Selwyn College Newsletter 2008

Selwyn

Issue fifteen

October 2008

SELWYN www.sel.cam.ac.uk Selwyn is published annually

by the Development & Alumni

Relations Office for the members, staff and friends of Selwyn.

Suggestions and contributions

from readers are very welcome.

The Acting Master Jean Chothia looks back over an eventful six months

The editors wish to thank all those

who have assisted in the production

of this magazine.

Address:

Development & Alumni Relations

Office

Selwyn College CAMBRIDGE CB3 9DQ

Telephone: 01223 767844

Fax: 01223 767843

Email: alumni-office@sel.cam.ac.uk Editors:

The Master

Heather Kilpatrick Mike Good

Hannah Courtney Photographs courtesy of: Howard Beaumont Claire Chin-Sue

Andrew Garrard (Stewart Sage)

JET Photographic (2008 May Ball Survivors)

Heather Kilpatrick Iain Kilpatrick Ling Low

Chris Morris (Athletics Cuppers) Ben Ramos (Henry Shukman)

Bob Whitaker (Medics & Vets) © Copyright

Selwyn College, Cambridge 2008 Selwyn College, Cambridge is an Exempt Charity (Inland Revenue

number X3634)

Design and Publication:

Cameron Design & Marketing Ltd

www.camerondm.co.uk Front cover:

May Ball Survivors 1948 & 2008

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One of the pleasant surprises of my six-month stint, deputising for the Master during his study leave, has been the number of former students that I have met, and this has made me more fully aware of the affection which so many have for the College. At the same time, negotiations with the current MCR and JCR of inevitable rent rises have brought home to me how different things are for students today than they were for those of us whose tuition fees were paid as of right and who – in that dim and distant past – might even have received grants towards maintenance.

Two notable changes of personnel are in place for the coming year.

James Keeler has been appointed as Senior Tutor in succession to Michael Tilby who has held the office with distinction for more than a dozen years. In Lent, we held a search for a new Chaplain, after Joe Kennedy’s departure in

December to become Principal of Mirfield College in Yorkshire.

Following a process of consultation in which all areas of the College were involved, the Revd Hugh Shilson-Thomas, previously based at Church House, was appointed. He joined us in July. Sharp-eyed readers will have registered that this, potentially, left the College without a Chaplain for the interim. However, into the breach stepped Bob Hardy, retired Bishop of Lincoln, who moved back into the rooms he formerly occupied as Chaplain from 196572. With his good humour and astute mind, Bob has been a wonderful source of support and advice (and see page 10).

The 125th Anniversary of the College, which promised to be eventful, has, indeed, been so, as you will see in this edition of Selwyn. Meanwhile, with the Ann’s Court Phase 1 building already fully absorbed into the life of the College, Phase 2 is proceeding steadily. The structure is already clearly defined and the roof is on. Although building work has continued all year, the contractors have gone out of their way to keep disturbance to a minimum and those closest to the work have tolerated it. A notable embellishment of the hoarding around the site is a mural painted

Ways to give

If you would like to make a donation to the College, you can do so by completing the donation form on the College’s website, by giving on-line by credit or debit card or by setting up a direct debit (www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/giving/give2.html).

Selwyn also accepts gifts of shares, payroll giving, and matched gifts through companies. If you would like further information about any of these methods of donating, or would like to know about our current fundraising aims, please contact the Development & Alumni Relations Office.

If you wish to give to the University, please visit the website of the University’s Development Office (www.foundation.cam.ac.uk/giving/).

by students, from a winning design

by Catherine Williams. A further addition to the fabric of the College, rather more permanent than the mural, is the stained glass in memory of Wil Sanders, installed beside the New SCR, and featured later in this edition of Selwyn.

I guess I have learned more about the running of the College since January than in my previous thirty years as a Fellow. Certainly, I have a considerably clearer insight into the College finances and the impressive job the Bursar and his staff do in making the most of what we have, as well as a better sense of the generosity of alumni in supporting this. My six months as Head of House have occasionally been fraught; it has, though, also been enjoyable, thanks to the goodwill of College staff, Fellowship and, indeed, students, former as well as current.

