Memories of the University by Sue and Tony Rosenfield

Posted on: 21 August 2026 by Sue and Tony Rosenfield in Community

Sue and Tony, who studied at the University in the 1960s, reflect on their time as undergraduates, recall the story of how they met, and share their recent return to campus with their grandson, who is just beginning his own undergraduate degree at the University.

Memories of University by Sue Rosenfield

I first attended Liverpool University from 1968 to 1971 when I studied for a degree in Social Studies.  

In 1968 I was a naive 18 year old who had no idea of what I wanted to do in life. The Social Studies degree gave me flexibility in that the options offered were drawn from different disciplines; History, Geography, Politics, Psychology and Sociology. As far as I remember, in the first year, everyone studied the same modules; Modern History, Human Geography, Politics, Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Sociology.

In my second and third years you were able to choose your options according to your interests. For me these were Psychology and Sociology.

One of the options which I chose for my final year was Social Administration. As a precursor to this you were required to complete two four-week social work observation placements. My first was in Bootle Welfare Department. In those days that included adult services and mental health services. My second placement was in the Probation Department in Toxteth, Liverpool. My supervisor there was a Probation Officer by the name of Peter Price. I found him to be inspirational. By the end of that four weeks we had my future career sorted! It was to be social work with children and families.

I graduated with a second class degree in Social Studies in July 1971.

I spent my first two years as an undergraduate in the recently built Salisbury Hall on the Carnatic Site in Mossley Hill. This was a women’s hall as, in those days, there were no mixed halls. In fact, if my memory serves me right, men were only allowed in our hall on certain days of the week and had to be out by 10.30pm! We actually held a sit-in in protest at this policy.

Carnatic Site was large with, at that time, only two halls, Salisbury and McNair, the men’s Hall. The other building on the site was Carnatic House where the dining room, the all important bar, and the library were situated.

Dale Hall, a women’s hall, was situated over the road.

The accommodation and facilities were state of the art for the late 60s. There were three floors on each floor built in a square shape.

We had a room each which was considered quite a luxury in those days. The rooms in Dale Hall which was older were shared by two women.

There were no en-suite rooms in those days. Each room had a wash hand basin but the toilets and bathrooms were located in the corridor. There was a kitchen for making snacks and hot drinks on each floor, along with some clothes washing facilities. No automatic washing machines but there were spin driers which tended to “dance” around the floor when in use!

Each room had shelves, a desk and a single bed. There were wooden slats under the mattresses. A common trick was to remove these slats from someone’s bed so that, when they got into it, they fell right through it onto the floor!

There was a trunk room on each floor as, in those days, it was common to send your luggage ahead on the train in a trunk.

Breakfast and dinner were provided in halls during the week, and lunch was also provided at weekends.

You had to wear your academic gowns for Sunday lunch. Carnatic House had a moat in front of it. Another common trick was for certain McNair students to throw large rocks into the water from the terrace on the first floor, thus soaking us women students sitting on the benches in front of the moat enjoying the sunshine and chatting!

In later years more halls were built on the site but, in my day, there was plenty of open grassy space. I remember revising for exams and looking enviously out my window at those students who had finished their exams sunbathing on the grass. One year some of the students on Carnatic built an amazing float, “The Mississippi Showboat”, for Rag Week, then known as Panto. Unfortunately it snowed heavily that year so that the procession had to be cancelled. We chopped up the float and had a huge bonfire.

My husband, Tony, and I were saddened to see, when we were on our visit to Liverpool in March of this year, that the halls had recently been knocked down to make way for a new housing development. They were just a pile of stones. Carnatic House was still standing but was about to be knocked down.

It was on Carnatic Site that I met Tony. He had borrowed a friend’s Vespa motor scooter and was working on it one day when I happened to walk past. I remarked that I had never been on one of them. He invited me to “hop on” and off we went for a spin. I was very proud of my mini-skirt and knee-high boots which I was wearing. We were not wearing crash helmets as they were not obligatory in those days.

We just went round the block but coming back up Elmswood Road we rounded a bend. I remember thinking that I should lean the other way to the scooter to keep it upright! It was a wet evening and there were leaves on the road. Needless to say we skidded and we both fell off the scooter. Fortunately we were not hurt other than our pride and my tights which were in shreds.

We did revisit the spot where the accident happened on our recent trip to Liverpool and took a photo of it.

