For a period of time from the late 1960s to the mid ‘80s, all students at Chelsea College/Brighton Polytechnic as it was, celebrated ‘Halfway Day’.
This was the date when second year students on the three year CertEd/BEd PE course were literally halfway through their course: in February.
On this day, lectures were, shall we say, somewhat disrupted!
In advance of the day, the second year students would decide on a theme. Our year chose ‘Nursery Rhymes’.
Each of the five groups picked a particular rhyme, which included Humpty Dumpty, Three Blind Mice and Old Macdonald Had A Farm, and they dressed accordingly!
Our day was mapped out... We got up early to get dressed up and trotted off to lectures, as expected - more or less. Okay, in some cases, definitely ‘less’. Additionally, we performed a dance routine in the middle of town and we had a disco in the evening to finish off an extremely busy day!
Exhausting, but a lot of fun. And a lot of sore heads the next morning!
The additional purpose of Halfway Day was to collect money for charity.
We collected for the ‘Help a London Child’ charity, which contributed to a week’s stay for children from London at Chelsea Children’s Camp, held at Hindsland playing fields in Willingdon, each year.
This was run by students and took place during the first week of the summer holidays. I was lucky enough to be involved one year.
One method for raising money for our charity was: kidnapping! Yes, this regularly occurred each year!
I’m sure you can guess who our victims were? Of course: members of staff!
These poor lecturers had their hands tied and were blindfolded so that they didn’t know where they were being taken, which was generally a student flat.
The reasoning was that if the staff didn’t know where they were being kept, the students who lived in the flat couldn’t be held to account!
When I think about it now, it seems pretty extreme!
Naturally, the staff weren’t released until sufficient money was paid for their ransom. Happy days…
1. Eastbourne Looking Back: Memories of a PE student at the University of Brighton - famous students!
Kate at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Photo: Steph Lock
2. Eastbourne Looking Back: Memories of a PE student at the University of Brighton - famous students!
Helen at Lords, in 2017 Photo: Steph Lock
3. Eastbourne Looking Back: Memories of a PE student at the University of Brighton - famous students!
Helen Photo: Steph Lock
4. Eastbourne Looking Back: Memories of a PE student at the University of Brighton - famous students!
Jan, a record-breaking cricketer. Photo: Steph Lock