A Kinnessburn Story
Trevor Jones reflects on some fond memories of his time living in Kinnessburn – a student Residence for men – in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result of Trevor’s time as one of the ‘Men of Kinnessburn’ he has developed lifelong friendships and a deep sense of gratitude towards St Andrews.
I’m Trevor Jones – one of the Men of Kinnessburn.
Kinnessburn became a residence for young men in 1962. While I was there it was a happy household run by a Warden (Dr John Frame), a Bursar (Nora Durkan), a Cook (Ruth) and a Housekeeper (Mrs Duncan). Indeed, it was a very successful household – with many former residents going on to graduate PhDs and at least six achieving Chairs in their disciplines.
My own part in the Kinnessburn story began in 1968. After being ‘sent down’ from Strathclyde University in 1964 for failing exams, I set out in 1968 to try again in St Andrews. I put St Andrews and Botany on the UCCA form and took up an invitation one spring day to visit the Botany Department. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
I have many fond memories of living there and of being involved in the residence community.
I was ‘Beer Convener’, with the responsibility of providing cans of beer for the men to purchase at dinner. I had the use of a locked cupboard in which I stored supplies that were ordered from Birrell’s on South Street – across from Parliament Hall – and were delivered by Mr Birrell himself. Demand was intermittent, but I did return a profit. In 1971–72, when I occupied room 11 and Mervyn Thompson (Senior Student) occupied room 12, we were in the habit of opening a screw top bottle of my home-brew at about 10pm (closing time), when we heard students noisily returning from Wyvern, the Officer Training Corps (OTC) building on City Road.
One year, I was ‘elected’ as Kinnessburn Ball Convener – a job I certainly did not volunteer for! The Men chose a ‘Christmas’ theme with a date of 16 April 1971. My job was to arrange the band, liaise with Nora (although to her face we called her Miss Durkan) about the food, and to organise the decoration of the Dining Room for the big night. This was achieved using home-made timber stands to hold the decorations, a ball of string, newsprint from the Citizen office and of course the Men’s artistic skills. Luckily, no damage was caused to the fabric of the building! To complete the theme, I baked and iced a Christmas Cake.
I also directed and produced a five-minute 8mm film entitled Kinnessburn Komedy to entertain everyone during the interval. This involved many of the men as well as the Warden participating in various sketches.
The Ball was a great occasion!
In 1971 some residents held a ‘funeral’ for the demise of pre-decimal coinage by burying some coins in an unmarked grave in the Kennedy Gardens’ grass embankment across from Kinnessburn. This was one of the many stunts that we remember fondly.
Outside my Kinnessburn activities I joined the Celtic Society in 1968, and attended a beginner’s class run by the Athletic Union staff where I learned proper footwork! We met on Tuesday evenings in the Athletic Union and practised dancing to music from vinyls played on a record player by our President, Janet Sutherland. We were all delighted when some fellow students formed The Harbour Fayre Band in 1968 and played for us at our regular ceilidh dances upstairs in the (Old) Union Building.
I spent my working life as a High School Biology Teacher in Scotland, and I’ve been retired since 2002. For ‘The Men’, Kinnessburn continues to remain a memorable part of university life. Our involvement with St Andrews has continued through a number of reunions, the General Council and the After Many Days Club (AMDC) – the University’s longest running alumni club. Like many other alumni, I support the Wardlaw Scholarship Fund and other initiatives to help the young people who are following in our footsteps.
Fifty years on from the closure of Kinnessburn as a student residence, a few of us got together for a final reunion in 2022. I wanted to acknowledge the important part played by the wardens and domestic staff of Kinnessburn in our university experience, so I commissioned the University Print and Design team to produce a commemorative document. This was displayed in the Mitford Room (named after Professor Major Terence Bruce Mitford, the first Warden) and framed by Sprosons to match the frame of the Major’s photograph that we had donated in 2018.
Apart from the fact that my degree enabled me to have a career as a high school Biology teacher in Scotland, I have lifelong friends and many happy memories from my undergraduate days. One memory in particular stands out for me. At a Kinnessburn sherry party, Professor Frank Gunstone – the then Master of St Salvator’s College – commented that those students to whom the University gave a second chance tended to do well.
I’ll always be grateful to St Andrews for my second chance!
Photographs of reunions and over 33 Men of Kinnessburn newsletters (containing many more entertaining stories) along with a longform version of this story are all stored in the University of St Andrews archives.