From the Blue Monkey to wedded bliss - meet the Sunderland uni couple celebrating their own 30th anniversary this year

Psychology student Carolyne Ratcliffe met English degree student Adrian Bassett during their first year at the newly established University of Sunderland in September 1992.

In October this year, the pair will celebrate their 30th anniversary together after meeting on a night out at the former Blue Monkey nightclub in Sunderland’s city centre.

After living in student accommodation in their first year at Wearmouth Hall, the couple moved into a rental flat in Hylton Road, sharing the accommodation with fellow English student Steven Ascroft.

Steve became a life-long friend and would later walk Carolyne down the aisle as best man, when she and Adrian married in 2001.

Both students graduated with 2:1s in 1995, and collected their degrees from the Sunderland Empire before moving to London, where Adrian, 48, originally from Essex, pursued a successful career in public relations.

Adrian began in music and turned to sports communications after working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games campaign and is now Head of Communications with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the organisation responsible for safeguarding the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.

Carolyne, 49, originally from Surrey, says she joined Sunderland after visiting the campus on a “sunny day” and says she “liked the feel of the place”.

She initially signed up for a combined Psychology with French degree but dropped to a full psychology degree after enjoying the subject so much.

Carolyne has worked in areas such as early years’ special education, educational psychology, and social work, specialising in autism.

She has also completed a Masters degree in Psychology from Birmingham University, and more recently completed a PhD in Educational Psychology, at University College London (UCL).

Carolyne, who now lives in Essex with Adrian and their daughters, Caoimhe, 22, and Louie, 16 said: “I still find it hard to believe 30 years have passed since we first met at Sunderland, I’ve so many great memories of my time there.

“I really didn’t enjoy A-Levels and didn’t do very well so took a gap year out and headed to France, as I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. But I was really interested in psychology and absolutely loved studying at Sunderland, we were mostly based in the Forster Building on Chester Road.

"It was there that I developed a real passion for the subject, which I’ve been able to use throughout my career.”

Adrian added: “I enjoyed my time in Sunderland and meeting Carolyne!”

This year is the 30th anniversary of the city's former polytechnic being awarded university status and to mark the occasion, a series of events have taken place which look back at the institution's success over the past three decades.

The celebrations include exhibitions, reunion dinners, and garden parties.

Carolyne said: “I’m now officially a Doctor of Psychology and I’m hoping to specialise in autism or the early years, because I taught in this area for a long time.

“Sunderland, however, will always have a special place in our hearts, it’s where it all started for us both 30 years ago, and we remember our time there like it was yesterday.”