We are a group of Bedford Alumni who keep in touch by WhatsApp and hold a get together, usually at 11 Bedford Square, once or twice a term. We started the group in 2020 and now have 43 members.

Many members can’t get to meetings often but just enjoy contributing to the chat or reading what others have to say. Sometimes a few members use the chat to arrange to meet up for a meal, to go to the theatre or a museum.

Our meetings are quite informal and wide-ranging. We meet at about 1pm and bring our own lunch and something to share while we introduce ourselves and share memories. Each meeting usually has a theme, for example at our last meeting on 10th March Jennifer described her fascinating hobby of paper marbling and brought in some beautiful examples of her work. We also celebrated Carol’s 85th birthday with cake and wine.

At our meeting on 12th May when our discussions were informal and covered difficulties of life in today’s world and as we get older, moving house, increases in energy and insurance bills, reminiscing and the importance of trying to write autobiographies for our families. It is always a pleasure to meet up with others whom we may not have known at Bedford but with whom we seem to have a common bond. Bedford alumni are always such nice people, we always find.

We have arranged a day out to visit Rochester City and Cathedral, guided by Sarah on June 10th and you would be welcome to join us.

In October we are planning to visit the Bedford Archive at Egham. We will be back again at Bedford Square for our annual festive celebration in December.

If you would be interested in joining the WhatsApp group please get in touch by emailing the alumni team (alumni@rhul.ac.uk), including your phone number email address, your subject and date of graduating. These will be passed on to me and I will gladly add you to the chat so you can keep up to date with our events.

Betty Hales (Physics, 1973)