The Alumni Dinner Returns! - the “Phil, Adrian, Jürgen and Willy Special”

On November 16th, the Department held its first Alumni Dinner (aka the Greenough Dining Club) since 2019. It was really good to see so many of the old faces there as well as some new faces. In all, 45 people attended the event, which began with a reception with sparkling wine in the new Rock Room in the Kathleen Lonsdale Building, during which several alumni took the opportunity to tour the Department. The Dinner itself, which was held in the JBR (probably known to most alumni as the Upper Refectory), also served to mark the retirement of Professors Phil Meredith, Adrian Jones, Jürgen Thurow and Willy Burgess, who between them had worked in the Department for more than 125 years. Other fairly recent retirees, who were, alas, unable to come on the 16th, were Professors Kevin Pickering and Tim Atkinson, and John Bowles, who was the Department’s Chief Technician for many years. At the Dinner, Phil, Adrian, Jürgen and Willy were each presented with a small gift and four very large greetings cards were circulated for people to sign. From their brief speeches of thanks, it was clear that all four retirees had greatly enjoyed their time at UCL and, indeed, that all of them had felt privileged to have worked in the University. 

Image: The 2023 Earth Sciences Alumni Dinner in the JBR: Foreground: Matthew Wadey, Frances Cooper, Matthew Steer and James Hollingsworth (1999 – 2002/3); Background: James Lee, Sarah-Jane Showunmi (Bickers) and Jack Hulme (1996-1999/2000)

Sadly, since the last Alumni Dinner in 2019, several notable former members of the Department are no longer with us. These include: Professor Aral Okay (a former undergraduate), Professor Desmond Donovan (Head of Department from 1966 to 1982), Professor Mike Audley-Charles (Head of Department from 1982 to 1992), Professor Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel, Dr Judith Milledge, and Janet Baker.