Class Notes

1970s

Calling all 1976 graduates!

How are you celebrating your 50th graduation anniversary? Whether you’re hosting a party, revisiting your old haunts, or catching up with your classmates, we’d love to share your celebration plans in our next online edition.

Get in touch with us via email: alumni@soton.ac.uk

Chris Bound (Law, 1975):

Here is our friendship group, photo taken at a hotel in Corfe Castle, Dorset last October.

The core of the group is those of us that graduated from Southampton in 1975. We were good friends right from the start in October 1972. We have seen each other regularly ever since, and the group has grown to include partners and other friends. Since 2002 we have held regular 2/3-day residential reunions in Herm, Skye, Alderney and several times in Corfe Castle. We are meeting again this September at Goodwood Revival in Sussex. We have very happy memories of our time at Southampton.

Career-wise, of the Southampton law graduates Peter Leete became a social work clinician with the British Army in Germany and more latterly in Eastleigh. The rest of the law guys were solicitors. Kees also became a solicitor, and his wife Diana is too! John Kenrick was a management consultant. Pip Aitken (originally from Australia) was a property planning/development consultant.

Diana and Kees’ son Edmund (now aged 39ish) read engineering at Southampton.

Back row from left:

Graham Barnard (law), John Kenrick (engineering), Peter Barton (law), Philippa Barton, Peter Leete (law), Myself (law), Simon Smith, Lynda Sissons (nee Palmer) (law), Diana van der Klugt, Kees van der Klugt (economics)

Front row from left:

Joy, Sheila Leete, Pip Aitken (nee Moore) (Geography), Elaine Bound

David Newby (BSc Chemistry, 1973):

I graduated on July 13th, 1973, and drove back down to Cornwall through the night to get married the next day (to get married in church in Newquay in summer the date had to be set a year in advance).

Needing a job quick, I had written to all companies in the Chemicals section of the Southampton yellow pages. My first job offer (which I accepted immediately) was with a fledgeling hazardous waste management company (Rechem) at Botley and subsequently at Fawley initially as plant chemist. The career with that company progressed through chemical emergency response and hazardous installation decommissioning. The closest to the University campus was the emergency response to deal with the hydrogen cyanide emissions from the Cymag (rat poison) factory on the Millbrook Trading Estate, the incident led to the Factory Inspectorate closing the company.

Eventually, although I was ostensibly deputy manager of the Hampshire facility, most of my time seemed to be spent running teams undertaking hazardous installation decommissioning, generally undertaken at weekends to minimise collateral risk, or dealing with chemical emergencies on the roads, in the docks or at airports. While that work was challenging and exciting, I didn’t see it as a lifelong occupation and sought a career change in 1984.

As a Cornish boy missing the grandeur of the North Cornish coast, I applied for the job of waste disposal officer for Cornwall Council, but bizarrely became head of hazardous waste regulation and control in Greater London and, as “poacher turned gamekeeper”, given the task of turning around the Council’s lamentable prosecution record (it lost 80% of cases prosecuted). In the 4 years in post I achieved that.

A responsibility I inherited with that job was taking over the development of the Council’s first electronic document management system. A responsibility I was saddled with because, oddly, at school I had trained in Fortran programming, which had led to my University Tutor (Dr Baker) suggesting my third year Chemistry project should use a Fortran program to analyse the asymmetry of Electron Spin Resonance spectra of liquid crystal compounds.  The latter project endeared me to the Maths department when my program was scheduled to run during one night and managed to put the mainframe into an endless program loop.

Having turned around the enforcement record and along the way discovering that I wasn’t really compatible with a governmental or civil service role, and being a country boy at heart, I decided to resign my position and return to Cornwall. With no obvious chemistry related opportunities in Cornwall, my wife and I bought a small hotel. I had the thought that I might be able to do a little consulting work on the side.

By a strange quirk of fate, one of my last activities as head of hazardous waste regulation and control in London was to host a visit of an American looking at the environmental control sector in the UK. On the last Friday of each month I used to take my senior inspectors for a lunchtime chat at the Hole in the Wall pub in Waterloo; as this coincided with the American’s visit, he accompanied us. I mentioned my resignation and that I was returning to Cornwall and thought I might do a little consulting work. This resulted three months later in me heading to Hong Kong to lead a feasibility study for the development of the first national hazardous waste management facility in Asia, and me setting up my own consulting company David Newby Associates (DNA).

That led to a seven year succession of projects with the Hong Kong Government Environmental Protection Department assisting them with the contract development, tendering, tender evaluation, appointment of contractor, construction supervision, and overseeing first year of operation. Projects proliferated through Asia, Africa and the Middle East, generally comprising development of national strategies, plans, and legislation, and occasionally development of facilities (Thailand, Malaysia and China).

IT raised its head again with Hong Kong EPD commissioning us to develop an environmental monitoring management system application (EMMS) for use by the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation. The application had to manage the data from environmental monitoring during the construction of the MTR line from Central to the new Hong Kong Airport (approximately 7 million samples including air emissions, noise and water samples) checking compliance and automatically reporting to HK EPD.

At this point a downturn in the tourism sector in Cornwall resulted in us running the consultancy from a 12 bed hotel with 2 bars and no guests!

