| Description | Track 1 [0:82:19][Session one: 21st September 2017] Tim Rees [TR] born 14 April 1957, in Gipsyd Surrey. Describes happy childhood with much sport played at school. Mentions had a general love for the outdoors. Mentions attended same boarding school as brother and father in Essex but admits to resitting some A levels at Jesus College, London before coming to Swansea University [SU]. [0:02:41]Mentions favourable first introduction to Swansea was a fieldtrip with school. Mentions interviewed entry to [SU] due to not getting the grades. [0:03:17]Describes the careers of his parents and explains how work influenced their decision to reside near capital: father working for P&O shipping then trans-container express in the east side of London and mother as a contometer*(precursor to the computer)operator. Describes father’s name of Rees and mother’s Welsh maiden name Lloyd originating in Neath and Bridgend. [0:05] Describes the Bromley area he grew up in in a semi-rural, four bedroom house in a cul-de-sac. Describes fond memories of his grandparents and mentions how his Father’s parents lived in Folkestone and would come for Christmas. Mentions love for animals, a love he shared with grandmother on his Mum’s side who had lots of animals. Mentions one of his grandmother’s dogs, an alsation called Duke who was on television. [0:07:25] Describes the relationship with his older brother and some of their sporting interests growing up. Mentions the awareness he felt of being an annoyance to his older brother. Mentions moved to Worlsley, Gloucester from Bromley when he was eighteen. [0:09:20] Describes his love of sport and watching it. Mentions watching his dad play cricket at Rotherham park and Twickenham [0:12:00] Describes his early experiences at Fairdene nursery school between four to seven years of age. Mentions experienced cold winter of 1962 where free school milk in third pint bottles was frozen. Mentions adder casings were present in school yard. Mentions Abadar, an outdoor school where shorts were worn and the headmaster had a kilt. [0:13:00] Describes playing rugby at a school called Belmont school. Remarks it was a time of little health and safety, where canes and slippers were part of school life. Mentions using the school’s facilities: the outside pool, gym once a week and alternating terms of rugby, soccer and cricket. Mentions attended Venture scouts in spare time and looked forward to it. Mentions passed exams in the April with the help of the head teacher’s extra tuition before going to senior school. [0:18:21]Describes how his early relationship with brother called Jeremy which had much sibling rivalry improved when they grew up. Mentions Jeremy lives in France as a chartered accountant. Story of being held up by his hair when at seven years old tried to get in his brother’s room. [0:20:53] Describes the struggle of extra coaching to prepare him for the April exams but it paid off in terms that he became ahead of his class. Describes his senior school -Francis school, Braintree, Essex which was a historic boarding school also attended by his father and brother, with lots of sports facilities. Mentions uniform had to be worn apart from Sundays after church. [0:26:25]. Mentions many societies and clubs available to experience, masters would keep the order. Mentions got involved with making stage sets for drama. [0:28:10] Describes weekend socialising at boarding school and how the sixth form club were able to drink limited beer there. Describes preps and what they were. [0:31:00]Mentions how everything about private schools was about progression into the real world. Comments on learnt from your social group. Describes lucky had a summer job in the National Museum of Wales [NMW], Cardiff due to his uncle being the secretary there. Mentions worked at NMW for two to four weeks every summer since fourteen years old for professor Bassett in the geology department, stayed with him also and spoke Welsh at home. Mentions when older worked on farms, haymaking in summer, harvesting in autumn, sprouts in winter. Mentions the need for extra money as parents didn’t supply it you had to fund it yourself. [0:38:00]Mentions worked in London for a year before securing a place in SU despite not getting the grades. Mentions spent undergraduate years in Swansea from September 1976- summer of1979 and Nottingham for his Phd. Compares the campus in Nottingham to Swansea and mentions that Nottingham fell short. Mentions stayed in Sibley Hall, SU campus in his first year with breakfast and evening meal included and lived in a shared house in Wernolau, North Gower in second year. Mentioned worked hard in 3rd year to achieve a 2:1 degree in Marine Biology. Remarked a good dissertation enabled him to do PhD in Nottingham. [0:44:36]Describes start at SU in 1976, a year older than most students, as an advantage. Describes Sibley halls of residence at SU(a mixed hall of girls and boys) and friends made here. Comments his wife was in Mary Williams