Jean Chothia Acting Master

STOP PRESS Selwyn celebrates its 125th Anniversary with the news that we have topped both the Baxter and Tompkins tables, which measure success in Tripos results across the colleges.

When making provision for Selwyn in a Will, this simple form of words can be provided to your solicitor: I give to the MASTER AND FELLOWS OF SELWYN COLLEGE in the University of Cambridge (Exempt Charity Number X3634) the residue / [a proportion] of the residue of my estate / the sum of £[amount] free of tax for the general purposes of the College AND I DECLARE that the receipt of the Bursar or other authorised office for the time being of the College shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my executors If you are a regular customer with amazon.co.uk, you can shop on-line by entering the site through the following link (www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni) and 5% of the value of your order will go towards student support at Selwyn. If you think you’ll forget to enter via this route, save the link (www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni) in your ‘favourites’ and re-name it ‘Amazon’.

Selwyn at the Palace

In Lambeth Palace Chapel: R-L Rowan Williams, Bob Hardy and John Sentamu

Among the many celebrations of the College’s 125th birthday this year was an invitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the College Visitor, to come to Lambeth Palace on May 15 for a Service of Celebration and reception.

It was a particularly moving occasion for the 120 members of the College for whom room could be found in the Palace Chapel. Seven decades of the life of the College from the 1940s onwards were represented; and the Archbishop enjoyed very senior episcopal support from the Archbishop of York (SE 1974), the Archbishop of Wales (SE 1969), the Rt Revd Lord Harries (SE 1958), and our Acting Chaplain, the Rt Revd Bob Hardy (SE 1965).

The Archbishop’s welcome included the thought that it was perhaps odd that the Visitor had caused the College to visit him! There was no doubt however that the location was enormously appreciated by his congregation at evensong, which was led by Bob Hardy. The lessons were read by Annie Osborne, an undergraduate and the Archbishop’s goddaughter, and Dr Jean Chothia, Acting Master. The Lambeth Singers sang an Introit composed by Sam Jackson (SE 2005) using the words of the Collect for George Augustus Selwyn, Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C, and Vaughan Williams’ anthem Let all the world in every corner sing. The organist was Sarah MacDonald, the Director of Music in Selwyn Chapel.

The Master read an Act of Commemoration which traced in thanksgiving the life of the College from its small and tentative beginnings in 1882 to its present lively maturity of which Selwyn himself would have been proud.

The Archbishop’s address also went back to the historic roots of the College, beginning with the heroic and radical work of Selwyn in New Zealand and the martyrdom of Coleridge Patteson, the first Bishop of Melanesia. He then took words from the second lesson at evensong

(Ephesians 4:10) that Christ ‘might fill all things’ to underline the engagement of the Church with the life of the intellect which the foundation of Selwyn College represented. Moreover, and importantly, this required that the Church should have confidence in its own position to engage in a genuinely open way with the wealth of ideas that academic life is designed to generate.

Evensong was followed by a reception in the Guard Room of the Palace where the Acting Master expressed the very warm thanks of the College to the Archbishop for making possible a remarkable and very enjoyable event. She also brought greetings to the company from Owen Chadwick and John Sweet who were both very sorry not to be able to be present.

The Archbishop responded by expressing his affection for the College which began 40 years ago when he had the good fortune to be supervised by John Sweet. The office of Visitor had served to strengthen that good feeling.

Events like the Lambeth celebration do not of course run smoothly by accident, but in this case notably through the detailed work of the staff of the College Development & Alumni Relations Office led by Heather Kilpatrick, to whom many thanks are due.

Ringing in the anniversary performances of 5000 or more changes, taking an average of three hours to ring. In all, a total of fourteen peals have been rung by all-Selwyn bands since 1951.

