Former students’ stories celebrate 30 years of UWE Bristol’s Glenside campus

As UWE Bristol celebrates 30 years of its Glenside campus, stories from across its alumni community are highlighting the significant impact of the site in educating generations of health and care professionals.

While Glenside became part of UWE Bristol in 1996, its healthcare history stretches back to the 19th century when it opened as an asylum before becoming Glenside Hospital and part of the NHS in 1948. After receiving its final patient in 1994, it began a new chapter two years later as UWE Bristol’s Glenside Campus.

The campus is now known as one of the South West's leading healthcare training centres offering courses in Nursing, Radiography, Paramedic Science and Sports Rehabilitation. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and strong partnerships with the NHS, the campus provides practical learning and placement opportunities to prepare students for careers in healthcare.

Alumni from the past 30 years have been sharing their memories of studying at the campus to mark its anniversary.

To Fliss Clement from Westbury-on-Trym, Glenside is more than just a place of study and now work, having been woven through her family for generations.

Fliss studied Physiotherapy at Glenside in 2009 and is now a Senior Lecturer on the programme. Her links to Glenside go back generations, with her grandfather working at Glenside Hospital as a psychiatrist, while her mother was an Assistant Nurse there. Her parents also met at a fancy-dress party at the hospital.

Reflecting on her time at Glenside and connection to the campus, Fliss said:
“I still have such fond memories of the practical sessions at Glenside, particularly working with the anatomical bone sets. To return years later as a lecturer and teach in those same spaces feels very special. Glenside has been part of my family’s story as well as my own, so coming back really does feel like home.”

For Penny Crawley, 60, Glenside has been a constant throughout her life. From visiting as a local school pupil to making a major career change in her 40s, the campus has played an important role at different stages of her life.

Brought up in St Pauls and Speedwell, Penny first visited Glenside as a teenager on a school community studies trip, where she met healthcare professionals and long-term hospital patients for the first time.

Later in life, through voluntary work with her church, Penny supported a friend whose son had schizophrenia. The experience, together with seeing her sister pursue a mental health nursing degree following a cancer diagnosis, inspired Penny to follow a similar path.

At 42 - after a career in administration and accounting - she began a BSc Mental Health Nursing degree at UWE Bristol, studying at Glenside from 2009 to 2011.

After graduating, Penny joined North Bristol NHS Trust at the Rosa Burden Centre, where she became a ward manager supporting people with neurological conditions as well as patients undergoing neurological investigations.

In 2021, Penny returned to Glenside as a lecturer progressing to Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Education and a Fellow in Higher Education (FHEA) in under two years. Her teaching includes clinical simulation and virtual reality, giving students opportunities to develop skills and learn in a safe environment before entering clinical practice.

Reflecting on her own experience at Glenside, Penny said: “Changing career at 42 was daunting, but it was an incredible experience, and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. For three years, Glenside was my home, and I left with a degree and professional registration that set me up for a hugely rewarding career in mental health.”

Georgie Benford, Deputy Dean for the School of Health and Social Wellbeing at UWE Bristol said: “Over the last three decades, thousands of staff have taught, supported, researched, innovated and led from Glenside. Together, they have shaped the experiences of countless students and made a real difference to the health and wellbeing of communities across our region and beyond. That is the legacy of Glenside.”

UWE Bristol is hosting several events for its alumni community and current students to celebrate Glenside’s 30^th anniversary. After calling out for stories earlier this year, many alumni shared their memories of studying at Glenside and the influence the campus had on their life, which can be read on the UWE Bristol website here.