Reminiscences of Ruskin College Oxford.

 

Ruskin College Oxford

I picketed Didcot Power Station with the South Wales miners when I was a student at Ruskin College during 1984-86. It must have been in 1984/85 when I was living in Old Headington. I used to have a drink with the miners in the Labour Club in Headington. I remember a miner called Sid, a big bloke that looked a bit like Desperate Dan. A young miner called Sammy took all the apples in the orchard at the Headington campus, so it must have been around Autumn.

I have very fond memories of some of my tutors: Dr Victor Treadwell who taught me his version of labour history and Jack Eames who taught me economics. I remember one day talking to Victor about British syndicalism before WWI. Vick, who had studied at Cambridge, abruptly dismissed it as "a fart in a bottle." Yet, many British trade union leaders like Tom Mann, had been syndicalists. Jack Eames, was a great bloke and character; an ex-bricklayer from Hackney, who had studied at Oxford University in the 1950s. I think he was friendly with the Cambridge economist, Joan Robinson. I also remember my academic adviser, David Selbourne, who told me that he was brought up in the same town as myself. David, was a former student of Manchester Grammar School and Balliol College Oxford. I remember the history tutor Raphael Samuels, who was one of the founders of the New Left Review, and David Kitson, who was at Ruskin at the time.

A member of the ANC, David had served 20-years in jail after being convicted of terrorist offences. When I asked him what he done to get jailed, he told me that he'd blown up overhead electricity pylons because he wanted to overthrow the racist South African state. He once told me jokingly, that I should spend less time in the 'Stag' and more time on the books. He also told me that in all the years that he'd been involved in anti-apartheid activities, he'd always found that those who talked the most, invariably did the least. I also have fond memories of Violet Hughes, Bill Conboy, and Dennis Gregory, who supervised my dissertation.

I was very disappointed that Ruskin College sold the building on Walton Street, which had been the home of the Plebs League. I liked the little community of Jericho and the Victorian pubs on every street corner. In those days, it was still possible to meet working-class people who had been brought up in the area, but it was becoming trendy and gentrified.

When I was interviewed for a place a Ruskin in 1984, I was shown around the place by a very friendly American called Eric, who told me that he lived on a canal boat on the Oxford Canal with his wife and kids. I think it was Eric that persuaded me to accept an offer at Ruskin rather than accept an offer of a place at Manchester Polytechnic, because he seemed such a humane nice bloke. I was also friendly with a bloke called David Weston, from Vancouver Island.

I used to go in the Oxford Union with my friend Mick Kelly, a joiner and an ex-para from Liverpool. Mick, had been a member of the Young Communist League (YCL) and detested Trots like Derek Hatton. The Oxford Union was the cheapest pint in Oxford and was run by a great woman called Brenda. She told me that she'd been evacuated to Oxford as a child during WWII. Sadly, my good friend Mick Kelly, died some years ago; he was great lad and a character. I am still in contact with another friend from Weymouth, who I speak to on a regular basis.