It's 50 years since the first students enrolled in the School of Environmental Sciences!  On 2nd and 3rd November, 19 of of us, together with eight of the original faculty, celebrated with a reunion at UEA. 

The field trip to the restoration of the the River Glaven at Bayfield Hall (see photo above) organised by Richard Hey was a highlight of the weekend.  It reminded us of what enriching - and memorable - experiences field trips are, and how they enhanced our understanding of the environment.

However, we learned from Prof. Andrews that in recent years, field course enrollments have fallen.   Current ENV students have to pay directly for any residential field trips associated with their courses. Many find such trips hard to fund and therefore may miss out on this great learning opportunity. 

As students in the 1960's, we all got grants to cover our tuition fees, plus living costs for some.  Today's students don't - and many graduate with debts of over £50,000. 

So we felt it was appropriate to help current students who do not have the benefits we had. That's why we've set up this donation page to raise funds for the ENV Field Trip Bursary. 

We have arranged a 1 for 1 match fund, so every donation will be doubled.

The current Head of School and Faculty will decide which of the current students receive contributions to the field trips from the bursary.

We hope we will start a tradition for all future 50 year reunions to set up a similar bursary. 

Many thanks for any contribution - large or small!

The Reunion Team:

Jane Barkell, Andy Green,  Marcelle Speller, Pete Thair, John Usmar