The Legends of St. Fred
Do you have memories of ‘Fred’, the sculpture adjacent to Royce Hall? To coincide with its conservation we’re launching ‘The Legends of St. Fred’, a social history project exploring the sculpture’s life on campus.
As part of this project we're asking for your stories, photographs and rumours – or anything else – associated with the sculpture.
Properly called Standing Figure, Fred is the work of the renowned Manx sculptor Bryan Kneale, and was purchased for the newly-opened Royce Hall in 1960. It is believed he acquired his nickname almost immediately, and he was soon granted sainthood by Royce residents. To this day the hall throws a ‘St. Fred’s Day’ party at the end of each academic year.
We want to understand more about the role (St.) Fred has played in the lives and imaginations of University students, staff and visitors, past and present. So we're asking you to share your memories, photographs, stories, anecdotes, rumours, mysteries, drawings and other forms of truth or half-truth relating to the sculpture. Perhaps you had graduation photos by the sculpture? Kissed your future spouse by it? Helped maintain it in the 1970s? Heard a rumour about what those reprobates from Rutherford Hall were planning to do with it? Or perhaps you were one of those reprobates from Rutherford Hall? We’d love to hear from you!
Please use the form on this page to share your memories with us. You can upload image, video, audio and text files.
Material collected will be presented via a smartphone app, produced in partnership with Institute Loughborough; a web page; and through physical interpretation on site.
Deadline for submission of material: Friday 2nd August 2024.
If you have any questions relating to this project then please email Loughborough University's Curator, David Bell, D.M.Bell@lboro.ac.uk
Share your media - submission form
You can find out more about Standing Figure on the sculpture collection page.