{"id":10947,"date":"2023-07-27T09:19:12","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T09:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=10947"},"modified":"2024-05-07T12:53:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:53:34","slug":"enduring-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2023\/07\/27\/enduring-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends For Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back in 1969 at the University of Reading, three friends met and began their journey together. 54 years later – all still steadfast friends, with two of them married – they caught up with us at the London Alumni Drinks event on 21 June 2023. <\/span><\/p>\n

Stephen and Anne Harriman, and Branwen Austyn-Jones spoke to CONNECTED to share their story of love and friendship which blossomed at the University over 50 years ago.<\/p>\n

Anne, who studied Food Science<\/a>, and Branwen – an English and Linguistics<\/a> student – met on their first day in 1969, when they were assigned a shared room in Mansfield Hall.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen,Branwen said: \u201cI never thought we\u2019d get on as we seemed so different and were studying very different subjects. But we became best mates straightaway and have been ever since.<\/p>\n

“We lived together for the whole of university, in halls and later in a rented house. I don\u2019t miss those horsehair mattresses we used to sleep on in halls though!<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Stephen came along and tried to steal Anne away from me, \u201c Branwen joked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Stephen,Stephen, who studied <\/span>Agriculture and Economics<\/a>, had known Anne in passing for the first two years he was at Reading. Then in 1971, he finally plucked up the courage to get to know her better. He recalled:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a member of the Union Social Committee, I sold tickets on the door for the University Friday disco.  They cost a couple of shillings in those days, but I gave Anne a free ticket one night. Later that night I asked her out and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known Anne for 52 years now and we\u2019ve now been married for 49 years. We\u2019re very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anne said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have met both my husband and my best friend at the University of Reading and to still be firm friends to this day. We all graduated together in 1972 and have been in each other\u2019s lives ever since.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Branwen added: “We loved attending the Alumni Drinks event, catching up together and meeting new people from Reading.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Get involved<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We loved catching up with Stephen, Anne and Branwen at the London Alumni Drinks. <\/p>\n

Reading Alumni Groups are your connection to fellow Reading alumni around the globe. These local groups bring together alumni in the same region who want to stay connected to the University and to meet fellow graduates through social events, networking sessions and more.<\/p>\n

We are keen to expand our Alumni Groups, and are looking for volunteers to set up and run groups around the world. If you\u2019d like to learn more about what\u2019s involved, please register your interest<\/a> to attend an information session, which will be held in early Autumn. If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Dean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Share your memories<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Did you meet your partner at Reading? Do you have a longstanding friendship from your days at university? Or just want to share memories of your time here? We\u2019d love to hear from you. Please email alumni@reading.ac.uk<\/a> to share your memories with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 1969 at the University of Reading, three friends met and began their journey together. 54 years later – all still steadfast friends, with two of them married – they caught up with us at the London Alumni Drinks event on 21 June 2023.  Stephen and Anne Harriman, and Branwen Austyn-Jones spoke to CONNECTED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":10949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[12,54,64,82,25,26,189],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFriends For Life - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back in 1969, three friends met and began their journey together at Reading. 54 years later they joined us at the London Alumni Drinks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2023\/07\/27\/enduring-relationships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friends For Life - 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