An early University of East Anglia team competes on University Challenge in 1964

It was a time of political activism, space races, Beatlemania and a number of high-profile assassinations.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

But at the fledgling University of East Anglia, those first few years after its opening in 1963 were more about establishing a brand new students’ union – and building the rest of the campus.

Now, as the site prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday next year, it is asking local people, students and staff to share their memories of that first formative decade.

The UEA opened its doors in October 1963 after a whirlwind construction project to get The Village, the original university buildings now situated across the road from the main campus, built in time.

Beginning with a cohort of just over 80 students for the first year, studying either biology or English, the population and courses on offer quickly grew.

Now with 14,000 students studying more than 300 courses, the Norwich university is getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2013 and has launched a project to collect, record and archive memories of the UEA.

Led by eight final-year students from the School of History, the initial phase will focus on “The First Generation” from 1963 to 1973.

Lecturer Camilla Schofield, who will run the 18-month project, said: “We want to gather together people’s memories, anecdotes and stories about the university to build up an archive of collected memories.

“The students are starting by focusing on the university’s early years. They’re looking to speak to anyone who was involved at that time – from the builders who laid the first foundations and people living nearby who remember the changing scenery, to former students and staff.”

Among those early learners were some of the UEA’s many high-profile alumni.

Author Rose Tremain and football commentator Martin Tyler joined as part of the second cohort of students in 1964 while Atonement novellist Ian McEwan and scientist Sir Paul Nurse both arrived in 1970.

Dr Schofield said: “Maybe you sat next to Rose Tremain in literature lectures, lodged with Ian McEwan, had a kick-about with football commentator Martin Tyler, or pored over petri dishes with Nobel prize winner Sir Paul Nurse. Whatever your story, we want to hear it.”

Key events during that first decade included the inaugural graduation ceremony at Norwich Cathedral in 1966, a visit by the Queen in 1968, and a “sit-in” in the arts building in 1971.

With a registration number of 47, Roy Burns was one of the university’s very first biology students when he headed to Norwich from his home in Southampton in October 1963.

The students were in an unusual position, having joined one of just a handful of universities to be created from scratch, and not grown out of an existing college or training centre.

It meant they were responsible for creating many of the features taken for granted by today’s enrolling students.

Dr Burns, who is now a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, said: “We had been there a week and there was a guy called Paul Drake who got up on a Sunday afternoon and said ‘I think the other universities have a students’ union. Do you think we’d better form one?’

“So we formed the students’ union. We formed a whole variety of clubs and societies. It was very exciting but I don’t think we knew what we were doing at the time.”

Among the most popular of the newly-formed societies was DramSoc - the drama group. For its first performance of The Crucible, more than two-thirds of the entire cohort were involved and business and organisations from across the city were keen to help out with donations of props.

According to Dr Burns, the level of involvement in the drama production far out-weighed the political activities of the UEA’s first students.

He said: “I don’t remember anybody, certainly not in the first cohort, having a political nous at all. Yes, the 1960s are looked back on as being an incredibly explosive political time – but I think it passed us by. We were far too busy being students.”

Anyone wanting to share memories of the university should contact Dr Schofield by emailing camilla.schofield@uea.ac.uk.

Interviews should take no longer than one hour and can take place at your home or at the UEA. They will become part of an archive at the Norfolk Sound Archive.