Love at first dance: a Surrey romance that’s stood the test of time
On a chilly evening at Stag Hill Court, amid Hawaiian shirts and the unmistakable buzz of a student disco, fate was quietly at work.
For Steve (Mechanical Engineering, 1984) and Allison Thomas Philosophy, Psychology & Sociology, 1982), both alumni of the University of Surrey, that night would become the start of a love story spanning more than four decades and 37 years of marriage.
A photograph of Alison and Steve at the Surrey Weekender with the knitted jumper from that night at Stag Hill Court.
The luckiest night of his life
“Luckiest night of your life,” Allison smiles.
“The luckiest night of my life, yes,” Steve agrees.
It was the early 1980s. A Hawaiian fancy dress disco was in full swing at Stag Hill Court. The film Officer and a Gentleman had just been released, and Steve, who had recently left the Royal Navy before starting his degree at Surrey, arrived in style, wearing his white naval officer’s uniform.
“I thought I looked pretty cool,” he laughs.
Across the room was Allison, a student who had already caught his eye in the Students’ Union. That night, battling a heavy cold, she wasn’t in Hawaiian fancy dress at all, but in a knitted cat jumper her mother had made. The very jumper she recently surprised Steve with again at The Surrey Weekender event last summer, bringing it back to campus all these years later.
Despite noticing her, Steve admits he didn’t have the courage to make the first move.
So Allison did.
“You’ve been staring at me all night, why don’t you ask me to dance?”
“I was absolutely terrified,” Steve recalls.
But he danced.
And they’ve been dancing ever since.
From Stag Hill to “I do”
The pair married and have now shared 37 years together, building not only a life, but a lifetime of memories rooted in Surrey.
Steve’s own graduation day was, characteristically, a little unconventional. Tasked with replying on behalf of students to the Vice-Chancellor’s speech at the graduation ball, he realised, on the day itself, that he hadn’t actually written it.
While others headed to the cathedral for their ceremonies, Steve stayed behind to draft the speech, meaning he never had an official graduation photo taken.
Until last summer.
At The Surrey Weekender 2025, an alumni reunion weekend held at the University in June, Steve finally had his long-overdue graduation photo taken on campus over 40 years later.
“Very happy with that,” he says. “We need to get it up on the wall.”
A good choice in more ways than one
Steve’s journey to Surrey was spontaneous. Having missed the usual clearing process after leaving the Navy, he simply phoned the Mechanical Engineering department.
“They said, ‘Yeah, turn up.’ So I turned up about two weeks into term and that was it”.
Allison chose Surrey after visiting and liking what she saw, and appreciating that it wasn’t too far from home.
“Turned out to be a good choice” Steve reflects.
“Yes, very much so,” Allison agrees.
A good choice academically, and romantically.
Life after Surrey
Today, the couple live in Epsom, Surrey, never straying far from where it all began.
Steve’s career took him from BA and Rolls-Royce into engineering publishing, before a complete pivot into finance. Together, they founded and later sold their own corporate pensions business.
Allison went on to study personnel management in Bristol before joining Debenhams as a Graduate Trainee, later moving into HR at Prudential. She jokes that she has “very cleverly managed to be on maternity leave for the last 30-plus years”.
Behind the humour lies what so many alumni share: careers shaped by Surrey, friendships forged for life, and chapters that began on campus and continue still.
Coming home
Returning for The Surrey Weekender felt natural.
“We do catch up quite a lot with alumni friends anyway.” Allison explains. “But this seemed like a nice way to meet other people”.
For Steve, the sporting connections remain strong. He still keeps in touch with former rugby teammates, meeting at Twickenham and at Christmas, and even helping to run a university old boys’ team after graduation.
Walking around campus now, they reflect on how much it has grown, “much bigger” yet the feeling remains familiar.
“It was a fantastic four years,” Steve says. “Absolutely fantastic… very fond memories”.
A Valentine’s message
From a Hawaiian disco and a knitted jumper to Weekender reunions and long-overdue graduation photos, Steve and Allison’s story is proof that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask someone to dance.
This Valentine’s Day, we celebrate not just love, but the places that help it find its feet.
And for these two alumni, it all started at Surrey.