Well done! Thursday, April 6 2006

An amazing night -- over £10,500 raised, bringing the campaign total to almost £59,000!

Great conversations about keeping in touch with fellow classmates all over the world, coming back to Aston for 5-10-15 year reunions, setting up a charity in Romania, hanging out in Sacks of Potatoes, being a keen runner for the Aston athletes team, a pub where the banks currently stand, choosing Aston because it's different from other universities, and cricket at Aston.

Best conversation, (from student notes): "This call was the best one I have ever had. Gentleman was more than willing to share a truckload of information with me about the university and the times (1960's). The university, when he started in 1959, was a building site with a scarce population of students, as only around 3% of people went to university. He did a "sandwich course" in which he would work for 6 months and study the rest of the 6, as part of a scheme offered by the university. Halls of residence could not take a large number of people, so he lived in lodgings, which were HELL! -- no hot or cold water, no heating, small cramped spaces. Most happening nights were the Saturday night dances in the student union, where a temporary bar would be set up and an outside company would come and supply the beer and seating arrangements. He talked about the paternoster lift, which works similar to the London Eye, where the carriage/cabin is in constant motion. The initial building was designed and being built before WWII broke out, after which there was a gap of 10 years, and then 30 years later they built a second building with more modern design. Guy was amazing."

Countries called include the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Republic of Ireland, and Canada.

Stars of the night:

Sonny
Joseph
Gareth
Shil
Jessica