Snapshots from the College

Development And Alumni Relations

In memor y of Jesuan and talented travel writer Tom Parkinson (1997), we ’ re of fering grants of up to £2,500 for young alumni to help develop their writing while exploring the world. The first grant winners were Leah Yeger (2019, HSPS) and Sophie Beckingham (2019, Histor y of Ar t). Applications for the next round of funding are open until 30 April 2023 Many thanks to ever ybody who donated during our recent Telephone Campaign Seven student callers took par t, raising over £100,000 for their College including for undergraduate bursaries, teaching, and access and outreach

We are grateful for your continued suppor t

Ryan Cullum and Maisy Smyth, Development Officers

Grounds And Gardens

As par t of the kitchen project we have planted three tulip trees in Pump Cour t and have positioned four large pots for camelias Fur ther planting and lawn construction will take place ahead of spring. Our winter displays included ornamental grasses, vibrant coloured dog woods and heucheras, and annual bedding plants such as wall flowers, primroses and violas Snowdrops and winter aconite bulbs appeared, followed by daf fodils Our winter flowering plants have been a real showstopper for appearance and winter scent Congratulations to Danny Lawler who has recently been promoted to Deputy Head of Grounds and Gardens. Danny has been here since 2019 and has also worked as a Gardener at Clare College and Robinson College

Lee de Grammont, Head of Grounds and Gardens

PORTERS’ LODGE

It has become customar y in Michaelmas Term for the Por ters to play host, providing hot chocolate, tea and cof fee in First Cour t at a meet and greet for all our students and College members It was wonder ful to meet with the newest members of our community, to learn a little more about them and the journey that brought them to Jesus The cream and marshmallows were par ticularly well received!

Conference And Catering

In December, it was my privilege as Head Por ter to reprise the historic tradition of leading the carol singing at the Christmas Formals Ever yone joined in with the physical ups and downs that are required during The Twelve Days of Christmas! It was ver y special to return to our beloved Hall, where the acoustics are far superior

Simon Durrant, Head Porter

Cambridge Business Improvement District (BID) facilitates two ‘myster y shopper’ visits to par ticipating businesses in the city centre each year, allowing them the oppor tunity to understand how they are viewed by their current and prospective customers. We were delighted to be awarded 5 stars for our Bed and Breakfast ser vice across College. Comments included, “The buildings each have individual character and style and continue to be presented in excellent condition externally”, and “housekeeping continues to be of an excellent overall standard” Cleanliness of rooms was rated at 100% and praise was also given to the maintenance of the gardens and grounds and to the welcome provided by the Por ters’ Lodge Alexis Moreau, Manciple and Sonia Horton, Housekeeping Manager

Housing And Maintenance

Before the star t of Michaelmas Term, we renovated a total of eight houses and two flats, including four par tner units and six multiple-occupation houses This included installing new kitchens, new IT cabling, renovations to bathrooms, new flooring, redecoration throughout and new furniture. Our furniture supplier planted 42 trees in Hampshire on behalf of the College as par t of their sustainability objectives and all the wood used in the furniture was from sustainable sources

Isabel Harrison, Housing Manager

Chapel And Music

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, flowers and a condolence book were opened in Chapel for College members and visitors to pay their respects Our Ser vice of Special Commemoration was the first time for many of us to sing God save our gracious King.

The Chapel team organised a College Getaway to King’s Lynn in November, allowing postgraduate students to visit the town museum and get in touch with their medieval side! The College Getaway of fers the chance a few times a year to take a break, explore somewhere new and make new friends

We returned to a full programme of Advent and Christmas ser vices, welcoming around 1,000 College members and staf f, their families and guests, for candlelit carols sung by the

College and Chapel Choirs

We welcomed new Director of Music, Mr Benjamin Sheen His previous roles include Sub-Organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, Organ Tutor at the University of Oxford and Associate Organist at St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City

To celebrate the 150th bir thday of

British composer and Cambridge alumnus, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), we released a combined Choirs’ recording of the Five Mystical Songs, with soloist Andrew Thompson and string ensemble CantiaQuorum

The Revd James Crockford, Dean of Chapel

Library News

In conjunction with the Gardens Depar tment, we recently launched a Seed Librar y for people to donate to and take seeds, encouraging sustainability, biodiversity and wellbeing for the whole community The collection contains flower seeds (including those from the Nor th Cour t wildflower meadow), vegetables and even microherbs for those who might have windowsills but no garden We also of fer gardening advice and a collection of gardening books

The Old Librar y is now fully open and accessible following the Kitchen

Careers And Mentoring

Our events included panel discussions with alumni and talks by industr y exper ts in our ‘In the business of ’ series, including two ver y special guests –David Braben (1982), CEO of Frontier Games and co-founder of the Raspberr y Pi Foundation; and writer and per former Ellie Kendrick (2009) who starred in

Tutorial

We welcomed our new Senior Tutor, Dr Paul Dominiak, who many will remember from his role as Dean of Chapel and Welfare Tutor from 2015 to 2019. It has been a year of transition, with four out of six roles seeing a change of personnel Our student ambassadors toured Nor th East England as par t of our outreach programme, visiting 28 state schools and delivering 45 sessions to over 1,100 young people to suppor t them in learning about fur ther education and applying to Cambridge

Jenny Jenyon, Tutorial Manager project works Chris Barker, the Assistant Keeper, continues to work on the cataloguing project which is revealing new information about the provenance and histor y of the collection This work will hopefully make the Old Librar y ’ s collections more accessible to researchers now and in the future Conser vation work on the manuscript collections continues, alongside the use of the OL for teaching and research

Rhona Watson, Quincentenary Librarian and Michael Edwards, Keeper of the Old Library

Game of Thrones. We hosted our second annual Speed Networking event, inviting 10 alumni from dif ferent industries to meet with current students, preceded by a session on ‘How to network successfully’ run by Lene Hansen (1996), founder of The Glass Ceiling Project. Our LinkedIn/CV workshops and individual clinics remained popular, led by two recruitment exper ts, Jesuans Mohan Yogendran (1982) and Douglas Board (1975) If you’d like to contribute to our programme do get in touch – we’d love to hear from you!

Sarah Richey, Careers Mentor