On Saturday, March 21, 2025 a formal dinner took place in the Union Dining Hall at Imperial College Union.
While significant in its own right, as the first formal dinner in the UDH for a decade, this was no ordinary gathering! It was a joyful celebration of the vibrant mascotry scene that used to permeate through Imperial life. And the RCSA was delighted to support the event, with our members attending in force.
As many readers will know, mascots have long been a symbol of university camaraderie, with most universities having some sort of mascot. Within the University of London, making off with another college’s violable mascot, in order to ransom it for charity, was once quite the thing.
Imperial’s violable (i.e. stealable) mascots take the form of colossal metallic representations of technical instruments, beautifully engineered to reflect Imperial’s technical bent. Some of you may recall lugging around the RSCU’s violable mascot, Theta, an oversized stainless-steel representation of a thermometer. Or “borrowing” City & Guilds College Union’s giant Spanner and Bolt (they do exactly what it says on the tin!) until a suitable ransom could be extracted. Or staking out Davy, the Royal School of Mines Union’s magnificent brass miner’s lamp, ready to whisk it away as soon as the RSM mascotry team’s attention wandered. Or even lugging Mike (ICU’s giant, fully functional micrometer) to the filming of University Challenge, in order to inspire the team to victory.
In addition to these violable mascots, Imperial students are blessed with four motorised, non-violable, mascots. Many of you will have seen (or perhaps even ridden on) Jezebel, RCS Motor Club’s 1916 Dennis fire engine, as she runs around campus ringing her bell. Jez’s next-door neighbour on campus is Clementine (affectionately known as Clem), the 1926 Morris T-type truck, run by the Royal School of Mines Motor Club… and we must not forget Boanerges (affectionately known as Bo) and Derrick, City and Guilds’ 1902 James & Browne car and 1926 Ner-A-Car motor bike, respectively.
So, when current RCS Motor Club chair Jack Swires, spotted a number of anniversaries coming up in 2025, he was inspired to act. And thanks to the herculean efforts of Jack and his team, the stage was set for exuberant celebration of the 70th anniversaries of the Royal College of Science Motor Club and of the Royal School of Mines Motor Club, along with the 50th anniversaries of the current iterations of Theta (Mark IV) and Davy (Mark II)… and a general celebration of all our beloved mascots.
The evening kicked off with a trip down memory lane, as guests – from across all three of Imperial’s original constituent colleges – congregated at the RCS and RSM Motor Club garages to enjoy a small display, showcasing the history of mascotry at Imperial. For past students, spotting ourselves in prior years (and marvelling at how young we used to be) proved an excellent way to reconnect with friends / contemporaries, while getting to know the amazing crop of current students keeping it all going today.
Then it was time to head over to the UDH for dinner – with some guests lucky enough to hitch a ride on Clem or Bo. Sadly, Jez needs a new radiator so was unable to join in the fun! (Donations to the radiator fund, if you’re so minded, can be made here….)
Once guests were settled (a task not unlike herding cats!), Jack welcomed everyone to the dinner before a tasty three-course dinner was served, courtesy of the wonderful team at Pink Diamond Catering.
As with any good college dinner, there were speeches a plenty! After Jack thanked all those involved, singling out the RCSA for our particular support (thank you, Jack!), Sean Mabiasan, Captain of the RSM Motor Club, shared thoughtful reflections on the benefits of the constituent college structure, citing the constituent college unions, alumni associations and mascots as an ongoing source of the fellowship and friendly rivalries that formed the life-long friendships on show that night, spanning generations and continents.
But the evening’s highlight came from principal speaker Nigel D. Slade, a distinguished RCS alumnus who served as RCS Duplicating Officer (1972-73), Assistant Honorary Secretary (1974-75), and Motor Club Chair (1974-75). Nigel’s wonderfully vivid account of the events that surrounded the creation of Theta Mark IV transported the audience back 50 years, to when he became “Theta’s Dad”, and earned him a well-deserved standing ovation.
It then fell to Stephanie Ward (née Snell), Deputy President of the RCSA, and former RCSU President, to share some closing remarks, honouring Jack for his unwavering dedication to making the event a success and presenting him with an engraved pewter tankard, donated by the RCSA, as a mark of the dinner’s gratitude. As is traditional for an RCS dinner, Steph then closed the formal part of the proceedings by leading the crowd in a rousing Kangela.
The night was not over, however, as guests stayed on for photographs with the violable mascots – and each other – before repairing to the Union Bar (opened especially for the occasion) to catch up with friends old and new, and share fond memories from our time with the mascots.
The perfect end to a glorious night of nostalgia and celebration!
The RCSA would like to thank all the speakers for their time, Anne Barrett (Imperial College archivist), for her help with the historical display and Jack Swires (again) for organising such a wonderful event.
(If you like the support we offer to our students why not help us do more? Sign up for RCSA membership here, and your annual subscription will be a great help, or consider making a donation to the RCSA Trust here. With no staff and no building costs or other outgoings, you can be assured that every penny of your donation will be gratefully received and faithfully applied to assist the students of the Royal College of Science).
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