Summer On Campus

With exam season drawing to a close (my sympathies to those continuing their studies through the summer), now is an opportune moment to relax and soak up some rays around the University campus.

Students on front lawn of Fielding Johnson Building, 1952
Taken from: University Archives, ULA/FG/1/3/20

Victoria Park will undoubtedly be filled with picnickers, sunbathers and various sporting enthusiasts. Making the most of the sunny weather whilst on their lunch break, were these fashionable ladies of the 1950s:

‘Lunch in the sunshine on Victoria Park’, c.1957
Taken from: Student Union Press Cuttings Book, SU/PC3

Summer Barbecues

Whilst hosting a barbecue is a classic British summertime activity, I wonder how many student barbecues will feature a hog roast?

In what was described as a ‘mammoth barbecue’, a sizeable feast was organised by University students in the summer of 1960, and held at Granby Halls (now the Leicester Tigers car park). An article in the Student Union Press Cuttings book recorded:

‘It was no leg pull when students in Leicester went shopping yesterday for 100lbs of sausages. They ordered 50 loaves as well, 30 gallons of milk and a 75lb porker by the name of Frankenstein’.

Local building sites provided bricks and sand to help construct the outdoor cooker, whilst recreational activities saw guests ‘dance and jive until past midnight’. Most unusual to this barbecue however was their inclusion of pancake tossing!

Amazing as this barbecue sounds (vegetarians aside!), it is perhaps unlikely that the student budget of today would quite stretch to buying this large amount of meat. Equally, I can’t imagine 30 gallons of milk would be the drink of choice either!

Alternatively, if a barbecue sounds like too much hassle how about a spot of tea instead:

Tea in the College grounds, 1926
Taken from: University Archives, ULA/FG6/1/5