24 | FOREVER Keele
ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS
Keele couple celebrate their golden wedding anniversary at Keele
John Davnall , Economics & Chemistry , Class of 1971 , reflects on his time at Keele and meeting his wife , Sarah .
Sarah ( Psychology & Sociology and Social Anthropology , Class of 1970 ) and I met by the happy chance that we were born only four days apart . A second happy chance was having a mutual friend who bridged the gap in Keele years caused by Sarah arriving there a year earlier than me . I met Ian Bentley ( Biology & Chemistry , Class of 1971 ) in our mutual first year and struck up a friendship which continued into P1 when it happened that we both took Chemistry . Ian met Sarah through one of the student societies .
When Ian and I found out that our birthdays were close together we agreed to hold a joint 21st birthday party at the start of the Summer Term in 1969 . Sarah came along on set-up day to help and Ian introduced her to me . Little might have come of that , except that Sarah and other friends had planned their 21st birthday party for the following weekend and I received a reciprocal invitation . On this occasion we danced together and , as the saying goes , the rest is history .
Another bit of luck was that both of us had had gifts of equipment to make proper coffee . That interest , and overlapping tastes in music , were good grounds for a relationship .
Sarah managed to find employment near to Keele for the final year of my studies and , indeed , for my subsequent tenure after graduation in 1971 , of the post of Student Union Secretary . We married as I started in that role . It was a simple civic ceremony in Stoke Registry Office which was followed by a reception in Stone .
After a year , we moved to Manchester where I had found employment at what was then the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and Sarah ’ s employers kept her on with work in their Manchester Office . Keele was not out of touch though – several friends extended their studies and there were visits up and down the A34 . I joined the committee of the Keele Society - the forerunner of the present alumni activities - and through that connection and the occasional concomitant membership of the University ’ s Council , continued to be a visitor .