Varsity and the Athletic Union Bell

 Every tradition has a long-forgotten origin. Here is the history of Varsity and of the Athletic Union Bell....

VARSITY

Varsity helmets Keele University's Athletic Union plays an annual multi-sports series against our local rivals at Staffordshire University. We call it Varsity and it is the event of the sporting season! Growing from just one sport in 2001 to five in 2007, Keele and Staffordshire went head-to-head in thirteen sports in 2009 and the event continues to grow each year.  Varsity is normally held in March with the final contest - Men's Football - traditionally held at the Newcastle Town F.C. ground in Trent Vale. The Varsity Football match between Keele University and Staffordshire University was first held in 2001.

Dan Little (2001) tells how it came about:  "The inaugural Keele v Staffordshire Varsity match was started in 2001 by KUFC Coach Keith Harrison and Richard McPartlin, the then Keele 1st Team Football Captain.  With the support of Newcastle Town FC, they succeeded in achieving their vision for an annual event in aid of local Trentham children’s charity, The Donna Louise Trust. Tragically Rich was killed that September after graduation in a car accident so the coveted man of the match trophy, awarded in his name, remains a proud legacy at the event he helped to create.  With the success of the Varsity, Rugby and hockey games soon joined in subsequent years, with the football match remaining the evening finale to the event, which now includes 13 sports and is still growing!"

Richard Morton (2001) adds: "A few months after his graduation, Rich died in a car accident on his way to a reunion with fellow footballers at Keele. Rich did a huge amount for Keele FC and the AU generally; he really turned the football club around on and off the pitch. Part of his amazing work was to establish the Varsity match in aid of the Donna Louise Trust children's hospice in Trentham."

Dan Little, again: "Rich helped to found the first game (and actually won it with the goal of the season free kick in golden goal extra time to give us a 1-0 win)! I played in the match and even then it felt like something special had been created and would carry on for years to come."

Football coach Keith Harrison tells the full story:

"In 2000 I took part in the Marathon des Sables, the "Race of the Sands". The race was undertaken to raise funds for the Donna Louise children's hospice, where I am now a trustee. At the time of the race I was just an eager supporter and fund-raiser. On my return from the Sahara, the Captain of Keele Football 1st XI, Richard McPartlin, asked how the football club may help to raise further funds for the project. I suggested a football match between the two local universities. We had hasty meetings with Staffordshire University football club members in "The Terrace" public house, where else, and the idea was up and running. Many of my local contacts were leaned on and co-opted: Newcastle Town FC, local match officials etc. After a great deal of persuading, all came together and the project was a little closer to reality. It was my ambition to get both the Keele University and Staffordshire University footballers involved in local charitable issues and what better way than to create a sporting fixture between the two. It was Richard McPartlin's desire to allow him, and his fellow students to leave a footprint on the local landscape. I suggested to Richard that the hospice trust was the perfect connection for the football club and Keele University Athletic Union and he agreed. The fixture was a replicable high profile fundraising event. The Varsity fixture was ready to unfold. All the plans were made over a few possibly two or three weeks. It was quite a hasty start for Varsity – and we got it right."

Rich McPartlin;s Shirt The Rich McPartlin Trophy‌

"There are two trophies. The Varsity Trophy is partly made from a small piece of the planet’s greatest monument, Mount Everest. I had the good fortune to take part in the first ever Mount Everest Marathon in 1987. I could not run past this giant without bringing a piece of her home. The piece of "rock" atop the trophy signifies the heights that our two universities strive to achieve both in a sporting and in an academic nature. The second trophy was donated to the Varsity football match by the parents of Richard McPartlin, who was tragically killed in a car crash in 2001. This trophy is awarded to the Man of the Match. Richard is proud of the Varsity fixture, I’m sure. I can only say he would have challenged to win any trophy on offer with class, determination and power. Whoever takes the trophy can feel proud of their achievement." Keith Harrison

"Richard McPartlin’s parents, Pat and David, are always keen readers of the Varsity programme and very proud of the part he played in helping Coach Keith Harrison establish the event back in 2001.” Dan Little (2001)

Photo left: Rich McPartlin's shirt is displayed in the Sports Centre and his shirt number has been retired.

 THE ATHLETIC UNION BELL

The AU Bell It is believed that the AU bell was originally one of a set of hand-bells belonging to the ringers at St John’s Church, Keele. Tune ringing on hand-bells was, and still is, a fairly common activity, particularly in the North of England.  Some of the groups who did it were bands of ringers attached to churches, although the skills required for the two activities have very little in common. A typical set of tune-ringing hand-bells often included as many as forty or fifty bells. 

When the St John’s ringers split up in the 1950s, they each took with them a share of the set of hand-bells. Twenty of these bells, by then in a derelict condition, were recovered for the Keele University ringers in the early 1970s by Bert Moss, a member of the old band who worked for the University as the Vice-Chancellor’s gardener. All but one of  these derelict bells were  sold  to help finance the purchase of a new set of  hand-bells for change-ringing by the University Change Ringing Society, but the largest one was kept. It carries an inscription recording that it was cast by P Rogers & J Symondson, well-known London hand-bell founders in the nineteenth century. They were successors to Henry Symondson, whose initials also appear on the crown of the AU bell. It was common practice for patterns from which bells were cast to be passed down from generation to generation.
When the AU bell was returned and shown to Phil Gay, a member of the Keele band since 1963, he immediately made the connection with the inscribed bell in his possession, and comparison of the bell profiles and style of the letters indicating the notes of the two bells provide strong evidence that they were indeed cast by the same founder. It seems likely that most of the old band of ringers at Keele had been workers on the Keele estate, many of whom were taken on by the University. One of them must have left one of his bells in Keele Hall.

The AU bell was discovered - discarded and derelict - in the cellars of Keele Hall by one of Keele’s earliest students, Keith Clement. The bell served for many years as the base for a table lamp before Keith returned it to the University in 2007 with the wish that it should serve a useful purpose.

The bell was accepted by Keele University Athletic Union to be rung proudly in celebration of honours and colours awarded to Keele students. The Bell is also rung to announce the speeches and toasts at Keele reunions.

The mounting of this bell was organised by Phil Gay, a student at Keele from 1961 to 1965 and subsequently a long-standing member of the academic faculty. He received help from others, notably Graham Barnes of H E Butters (Engineers), and Stuart James who did the wood-turning. Phil Gay also researched expertly the history and provenance of the Bell.

The inscription on the base of the bell reads:

"Do what you know best; if you're a runner, run, if you're a bell, ring!"

List of Athletic Union Officers

Did you enjoy this? Why not read more stories from the Keele Oral History Project?