May 14, 2015, by Genelva Meikle
May Fest 2015: Our annual community event
Last Saturday saw the annual May Fest celebrations take place across the University Park campus. The event is an opportunity for the University to open its doors to the local community and alumni, to showcase what we do and promote higher education. The programme of events consisted of a range of interactive activities and competitions for all members of the family to take part in. From explosive demonstrations by our Chemistry department; taking on the chopstick challenge at the Chinese Studies stand, to following the Impact Campaign trail, whilst learning more about the University campaign and collecting stickers and prizes along the way.
As part of the celebrations, alumni were invited to two exclusive events, Elevenses and Afternoon Tea, which took place at the Hemsley. We greeted alumni and their family at the start of the day, finding out their plans for the day, over tea and scrumptious pastries.
In time for Afternoon Tea, the sun made its appearance and families enjoyed garden games on the lawn, face painting and the tastiest ice cream provided by Newlyns Ice Cream Tricycles. With amazing flavours from Caramel and Honeycomb, Strawberries and Cream and Elderflower and Gooseberry, they were too tempting to miss and thanks to a subsidy from the Alumni Relations department they were a bargain at only £1 each! Guests relaxed with a selection of sandwiches, cakes and scones, whilst listening to visiting alumni band, acoustic duo Miss 600, who performed songs from their new album.
Our aim was to create to a relaxing space for all the family to take some time out from the hustle and bustle of May Fest as well as space for alumni to reunite with old friends, and judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received, we managed it.
An account of one reunion that took place during the day, written by alumna Jane Wemyss-Holden (Biology, 1979) can be found here.
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the day such a success!
Keep up-to-date with The University of Nottingham Alumni Relations team and our activities by visiting our dedicated website, as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
It is amazing! The event is making me feel like I am back to my fabulous University…Nottingham…this college invested a lot of knowledge in me such that it is difficult to forget about it all my life. Although I am from Malawi, I am now helping the people of South Sudan here in Africa to increase their production and productivity in agriculture and building their capacity to sustain themselves and their factors of production. I will attend one of the upcoming alumni events that will be organized so that I can interact with my fellow specialists.
It’s always lovely to hear about alumni and their great memories at the University, as well as what they have gone on to do! Your project in South Sudan is really inspirational. Please ensure you keep in touch with the Alumni team and we do hope to see you at one of our up-coming events. You can contact my colleague Georgina Woolley, who is the International Alumni Relations Manager, should you wish to find out more about the events taking place near you.