| LUPTS history: retrospective |
It’s
easy to get all serious about LUPTS.
It was, at the end of the day, a student society - it just happened to be
one which bought trams and ran rail and bus tours.
It was important from a social point of view and most people who were
actively involved in LUPTS made lifelong friends from their fellow members.
The
‘real’ student side of life can be gleaned from the minutes books.
An example is the entry for meeting 348 which took place on 17 February
1977:
“At
this point the meeting was interrupted by four “heavies” wearing wellies and
smoking clay pipes, who then proceeded to smear a plate of shaving foam over the
Chairman’s [Jonathan Cadwallader] face.
Despite members expressing the opinion that this was a great improvement
to the Chairman, he left the meeting for a few minutes to clean himself up.”
The
fact that it was Panto week and that money could be raised for charity by
putting out a contract for someone to be ‘hit’ was not coincidental.
An
entry in the occasionally used trip diary for a two day trip to the North East
of England describes events when the party stopped at a pub adjacent to
Theakston’s brewery on the way back to Liverpool:
“The
Secretary, despite being warned of its strength, partook of a pint of
Theakston’s cider ... The conduct of the Secretary was remarkable to say the
least after this refreshment ... [He] eventually behaved more quietly, but not
before leaning out of a window to yell ‘Get out and milk it!’ to some
cyclists.”
One
further alcoholic reference.
The University of Liverpool Archives contains a Skol beermat.
The significance of this item is that written on the reverse is a letter
of resignation from the elected Treasurer for the 1977/78 session, who was
unable to take up his post due to a disagreement with the Board of Examiners.
In
spite of all this, LUPTS generally gave a respectable image to the outside world
through its preservation, tour running and meeting activities.
Significant numbers of Graduates used their membership of LUPTS to help
them on with their future careers and many are now in allegedly respectable jobs
within the transport industry.
It
is difficult to be absolutely sure why LUPTS folded but a number of suggestions
have been made over the years.
LUPTS had never been a ‘trainspotting’ organisation but the hobby
always had its detractors, as evidenced by the “What do you do - apart from
the obvious?” comment mentioned in the Introduction.
Perhaps transport enthusiasm is not for the ‘sophisticated’ student
of the 1990s.
LUPTS’
demise was perhaps part of a more general decline.
Within the University, many long established societies had preceded, or
followed, LUPTS into oblivion.
These included the long established Scout and Guide Club and, as
mentioned in the final AGM, “... of late, only the environmental groups and
LGB [Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual] Society had seen a growth in membership”.
Outside
the University, many transport societies have suffered drops in membership and
are finding it difficult to justify holding meetings.
A sign of the times is that ex LUPTS Old Fogeys can go to many of these
meetings and still be the youngest there by 20 years or so.
The April 1998 edition of Railway
Magazine reported the demise at the end of the 1996/97 academic year of the
Oxford University Railway Society as its membership had dwindled to “a mere
half dozen”.
Perhaps
transport enthusiasm is not the social activity it used to be.
Until the mid 1970s there was relatively little by way of up to date
published information so you had to talk to others to find out what was going
on. A
multiplicity of books, magazines and higher tech forms of communication removes
this need.
Why invite someone to bring his films along when you can buy them on
video to watch over and over again?
Perhaps
it’s simply that transport isn’t as interesting to the enthusiast as it was
in the past.
Back in 1958 there were trams, trolleybuses and steam trains running in
everyday service; now you can only see them in sanitised form in museums.
Is there the same degree of interest in the buses and diesel trains which
replaced them?
Whatever
the reason, LUPTS is no more but those who actively participated in it over the
years are left with many memories.
Its achievements were many and its first Chairman, Martin Jenkins,
referring to a planned reunion in May 1998 of those involved with the 1960 tram
tour and purchase of 869, writes that this is:
“...
a fitting tribute to the Society’s early endeavours in the field of
preservation as well as a part of the Society’s lasting legacy.”
Last updated: 14 April 2002
© Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2001/2002
Page hosted by www.lupts.org.uk