The next day was my birthday and Tony presented me with my favourite record at the time, “Albatross” by Fleetwood Mac. I’m still waiting for him to buy me a new pair of tights!

The rest is history. Here we are after 53 years of marriage, two children and five grandchildren, one of whom, Ruben, is now studying for a degree at Liverpool University! He is currently living in Derby Hall, just down the road from the Carnatic Site.

In my undergraduate days the Social Studies Building was behind the Arts Faculty. It is now the School of Law and Social Justice.

Our lectures were in the Arts Faculty as was the library and coffee bar.

The Psychology, History and Education Departments were in Abercromby Square.

The Eleanor Rathbone Building had not been built then.

The Guild Building was instantly recognisable to me on our recent visit as was the shopping precinct opposite. The university bookshop, Parrys, was there and there was a mini-market which sold groceries.

The Victoria Building was also instantly recognisable to me, as was the Harold Cohen Library. In those days it contained books rather than computers!

I used to walk past those buildings on my way to meet Tony for lunch in the Dental Hospital Common Room.

I have very fond memories of my undergraduate days in Liverpool. We would both have liked to remain in the city but needed to move to Manchester for personal reasons.

However my days at Liverpool University were not finished. After I graduated I worked in Warrington and Oldham Social Services Departments. After a few years break when our two children were born, I needed to qualify as a Social Worker. I chose to return to Liverpool University to study for the Diploma of Applied Social Studies which led to the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work. I cannot fully remember why I chose Liverpool as Manchester would have been more convenient given that I was living there with two small children. One of the reasons was that my degree in Social Studies was deemed to be a relevant degree so I only had to do one year rather than the usual two years. I think also I was always drawn back to Liverpool.

I commuted from Manchester so becoming very familiar with the M62. I started my course in October 1981 and finished the following summer.

By then the Eleanor Rathbone Building had been built which is where we were based. The Sydney Jones Library had also been built which was the library we used.

I enjoyed being back in Liverpool although my life as a student was very different from my undergraduate days. I was now a grown up with two small children!

One of my vivid memories of that time is of a snowy Saturday. One of the compulsory modules was group work which, for some reason, took place on a Saturday. This seemed to involve sitting in a group and talking about deep and meaningful issues. When it came to my turn, my deep and meaningful issue was the heavy snow which was falling and thinking how I would get back to Manchester. I got up and left and had a scary journey back home. There was a whiteout on the motorway and I remember thinking that I needed to get to Burtonwood Services where I could spend the night. However, thankfully, the weather improved as I got nearer to Manchester so that I was able to get home that day.

After I qualified I worked for several years as a Medical Social Worker in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at North Manchester General Hospital. Then I worked for several years in Bury Social Services Department, mainly with children and families.

In 1995 I began working as a Guardian-ad Litem for Rochdale Social Services Department. When CAFCASS, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, was established in 2001 I worked for them as a Family Court Adviser until my retirement in 2008.

However I still hadn’t finished with Liverpool University! I studied for a Postgraduate Diploma in Children, Policy, Practice and the Law from 1997 to 1998. This involved attending the University for one day per week so, again, I commuted. This time I was based back in the Social Studies Building which included the Law Faculty. We used the Sydney Jones Library which, by then, was becoming computerised.

When our grandson, Ruben, told us that he was applying to Liverpool University we were thrilled. We were even happier when he achieved the necessary grades and was offered his place. We enjoy hearing about his life at the University and were busy planning our trip to Liverpool , both to see Ruben and to reconnect with our time spent at the University, since he first started last September.  

Our trip was finally scheduled for 16th March,2026. Our daughter, Zoe, Ruben’s mother, accompanied us. We decided to stay near where Ruben was living so we booked a spacious Airbnb apartment in one of the big houses in Sefton Park. It was lovely to be back in an area of Liverpool which had once been so familiar to us. The weather that week was amazingly sunny which added to our enjoyment. Both the daffodils in Sefton Park and the blossom, particularly in Abercromby Square, were spectacular against the clear blue sky.  

Tony and I would often walk in Sefton Park in our student days. The Palm House was very run down then so it was a pleasure to see how beautifully it has been restored. We were particularly surprised to see how vibrant Lark Lane has become so we were able to treat Ruben to some delicious meals there. I remember Lark Lane as also being quite run down with lots of student accommodation. I guess very few students could afford to live there now.  

