Music playing
Welcome to Walton Hall for the first Open Forum television programme of 1972
In this programme we're going to spend most of our time here on the campus but
in future programmes we hope not only to return here but to go out to
the regions and involve a lot of people. Students and part time and full time
members of staff. But first let's look at some of the buildings of the university.
Behind me here is Walton Hall itself. While down over on the right we've got
the faculty blocks, or at least some of them. There are some new buildings
down there but also some that we've had for a year or more now. That houses
Maths, the Arts and also the Social Sciences where I work and temporarily
also the Library. Over here on the left we've got a building which always reminds
me of a Cunard liner because of it's brick funnels and that houses correspondance
services and it also has media production and you'll be visiting those areas later.
But now you can go round and see some of the other buildings of the University.
These are the science preparation laboratories in which I'm assured they
undertake experiments related to the courses. The members of the Science
faculty are housed in these buildings. It's here that Professor Pentz and his
colleagues plan their courses and devise their ingenious home experiment kits.
This is the lawn at the side of Walton Hall. There's a formal garden on the
right there but there is uncertainty about whether it is going to grow herbs
or roses. The building at the back is the catering block with a self-service
restaurant. To the right of it they're now building the new staff common room and
behind it is our new showpiece, the lecture theatre. This is for lectures and
very large gatherings. This fine little church moves us back in time. It was
one of the few buildings on site when the university arrived. Another original
building was of course Walton Hall itself which is under a preservation order. This
part of the building which we can see now dates from the 1830's. Here we see it a
couple of years ago in the first stages of restoration. This involved among other
things putting on a completely new roof. The first of the new buildings that we put
up was a faculty block which as I said earlier has temporarily housed the
library and has in it three of the faculties. The campus was more like a
building site at that time than a university. A training ground for
Flanders field, but out of all the mud and rubble came the restored hall.