Selwyn band, from left to right: Eric Roberts, Vivian Nutton, Mark Norris, Robin Heppenstall, Nik Bright, Richard Inglis, Camilla Haggett, Paul Seaman, Rod Lebon and Nick Haggett

Selwyn has a strong campanological tradition and has, for more than fifty years, been able to muster competent groups from amongst its ranks to ring peals, which are continuous

Most of these peals have been rung to mark special College occasions: two for the centenary, two in honour of ringers’ presidencies of the Selwyn College Association, and one at Lichfield Cathedral for the centenary of Bishop Selwyn’s enthronement there. At the announcement of the College’s 125th anniversary, a request was made for another peal attempt at Lichfield, and thanks are due to the Dean and Chapter for agreeing a suitable date, April 12, one day after the 130th anniversary of Bishop Selwyn’s death.

David Harrison Former Master

The band met in the cathedral refectory and was then treated to some of the Selwyn history in the Close before starting on the serious task of the day. After a slow and slightly nervous start the ringing settled down and a very creditable peal was rung in three and a half hours on these glorious-sounding, but heavy and challenging bells. As photographs were being taken of the successful peal band against the West Front, it was very pleasing to hear a congratulatory shout of, ‘Well done, that sounded lovely,’ from one of the cathedral clergy going into Evensong. The ringing tradition of the College had been maintained and Selwyn’s name duly honoured.

Robin Heppenstall (SE 1956)

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Selwyn Celebrates:

the 2008 May Ball and 60 years of tradition

Saturday 21 June was the longest night of the year in more ways than one. Over one thousand guests gathered to celebrate the College’s 125th Anniversary at the first May Ball for over a decade.

All were members of Selwyn and their guests, ranging from current Freshers to those whose memories stretch back to the first Selwyn May Ball in 1948. With a careful eye on the weather – and 1000 umbrellas on stand-by – we opened the gates, greeting our guests with sparkling wine brought from New Zealand, in honour of Bishop Selwyn himself (the antipodean theme was artfully woven through the Dinner menu by the College’s Head Chef, Matt Rowe). Despite carefully planted rumours about the impossibility of fireworks, dusk was greeted with a spectacular display from the Lower Gardens, set to music from the year of Selwyn’s foundation.

After the gardens had been made safe, the guests enjoyed a traditional funfair amongst the beautifully illuminated plants and trees. Meanwhile, in the Hall, a top-notch line-up of bands kept the younger (and some of the older) guests dancing through the night. A fire alarm threatened to derail the performance of our headliners, Top 10 artists Elliot Minor, but to everyone’s relief it 4

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was due to nothing more sinister than an over-enthusiastic tea urn!

In Old Court itself, there was dancing and comedy, and an auction in aid of Student Support, where Clive Anderson (SE 1972) brilliantly showcased his talents as auctioneer. Finally, the long night drew to a close and at 5.30am the brave survivors gathered for the traditional photograph. A crack team of workers removed all traces of the Ball by lunchtime on Sunday, but the memories should last much longer.

Mark Galtrey, May Ball President (SE 2000)

The origins of Selwyn’s first May Ball lie in wartime, when RAF cadets were billeted on the College. With the help of Sir Hubert Sams, Bursar from 1941, the RAF held two open-air dances in July 1942 and 1943. Students returning after the war therefore had something of a precedent on which to build their case. The College Council had withheld permission for a ball in 1947 ‘on the ground that the expense involved was not compatible with the terms of the Charter with regard to simple living’. The following year permission was granted, albeit at a double ticket price limit of £7 10/- exclusive of

champagne. So the first ball of 1948 had to be a modest and inventive affair without a marquee. Its success set the tone for a series of small-scale, intimate events throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Financial concerns were present from the 1950s, but the balloon went up in 1969 when a Welsh alumnus forwarded his invitation to the Alliance News, a temperance journal. The offending sentence went ‘Despite the budget, champagne will still be flowing freely all night’ and mention of ‘roulette tables’ made matters worse. The journal’s article quoted the charter on economical and sober living, concluding: ‘When the centenary of the college is held in 1982 will there be any principle left to celebrate…?’ The piece was picked up by the English Churchman, and Fellows became worried that it might make national news.