Our memories of Mossley Hill and Carnatic Site came flooding back as I have referred to previously.  

Tony and I also used to enjoy walking through Otterspool Park down to the Promenade. We were disappointed to see how neglected the Park has become but we were impressed by the Promenade and the fact that you can now walk all the way along it into the City Centre. In our student days it did not extend very far at all. We were always told to be careful not to fall into the River Mersey as you would need to have your stomach pumped out! I’m not sure if that is still the case? 

We took our two young children to the Liverpool Garden Festival in 1984. Apparently the site afterwards had been neglected but we were impressed by the restored Festival Garden Park.  

Liverpool Docks were very run down in the late 1960s when we were students. Who would have ever thought how the Albert Dock would be developed as it has been today.  

In our student days the Adelphi Hotel was THE HOTEL, not that we could ever afford to visit it! It is now a mere shadow of it’s former self.  

We were fortunate that Zoe contacted the Alumni Department, unbeknown to us, to say that we would be visiting the University. Caroline, very kindly, organised a tour of the Campus and our old Departments. That was a very special day and we would like to thank Caroline, Chantel, Yiyi and the others who gave up their time to show us round. Again our memories came flooding back. It felt really poignant that Ruben accompanied us on our tour. It seems that we have come full circle, Tony and I both studied at Liverpool University and now our grandson is studying there.

Our visit to Liverpool has caused me to reflect how much I owe the University. It set me up for life in both my career and my personal life. We will be back!

Memories of University by Tony Rosenfield

My visit to Liverpool on 18th March 2026, with my wife Sue (see also her memories above) was memorable in many ways as we both met there as Liverpool University students and our grandson Ruben is now a first year student there too.

I embarked on my Dental Studies in September 1966 and initially lived in the newly opened McNair Hall on the Carnatic site in Mossley Hill and graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B.D.S.) degree in December 1971.

My clinical studies were based in the “old” Dental School/Hospital for a short period until the “new” one opened. During that time dental chairs were the manually operated wooden type and the drills were electric and ran on a cord and pulley system. As chairs and equipment became unusable or defective they weren’t replaced or repaired as the new hospital opening was imminent. However, before we could use the new high speed air rotor drills on patients we went back to the Phantom Head room for appropriate retraining sessions.

The new Dental School/Hospital opened and it really was state of the art in every way for that time and pleasure to work and study in.

The dental course was “full on” and kept me busy Monday to Friday 9-5 treating patients, attending lectures etc. Socialising and free time was thus mainly limited to evenings and weekends, unlike some students, including my wife to be, Sue, who was studying Social Studies and and appeared to have more free time and fewer lectures!

The new Dental School and Hospital, although having already been in use for a year or so, was officially opened by H.R.H Princess Margaret on 19th November 1970 and is commemorated in the form of a plaque in the hospital entrance. As President of Liverpool University Dental Students Society (L.U.D.S.S) that year I was in the line presented to Princess Margaret. As I recall it was a formal, well orchestrated event and when I was introduced to H.R.H. she asked me “and how many dental students are there?” However, as I was about to answer, the Head Dental Nurse being last in the line stepped forward, presented her with a bouquet of flowers and she was ushered away.

Then we all went to the main lecture theatre where Princess Margaret and others delivered appropriate speeches after which a coach bussed us all (not H.R.H of course as she went in the official car) to Liverpool Town Hall for a splendid leisurely lunch.

As a dental student I was privileged to interact with and provide dental treatment to Liverpudlians of all ages. Their friendliness, accent and sense of humour was really special. Indeed, on my recent visit those characteristics were unchanged and evoked many happy memories of my student days in that great city. 

After graduating in December 1971, I joined an NHS dental practice as an “associate” in a newly opened Health Centre in Oldham, eventually becoming the practice owner in 1975.

I was active on the Oldham Local Dental Committee for many years and opened a second NHS practice in North Manchester in 1986, working between both practices, with several “associates” working for me.

In 1990 I was appointed Dental adviser to the Oldham Health Authority which involved one or two days a month, alongside my NHS dental practice work.

Then all changed in 1993 when I was appointed a Dental Reference Officer by the Dental Practice Board, so I sold my two practices and continued in that role, which involved dental surgery inspections, clinical advice, quality assurance, probity and much more, until my retirement in 2008.

A huge thank you to Sue and Tony for sharing their memories with us.