Joe Jackson – photo by David Gans, CC BY 2.0
I have such happy memories of my time at Keele in the summers after the exams. 1982 was no exception.
For those who have come late to this “forty years on” series, I wrote glowingly about the glorious time I had at Keele late June 1981 – click here or below:
In June 1982 there was a football world cup and the union did a lot of “big screen stuff” to encourage business and to enable most of us to watch. (In those days a TV was a luxury item that only slightly better off students had). I probably watched more football during that 1982 fortnight at Keele than I have watched in the forty years since.
Plus there were the balls, the parties, the inaugural International Fair…and of course, lots of chat.
Tuesday, 15 June 1982 – Last exam this morning. Drank at lunchtime. Watched Scotland versus New Zealand – went to union – Pete [Roberts] came back for coffee after – late chats.
I had forgotten that I befriended Pete (or Pete befriended me) at that stage. I have good memories of Pete getting involved with our anti-cuts campaigning the following term (he was sabbatical Education & Welfare in 1981/82) but I now realise/remember that those conversations started in the summer of 1982.
Wednesday, 16 June 1982 – Latish rise – dossed around. England V France in afternoon. Spain V Honduras in evening -> bar -> disco. Sharon and Louise came back after.
Thursday, 17 June 1982 – Got up early. Went shopping -> Carol’s [Downes] for coffee. Dossed around Keele in afternoon. Northern Ireland v Yugoslavia in evening. -> bar and reggae disco.
Carol Downes had been sabbatical Education & Welfare in 1980/81. She was super friendly, very encouraging to those of us who were active in the Student’s Union and had presumably finished her finals by then. Sadly, she is no longer with us 40 years on.
Soon the weekend beckoned…
Friday, 18 June 1982 – lazyish sort of day – drinking lunchtime – cooked tonight. Watched the football -> union disco * early-ish night.
Saturday, 19 June 1982 Early start – got things done. Jon [Gorvett] came round in afternoon – watched footy in early evening -> Jazz Night -> Y Block [Hawthornes] party, somehow got home.
I apologise to football lovers that I stopped reporting which match was which. They probably all merged into one in my head and (as you can probably tell) I was not making full use of my cognitive faculties by that stage of the term. This on-line resource might help you. I assure you it doesn’t help me.
The Y Block party will have included Ashley Fletcher, Miriam, Nicola, Heather, probably Simon Jacobs & Jon Gorvett too, plus many others. I love my “somehow got home” comment – how many of us Keele alums from that era must remember staggering to or from Hawthornes in a state of…not really being capable of staggering quite that far?
Sunday 20th of June 1982 – Rose quite hung over – went down to International Fair most of the day – watch football in the evening. Joe [Benedict Coldstream ] came back – played cards till late.
I have talked about the birth of the International Fair in earlier posts – e.g. this one. I am very proud of the fact that I was involved in the conception of this wonderful Keele tradition. I was also involved in its delivery at times, but it seems not so much in that first edition of it, unless “hungover attendance” qualifies as delivery.
Why Benedict Coldstream became known as Joe is lost in the mists of time. I think Richard Van Baaren gave him that nickname early in our time at Keele because he didn’t believe Benedict’s real name.
The card game in question was almost certainly Piquet, the Keele origins of me & Joe playing that game are described at the end of this piece.
Monday 21 June 1982 – rose quite early – easyish day about the place – watched football – went to Lindsay Ball in evening – Osibisa v good.
Dave Lee also gives this Osibisa concert a superb review in his book The Keele Gigs. But now I come to think of it I did provide him with my feedback , so I was probably one of his main sources. It was an ideal concert for a summer ball at University – fun Afrobeat that just sounds like sunshine. Below is a live gig of theirs from the following year – it should make you smile for a good few minutes:
Tuesday 22nd of June 1982 – Rose at a reasonable hour – got results – went to meeting in afternoon.
Evening battle of bands etc in the union – [?? someone] came back to flat after – up all night chatting etc
Wednesday 23rd of June 1982 – easyish sort of afternoon – went to Barnes to watch footy in evening – went to bed.
Apologies to whoever it was whose name I scribbled so badly I cannot work out who came back and chatted all night after the Battle of the Bands. Perhaps someone can help out by deciphering the original diary page (below) – there are people out there better at reading my handwriting than me:
Thursday 24th of June 1982 – Rose quite early. Sorting some things out. Got roped into playing cricket all afternoon. Went to ball in evening (Joe Jackson pretty good). Up all night –
I have written up the cricket story separately, some time ago – click here for the Ogblog posting…
…or if you prefer the King Cricket style, it is written up differently on that site – click here or below.
I was impressed with and remember enjoying Joe Jackson at the Summer Ball. It was a pretty darned impressive gig, with Joe Jackson on the verge of getting properly big (i.e. breaking through in the States) at that time. You can see a good live vid from that era below:
Friday, 25 June 1982 – Went to went for brekkie in Newcastle with Sandra. Got subsid results. Meeting in afternoon – watched football – lounged around – took early night.
Sandra – from the previous year’s summer term – reappeared at that Summer Ball (I suspect she had been doing finals between times rather than actually disappearing) allowing us to spend just a little more time together before she left Keele. I didn’t remember the bit about going into Newcastle for brekkie, but if I wrote that in my diary, that’s for sure what we did.
Saturday 26th of June 1982 – Spent all day packing etc – went to union in evening – ok.
Sunday 27th of June 1982 – Mum and dad came up – went down to London – easy evening.
My second academic year at Keele was over.
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