In fact the centenary was celebrated, the Commemoration Ball of 1983 being, in the words of the 1983-4 Calendar, ‘the closest the College has come to a full-scale May Ball for a number of years’. With the tradition re-invigorated, there was another May Ball in 1984, and further events, initially at twoyearly intervals, throughout the

1980s and 1990s. In 1991, after the first December Snowball of 1990, the Bursar became concerned at the possibility of two balls becoming an annual fixture. In practice this seems to have happened only rarely, though the increasing scale, advertising and appeals for sponsorship worried some Fellows who remembered the ‘family’ events of previous decades.

Throughout the 1990s Snowballs alternated with May Balls, the latter becoming more elaborate in a losing battle to compete with other colleges. There was occasional cross-fertilization: the 1991 May Ball of the Gods was recycled as the 2005 Snowball Come Play with the Gods. Titles and themes were often witty, sometimes contrived. The last Selwyn May Ball was the 1997 Thunderball; another was planned for 2000 on the somewhat jaded theme Sin (with a Bosch-style poster), but was cancelled due to low ticket sales, despite the heady promises of the application form.

The Snowball remains the only Cambridge winter ball, its attractions diminished or increased by global warming, depending on your point of view.

Mike Good Acting Archivist

Selwyn’s very own Chariots of Fire

The Cambridge University Athletics Cuppers Competition is a two-day long event held over the third weekend of Michelmas term. The event itself is older than the modern Olympics and now draws together all 32 colleges to compete head to head. On October 13-14 2007 Selwyn entered a team with more talent and promise than anyone could remember.

The team boasted both strength and depth. Returning fresh from the Varsity Match in May were five University athletes: Alex Bates (pole vault, long jump), Greg Dickens (hammer), Tom Chadwick (javelin), Andy Owen (400m, 800m) and Rich Mathie (800m, 1500m). This provided the essential mix of talent in jumps, throws, short and long distance, which would be the base of the team. In addition to Selwyn’s pool of University athletes there were numerous College athletes in all events, some of whom represented the University in other sports: Mark Baxter and Gabriel Sacks (University Football), Dan Quarshie (University Hockey) and Carl Schroeder (University Rugby League), amongst others.

The first day of the competition showed the initial signs of Selwyn College dominance. On the track, first place in the 400m, second place in the 1500m and third place in the 200m collected

solid points. On the field Sacks and Openshaw battled head to head in the triple jump to collect valuable points whilst Dickens netted silver in both the shot and hammer, second only to a University Blue.

By Saturday night, in the interim between day one and day two, it was beginning to show that our hard work had paid off. Leading the competition by 28 points, Selwyn was already starting to crush the huge and allegedly sporty colleges such as Trinity, Jesus and John’s.

Day two was a day of flair. Iron man Quarshie stepped straight out of a University hockey shirt at the final whistle and into the blocks for a 200m to produce a solid run. Meanwhile University cross-country runner Mathie, not content with having run the 1500m, 2000m and 3000m entered as a guest in the 800m to finish a close second. As the final events unfolded Queens’ and Trinity

performed worryingly well… but sadly for them not well enough, as the Selwyn locomotive was now unstoppable. In a champagne-style finish, teams containing Blues sprinters were put to shame as Selwyn netted gold in the 4x100m relay… the relay that sealed our 2007 Athletics Cuppers victory!

From champagne performances on the track we moved to champagne in the Master’s Lodge as the Master and Fellows hosted the team in a celebratory drinks reception.

Later that evening an announcement and toast were held in formal hall to the team’s success and to the future of Selwyn sport. A century-old, huge silver trophy now sits magnificently in the Porters’ Lodge as a reminder of how great Selwyn College really is.

Engraved on it are the names of no less than four Olympic gold medalists - and of course the Selwyn Team from 2007.

Andy Owen (SE 2004)

Calling all Hermeans The Hermes club is seeking to extend its

database in order to maintain better contact

with former members. Thank you to all those who have responded to previous requests for information. If you have not already been in

touch, please contact Sanjay Patel, Hermes Liaison Officer, at

sp437@cam.ac.uk. Hermes will be marking its 90th anniversary in 2010, and plans to celebrate in style.

