Last night, Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) celebrated its 80th Anniversary with a number of special guests including staff, governors, local businesses and the Mayor of Richmond upon Thames, Councillor Lisa Blakemore.
The celebrations opened with a speech from Robin Ghurbhurun, Principal and CEO of RuTC, who spoke about life at the college since it opened as Twickenham Technical College and School of Art in 1937.
Robin commented “it was great to see so many familiar faces join us to reflect on the colleges 80 years of history and look forward to its exciting future.”
Guests were served with canapés and drinks from the college’s training restaurant, Merits, and there was a celebratory 80th Anniversary cake created by the catering team which was cut after the speech by the President of the Student Union, Hanifa Mohammed, and Vice President of the Student Union, Andreea Tatu.
After the reception, guests were invited to enjoy the annual end of year Arts & Media Exhibition which celebrates the work of students on a variety of art and designs courses at RuTC. Rooms were opened throughout the art department for students to showcase the work they are most proud of from the year.
Visitors also had the opportunity to purchase the artwork on display through our student-led entrepreneurial project, RICH Entrepreneurs.
Part of the exhibition included an awards ceremony for the art department which celebrated a number of student achievements.
A Level Architecture students were awarded for their involvement in designing way-finders for Heathfield Recreation Ground in Twickenham as part of the Richmond Council Friendly Parks for All project.
Students studying the UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design were presented awards by Lynne Reeves, Chair of the Friends of Turner House, for their product designs for a visitor centre. Jerusa da Silva, Hannah Shams and Jonas Sackey were the winners of these awards and Maisie Evans Winter and Zayneb Faik were also commended for their designs.
Lynne spoke highly of the students work and commented “we continue to be impressed and delighted by the quality of the students’ response to the life and work of JMW Turner.”
The final award of £100 art vouchers was presented by Steel and Industrial Managers Association (SIMA) to Level 2 Art & Design student Iranea Clarke whose design was chosen to be their new logo.
The department also received a cheque of £500 which was used for photography equipment for the department.
– from a RuTC press release