In 1929 Winston Churchill visited the University to open Wills Hall, the first student residence at the University and built in memory of Henry Herbert Wills, the son of the University's first Chancellor. More such residences were soon to follow and these 'Halls' quickly becoming the centre of social life and communal living for the majority of students.
Yet, while this was taking place, many students continued to come from the local area and to live either at home or in privately rented accommodation. To support these students a social club known as Fry Haldane was created in memory of Lord Haldane, the University's second Chancellor and Lewis Fry.
Lewis Fry had been involved in the creation of University College, Bristol, the precursor to today's University, and an institution which primarily focused on the education of the local population. In 1906 it had been Lewis Fry who had drawn up the formal plans to turn University College into a true university and it was the generous financial gifts given by both the Fry and the Wills families which had finally led to the signing of a Royal Charter for the University of Bristol by King Edward VII. A further generous gift from the Fry family allowed for the setting up of a trust fund to ensure the long term funding of the new social club.
The Fry Haldane Club was an essential part of many students' lives for many years and when, in 1965, the Student's Union moved from the Victoria rooms to its present site Club offices were established on the 3rd floor of the new building. Over the years the Club founded a CD library for its members and also ran a successful second hand paperback fiction library and shop, both located inside the Union building.
By 2004, however, Fry Haldane's resources had become overstretched and the Club was in financial difficulty, its original trust fund having ceased to cover its costs. The CD and book libraries were gifted to the Union, which promptly sold them.
It was decided that the organization needed a complete overhaul and, in 2005, a medical student named Charlotte Michael re-launched Fry Haldane as a society named Orbital. Orbital moved its office from the Student Union to the Hawthorns building and began to function in a manner similar to a student JCR with a large committee of democratically elected 2nd year undergraduate students. Since then Orbital has continued to grow and adapt, though the only major change since has been its accidental disaffiliation from the Student's Union when the classification of Union societies was changed in 2007! This led to the society forming closer to links to the University and the Student Housing Office now lends Orbital a great deal of support and co-operation.
Today Orbital is a thriving student community which continues to support those students living outside of halls, just as it was founded to do in the previous century. Why not have a click around the rest of the websites pages and find out how.
