Alumni
Celebrating 50 Years of the College of Ripon and York St John (CRYSJ)
Explore the evolution of CRYSJ's legacy and discover how you can contribute to its future.
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In 1974, Ripon College and St John’s College in York faced a dilemma: How could they survive with a planned reduction in teacher training places?
By the end of the year, their plan to reunify as the College of Ripon and York St John (CRYSJ) finally received government approval. They had until September 1975 to complete the amalgamation, including unifying two campuses, finalising new courses, and recruiting students to a new college experience.
When CRYSJ opened its doors in Ripon and York in September 1975, they couldn’t have imagined that generations of students would study under the same College basis. Over the years, the name of the College might have slightly changed, but CRYSJ remained at its core until the closure of our Ripon campus in 2001.
The 2024 to 2025 academic year marks 50 years since the process of amalgamation began, and just like 50 years ago, we want to create something to be remembered!
Join our CRYSJ yearbook
To mark 50 years since the amalgamation, we asked alumni who studied with us from 1975 to 2001 to join our alumni yearbook.
The yearbook is now closed for entries. If you purchased a copy, this will be dispatched to you this Summer.
Buy your CRYSJ 50 year celebration badge
For one year only, we’re bringing back the original CRYSJ logo! From 7 April 2025 to 28 June 2025, you can pre-order our unique 50th anniversary badge.
Once we close the ordering window, we will work with our supplier to create as many badges as you have ordered to prevent waste. This means that when we say this is your only chance to buy a badge, we mean it!
Badges cost £6.00 and can be bought from our online store. Over 60% of each badge sale will be donated to our CRYSJ Graduation Prize. All badges will be dispatched this summer, and we’ll stay in touch by email so you know when to expect it.
Further information
In late 1974, the Principals of Ripon College and St John’s College received confirmation that their plan to combine the Colleges had been approved. They had until Summer 1975 to complete the amalgamation so that the College of Ripon and York St John could open in September 1975.
To mark this period of transition, in the 2024 to 2025 academic year we will be celebrating CRYSJ in all its forms, and giving alumni the opportunity to get involved. To mark the opening of CRYSJ in 1975, 50 students will receive a CRYSJ graduation prize.
Alumni who have purchased a yearbook or pin badge will also receive these by September 2025.
Since 1841, York St John University has gone through so many name changes we have a timeline in the Alumni Office to keep track!
We’ve simplified the name of this celebration to bring together as many alumni as possible who studied with us in York or Ripon as a unified College with two campuses.
If you studied any part of your course between September 1975 and August 2002, you're welcome to participate.
It is free to complete your yearbook entry and be included in the yearbook.
After completing your yearbook, you can buy a physical or digital copy from GradFinale.
As with all our activities and events, York St John University will not make a profit from the sale of our badges or yearbooks. If sales of the CRYSJ badges do generate a profit, such as if metal prices decrease below the original quote, that profit will be donated to the CRYSJ Graduation Prize.
The CRYSJ yearbook is available to pre-order from GradFinale and will be dispatched in Summer 2025.
You can also choose to collect your yearbook copy at Your YSJ Reunion 2025 or wait for it to be posted to you in September 2025.
We are operating a pre-order system for the CRYSJ badge. You will be able to pre-order a badge in Spring 2025.
Before we open preorders in the Spring, we’ll obtain a new quote for producing each badge. Based on this quote, we will calculate the final price, considering:
- The cost of making each badge
- Postage and packaging
- A small contribution to the CRYSJ prize
Don't worry, we’ll provide a fixed price when you preorder and will stick to that price, even if our quote changes.
As with all our activities and events, York St John University will not make a profit from the sale of our badges or yearbooks. If sales of the CRYSJ badges do generate a profit, such as if metal prices decrease below the original quote, that profit will be donated to the CRYSJ Graduation Prize.
Badges will be available to collect at Your YSJ Reunion, or will be dispatched in late Summer 2025.
We want as many alumni as possible to participate in our celebration while minimizing waste.
GradFinale will print only the number of yearbooks that are preordered to ensure none are wasted. Consequently, yearbooks will not be available for general sale and must be pre-ordered.
Similarly, we will use a pre-order system for the CRYSJ pin badges to avoid any surplus. As a result, pin badges will not be available for general sale and must be pre-ordered.
