Libby Purves’s Last Word (July 20) brought back some happy memories ofnbsp;similar events.

In 1981 at Ripon,nbsp;once the exams were over there was a week or so before the final “going down” events and, with the pressure off for the first time in three or four years, we let off a lot of steam. It got to the stage that the word came from high that unless we calmed down, and fast, our college would not provide references.

We calmed down. Our last day was marked by a service in our college chapel where, with our parents, we gathered for the last time. There was not one of us who was not in tears at the thought of leaving our beloved college for the last time.

Sadly, direct student education on the Ripon campus came to an end earlier this year. Some of the stained glass from the windows in the campus chapel is being used to make a memorial window in Ripon cathedral.

Robin Bird
Ripon campus, College of Ripon and York St John 1978-1981