The university’s move means that students from one of its most well-known and visible subject areas, Physical Education, will be moving too.
But not before many of my friends and fellow PE graduates from across the decades make a final visit back to Eastbourne! In May, 1,400 of us will gather at the Winter Gardens to reunite, remember and celebrate the success of this educational institution at ‘The BIG PE Party!’
It will be 75 years in 2024, since Chelsea College of Physical Education (now the University of Brighton) set down roots in Eastbourne.
Thirty years after that, I chose to become a Chelsea College student and trained to be a PE teacher. In some ways it was a lifetime ago, but some memories are as fresh now as when they took place.
Those initial nights were hard. I was so homesick!
I had never been away from home before and whilst I wasn’t that far from home in Surrey, the distance felt vast.
The pay phone at Granny’s was my connection to home. No mobile phones back then. Early on, the daily calls to my poor mum were probably pointless, due to my blubbering.
But miraculously, by Christmas, I was cured. In fact, I didn’t want to go home at all! By then, I had made friends and felt settled… Of course, getting acquainted with the Ship and the Pilot might also have tipped the balance.
That time as a student was a step into a different world, and one which changed and determined my life ahead. As the university has decided to close the campus this June, a walk down Memory Lane seems appropriate.
So, over the next few months I will be sharing some funny, sad, momentous and idiotic moments from those past years, which I hope you, the reader, will enjoy.
1. Memories of a former PE student in Eastbourne
You might remember that before the current local schools provided the ball girls and boys for the annual International Devonshire Park tennis tournament, Chelsea College provided the ball girls. This photo shows a group of College girls lined up ready to ball-girl on Centre Court, in 1979. That was the summer of my first year. I’m second from the right and, no surprise, I’m talking! I loved ball-girling! I was lucky enough to be picked each year and it was such a lot of fun. Photo: Archive
2. Memories of a former PE student in Eastbourne
This photo shows us wearing the wonderful cherry red and capri blue of our uniform back then! The older ones among you may remember us wandering around Meads and in town, maybe clutching various sporting paraphernalia. Or playing in the snow. Yeah, I’m front right. Photo: Archive
3. Memories of a former PE student in Eastbourne
My home for the first year, in 1978, was in Granville Crest, at the top of the hill, on Granville Road. The house: Granny’s, as it was known, was a vast and splendid building! Numerous rooms: so many bedrooms and a kitchenette on each floor. And in the basement, a laundry and a small gym! No treadmills or weights then. An actual sprung floor with wall bars, a pommel horse and a trampete! We had a great time throwing ourselves and each other around. Luckily, the ‘accident waiting to happen’ didn’t. ‘Health and Safety’ was still a long way from being standard practice, but common sense was apparently sufficient back then. When we lived in halls of residence, we had a warden in charge of us. This was always one of the lecturers. Consequently, we had restrictions on our behaviour, plus an evening curfew! How times have changed! Photo: Archive
4. Memories of a former PE student in Eastbourne
This is the first year photo of my group, Group C. I’m on the front row, second from the left, sporting a very trendy, but questionable perm. Very early days at this point, but already I felt comfortable with the girls in my group. We all had a common bond: sport! We came from very different backgrounds with wide-ranging experiences. A couple were older, having some work experience before returning to education. But all were from far and wide: Cornwall, Manchester, Norfolk, Wales… Photo: Archive