Memories of St Luke's
A number of our graduates will have attended St. Luke’s College in the days before integration with the University. We welcome any news or stories they may have to share with their former colleagues.
Some of our alumni have shared their memories below. Submit yours to alumni@exeter.ac.uk.
You can also join alumnus Simon Whitehead's Facebook Group.
I was at St Luke’s Church of England Teacher Training College in Exeter as a student from 1961 to 1964. I took Physical Education as my main and English as my subsidiary subjects, with compulsory English, Mathematics and Religious Education for all students.
Read more
In September 1956 a large group of young men arrived at the St. Lukes’ campus to begin their two year teacher training programme. Most of them were in their early twenties and well used to being away from home, having just completed two years in uniform on National Service duty.
Read more
I began my four year junior middle course in 1984 studying Mathematics and PE with the legendary Mr Dave Edgecombe, Mr Brian Bolt and Mr David Hobbs. We had such small groups it was like a close knit family and we were nurtured well by our lecturers.
Read more.
Back in 1970 my year group was one of the earliest to be allowed to take the extra year in order to sit the B.Ed exams. On passing we were required to rehearse for the great day when we graduated. Mounting a platform and receiving a scroll was not something to be left to chance!
Read more.
Exeter 1976 seems like a world away now as I look back on a career in education that has stretched over 40 years. I can honestly say that my time at Luke’s was about the happiest of my life and I am left with so many rich memories.
Read more
"Still on demob. leave from the Fleet Air Arm, I joined St. Luke’s in September 1947. The chapel was in ruins so we each carried a stone or two away from the bomb site on our way to daily worship in the temporary chapel. The large majority of the intake had served in the wartime armed forces and so you might find yourself sitting beside an ex Spitfire pilot or playing soccer with an ex MTB commander. James Smeall the Principal recognised this and treated us accordingly. My two year course was a foundation for a wide teaching experience in Primary and Secondary Schools which included a year in Canada on an exchange scheme. I then qualified as an educational psychologist still working in schools as a senior practitioner until retirement in 1992."