University of Hertfordshire

I did my degree at Wall Hall Campus, 1993-1996 and I was the only person who took any photos amongst the large amount of people I knew. Due to the cost of film and developing, people just didn't do photography back then. My Dad was a single parent so 'back in the day' I did get a government grant, but it was hardly enough to live on. I was one of few people who worked pretty much full time hours for the three years I was at Uni, so I had money from wages to develop my films, although it wasn't cheap. My Dad used to drive down from Birmingham with cardboard boxes of cheap food from Aldi. Back then, Aldi's food was gross.

Wall Hall Campus was famous for being the place where Soul to Soul's 'Back to Life' video was filmed in the ampitheatre a couple of years before we arrived. The campus was demolished in the early 2000s and the old mansion was taken over for private housing. I have photos of the old hostels and rooms on a branch of the University which no longer exist. My best friend Adrian drove me down to the campus about 15 years ago and it all traces of the Uni were gone. (We were kicked off the site by security as well.)

I was a social rep who organised days out, events, meals etc. Many of these events are depicted on my old photos. There are about 700 pics which were lost for many years, but have recently been found again in my Dad's loft. I will be honest, no-one was really interested in the photos I took at the time, or even looked at them after I had them developed. When I left Uni and went back home, I was only ever contacted by one person for a few reprints of a couple of pictures and it was very costly to do one off reprints back then. I think at the time, people were very young and were just enjoying life, and didn't think about preserving moments in film like I did. In fact, a couple of my friends would always tell me off for lagging back, or asking them to pose for pictures. But now, it's nearly 30 years on; maybe people wonder what happened to the girl who used to take photos all the time, and more importantly what happened to the pictures? It would be nice to reunite anyone who was there with me, with pics they have probably never seen.

I knew a lot of people at Uni, at work, and in the St Albans area. Some of my friends are here on this picture by Tower Bridge. You would have known me under my maiden name obviously, so please get in touch via Smugmug or Flickr if you think you may be on these pics. At the moment they are private.