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Zia Mody:

legally through the glass ceiling in India When Zia Mody (SE 1976) started her own law practice in India in the mid 1980s,

potential clients had a hard time believing she would be as good as a male attorney, so she set out to prove she was better. ‘India’s a society which is traditionally male-

dominated, and the aggressive woman is not necessarily a popular animal’, she observes.

Rather than be relegated to a junior position in a traditional Indian law firm, Mody, who had spent the previous four years in a New York City firm, opened her own litigation practice in what was then Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1984. The schedule was backbreaking (16-hour days, six and a half days a week) and it wasn’t easy getting cases, but when she did, she made sure she was heard.

Today, she is a top corporate attorney and one of India’s ‘25 most powerful women’. Her firm, AZB & Partners, is an international powerhouse that is at the table for most of the multimillion-dollar deals in the country as well as cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions. For instance, AZB & Partners advised Tata Motors in its $3 billion acquisition of Land Rover & Jaguar from Ford Motor Company. AZB also advised HSBC in their $261 million acquisition of IL&FS Investsmart Limited. If that isn't resumé enough, Mody is also a legal consultant to investment banks such as J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, advises transnational companies on joint venture strategies in India, and works with foreign institutional investors and venture funds. It was the opening of India’s global marketplace in the 1990s which transformed Mody's firm, and

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multinational corporations currently make up 80% of her clientèle. The firm has merged twice – something previously unheard of in India – and today it is the country’s second-largest law firm with offices in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai and over 200 lawyers on its roster.

Unlike traditional Indian law practices, where family members are often guaranteed partnerships, Mody designed her firm with clear partnership tracks for junior attorneys. Antiquated national statutes restrict the number of partners to 20 (AZB currently has around 19). She forbids gender bias in recruiting, although her partners tease that she favours women attorneys, who make up nearly 40% of her legal staff. She says she understands the issues women face and does try to accommodate them, but the reality is that when the deal is on, attorneys have to be there night after night. And she finds many women who marry and have children have to drop out because they don't have the necessary support at home.

Born in Bombay, as the oldest child and only daughter of the noted jurist Soli Sorabjee, India’s former attorney general, Mody always knew she wanted to be a lawyer. She felt she ‘got a bit lucky’ when her mother, whom she describes as the

decision-maker, insisted her younger brother become a doctor.

‘My father had probably wanted his eldest son to be a lawyer, but I think my mother squashed that.’

She did her BA at Selwyn under Professor John Spencer and followed it up with an LLM at Harvard Law School (1978-9), ‘the best year of her life’. After working for Baker & McKenzie in New York City, she returned to India to marry. She knew she wanted to continue her career in India and felt that luck was on her side again when her mother-inlaw and husband, whose father had been a judge, supported her.

‘The entire infrastructure in the house was geared toward letting me still go out and work while the children were growing up.’

Over the next six years, she established her law practice and gave birth to three daughters, now almost all grown up.

Building an institution and raising a family was not without its stresses, and the balance between the two was elusive. ‘I chose to prioritize my career simply because I had worked so hard to get to a certain level’, she admits.

‘Having been recognized in the legal landscape, I didn’t want to drop the space that I was occupying.’

One of her daughters is now following in her footsteps, setting her sights on law school. Mody

believes it is getting easier for women to succeed in India’s legal profession. ‘I was one of the very few women who were trying to take up for the gender at that time’, she says. ‘People are much more willing to give women a chance today and wait for them to perform.’

Business Today listed Mody as one of the 25 most powerful business women in India in September 2004, February 2006 and again in September 2007. She is a recipient of the Financial Express Business Women of the Year Award 2003 (Best Knowledge Manager). She was named one of India’s 100 Most Powerful CEOs by the Economic Times 2004-8; she is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and on the World Bank Appellate Tribunal.

Apart from her commitment to the legal practice Mrs Mody is also a committed Baha’i by religion and serves as a member on various Baha’i organizations and Baha’i sponsored nongovernmental organizations in the field of education and the empowerment of rural women.