Hall. [0:46:00] Describes the all-girl hall of residence Mary Williams hall renowned for checking whether there were boys left in the hall at night. Mentions always had the company of friends to hang out with at halls, in classes and playing sport. [0:49:00] Describes access into Sports teams were difficult due to high standard with all communication made via the notice board unlike today and face book. Mentions made friends for life at SU. Compares this camaraderie with when his son Tom went to SU and forged deep friendships also. [0:53:51] Describes Sibley hall: close knit, community atmosphere and activities. Mentions shared washing facilities and kitchen. Story of hose fights and talc fights. Mentions there could be some rivalry between halls. [0:58:33] Remarks on gentle nature of the warden at Sibley who ensured the place ran smoothly rather than being over-bearing. [1:00:20] Describes differences between student union and athletic union: student union did minimum functions for the students through a paid welfare officer and a president but wasn’t as popular as the athletic union. Mentions the committee of the athletics union and its responsibilities, made up of a President and a vice-president and a treasurer of which he was one in his second year. Remarks that budget enough to purchase resources. Describes the pleasant rivalry between SU and Cardiff University [CU] and Story of CU trophies raided during the CU athletics union ball. Story of SU rugby team’s drunken antics in Aberystwyth. Comments on breakages or things that went too far on these trips were handled by athletic union fairly. Mentions lived around the athletic union and comments by the time his son came to Swansea as an undergrad things have changed and remarks that the athletics union is now funded by the student union which he regards is a shame. [1:07] Describes the relationship between the Swansea and Cardiff student rugby teams as being the ones to beat and mentions playing at the Cardiff Arms stadium. Describes the raids carried out by Swansea athletics union on Cardiff athletics union. Story tried to steal a big bear from Cardiff athletics union and on one occasion took a number of cups from an unlocked trophy cabinet. Remarks that it was more the challenge and priceless seeing Cardiff, cap in hand asking for their cups back. Comments on rivalry between CU and SU teams even now. Mentions the one time supported Cardiff was when his daughter attended CU. [1: 14:00] Describes smart dress code for Athletic union balls: suits, ball gowns, tuxedos. Mentions balls were a ticketed event with usually a sports personality to give a talk on the first floor of college house. Mentions end of sporting year and giving out colours. Comments on socialising much more in Mumbles than in town and recalls having pint with first years in the George and night- club up on the pier. Comments on Nuts, Tiffanies night club, White Rose and the Trafalgar pub towards town as it had a cheap pint. Mentions got a scar in town from falling over chains/ drains. Comments on Hendrefoilan student village had a separate social life.
Track 2 [0:57:05] Mentions the main transport whilst at SU was to walk as parking spaces on campus were given to students living furthest away which was necessary in second year whilst living on Gower. Describes how spent the weekend playing rugby or athletics and the beach for BBQ’s in the summer and autumn. Mentions lack of free time during the week due to full timetable within Biology with lectures in the morning and practical sessions in the afternoon. Mentions big events at SU were rare. [0:04:29] Describes the building for biology (unknown – Natural history building) with its gardens and water gardens. Mentions some of the botany modules took place on Swansea Bay and Gower. Mentions the department having a boat and names a current member of staff (Naylor) still part of it. Mentions looking at specimens caught on fieldtrips being looked at later in the laboratories. Mentions all practicals had to be written up, submitted and graded. [0:08:24] Describes a memorable bio-chemistry lecture regarding alcohol and its effects on the body but practicals and field trips were more memorable. Describes the sea water tanks underground and how his PhD was based on research on how light affected the colour of sea anemones. Compares the lectures of his day to that of the present and recalled spending a lot of time in the library. Mentions read massively around sea anemones in the biological sciences building library with all the periodicals. [0:12:00] Remarks university is your first experience of life living away from your parents and gives stories of how other students would chose to conduct themselves: one student drinking like a fish whilst another lived of baked beans to afford skiing holidays. Remarks could only witness these colourful characters in smaller institutions. Remarks on important to have a passion in life and has passed this mantra onto his children. [0:16:25] Comments on utilising the sports centre at Sketty most within the university in first two years and mentions meeting off campus in the third year to have lunch in a coffee shop.