Glyn, John, and Robert (1963)
With work set to begin on the new Waynflete development next year, we met up with Glyn, John, and Robert – three alumni from the class of 1963 – to talk to them about what it was like to be the first students to live there.
On a crisp October day, with the sun shining and the trees along Magdalen Bridge glowing gold, we retraced the steps they took as Freshers and headed into the building they hadn’t been back to in over 60 years.
It’s easy to have imagined they would talk about the huge differences from today, but their stories felt remarkably familiar, despite the passage of time. They could have been three enthusiastic Freshers sharing tales of late nights, punting on May Morning, rushing to tutorials, and, of course, making new friends
The Waynflete Building may be changing, but it’s good to know that the stories will stay the same.
What was it like coming to Magdalen on your first day – walking across the bridge and realising you were in the Waynflete?
Glyn: It felt good. It was a different world to the one we’d been used to. Everything was strange and exciting, and slightly daunting as well. But living in the Waynflete itself was an good experience. Because you were living, as it were, cheek by jowl with everybody, we made friends very quickly and probably we bonded rather better than we might have if we’d been living in college proper.
John and Robert: I think that’s right. Yes.
John: I felt excited and intimidated. I think in a way I was relieved to be getting away from home. The room I had here was better than the room I had in my parents’ pretty modest house in the Midlands. We all bonded. I have here two incredibly good friends from that time. That’s 60 years ago. That’s a hell of a long time!
Were you happy to be in the Waynflete?
Glyn: Yes. It was quite new!
John: Yes, spanking new. I liked it so much I came back for my second year.
What is your best memory of living here or the best thing to come out of living here?
John: The social side.
Glyn: The friendships. Friendships develop anywhere in university but there was something about living here, maybe it had something to do with it being new, that was particularly conducive to our getting to know each other and our getting on with each other. I also remember meeting people from other parts of the country. I know it sounds banal, but for some of us from the North, it was simply the first time we had met people from London, Birmingham and elsewhere.
All in all, it was a great place to be, but the building is looking tired and it’s good that it will be replaced. Today’s students deserve something better.
What do you hope for the next generation of students who’ll live in the new building?
Glyn: I hope that the young people who live here get to learn for the sake of learning and enjoy the whole experience of being here. I think it was the experience of a lifetime.
John: I would wish that they would get full value from the three years they spend here, because I look back and say, I wish I had done such and such. I wish I’d gone rowing. I wish I’d played more tennis. I wish I’d spent more time using the facilities and enjoying life here at Magdalen.