University Days Rag Week

A Memory of Durham.

The floats for the Rag Procession always lined up on Palace Green before setting out through Durham City and in 1956 - my final year - I went to see them as they were being judged. The 1st prize - a barrel of beer - was won by Bernard Gilpin Society on this occasion . The theme of the Rag was "TV or not TV" and their float had the name "Highway Control" (Patrol) the name of a TV programme of those days, and some students dressed up as convicts with suits covered with arrows! I have a photo of the then Mayor Councillor Naylon and his wife looking at the float before presenting the prize. When I had this developed, the man in the photo shop (Fillinghams) said that never before had he seen a photo of the Mayor smiling!