[0:18:00] Mentions a poor relationship between students and the community and remarks not knowing the community. Story of local pub and how were considered regulars and got to know some members of community through rugby games. Mentions met a few individuals in the community rather than integrated with community as a whole. [0:20:00]Describes lived in a terraced cottage with three friends during second year of university Wern-olau (?) Gower. Names friends; Tony, Phil and Alex and mentions went on to successful careers after university. Describes the layout of the rooms and mentions using bathroom as little as possible using the Sketty playing fields facilities instead. Mentions Phil moved out to Hendrefoilan student village after a term. Remarks that girlfriend lived next door with another student group. Mentions transport to university was by car due to countryside location. Remarks fondly on bath and how would be cold before you got in it and the kitchen would steam up the house windows but loved it. [0:25:30]Describes the decoration of the bedroom, chest of drawers and a bed , wallpaper on walls partly coming off and posters put up and a welsh flag. [0:26:00] Story of Alex acquiring his welsh flag. Comments how quick the time went and mentions being home for Christmas and sometimes visiting friends at their family homes especially New Year. Mentions stayed over at friends in Mumbles when going out due to convenience as no night buses. [0:28:00] Comments on getting a student grant then and mentions how appalling it is now. Mentions paid more for a room in Sibly than the house. Describes the weekly food and how cooking a chicken at weekends would last through the week together with eating on campus and with friends. Comments lived more simply. Mentions drinking would be pints and halves rather than shots and that you could have a good night out for a pound with the cost of a pint at Swansea in the student bar being twenty pence. Mentions money went further then. [0:31:25] Describes the food on campus as worse than school food and mentions the dinners at the main refectory were typically potatoes, cabbage, peas, a meat and gravy. Comments ate more basically in those days. Mentions lack of variety and choice in the refectory was because students ate in halls. Mentions it was food for convenience rather than somewhere for its culinary delights. [0:33:40] Comments no interacting with lecturers over meals during the timetabled day and mentions only ate with lecturers when at hall. Remarks on greater interaction with lecturers during fieldtrips and remarks on a fieldtrip to west coast of Ireland where the lecturers were no different to the students except for their knowledge. [0:35:39] Describes no rivalry between students born in Wales and those from away. Mentions there was a welsh-speaking floor in Sibly. Story of the boys in the Welsh language group throwing papers out of the window of the BBC Wales because they were not translating things in to both welsh and English. Mentions believed that Swansea University was more English and gives an example of a lot of signs were just in English. Mentions welsh language group was part of this bilingual revolution to change this. [0:38:20] Mentions his lack of involvement and interest with the student union and thought it unnecessary. [0:42:00] Mentions not aware of how his student cohort has evolved except some of the rugby team have gone on to play rugby. Mentions Stan Addicott their coach in the university went on to running the whites (Swansea rugby and Ospreys teams ) Mentions the versatility of the Swansea university rugby players (himself included) who would sit on the bench for the whites also when needed -Wyatt who was the Swansea university captain would play as the full back for the whites. Remarks that went on to be on the board of management of junior section of rugby club and chairman of governors at local schools and coached the local schools and attributed these skills from time at Swansea. [0:46:30] Describes fresher’s week at Swansea university as well attended but less commercialised than today: discos and socials, clubs would get you to join costing up to five pounds, talks about what would happen in the subjects but no marques up or bands. [0:49:30]Describes graduation proudly, held in the Brangwyn Hall. Remarks on sat a lot of final exams in marine biology and mentions the relief when finished. Mentions SU time was over too quickly and hankers over the days spent on Caswell beach. Describes career since, moved to Nottingham to do his PHD and worked in a southern Thailand University. Mentions tremendous time at SU was had and together with wife (who also studied at SU) has never lost touch with the city in that still follow Ospreys and in touch with friends they met at Swansea.
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