Zia Mody (SE 1976)

Mike Good

Marion Janner: from Bright to Star Wards Bright – which runs ‘social marketing’ campaigns in partnership with other charities, and in particular projects which increase the autonomy and involvement of people who have the least social power.

Marion Janner came to Selwyn from South Hampstead High School in 1978 to read Law for Part I, and then changed to Social and Political Sciences for her Part II whilst earning a half Blue in fencing along the way.

After leaving Selwyn, Marion went on to manage community care services and then founded Payback, a criminal justice charity, which she ran for four years.

After the project’s conclusion, she set about starting a new charity –

300 wards have joined the scheme (over half the psychiatric wards in the country), which has meant that thousands of inpatients have enjoyed the benefits of increased therapeutic, social and recreational experiences.

Sadly, Marion became unwell at this time and was eventually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, characterised by severe depression. Since that time she has shown enormous personal courage in dealing with her condition, using her adversity for the good of others. In October 2006, she founded the Star Wards project, which works with mental health trusts to improve the experiences and treatment of psychiatric inpatients. The scheme has led to improved daily opportunities for patients, who are encouraged to make the best use of their time and skills whilst staff are urged to do the same. To date,

One matron described her experience of the scheme in the following way: ‘In my opinion, every acute ward in the country should implement as many of the Star Wards ideas as they possibly can. I have never known an initiative to be met with such enthusiasm by the staff that actually work on our wards.

Somehow it manages to combine improvements in the quality of care for patients with improvements in job satisfaction for our front line staff – a winning combination’.

writer with Sons of the Moon: A Journey in the Andes (1990), Travels With My Trombone: A Caribbean Journey (1992) and Savage Pilgrims: On the Road to Santa Fe (1995). In 2000 he won the Daily Telegraph Arvon Prize (also won by Mario Petrucci) and a Times Literary Supplement prize. His first collection of poems was In Doctor No's Garden (2002), which was shortlisted for the 2002 Forward Prize for Best First Collection and won the Jerwood Aldeburgh Prize (2003). In an interview by The Poem (www.thepoem.co.uk) he described his light duties as Poet in Residence at the Wordsworth Trust, thanked the Trust for the gift of time, and explained why he prefers certain forms and styles to others. ‘I deplore the idea of poetry being steered down some tiny tributary where no one goes, and left there for dead. There was something of a mid-century, midAtlantic lapse, as I see it, when opacity and obscurity became not

just acceptable but a hallmark of credibility, in certain arenas of poetry. It’s a matter of taste, of course: some people like nothing better than to chew on a tough nugget of unforgiving high modernism. Others prefer to know where they are in a poem. And easy reading is still hard writing: it’s true of poetry as well as prose.

In a way, poetry is really the most mainstream literary form we have today. The novel, for example, is a compromised form – not just its length, but its shape, the typical plots, and so on, all have been to some extent dictated by commerce.

Arguably only the short story and the novella are prose forms that could be labelled “Uncompromised Art”. Not that commerce is necessarily a bad thing for art.

Even Pindar had to produce to a given market demand – Homer too, of course. I discovered poetry as a young teen, and that came about through reading poetry that offered things I couldn’t help but

Marion was both surprised and delighted to receive public recognition for her work when she

Henry Shukman: poetry and prose

Henry Shukman (SE 1981) has worked as a trombonist, a trawlerman and a travel writer. He also happens to be a prize-winning poet, joining the select company of Sean O’Brien (SE 1971), three times winner of the Forward Prize, and Mario Petrucci (SE 1977), the first poet to have won the London Writers Competition three times.

(These last two were profiled respectively in Selwyn issues 5 of Spring 2003 and 2 of Summer 2001.)

At Selwyn he read Social Anthropology, and after graduation he first went into print as a travel

was shortlisted for the Campaigning & Public Life category of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons ‘07 award. Marion found herself in such esteemed company as Sir Ian McKellen, J K Rowling, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Shami Chakrabarti (director of Liberty, the civil liberties pressure group).

In addition to the Star Wards project, Marion is involved in a variety of mental health issues, particularly in lobbying government for better support for sectioned patients. At weekends she looks after her two learningdisabled foster sons.

