Class of 1964 civil engineering graduates celebrates 60^th anniversary

King’s alum Richard Warwick (Civil Engineering, 1964) tells us how his cohort of civil engineering graduates celebrated the 60^th anniversary of their results day – and about the many other reunion adventures they’ve shared over three decades…

Friday 5 July was a memorable day for 14 of the possible 18-strong cohort of civil engineers who graduated from King’s College London in 1964. The group, who were joined by four civil engineers from the class of 1963, plus several family members and partners, celebrated the 60^th anniversary of getting their degree results.

29 reunions and counting

After assembling at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for lunch, the party travelled by bus to King’s where they were met by a guide arranged by the Alumni Office. They enjoyed a 90-minute tour of the Strand campus, followed by a cup of tea at Somerset House café.

Remarkably, this was the 1964 cohort’s 29th reunion. The first was held in 1994 on Friday 1 July, the exact 30th anniversary of the day when their degree results were made known. For that day, 20 of the 23-strong group had been contacted and 10 met up at ICE. Subsequent reunions have taken place every year since, except for 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19, with a record 17 out of 20, plus nine spouses, attending the 50th anniversary reunion in 2014.

Memorable meet-ups

Many of these meet-ups have featured visits to somewhere with an engineering theme. These have included a river trip from Westminster to Greenwich followed by lunch at The Trafalgar Tavern. Plus visits to Brunel’s Rotherhithe shaft, the Royal Institution, the Houses of Parliament, the Cabinet War Rooms, Kew Gardens, HMS Belfast, the Greenwich Observatory, the Thames Barrier and the Cutty Sark. There were also memorable trips to the top of the BT Tower and the Elizabeth Tower, where the group saw and heard Big Ben chime.

Other gatherings have witnessed a walk through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, travelling on the DLR, going to the Florence Nightingale Museum, visiting Evelina London Children’s Hospital, St James’ Park and St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Society’s building, the Bank of England Museum, the British Library, Tower Bridge to see its mechanism, the Millennium Wheel, seeing the MI5 and MI6 buildings and visiting the Imperial War Museum, travelling on the Thames cross-river gondola and visiting the O2 Building.

Between these annual reunions, there have been several ‘mini’ reunions, including five in Vancouver.

Good going

‘Of the 20 engineers we initially contacted, 19 reached the age of 80, 18 are still alive and 14 have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary,’ says Richard. ‘So it’s been “good going” for most of us.

‘We were also all glad to see Reggie again, who looked to be in very good shape.’

In November 2016, the 1964 group was honoured when the King’s College London Engineers’ Association (KCLEA) awarded it the KCLEA 13 Club Trophy. Eight members of the 1964 group were able to attend the presentation at King’s.'

If you’re a King’s alum and you’ve enjoyed a reunion, let us know at forever@kcl.ac.uk. To find out about setting up your own reunion, head to kcl.ac.uk.alumni/events/reunions