Chez Nous (x 14)
Just Trevor (gathering the milk delivered to the back door) and I appear to be up in this snowy Sunday morning scene. This was ‘The Fuschias’, Thwaite Street, Cottingham, a property owned by the University of Hull that was home to some 14 of us students in 1971/72. Dating from c.1830-40, this fine house was perhaps too good for the likes of us, who had no worries back then of long-term indebtedness, while we also had the pick of the available jobs after graduation.
Hull University had been generous in providing accommodation for its 5-6,000 undergraduates of that past era. In addition to a choice of halls of residence (where I spent my first two years), the University had amassed a large portfolio of properties, comprising old terrace houses closer to the campus, plus some fine 19th century houses in the upscale Cottingham area. ‘The Fuschias’ to my young mind was almost as good as Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead. A number of my old housemates have been life-long friends, although I am mildly astonished that Trevor seen here has actually just turned 70 years old.
As with Waugh’s Brideshead, this quasi-paradise did not endure. The ever harsher financial climate for further education from the 1980s onward forced the University to seek new sources of funding, and that included disposing of its properties. An Aldi supermarket stands on the site of my old hall of residence, while ‘The Fuschias’ perhaps enjoys a quieter life as a private house. It has been much transformed since the 14 of us proto-Young Ones rampaged around the place.
February 1972
Zorki 4 camera
Agfa CT18 film.
Chez Nous (x 14)
Just Trevor (gathering the milk delivered to the back door) and I appear to be up in this snowy Sunday morning scene. This was ‘The Fuschias’, Thwaite Street, Cottingham, a property owned by the University of Hull that was home to some 14 of us students in 1971/72. Dating from c.1830-40, this fine house was perhaps too good for the likes of us, who had no worries back then of long-term indebtedness, while we also had the pick of the available jobs after graduation.
Hull University had been generous in providing accommodation for its 5-6,000 undergraduates of that past era. In addition to a choice of halls of residence (where I spent my first two years), the University had amassed a large portfolio of properties, comprising old terrace houses closer to the campus, plus some fine 19th century houses in the upscale Cottingham area. ‘The Fuschias’ to my young mind was almost as good as Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead. A number of my old housemates have been life-long friends, although I am mildly astonished that Trevor seen here has actually just turned 70 years old.
As with Waugh’s Brideshead, this quasi-paradise did not endure. The ever harsher financial climate for further education from the 1980s onward forced the University to seek new sources of funding, and that included disposing of its properties. An Aldi supermarket stands on the site of my old hall of residence, while ‘The Fuschias’ perhaps enjoys a quieter life as a private house. It has been much transformed since the 14 of us proto-Young Ones rampaged around the place.
February 1972
Zorki 4 camera
Agfa CT18 film.