Alumni reunite at scaled-down event to celebrate 100 years of The Harper Adams Alumni Association.

Nearly a century to the day that the inaugural alumni reunion dinner was held, the university’s Queen Mother Hall played host to a reunion of 30 graduates from The Harper Adams Club alumni association.  

The event was scaled down this year and operated in accordance with government Covid-19 guidelines but it did not stop attendees from enjoying a two-course meal and reminiscing about student hijinks during RAG Weeks of old and what it means to have studied at Harper Adams.   

Some were shocked by how much the campus has evolved over the years and others were amused to find that parts retained the same charm as 50 years ago.    

To mark the centenary of that first reunion dinner, all attendees gathered at the front of the main red-brick building to recreate the original Harper Club photograph – which included seven former club Presidents, including brothers John and Gerard Poulter, and centennial-year co-Presidents Ros Barsley & Simon Jones.  

The Poulters were the first family to have three consecutive generations study at Harper Adams. John and Gerard’s, father, Leslie, was one of the founders of the Harper Adams alumni association in 1921, after finishing his studies that were interrupted by his military service in France during World War One.   

It’s striking to hear about how much Harper Adams has changed in 100 years: Once the university held 6 students in total and now across undergraduate, postgraduate, research and workforce development, the total number is closer to 5000.   

However, after speaking to the graduates, I can hand of heart say that there is one thing that will always remain the same: The Harper Spirit that each and every one of our graduates is imbued with after studying with us.