Welcome to a website for the ever older alumni of Royal Holloway College who were not only students at this fantastic college at some point between 1965 and 1985 but also remember, if only vaguely, what a wonderful time they used to have. In 1965 male undergraduates were admitted to the College for the first time - a group known as the pioneers. In 1985 the College merged with Bedford College and started a period of rapid expansion Between these two dates was a unique period in the College's history (at least for those that were there at the time) and this website celebrates those twenty years.
So why is this website called RHC70s? When it was first conceived (and the domain name acquired) it was primarily to address just the 70s but as with most of our waistlines there was a gradual expansion to encompass those from 'just before' and 'just after' the 70s and then it expanded further to span the period between the two big landmarks in the College's history - and RHC70s has remained the easiest way to encompass that without having a ridiculously long domain name.
Royal Holloway College (“RHC”) used to be a small college (less than 1000 students) located in Englefield Green, Surrey and an insignificant part of the University of London. The College is located on its own magnificent campus close to Windsor Great Park; the campus was dominated by the magnificent Founders building surrounded by parkland.
The College was opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria having been commissioned by Thomas Holloway and built to model a French chateaux. In 1900 the College was admitted into the University of London. For its first 80 years it was a women’s college but in 1965 the first male undergraduates were admitted and in 1985 RHC merged with Bedford College (another small component of London University) and adopted the extended acronym of RHBNC. The college has since continued to grow to become the fourth largest college in London University.
The aerial picture (thanks to Google Earth for that) shows the campus as it was in 2000. The "old" Cameron, Athlone and Williamson halls of residence were still standing. This picture will be replaced as soon as one from the '65-'85 period can be found. Other than the Founders Building and Athlone, Cameron and Williamson Halls most of the buildings shown have been erected since the Bedford merger.
For those privileged to have spent some of the most formative years of their lives there the college will always hold fond, but sadly, increasing vague, memories of the campus, its buildings and the ever changing community of the student body. This web site will hopefully appeal to those racing towards dementia who now require the occasional memory jogger to recall that they too were once young.
To help maintain the dignity of the aging alumni, areas of the site featuring memorabilia require registration. If you were a student at RHC at any time between 1965 and 1985 then please download the registration guide (available by clicking on the link above the main menu) and go through the registration process. Registration involves a manual stage to check that your name appears on the alumni lists so please follow the guidelines to make this as straightforward as possible.