HISTORY-MAKING ex-students met to relive the day they became the University of York's first intake.

More than 80 of the university's first students gathered at King's Manor, Exhibition Square, to round off the institution's 40th anniversary celebrations.

They met to enjoy a dinner hosted by the Chancellor, Dame Janet Baker, and the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Cantor.

It was also attended by some of the university's first staff, including Professor Sir Alan Peacock, the founding head of economics, and Professor Graeme Moodie, who still lives in Heslington.

Retired Open University tutor Patricia Harker, who now lives in Coventry, said this was only her second return to York since she left university.

She said: "I remember being terrified on the first day, but one of the reasons I came to York was because it seemed so friendly and I was proved right.

"I loved my time here."

Rita McWilliams-Tullberg regularly returned to York until she emigrated to Sweden in 1972.

She then worked as a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Institute, and is now "mostly retired."

She said: "It was lovely. There were no divisions between staff and students."

Margaret Prosser worked in the original university library in Micklegate House. She continued to work at the library through its moves to Heslington Hall and its current campus home, and still works there now.

She said: "This is a lovely occasion, a special celebration."

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, October 11, 2003