up with 416 participants: the capacity of Hall, with an extra sprig, was 418. These events were running anyway, and I fear I have no particular recollection of doing anything special for Don. So I feel something of a fraud that my name is coupled with Don’s as it is the Pinchins’ exceptionally generous gift that has allowed the College to refurbish the house, but I am continually assured by Lydia that that is what Don really wanted. I have said for years: “I have never met a Canadian I didn’t like.” That sentiment may have influenced my dealings with Don, in 1973 and subsequently. But Don was such a likeable person that I can’t imagine that just his Canadian-ness was the key to his charm. The Churchill of the early 1970s So what of the Churchill of the early 1970s? The Master was Prof Sir William Hawthorne, well known in certain circles, particularly the Magic Circle, and a world expert on thermodynamics and turbomachinery. Ken McQuillan was the Vice Master, Dick Tizard the Senior Tutor, and the Bursar was Hywel George, who I think after some years dealing with the residents of St Kitts and Nevis found that the Churchill Student Community made yet greater demands on his reserves of patience and understanding. There were others who contributed just as Others contributed vitally to the College. The College Porters, led as vitally to college by Mr Piercy, Bruce Saunders, the College life Catering Manager, Bob Hensher, the College Chef, and of course George the College Butler. Such people, with their unstinting desire to look after us regardless of to which Common Room we belonged, made such a contribution to College life. And, of course, there was Canon Noel Duckworth, Chaplain to the College. Any of us who rowed at Churchill in that era will have our memories of Noel, cycling pell mell along the tow path, putting himself and any passers-by in great peril of a sudden immersion, and using sometimes quite un-Pastor-like language to spur us to greater efforts. A well balanced community Churchill then, and I hope now, was such a well balanced community. I am sure that is helped by the Science and Arts mix, and also the very healthy mix of
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COLLEGE EVENTS