| Description | Track 1 – 01:29:15 [Session one – 17/10/18] Sal Lalani [SL] born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1945. SL mentions his father leaving India without any schooling. Talks about mother, a fourth generation trader family from the east coast of Africa. Mentions schooling in Kenya. Comments on applying to various universities in Britain, but not Swansea. Discusses how a clearing centre offered him Aberystwyth and Swansea. Comments on choosing Swansea based on its size. [00:02:40] Comments on A level subjects and the dilemma about whether to attend University at all. Discusses father’s business background. Comments on school contemporaries attending universities and wanting to join them. Outlines attraction of university life, despite the costs. [00:05:20] Discusses not having travelled before and coming from a close family, but driven on by excitement. Talks about first impressions of Swansea, including knowing little about its appearance before arriving. Illustrates an anecdote about meeting a student on the train to Swansea. Discusses arriving and having no accommodation. Notes being placed in digs. Discusses how host family were a Polish refugee and a Welsh lady, both Catholic. Comments on the cold temperature of the house. Mentions studying in dressing gown and socks. Discusses the layout of the house, including an outdoor toilet and being allowed one bath a week. Mentions dislike of lava bread. Discusses living in digs with two other Kenyan students. Discusses learning to iron a shirt, which servants did at home. Mentions wanting to move to halls of residence and securing a place in Neuadd Sibly. [00:15:26] SL discusses coming to Swansea to study Economics, and took History and Politics in the first year. Notes the strange experience of moving from high school to university. Discusses becoming used to university study and using the library. Mentions occasionally looking at girls. SL mentions fascinating lecturer in Politics. Talks about classes in Singleton Abbey, the Library and an older temporary building. Mentions the basic nature of these ‘huts’. Muses on the building of relationships with course mates. [00:20:50] SL gives an overview of the physical appearance of the campus in the mid-1960s. Comments on the nature of the academic community on campus and knowing contemporaries. Mentions buying a gown, College tie and scarf. Notes how most others did not do this. Note show gowns were work for dinner in College House dining rooms. Mentions dining culture and finding friends. Expands upon drinking coffee in rooms and stealing sugar from College House. Discusses listening to music and smoking. Mentions terrible nature of food during formal dinners. Ruminates on the similarity to Oxford traditions. [00:30:06] SL discusses friends made in halls. Talks about regularly playing bridge. Mentions marriages made as a result of being students. Mentions high tea on Sundays and occasionally eating fry-ups and kippers for breakfast. [00:34:16] Mentions playing hockey, cricket, and being part of the debating society. Comments on making the finals of a debating tournament. Mentions playing sports against other universities and local clubs. Talks about travelling to other University of Wales colleges. SL discusses playing hockey in Bangor, and the trip to the College bar there. Mentions large numbers travelling to these places. Discusses healthy rivalry between University of Wales Colleges. [00:38:37] SL discusses features of the economics curriculum, including difficult mathematical elements. Mentions enjoying other aspects of university life aside from study. [00:40:39] Discusses meeting girls and going to the fresher’s dance. Mentions going to pubs and the College bar, sometimes with a date. Mentions hormonal nature of students. Talks about a girlfriend in second year, and then meeting a steady girlfriend in the third year. Discusses the nature of the relationship. [00:45:40] Mentions the lack of drinking culture at the College. SL talks about some of the beers served at the bar. Mentions a drinking game called the Vikings. [00:48:16] Talks about being an overseas student but integrating with everyone and British students. Discusses hitch-hiking around the country and going to London. Illustrates a story about visiting Liverpool and getting into trouble with a builder. [00:52:01] Mentions being Vice-chairman of the Conservative Society and going to the Socialist Society meetings. Discusses the political atmosphere in south Wales. Mentions seeing Harold Wilson in Swansea, and talking to Edward Boyle, the Education minister. Discusses the dynamics surrounding African politics, including Kenyan independence, Apartheid and events in Rhodesia. Discusses arguing with one student about foreign students. SL mentions the tolerant nature of students. Discusses interest in conservatism with a business background. Jokes about hanging out with underdogs on campus. Returns to interventions made about Rhodesia and joining marches. Discusses learning more about democracy coming to Britain. [00:59:18] Discusses exploring the local area. Comments about driving to the Ship Inn on Gower. Mentions returning there and how the pub has changed. Discusses a pub in town near Woolworths. Mentions visiting the town very little. SL muses on going to coffee bars in town occasionally. [01:02:20] Discusses a run in with the College doctor during a holiday resulting in a scuffle. Covers being called to see the Principal as a result. Mentions being Chairman of the Overseas Society in final year of study. Talks about Len Goss and his wife who opened their house to overseas students every Sunday to talk and meet people. Mentions their support when his father died in second year. Discusses an Indian restaurant in Uplands where one man ran everything. SL mentions helping him run his business. [01.10.00] SL mentions the Aberfan disaster. Remembers being told that something bad had happened. Described working through the night to help recover children. Described the heart-wrenching nature of the experience. SL talks about two contemporaries who died canoeing in Swansea Bay. Returns to the impact the Aberfan disaster had on him as a young and an older man. Remembers sadness engulfing the University and region. [01:14:40] SL mentions fights in Swansea town and in pubs. Describes RAG week and associated stunts. Illustrates an anecdote about decorating halls of residence with women’s underwear. Mentions the police threatening pranksters with jail. Discusses rules at Neuadd Sibly, including when women could visit. Talks about a prank played on a fellow student, removing all his furniture. [01:19:30] Describes another anecdote about painting toilet seats with shoe polish. [01:20:24] Discusses returning home to Nairobi only once during period as a student. Comments on seeing his father for the final time. Discusses the difficulty of communicating with family when at university. [01:22:47] Discusses graduation in the Brangwen Hall. SL discusses future of contemporaries and notes going to do post-graduate work in Chicago. Mentions being encouraged to do this by staff at Swansea. Mentions being accepted onto a course and applying for a visa from Kenya. [01:26:53] SL notes how Swansea was some of the best years of his life. Discusses a need to give back to Swansea by creating an exchange programme with Montana State University. SL comments on a wish to feel a bond between both.
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