Ripon newsletter: June 2022
This newsletter was first emailed to our Ripon alumni community in June 2022 and was posted on this blog in December 2023. To read our latest newsletters, please navigate to our home page.
Welcome to our first Ripon newsletter! Since the closure of the Ripon campus, we know it’s been more difficult to feel connected with your wider alumni community. We’re guilty of posting a lot about York, but some of you might have noticed an increase in posts about Ripon College and Ripon campus in the last two years. We’d like to reconnect you with our alumni community, and this newsletter is the start of some exciting alumni plans moving forward!
So, to the alumni who’ve received every one of our general newsletters, welcome to a new update! To our alumni who have recently joined our mailing list, welcome back into our alumni community!
To our Ripon alumni, we hope you enjoy your first Ripon newsletter!
A summer throwback
For many, summer also means Sports Day. Whether as a competitor, a parent cheering on the side or a teacher trying to stop egg and spoon race cheating, love it or loathe it, Sports Day has a special place in many hearts.
You might think that a Sports Day wouldn’t happen at an all girl’s college at the turn of the century! But you’d be wrong.
This photo from around 1914 is labelled as having been taken at Ripon College’s Sports Day! Compared to modern day sports clothes, you might be wondering how we know that most of the women pictured competed, but other photos in our collection show the early sports uniform for our students. The white shirt with a dark pinafore was their version of a PE kit and would have been far easier to wear than the clothing of the staff sat on the front left of the photo!
Like any older throwback photo, we’re often left with more questions than answers. Why wasn’t the student sat in the centre behind the table looking? Why was the very well-dressed woman next to her sat in what looks to be a deck chair? What’s on the table?
From blouses and pinafores to proper kits, sport became an important part of life at Ripon. If you have any photos from your time studying with us playing a sport, we would love to see them! Please email a clear photo of them to alumni@yorksj.ac.uk .
Ripon update
Ripon might be a small city, but it never sits still!
Whether you remember the horn blowing tradition fondly, or as a strange story to tell people back home, the tradition shows no sign of stopping. Last week, Ripon was presented with a new Platinum Jubilee Horn to replace a far more fragile one from the 17th century. This new horn will be used to continue setting the watch for many years to come! You can read more about this on the Harrogate Advertiser.
A local Ripon Museum has opened a brand new exhibit examining the role of women in the police, from the earliest women who joined to whether today’s police have done enough to integrate women. This is sure to be a thought provoking exhibit, and one well worth a visit during your next trip to Ripon. You can learn more about this exhibit in a recent Harrogate Advertiser article.
Ripon on campus
When we closed the Ripon campus, we didn’t close the door on all things Ripon. From artwork, chapel items, lecturers and more, Ripon was, and still is, a part of our campus life.
In fact, we have our own Ripon on campus in the form of our Ripon Wing! Renamed in 2018 in recognition of the fantastic and long lasting impact our Ripon alumni have had, our current students walk past Ripon Wing on their way to academic lessons and other buildings, including the onsite Doctor’s Surgery and Students’ Union building!
Ripon Wing is home to some of our primary education classrooms, honouring the history of our Ripon alumni who for at least the first century went on to become teachers. It also houses a dedicated ‘quiet room’ for students to use when they need a break from university life. On the more serious side, Ripon Wing is the home of our Finance Team, putting Ripon at the heart of our campus life.
As one of the older buildings on campus, Ripon Wing’s red brick façade with large, white windows is slightly reminiscent of some of the buildings it’s named after!
Ripon reunions – tell us about your fun!
We love to hear about any upcoming reunion you’re planning, no matter their size!
Celebrating 50 years – with thanks from Christina Hockin
In mid-May, eight of our former alumni met up in Masham to celebrate 50 years since completing their course. For these alumni, Masham will always hold a special place in their hearts as they visited every Monday to work on the ‘Masham Project’, studying the local community and environment. Many alumni will also have had at least one of their teaching practices there, including three from this reunion.
As always, talk turned to lecturers they could remember and what life was like living away from home for the first time. Thoughts also turned to those who couldn’t join them, including Annette Eland who sadly died a few short years after completing their course. In Christina’s words “our reunions always bring back memories of her”.
A long held secret was also revealed:
Did you know that in the early 70s the men in Owen House had their beds changed whilst the women all had to change their own?!
If you’re organising a reunion, or have recently held one, please get in touch to share details of the day. There’s nothing worse than an alum emailing us asking if we have any details about a reunion they’ve heard about, and we have no information to share!
Plus, if you’re not sure what to do next time you visit Ripon, especially if visiting with younger family members, make sure to check out our latest blog post: 5 things to do at your next Ripon reunion.
Ripon blog posts
Did you know that we write regular blog posts? We write about our alumni, our history and a lot more! We’re also always excited to write about some of our more hidden history, especially about Ripon College. We also write about how our alumni can support our current students, no matter when they graduated, or where from.
Here are five of our recent blogs we think you’ll enjoy!
- Read our blog about 10 things you might know about our first Ripon students
- Learn how you can support our current students
- Read about what life was like for our earliest students and alumnae from Ripon College
- Read about Professor Dianne Willcocks’ (the College of Ripon and York St John’s final principal) decision to leave a legacy
- Read Ripon College alumna Nora’s recollections of the College during World War II
YSJ Update
You might not be a student anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still feel a little bit
proud about the place you studied. At York St John, we’re always working hard to make ourselves and our community a better place.
- Jen Jarvie, one of our lecturers in Professional Policing, was recently named Investigator of the Year for her work on cold cases, including that of the 1990 murder of Ann Heron. You can read more about this on our website.
- Ofsted recently praised our teacher training courses, judging our provision as ‘good’ with some ‘outstanding’ elements. We are now one of only 80 teacher training providers that have been re-accredited after the government’s first review of the sector. You can find out more about our current teacher training provision on our website.
- Professor Lynne Gabriel was recently awarded an OBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Lynne has been recognised for her trailblazing services to the nation’s mental health and development of the UK’s counselling profession. You can read more about her fantastic work on our website.
In the past year we’ve been hosting webinars to promote the careers of our alumni community. From comedians to teachers, you can watch them for free on YouTube.
Certificate of Education Honorary Degree
We know that our alumni worked extremely hard to achieve a Certificate of Education and have been a force for good in their communities. That’s why we’re awarding eligible alumni an Honorary Bachelor of Education Degree. Although this is not a ‘top up’ or conversion of your original qualification, as it holds no academic merit, we want to recognise the academic rigour of your original course.
If you were awarded a Certificate of Education before 1980, you are eligible for this honorary degree.
To apply for this free Honorary Degree please email us the following information:
- What course you studied, including any specialisms
- What year you finished your course
- If your name was different when your Certificate was awarded
- Whether you studied at Ripon College or Ripon campus
- Your current contact details, including your address
- A photo or scan of your original Certificate, if you still have it
Please note that it can take between a few weeks and a few months to process applications due to the verification process.
Where did Ripon take you?
Whether you studied at Ripon College or Ripon campus, where did your studies take you? We’d love to share your career stories with our wider alumni community.
If you’d be happy to be featured on our blog or take part in a webinar, please email alumni@yorksj.ac.uk .
We hope you enjoyed the first edition of our Ripon newsletter! Please send any feedback to alumni@yorksj.ac.uk .
