Coming up: 600 Years of…

There are many things in St Andrews that don’t make much sense. The wind, the seagulls and in a much better way, Hamish McHamish. I would add to these the idea that, here in the middle of nowhere, was once the ‘Champions League’ (Dr Woolf, Medieval History) of holy sites in Europe, with tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the known world. We have an 800-year-old Cathedral ruin, a castle and a university… Why?

It may seem obvious to us now but consider the likelihood of a world-leading research-intensive university based in Framlingham, Chipping Norton, Powys or Crovie. So why on earth do we have the third oldest university in the English speaking world? Questions to be answered this weekend at the student run ‘600 Years of What?’ conference.

Running for a full day of talks on Saturday, and guided tours of secret parts of our ancient university, a group of students and staff will be giving presentations and papers on each of the past six centuries. The idea is to bring to life the word on everyone’s tongues – ‘anniversary’. Why did we form? What role have we had in leading women’s education? Could we really recreate the Raisin Wine recipe of 1770 with much success?

Papers include the foundation of the university, readings from the 18^th century visit of Samuel Johnson and a report of the 500^th anniversary activities, with lots of pictures. Speakers include Dr. Norman Reid, the Director of Special Collections and author of the new history of the University, Ever to Excel. You may even get to know a little about early student traditions and why we still wear the gown from me.

On Sunday there will be a guided tour of MUSA at 1pm, followed by tours of St Salvator’s Quad, St Leonard’s Quad (it used to be ours!) and St Mary’s Quad.

For more information click here.