Organising your own reunion
Reunions are now more popular than ever and remain a great way to hook up with old friends and rekindle university memories. If you are curious about what your fellow alumni are doing, then we are here to help.
The University of Brighton Alumni Association would be pleased to provide you with advice and assistance if you are thinking about organising your own reunion.
Who to invite
Decide on the group that you would like to invite – former course mates, members of a sports club or society, fellow residents of a student house or a mixture of all of these and more.
There are no hard and fast rules and you can make the criteria as wide or as narrow as you choose.
You should consider if the invitation is open to friends, partners and children.
Style of reunion
You will need to consider the timing for the reunion – if you are inviting people from overseas the date should be set early (perhaps up to a year in advance) to allow people to arrange holidays around the reunion.
You should have an idea of a budget for the event – remember to consider all costs such as transport, car parking and accommodation and so on.
It is useful to find out how much people are prepared to pay before any final arrangements are made.
Another factor to consider is the format of the reunion, for example an informal meal and a chat in a pub, a tour of 'old haunts', both on campus and throughout the city, or a weekend full of activities.
The only limitations are the budget and your imagination.
Making contact
Let us know who you would like to contact and we will forward them a letter from the organiser. Replies should be sent directly to the organiser.
Due to the Data Protection laws we are not able to pass on any contact details of our alumni without their prior permission.
It is useful to send out an initial letter or email to the group to gauge the level of interest for the reunion and what preferences there are towards location and the type of event.
An old photo from your student days enclosed with this letter may prompt fond memories to be relived and encourage attendance.
When you have made the final arrangements a second letter should be sent out informing the group of the date, location and so on – again, we will undertake this mailing for you if you wish.
Remember to include an RSVP date to ensure that everyone replies in sufficient time.
Follow up
To encourage and inspire other reunions we would be delighted if you would write a brief summary about the reunion to be published on the website. Photos would also be very welcome.
