The University of Nottingham

Alumni often regale us with stories of days long gone, of student pranks, famous bands at the Portland Building, inter-hall rivalry and things which, frankly, the modern-day student just wouldn’t get away with. We’re collecting these memories for a new blog called Remembering Nottingham so that we can build an online archive of this wonderful social history. In the first of our new series of Remembering Nottingham, alumni recall the Battle of the Lake.

Gazing out across Highfields Lake, the sun glistening on the water, the swans gliding effortlessly in front of the timeless façade of the Trent Building, it’s hard to imagine the cries of war, the flashing blades, the screams as men and women abandoned sinking vessels — a battle royal on Nottingham’s waves.

Nowadays it’s a peaceful and tranquil scene but these photos tell a different story. From the late post-war period until at least the 1980s, there was a prolonged naval contest for control of the lake. For many years it was flotillas of engineers and pharmacists which waged a battle, often egged on by hundreds of students gathered along the shores of the University,.

Eli Hay (Engineering 1959) had the honour of organising this festival of fun for three consecutive years from 1956. “It was a friendly fight between the pharmacists, whose faculty was made up of half men and half women, and the engineers, made up entirely of men. The engineers had no female colleagues and were therefore attracted to the female pharmacists, which the male pharmacists did not like, so they challenged the engineers to an annual post-exams lake battle.

“The side with the last boat afloat was the winner. The pharmacists used brooms and chemical powders while the engineers used pumps and water jets and also built some tied boats to make them difficult to sink. It was a very honourable fight to the finish.

“The engineers won all three years and I became known as the engineer who threw his sister into the lake! (the late Louise Kitsberg née Hay, Pharmacy 1958)

Emeritus Professor Bob Parfitt, however, sailed for the other side and remembers some of the underhand tactics employed by all concerned.

“Of course the engineers did not mention their dirty trick of snipping or untying the girls bra straps or one girl’s prowess with her lacrosse stick — I saw her sweep two of Eli’s colleagues out of their boat. The photographs were taken by the late Gary Ellis (Pharmacy 1958) with his Rolex — he was an excellent photographer.

“One of my contributions, I recall, was to concoct an evil mixture of gentian violet and tragacanth blown up into dropper teats with water under pressure. These were hurled at the foe and when they exploded they dyed our opponent’s skin. I took part in at least two battles — great fun with no health and safety to worry about.”

Later, the battles morphed into an annual raft race, made up of a myriad of homemade crafts but with no less hilarious a conclusion. When and how the great battles and raft race ceased is not widely known but if you can add to the Battle of the Lake archive and would like to see your memories on the Remembering Nottingham blog, please do get in touch. Better still, why not suggest another feature idea.

Many thanks for photographs submitted by Bob Parfitt (Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 1958, PhD Pharmacy 1962) and Judy Parfitt (Pharmacy 1957), Dennis Clarke (Chemistry 1957) and Keith Rowley (Chemistry 1985).

Remembering Nottingham: Share your memories

Have you got something to contribute to our Remembering Nottingham blog? Simply visit the web page, subscribe and submit your favourite memories of the University and maybe some photos: blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/alumnilife/category/remembering-nottingham. Or call Malvika Johal on: +44(0)1158466940, email: malvika.johal@nottingham.ac.uk, or write to: Malvika Johal, The Alumni Relations Team, Alumni Hub, Portland Building, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD.