Would you like to join our WhatsApp Group to keep in touch with other Bedford Alumni who live or work in London?
In February 2020 a few Bedford Alumni who live or work in London decided to form an informal group to meet up regularly at Bedford Square, in addition to the more formal meetings held prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Before we could organise our initial meeting the first lockdown happened in March 2020. Like most others, we assumed things would be back to normal within a few months or so. However, six months later we decided to form a WhatsApp group so we could keep in touch more easily. It is now nearly a year later and the group has grown and is quite active.
We are hoping to be able to start holding meetings at Bedford Square before too long but in the meantime, we have held a few meetings on Zoom to introduce ourselves. We are from various departments and have told each other about memories of our times at Bedford College, including fascinating stories about our various accommodations and other experiences, from the 1960s to the 1980s. We have even managed a few outings in between lockdowns and are beginning to form some real friendships, not easy when you are only meeting on screen or wearing masks! Our first non-virtual meeting was in May this year, following the difficult second lockdown from January to April. Despite it being a very cold and windy day, Kaye, Class of 1981, wrote, “It was so nice to meet up and enjoy Regent's Park again and meet others who were also at Bedford. I am so glad to have met you all and have a chance to reminisce about our (different) years there. We must do it again.” Others echoed this sentiment.
Since then, we have fitted in a few more trips, including a visit to the ‘Women’s Solidarity Banners’ exhibition, in June. The banners were all made as part of a national community project about 5 years ago. We planned to visit the Holmes Garden, once a part of Bedford College, housing the electron microscope, but now a private home. It was due to be open to the public for one day in July but, unfortunately, this was cancelled so we had another walk around Regent’s Park where the rose garden was in beautiful bloom. We are now planning our next outing, to meet up for lunch, in October.
We are still keen to use Bedford Square for a regular termly meeting as soon as it is available again. We envisage that each meeting would have a theme and everyone who attends would be welcome to make an input following an initial introduction. There would be plenty of time for informal discussion and an opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones. We plan to take turns in leading meetings and explore our own experiences and expertise to give a presentation or introduce the chosen theme, rather than always inviting external speakers. We could bring our own lunch and refreshments rather than booking catering, avoiding the need to make a charge to attend. The meeting dates and themes would be posted in the Newsletter and communicated to all Bedford Society members but we will also maintain the WhatsApp Group for planning and generally keeping in touch between meetings.
WhatsApp has proved to be a great way of making arrangements and offering each other support during some tough times. If you are interested in joining the group, do please get in touch by sending an email to: alumni@rhbnc.ac.uk
Please include:
- Your name
- Dates and Department at Bedford
- Current mobile phone number
and I will be delighted to add you to the group.
Betty Hales, Committee Member
Physics, 1970-73
