Sloman Loungers 2023 reunion

Posted on: 30 May 2023 by Development and Alumni Relations team in 2023

This spring, the Alumni team was delighted to welcome back the Sloman Loungers, a group of graduates from the late 1960s who named themselves after the Sloman Lounge in the Guild of Students, where they used to spend a lot of time during their university days.

The Sloman Loungers return almost every year and, each time, they visit a different area of the University. This time, the group gathered on campus and began their reunion with a visit to the Garstang Museum. Reunion organiser Peter Dolan noticed that there are parts of the campus that look just the same as they did back then, and yet every time they come back there is something new to discover. He said: “So much has changed and yet so much is familiar! Walking around Abercromby Square everything seemed the same, then suddenly turning a corner there is the Garstang Museum.” The museum used to be housed in Bedford Street and found its new home at 14 Abercromby Square in the late 1960s, just after the group graduated.

The museum’s student volunteers gave the group an insightful tour of the museum’s collection of artefacts from Egypt, Sudan and the Near East. Alumni enjoyed learning about the displays, which included examples of ancient pottery, cuneiform tablets, and a 3500-year-old Egyptian mummy!

After the tour at the Garstang Museum, the group walked to the Central Teaching Laboratories and moved on from Archaeology to Oceanography with a presentation by Professor George Wolff and colleagues, who gave an overview of the Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences and how the subject and the course have developed over the years.

Peter commented: “Many of us studied Oceanography as a module in the Physics course and it was interesting to understand how the subject had evolved since our time. Today it is part of a multidisciplinary department and, with advances in instrumentation, there is a much deeper understanding of the ocean and particularly the role it plays in climate change.”

The visit continued at the Jane Herdman Building, home of the department, where alumni could take a look at the fascinating tidal machine. Peter said: “We finished our tour with an opportunity to see the Bidston Kelvin tidal machine encased in its glass cabinet. It was designed to predict the tides in ports around the world and was built in the 1920s. It is a magnificent piece of equipment and one can only marvel at the ingenuity of those early oceanographers in constructing such a machine.”

The visit was varied and explored two very different and fascinating subjects that have a long academic history at the University, as Peter observed: “Our visit saw just two examples of the University of Liverpool building on the foundations from great academics of earlier times to evolve into the vibrant University it is today. I am sure there are many more examples.”

The reunion continued off-campus, where some attendees finished off the afternoon with “a trip down memory lane with a few pints in the Philharmonic Pub”.

Are you in still in regular contact with peers from your year? If so, let us know! We want to hear your stories about staying connected since your time at the University of Liverpool. Get in touch with the Alumni team via: alumni@liverpool.ac.uk.