’s been a movie”; “Friends made for life”; “Unexpected, enjoyable, pandemic-y, unforgettable”; “Fun, complex and fleeting”.

Sally Atkinson, Alumni Relations Manager

University tie

I have really enjoyed going through the 60 objects, which was a great initiative. It brought back so many memories from my more than 40 years working at the University.

I always wore a tie to work and hence my suggestion of including the University ties in the list of objects. The one on the left is the Former Sussex Students Association tie, the centre version is the formal one we used to sell at graduations, the third is the Sports Federation tie.

I tended to favour the centre one of three, which I often wore, particularly on occasions such as graduation ceremonies. They always remind me of a most enjoyable and fulfilling career at the University.

Charles Dudley, retired Director of Residential and Campus Services (2017)

Mysterious stone sculpture

I have worked at the University for more than 20 years, writing about all aspects of campus life, and have still to discover the story behind a strange stone sculpture that sits on the lawn north of Sussex House.

It has no dedication plaque and doesn’t seem to be documented in our archives. Tantalisingly, its design looks like a solved puzzle, while its provenance continues to be an unsolved puzzle. And, while I would like to know how it came to be, I rather like its mystery.

I am also an alumna and have a long-held affection for the campus environment. Although there have been many changes, I still feel a slight thrill whenever I arrive for work and get that first glimpse of Falmer House through the trees.

Jacqui Bealing, University Writer, Developmental Psychology BA (CCS), 1989, English MA (HUMS), 2009

Red paint

In 1968 I threw red paint over Robert Beers, the US Embassy Spokesman at a teach-in on the University’s campus because I didn’t believe what he was saying about the Vietnam War, particularly his denial of the types of weapons being used. Why red paint? The abattoir was closed, we couldn't get pig's blood.

I never regretted throwing it, although I was rusticated and banned from the campus. Thanks to the university’s senior academics at the time - Asa Briggs, David Daiches and Marcus Cunliffe – I was allowed to sit Finals and get a degree.

Bertrand Russell sent a witty telegram to the university. It said, “I heartily approve of the action of these honourable students. I shall buy that miserable man a new suit if the USA gets out of Vietnam.”

On the 50th anniversary of the incident the Argus ran an article about the paint throwing, showing me and Merfyn Jones, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Bangor, who was with me at the time. Merfyn still has the denim jacket he wore on the day, which was splashed with the red paint.

Seán Linehan, American Studies (ENGAM), 1968

Wine Press student newspaper

During Sussex’s 1960s heyday as a hotbed of student revolution, the weekly student newspaper Wine Press was an essential platform for debate and dissent. I spent far more time working on the paper than I ever did on my academic responsibilities, and it is undoubtedly why I ended up spending my life as a journalist rather than as anything more respectable. To me, Sussex will always be newsprint, hot metal and all-nighters writing newspaper copy, not essays. For better or worse, it paved the way for everything that followed.

Robin Lustig, Politics (AFRAS), 1970

My Sussex badge

Although I was never a member of a sports club while at Sussex, I chose to acquire this badge as a memento of three wonderful years there (1974–1977). I seem to recall that one could purchase it regardless of any sports affiliation.

Also, I never had it sewn on to anything, but have carefully and proudly treasured it over the years and throughout many moves.

Sedat Nemli, Environmental Science (MOLS), 1977