Happy birthday to all our Birthday Buddies!

Many of our alumni, staff, friends, supporters have been in touch to share memories of celebrating their birthdays during their time at university. 

​Steve Dalton (BEng Electronic Engineering, 1996)

Director, Principal Engineer, Refactor

This is me and my housemates from our shared house in my final year of university. We lived on Heeley Rd, right next to Selly Oak station. It was a great mix of a house with lots of people always dropping by from a diverse group of friends. Darren and I both studied Electronic Engineering and had returned from our sandwich year at IBM for our 3rd year. Kate, Katie and Simon had all graduated Physics together and were doing their Masters (Kate and Katy - Geography, Simon - Nuclear) so we all ended up together for our final year in Birmingham.​

In this photo we are attempting to BBQ something around the time of my 22nd Birthday in 1996 - I seem to remember we were pretty terrible. This is a skill I've thankfully now mastered after living in Australia for the last 25 years!​

Helen Wright

Quality Assurance Apprentice, University of Birmingham

I have had many, many, birthdays while at Birmingham but last year was the first ‘on campus’ as I was based at the Dental Hospital. My birthdays there have always been fun. Some years I had teaching on my birthday and took in bags of sweets for the students like kids do when its their birthday at school. But mostly my birthdays have involved cake. I would also make cake for my birthday and bring it in to share, spreading the birthday love!​

Stephen K. Chand

International Recruitment Operations Officer / Administrator for East Asia and Central Asia, University of Birmingham​

I'm a proud Staff Birthday Buddy and share my birthday—25th May—with the University! I always celebrate with my wonderful work colleagues on campus. If not in Bratby Bar, I used to bring in a batch of freshly made, world-famous “Momma Chand’s home-made samosas” to enjoy in the Green Heart—a tradition that’s always a hit with work friends, old and new. One year, I spent my birthday in Tokyo, where I had the chance to support the University’s Global Alumni Gathering campaign. It was a memorable way to celebrate—halfway around the world, but still with the University in mind.​

Saloni Bhattacharyya (BSc Clinical Anatomy, 2022; MBChB, 2024)

Academic Foundation Year 1 Doctor, University of Cambridge

The University and I will be celebrating significant birthdays this year, with the University being exactly 100 years older than me! While it may be a coincidence, I would still like to believe destiny was at play when I began Medicine at Birmingham seven years ago. Though our exams would be around this time, I did celebrate with my friends by walking through Winterbourne gardens, spending time on the Green Heart and attending the Bramall concerts. The most special was probably last year when I found out I became a doctor on campus just 2 days before my birthday!​

Lilian Nash

HR Project Manager, University of Birmingham

It’ll be my eighth University of Birmingham birthday this May, and I’ve had a variety of birthdays here. A couple of early ones were spent organising Medicine exams and processing papers for marking, one was spent doing a Vice Chancellor’s Integrated Review, and another was spent in a project management meeting. My favourite one was over a bank holiday weekend in 2019; a sunny visit to the beautiful Winterbourne Gardens with family (including sister Rose, pictured above) before going to a local restaurant. It’s a nice time of year to have a birthday, campus is very green and we’re still hopeful for a hot summer!

Simon Jephcott

Senior Management Information Analyst, HR, University of Birmingham

Like you, I am one of the 39 current University employees who share a birthday with the University of Birmingham on 25 May.​

This year’s will be the seventh birthday that I have had in the employment of the University, but I’m afraid that I have never stepped foot on campus on my birthday (although only three of the seven have been non-bank holiday weekdays).​

I have celebrated my wedding anniversary with afternoon tea at Winterbourne, and was on campus on the day that my daughter was born, but sadly never my own birthday. I do like that I share this little connection with the University.​

Haleemah Hussain (BSc Psychology, 2020)

I share a birthday with the University, which has always been a fun coincidence. I studied here and now work here, so the connection has only grown stronger over the years. Coming back as a member of staff gave me a new appreciation for the place—seeing it evolve, supporting students, and contributing to the same community that once supported me. It’s been a full-circle experience that I didn’t expect, but I’m grateful for it. Being here on our shared birthday each year is a small reminder of how much this place has shaped both my personal and professional journey.

Fiona Knight (PhD Chemistry, 1989)

For those of us with birthdays around the end of May, celebrations were often muted with exam week looming a day or so later. My mother would send me a special package of food from home (Cornwall) to the hall of residence. It would be full of goodies like saffron cake and clotted cream, which were unavailable in Birmingham back then. For my 21^st the package even contained a home made birthday cake complete with 21 candles and cake frill! These packages of treats were the source of much intrigue amongst my friends but all enjoyed the cake and scones and cream. Jam first of course.