The Reunion Weekend took place from Friday 30 August to Sunday 1 September 2024, organised by the Bristol Alumni Network.

All Bristol alumni, family, and friends were invited back to Bristol to reconnect, reminisce and rediscover the city. Events included a Friday night welcome in the revamped Senate House bar. Then on the Saturday we held our normal drinks reception followed by the reunion dinner, with Dame Carol Black as our guest of honour.
Our Guest of Honour
Dame Carol’s career in public health and occupational medicine has been inspiring. She read for her first degree in history at Bristol and was a resident in Manor Hall. After a stint teaching in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Carol returned to Bristol to read medicine where she won a number of academic prizes. Her subsequent career as an eminent physician, academic and government adviser has been instrumental in shaping the UK’s public health and welfare policy. Dame Carol has served as the President of the Royal College of Physicians and in 2012–2019 was Principal of Newnham College Cambridge. Carol is now Chair of the British Library and Chair of the Centre for Ageing Better.
In 2016 on Desert Island Discs, when asked by the presenter Kirsty Young to comment on recent political decisions on health, Dame Carol replied that the real question was “How do you trigger the right response in people? Because lecturing people, bashing them on the head – on the whole, we know – doesn't get us there... What I would say is that this is a hugely complex problem and not one thing alone will ever solve it".
Other weekend events
The weekend saw the popular tours of the Bristol Old Vic, Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Wills Memorial Building back in the programme. Other opportunities included a private cruise around the Floating Harbour in the historic ship "The Matthew" and a guided tour around Clifton village. We were also excited to promote “A Piece Of...Banksy!” – a self-guided street art tour – and a visit to St Nicholas market and its air raid shelter.
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