Rag Week 1966

Rag Week 1966

During the week ending 21st May 1966, the Bedford group of colleges organised a series of events to raise money for charity. The total raised was over £1500 – doesn’t sound much today but converted to 2019 values that was £28,154 +. On the organising committee for Shuttleworth were Tony Abbott [65/67] and Bob Bowden [64/66] and they were joined by members from Mander College, Bedford College for Physical Education, Bedford College of Education (Teacher Training), and the National College for Agricultural Engineering (Silsoe). On the Saturday a procession of floats left the P.E. in Lansdown Road, led by Dave Valentine in his Healey 100/4, with the Rag Queen, Sue Marston seated on top.

Excerpts from the Bedford Record and Circular of 24th May 1966 – Front page & p3.

“As the procession of 15 brightly decorated floats wound its hourand-half long route though town, traffic ground to a standstill and major traffic jams were reported in most of the streets in the town centre. Most colourful of the floats taking part was the “Pajama Game” made up by the Teachers Training College – it was judged the best float by the town Mayor. The whole of the float was disguised

as a giant four poster bed and more than a dozen girls in nightdresses sat around singing.

Another favourite with the crowd was Bedford P.E. College’s “Great Escape”. This was very symbolic explained one of the girls. In the front of the float a number of girls were dressed as prisoners behind iron bars while other scantily dress students danced at the back. The iron bars represented college and exams while the singing and dancing represented the outside world, said the student. Bags of flour were thrown from some of the floats as battles took place between some of them – this was not popular with the public crowds when a few went astray!

Many people were turned away disappointed from a dance organised by the P.E. featuring the Swinging Blue Jeans [look them up on YouTube] at Russell Park, Bedford in the evening which raised £200 [£3,750]. Inside the giant marquee a capacity 1200 danced, tightly packed on a specially laid wooden floor. The Swinging Blue Jeans cost £150 [£2800] and £30 for each of 2 supporting bands. They needed at least 800 people to break even.

A piano smashing competition in front of the bus station on Friday evening rapidly attracted a large crowd. The six teams competing had dragged their pianos through the streets from the King’s Arms in St Johns. Most of the pianos were originally on rollers, but these fell off as the students attempted to get up maximum speed. Consequently the biggest and toughest team, Shuttleworth, had built up an unassailable lead by the time they reached the bus station. The second team to finish were Silsoe College.

Later on Friday groups of 2 & 3 students carrying bed rolls and blankets began to congregate at the bus station. – By midnight 20 people were stretched out along the pavement sleeping. Most stayed until early morning collecting money for charity but three, Ian Stuart, Chris Green, [both from Shuttleworth] & Nigel Print held out until noon on Saturday.