On the 27 October 2018, a group of 7 students and a lecturer from a small class of 13 students gathered for a meal in Edinburgh to celebrate 40 years since they all met for the first time as first year students attending the block release course of Sanitary Science at Napier College.
The date they gathered also happened to be 36 years to the day, when they all attended for their professional exams and interviews with the Royal Sanitary Association of Scotland, the leading professional body prior to the formation of the Chartered Institute of Scotland and then REHIS. The class from Napier College were accompanied by the principal lecturer on the Sanitary Science Course, Professor Francis McManus.
The route into the environmental profession in those days comprised four years of block release study, with annual exams and the maintenance of an annual practical record of training, whilst gaining practical experience from their employing Local Authority, culminating in professional exams to gain professional status to become a qualified EHO.
The group below, always a very social bunch, raised their glasses on several occasions to lecturers form the college, to Iain McDonald (deceased) their Gold Medal student and the Sanitary Science Course itself. An enjoyable evening was had by all recounting a number of escapades and organised visits to distilleries and breweries organised by the college. The course provided an excellent education for professional environmental health officers, and many pictured below are chartered EHOs still working either in the private or the public sector still plying their trade to promote and protect public health.
The class next plan to meet up again in 4 year’s time to celebrate 40 years since their own graduation.
Pictured below are (left to right) Jean Allan, Elaine Devine, Kevin Boyle, Francis McManus, Campbell Stewart, Neil Doherty, Lesley Cooke and Roy Stewart.
