A CAMPAIGN has been launched to name a studio at Aberystwyth University after a late lecturer who “touched the lives of thousands of students” during his two decades at the institution.

A petition calling for Aberystwyth University to honour David Blumfield who passed away last October has already attracted nearly 500 signatures.

Alan Magee-Mehdizadeh, who started the petition, said that David was “more than a teacher, a lecturer, a practitioner”.

“He was accessible, kind and willing, always with time to listen and give advice,” he said.

“David started teaching at the Theatre, Film and Television Studies Department in 1999, and for almost two decades Dave was a massive influence in the lives of virtually every single student he had the honour and privilege of welcoming into his ‘space’.

“I would like to ask the university to consider naming one of the performance spaces in the Parry Williams Building after David Blumfield, a man who gave so much to the department, and so much of his being to every single student he had the responsibility of teaching.

“Dave has been a part of student life for almost two decades, touching the lives of thousands of us in the process, we feel the great man deserves the recognition of a gesture of this scale.”

Signatories to the petition have backed the plan.

Steve Himpherson said: “Dave was the most humble, genuine and inspirational of tutors we could have wished for.

“Naming a studio in his memory would contribute towards his legacy remaining where his heart, love and life were so content."

Mr Blumfield posthumously received a Special Commendation for “Exceptional Contribution to University Life” from students at Aberystwyth University at the Student Led Teaching Awards.

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