50 Festival
To conclude Kent’s 50th anniversary year of celebrations, the University held its 50th Festival across the weekend of 4-6 September 2015. Alumni, former staff, friends of the University and members of the local community were all invited to the Canterbury campus for a weekend of festivities.
On 4 September, Canterbury Cathedral hosted '50 Years of Kent: A Celebration', a special anniversary event that reflected upon the University’s initial conception through to its current development. In the evening, the Gulbenkian provided entertainment with a curry and comedy night.
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The central day of the 50th Festival was Super Saturday, which boasted many exciting events; rocket building, a light graffiti booth, science experiments and much more. In the afternoon, the Goldstein riders – a group of University staff who had cycled all the way from Paris – were welcomed back to Canterbury with applause and champagne. Live music was played throughout the afternoon at Keynestock Revisited and Kent Unplugged, featuring a variety of Kent’s musically talented alumni.
Saturday evening brought two celebratory gala dinners in Eliot and Rutherford dining halls. Attendees enjoyed great food and were treated to an inaugural performance of the ‘We Are Kent’ poem, crowdsourced across the weekend and written and performed by poet and alumnus, Dan Simpson. Following the dinners, everyone gathered outside to enjoy a spectacular fireworks display that lit up the sky over Eliot and Rutherford lawns. Those who wanted to celebrate into the early hours were able to dance the night away at The Venue, the on-campus nightclub, and relive their student days.
As the 50th Festival wound down on Sunday, alumni gathered to take ‘We Are Kent’ group selfies as a final way to commemorate their reunion weekend.