Timothy M Jones
BSc Applied Physics 1984
Position and company: Retired, Carer
Timothy graduated from the Sunderland Polytechnic in 1984 and enjoyed a successful career as an electronic board tester. He is now retired and looks after his disabled wife.
Before retiring, Tim was a commissioning engineer at engineering company Laser-Scan in Cambridge.
Asked about one of his greatest achievements to date, he said: “Leaving Cambridge where the house prices were astronomical and getting married.”
Tim, who now lives in Nottingham, remembers with fondness his time at the University of Sunderland.
He explained: “I would say that the year starting September 1981 to the exams in the summer of 1982 was probably one of the best years of my life.
“In many ways I could argue that it was too good. Six of us lived in 18 Elm Wood Street close to Wearmouth Hall. Being the conscientious type I managed the bills for the house. I had decided to carry on after my first year doing general science to do the Applied Physics course. This was mainly because my best friends Andy and Sarpal at the time had decided to do it.
“One of the stories from there is how we decided that we were going to form a band. We had one of those Casio keyboards. We also had drums, a bass guitar and I had bought a speaker and an PA amp. Please see the picture of Andy singing into the microphone with Dave on the drums.
“If I remember well, Neil was actually very good at the electric guitar and had his own guitar and combo. The band never really took off and we basically had no idea what we were doing. I remember Andy had a huge liking of Pink Floyd and Sid Barrett.”
Tim continued: “Another story I quite like and am reminded of constantly is when my nose got broken in a fight. There was about six or seven of us leaving a pub in the south of Sunderland. This bloke came up to us and said something like ‘do you want a fight’. We obviously thought he was joking. He started to beat up Andy, when Andy was on the floor, he then started on my friend Neil who crouched on the floor trying to protect himself.
“Being the naive type I said to the guy attacking us ‘That’s not a very nice thing to do’. Anyway, I have lived to regret that as he came up to me and smashed me in the face with his fist. My nose was broken and still causes me some grief 40 years on.”
Tim added: “We also had a cat. Looking back at it I don’t think the cat was very well and we didn’t look after it well at all. In fact, I can distinctly remember the cat not being litter trained. It was a problem.
“Apart from that I did enjoy the year and played 5-a-side football and spent a lot of time in the library studying for my Applied Physics exams (in which I did really well).
“As I was brought up in the church I thought I’d join the Christian Union at college and remember going along to a lot of their meetings. Overall, it was a very eventful and happy year. I have also attached a picture of me wearing my degree dress; I was awarded an aegrotat degree for my troubles.”