The consultancy progressed through work in Russia, Former Soviet Union countries, and Eastern Europe. By now, projects were a mix of the strategy, planning, and regulatory interspersed with information system development projects, and projects for oil and gas multinationals developing plans and facilities for waste management.

At this point, in my 60s, I planned to semi-retire, with the consultancy undertaking the occasional projects, that I would find particularly interesting, for existing clients.

I failed at semi-retirement, taking on a 6 year EU funded project in Northern Cyprus, covering a wide range of waste management activities, including development of an internet based regulation and control system for the Environmental Protection Department, development of oil spill response capabilities in Famagusta, and planning animal carcass incineration. This progressed through the COVID years.

Recent activities have included development of internet based applications for municipal solid waste and plastic waste data collection and modelling; the UN Habitat Wastewise Cities Tool (WaCT), and the GIZ (German international development agency) Waste Flow Diagram (WFD) and the GUI for the World Bank PLAST Toolkit.

Now, at 75 years old, I am finally living nearly full time in Cornwall. DNA is however continuing to support the development and application of the WaCT Toolkit under a pro-bono contract with the UN, and continuing to support GIZ. For both UN habitat and GIZ, DNA is hosting and maintaining the web applications on our own hardware servers pro-bono.

Each year, I run a “freebie” afternoon session on environmental modelling methodologies for the local university environmental management course.

This unplanned career path has been truly rewarding, with some incredible experiences along the way (some hilarious, some truly scary), covering 35+ countries. So far, my work in Scandinavia has somehow missed Norway, however I have been asked to participate in a UNEP workshop on harmonisation of environmental modelling methodologies in OSLO later this month.

You really have no idea where your degree might take you!

1980s

Claire Fuller (Sculpture, 1989):

My sixth novel, Hunger and Thirst was published by Fig Tree/Penguin in May and is my first to be set in Winchester.

The main character, Ursula, works in the post room of the art school in 1987 and eventually becomes a famous and reclusive sculptor. She meets magnetic and unpredictable Sue, who dares her to kill someone and when she actually does, Ursula is haunted for the rest of her life. 

Hunger and Thirst was read on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime – listen back via BBC Sounds

2000s

The following entries were submitted as part of our Memories of Hartley Library exhibition, held in the autumn:

“Thank you for being my second home, my caffeine-fueled refuge, and the one place where procrastination felt slightly productive. From whispering group debates in ‘quiet zones’ to marathon sessions of ‘just one more reference’.

“You didn’t just store books, you stored memories. You taught me how to find knowledge, lose track of time, and master the art of pretending to read while people-watching.

“Forever grateful, Hartley – you made the stress of deadlines oddly bearable and the victory of finishing a dissertation feel like conquering Mount Everest… indoors.

“With love and a fond nod to your comfy chairs, a proud and slightly sleep-deprived alumnus.”

Wachira Boonyanet (PhD Business, 2002)

“Racing to get to the short-term loan section after a lecture. Some people dropping books out of a window on a Sunday (was not me!)”

Lucy Rawe (BSc Geography, 2000)

“I remember stumbling upon a hidden room in the library, a quiet archive where old books were kept. It was very dusty, tucked away, and incredibly peaceful. I preferred studying there because it was completely free of the usual distractions: no one walking past, no half-whispered conversations. Only a handful of people even knew it existed. The route to get there was so winding and obscure that I couldn’t retrace it today if I tried. I wonder if it’s still there.”

Oluwagbemileke Afariogun (MEng Electronics and Computer Science, 2004)

“Hartley library is the only reason I graduated with a 2:1. I could only study in total silence with no distractions. I started doing 9 to 5 days in the library to make sure I revised for finals. I inspired a group of my friends from Southampton Stags American football team to join me, and we all got through it together! I can’t believe that was 20 years ago! Feels like yesterday.”

Tamsin McKenzie (BSc Psychology, 2005)

Joy Igiebor (PGCE in Primary Education, 2005) has written her debut educational book (ISBN: 9781032991726) titled, ‘Doing Learning Development in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for New and Early Career Learning Developers’ , due to be published by Taylor & Francis Ltd. on 7 April 2026. The synopsis for the book is below:

Doing Learning Development in Higher Education is an essential introductory companion for those new to working in this emerging and exciting field. Filled with actionable tips, real-world advice and illuminating anecdotes, this book will help readers navigate the challenges and opportunities of helping students unlock their full academic potential, whilst highlighting the important role that Learning Developers have.

Covering the fundamental aspects of Learning Development practice, it explores everything from conducting effective workshops, collaborating with colleagues and students, leading tutorials, creating impactful learning resources and much more. Readers will gain valuable insights into building productive relationships with students and colleagues, understanding the wider institutional context, and charting their own professional development journey. Each chapter blends theoretical foundations with practical applications, providing the tools to make an immediate impact.

This practical guide will be helpful for new and early career Learning Developers working with undergraduate and postgraduate students across higher education institutions. It is equally valuable for early career academics and university staff in student-facing roles who wish to enhance their practice.

The book is currently available for pre-order in Waterstones and Foyles, as well as international retailers.