Since its beginnings in the city centre in 1964, Lancaster University (formally known as The University of Lancaster) has had a significant impact on the city. Lancaster itself is a long-established settlement that has acted, at various times, as a fort, port, agricultural town and furniture-making centre (amongst others). Now though, the city has a strong educational focus and is home to two universities (Lancaster University and The University of Cumbria) and the Storey Institute - a centre for artistic, technical and scientific innovation.
Frequently rated among the top universities in the UK, Lancaster University produces world-leading research in a variety of subjects; its Management School is particularly highly regarded.
Lancaster is one of only a small number of collegiate universities in the UK, it has nine colleges: Bowland, Cartmel, County, Furness, Graduate, Grizedale, Fylde, Lonsdale and Pendle. The colleges provide residential and social space for students, each of whom are allocated a 'home' college on acceptance to the University. Each of the colleges has a Bar, some also feature coffee-shops, cafes and restaurants. The colleges organise their own regular social events, including an annual, themed extravaganza, to celebrate the end of exams/academic year. Some of the colleges also have some affiliations with academic departments.
This Geocache gives a few little nuggets of information about the University. For each nugget, an associated question is provided - together the answers to these questions will allow you to find the cache itself. A total of nine nuggets, and questions, are given; the same number as there are colleges within the University.
PLEASE NOTE - All answers to the questions can be found on the Internet. The cache itself is not on the University property, but is a very short walk away. Parking near the cache site may be difficult - the majority of roads near the University are subject to parking restrictions (if only to stop unruly staff and students filling up the road because they can't find/aren't entitled to an on-campus parking spot).
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The University of Lancaster was established by Royal Charter in 1964. The Charter stipulated that HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent be the first Chancellor; the princess served in that role until 2004, making her the longest serving Chancellor of any British university.
1) What was the birthdate of Princess Alexandra, the first Chancellor of the University?
A = DDMM - YYYY =
Following the retirement of HRH Princess Alexandra, Sir Christian Bonington took on the role of Chancellor at the University. The British mountaineer had previously been awarded an honorary degree in 1983.
On July 13th 2005, as part of the first set of graduations following Sir Christian Bonington's inauguration as chancellor of Lancaster University, an honorary degree was issued to West Indies cricketer Clive Lloyd who had captained the Lancashire County Cricket team during the 1980s.
2) How many sixes did Clive Lloyd hit during his Test career?
B =
Cricket is just one of many sports played during the Roses Tournament, an annual sports competition between the universities of Lancaster and York. Unsurprisingly, the competition takes its name from the 15 Century civil wars between the Houses of Lancaster and York - The Wars of the Roses.
The Roses Tournament has run every year since 1965. At the time of writing (2015), Lancaster has won the tournament 24 times and York 26; there has been only one draw.
3) In which year was the outcome of the Roses Tournament a draw?
C =
Organisation of the Roses Tournament is shared between the students' unions of the two participating universities. In addition to Roses, Lancaster University's Students' Union (LUSU) also manage the University's participation in British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) competitions, and provide inter-college sports tournaments. Outside of sports, the union supports a wide variety of student societies, provides a wealth of student services (including an off-campus housing agency, an advice centre, volunteering opportunities and a job shop), runs two shops and a nightclub.
4) The Sugar House, on Sugar House Alley, is the LUSU-owned nightclub in Lancaster City Centre. What is the sum of the five digits in the telephone number for the club (excluding area code)?
D =
Unusually, the Students' Union is not the only official on-campus body organising large-scale events for students. As I've already mentioned, the University is collegiate and each of the colleges maintains its own social calendar.
5) How many of the nine colleges have names that begin with the letter F?
E =
One of the founding colleges, Bowland College, occupies much of the centre of the University campus including the rather prominent, Bowland Tower. Other prominent buildings on campus include InfoLab21 (a green and orange building that can be clearly seen from the M6 motorway) and the Chaplaincy Centre (a building with three white spires).
6) Although the current University logo takes the form of a shield derived from the University's original coat of arms, the pre-2014 logo instead featured a representation of the spires of the aforementioned Chaplaincy Centre. How many of these red lines are there in that logo?
F =
Both the current and previous University logos use a colour palette of grey and red in combination (although the exact shades vary between the logos). Red is, of course, the colour of the traditional emblem for the House of Lancaster, the red rose. The presence of grey is a reflection of the University's strong historic links with the Religious Society of Friends. Charles Carter, the University's first Vice-Chancellor, was a Quaker (and Lancaster itself also has some not-so-pleasant ties to the Friends - early Quakers frequently suffered imprisonment for a variety of offences, and their founder George Fox was himself imprisoned in Lancaster Castle on multiple occasions).
7) In what year was the death of George Fox, founder of the Quakers?
G =
In another reflection of their Quaker links, George Fox gives his name to a building housing the University's largest lecture theatre. The George Fox building houses six lecture theatres, a chinese restaurant and some student accommodation. George Fox Lecture Theatre 1, the largest of the academic rooms is frequently the location of larger university and corporate meetings, as well as its regular lecture schedule.
In September 2004, a "Corporate Venturing" conference held in the Lecture Theatre resulted in protest activity from students who criticised attending companies for involvement in the arms trade, failure to uphold human rights and the environmental damage; the protesters also raised concerns about the commercialisation of university research. As a result of their protesting activity, the 'George Fox Six' were charged with aggravated trespass, fined and given a 2 year conditional discharge.
Political activity at Lancaster is nothing new. In the early days of the University, students were regularly seen demonstrating in the city centre. In more recent years, protests have frequently focused on BAE Systems, partially as a result of their strong ties to courses provided by the University's Management School.
8) On what date was the company BAE Systems formed?
H = DDMM - YYYY =
The George Fox building contains the Southern-most lecture theatres on the Lancaster University campus. At the opposite end, The County College and the Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts house the Northern-most lecture theatres and seminar rooms. To navigate between the two, and still stay dry in the Lancaster's not-entirely-dry weather, students walk 'The Spine' - an (almost-entirely-) covered walkway from one end of campus to the other.
9) In 1981, approximately 1400mm of rainfall was recorded at the nearby Hazelrigg Weather Station (itself owned and managed by the Environmental Science department of the University). How many inches is this (whole number only)?
I =
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The cache itself is a nano/micro (big nano, small micro) located at:
N 54° 00.X
W 02° 47.Y
X = H - A - D - (F x I) + 2
Y = C - G - (E x B) + 1
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Interesting sources should you wish to persue them:
Plus the ever-popular Wikipedia.
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*Congratulations to nesrelleg for the FTF*