The MUGS were famous for their social events!
The first one was of course the disco held at Newlands in the Lake District on the surveying course which all the new geography freshers attended.
Blackpool
Next on the list was the annual trip to Blackpool. I'll never forget the partying on double decker buses which made their way to Blackpool although I normally only have hazy recollections of the trip back! I do rememember the buses stopping at motorway services on the way back and forgetting to bring Fez with us! Rumour has it he made his way back to Manchester by hitching, then "borrowing" someone's push bike and sustaining himself on milk from people's doorsteps on the way back!
The first Blackpool trip I went on was only 10 days after the start of term. Here's what the diary has to say about it -
Lectures in the morning and we even went to one we didn't mean to by mistake! In the afternoon it was the Blackpool trip. I left my folder in Tony's locker and we went to the bar and had a quick drink. We got on the buses but ours was a bit quiet - no singing on board! We stopped halfway so we got off for something to eat and nearly got left behind. We eventually got to Blackpool and me, Gordon and Ed went for something to eat then on the funfair. A lot of the rides were shut but we went on the log chute - G got wet through. Then we went to the pub and had 5 pints and 3 rum and blacks! We bumped into Alison and went for a walk down to the fair, amusements and the beach with her. The bus back was excellent with singing all the way and we got back to Manchester about 1.30.
The diary for the next morning says that my head hurt and I felt sick but managed to survive lectures without falling asleep!
The pictures below aren't from the first MUGS trip but from a visit in the third year
...and we loved Blackpool so much that Don had his stag night there - a classic trip!
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MUGS Socials
As I mentioned they were famous throughout Manchester for their cheap drinks and proportion of girls to boys! You have to remember that my friends at UMIST very rarely ever saw a woman! I think there was one on the electrical engineering course that Simon and Don did! The geogrpahy course I think was 60-40% girls to boys and so the boys came from miles around to MUGS socials.
The first one was on October 26th. It was held at International House and I went down with Mike, Ed, Doug and Andy. It was great - the beer was very cheap and everyone was very drunk. I had six or seven pints and after a slow start the dancefloor was full of very drunk students singing football songs for some reason! I got invited to someones party the next night and managed to get all the rest of the boys invited as well. We left the MUGS do about 12.30 and went over to the Plaza but it was full and we couldn't get in. We walked home and were entertained to the spectacle of Ed throwing chow mein at lorries! We had coffee in H floor common room until very late.
Dicks scruffy do!
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As the MUGS always have a posh do they also have a scruffy do, and the scruffiest of all MUGS was Scruffy Dick! A third year geographer, I think the only coat he possessed was an old raincoat and he wore it all the time. As the diary says Dick's scruffy do was November 29th but there was lots of good stuff on the TV first! Tomorrows World, then Top of the Pops (Pans People got a special mention), then Mastermind and Some Mothers do 'ave 'em! After that we got dressed up and went down to the Blackstock which was absolutely packed with MUGS. Dick was looking particularly scruffy as expected but Ed had his climbing stuff on, so nearly matched him! We had a lot to drink - Ruth's geology lot were particularly pissed! Then it was off down to the Plaza for half a buryani. This was the famous night when Dick stood up, made a small speech and then proceeded to drink a bowl of suicide sauce down in one to great applause from all the MUGS! We walked home with Ann who lives at Salford and she came to our hall to phone for a taxi |
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The MUGS weren't the only ones to have grand drinking events though...how about Rag Week?
