Storthes Hall note mystery solved!
The author of a mysterious note found at Storthes Hall in the summer of 2018 has not only been traced, but has also dropped in at the University of Huddersfield to relive his stay here.
Richard Hartley-Parkinson put pen to paper in 2002 with some handy advice for the next resident of his room at North Springs, then hid the note – and then forgot all about it!
Wind the clock forward to summer 2018, and during a refurbishment at Storthes his note – headed cryptically with “DON’T LOOK UNDER THE BED! - was found by a cleaner and, luckily, handed in.
It started a campaign on the University’s alumni social media to find who the mysterious author, known only as “Rich”, actually was and after a short time the owner ‘fessed up!
Luck had played a big part, as Miri Greaves from DIGS told us: “It was left on reception, and Sarah, one of the girls here, said ‘That is so cute!’ All that cleaner needed to do was to put it in the bin, along with the rest of the stuff she was finding behind wherever she found it.”
The exact location of the note remains unclear, and for Richard the whole episode would have been lost in the mists of time until fate intervened.
“I didn’t remember writing the note until I got the email from the Alumni Society, so why I did it – I don’t know,” laughs Richard.
“At first I thought it was someone from Storthes Hall trying to get in touch with me that remembered me for some reason, then I saw my handwriting and thought ‘What have I done?’ Then I read the note and it all came flooding back.
“I had totally, 100% forgotten that I had written it. Someone asked me if I have ever left notes in every place I’ve lived, and I haven’t. If I had, and I have lived in many places – I once moved 12 times in three years – I would probably have remembered that I had left one here.”
Richard studied for his BA in Media from 2001 to 2004, and is now Assistant Editor at metro.co.uk. After contacting the University, Richard popped in to visit the campus, meeting his tutor Alistair Billam before going to Storthes to meet Miri and the current occupant of his old room.
“Had they never have found it, I would never have remembered. But a lot of friends I remember from here have been back in touch because of it, and a few people have seen it independently. It has brought back so many great memories.”
Tim Oscroft, with thanks to Katie Jowett
Richard's original note