If you would like to know more about the work of Star Wards, you can visit their website (www.starwards.co.uk/) or contact marion@brightplace.org.uk

love – wit, wisdom, nostalgia and so on. What I like best is something I understand enough at a first reading to enjoy, yet which troubles me with a sense of something not apprehended. The master of this has to be Frost. He, along with Hardy, would be among my greatest of the 20th century – I’d probably even take them both over Eliot.’

In May 2004 Jonathan Cape published Shukman’s first foray into fiction, a collection of stories about men failing in love in exotic places, under the title Darien Dogs.

This was followed by two novels, Sandstorm (2005) which won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, and The Lost City (2007), a Guardian Book of the Year. A writer as versatile and talented as this should be worth watching.

Currently he lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Mike Good

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Selwyn’s 125th anniversary year has witnessed a number of celebratory events, both in College and around the country. The festivities began in September 2007 with year group reunions, the Association Dinner, and the launch of the book Selwyn Celebrated, which continues to sell well. The Medical and Veterinary Society marked its fiftieth birthday with a dinner in Hall in November, and the 1882 Society was entertained by representatives from the student body in March, with a string quartet recital in Chapel followed by dinner. Further afield, members

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met in Edinburgh at the Merchants’ Hall, where Sir David Harrison spoke about Selwyn in the past and the present, offering his own reflections from his long connection with the institution. In London, a tour followed by dinner was held at the Royal Society, hosted by Selwyn Fellow Jeremy Sanders, FRS; and later in the year the College was delighted to be the guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs Williams at Lambeth Palace, for Evensong and a reception, a fitting way to commemorate the foundation (for a full report see page 3). The staff and Fellows were invited to a garden party during May Week, hosted by the Bursar, and were treated to an archival display about Selwyn staff then and now, put together by the Acting Archivist. May Week culminated with the May Ball, organised by a

committee of Fellows and current students, which included an auction in aid of student support funds. Under the capable hand of our auctioneer, Clive Anderson (SE 1972), we raised in excess of £12,000, a very welcome addition to our fundraising efforts (full report on page 4).

The final garden party of the academic year took place during the first weekend of July, a day after the annual Commemoration of Benefactors. Luckily, the rain clouds dispersed during the early afternoon, leaving guests of all ages free to enjoy the attractions, including a craft competition judged by the Master and Mrs Bowring, with background music provided by Olly Wedgwood (SE 1993) and his jazz trio.

Selwyn College Medical and Veterinary Society is 50 years old!

In 1957 Larry Baker and I formed the Selwyn Medical Society. We had several meetings in the next two years, the most memorable being when we asked the late Professor (‘bloody’) Harris to address us.

There were sporadic meetings of the society over the years but when I came back as a Fellow in 1987 we linked up with the Vets

and renamed ourselves as the Selwyn College Medical and Veterinary Society. ‘Med Soc’ dinners are legendary and we do have educational meetings and, amongst other events, there are sessions where the freshers are helped and advised by more senior students.

To mark the founding of the society we held a 50th anniversary dinner on Saturday

17 November 2007. For nostalgic reasons we ran it on the lines of all those past dinners that Medics and Vets can remember, right down to the awful jokes and, dare I say it – gibbon calls from David Chivers. It was great fun as attested by the many letters we received afterwards and calls for a repeat dinner in another auspicious period of time. 140 (30%) of the 460 eligible graduates and present

students attended – not a bad turn out after 50 years!

Interestingly, the Medic attendees were divided as a third each of GPs, physicians or surgeons: only two had left medicine to join the media or the church.

Robert Whitaker Fellow

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looking back, looking forward

Bob Hardy forty years on:

to secure the site for the future. Now the gardens are a delight at any season, and little touches such as the provision of railings rather than the wall between the Master’s Lodge and the Chapel have given the court a better feel. The gates on West Road have added distinction to what used to be a dismal path past the car park for staff and bunkers for garden waste. The modern Library extension has replaced the old cycle sheds. The securing of the corner site, not to mention the handsome Ann’s Court, gives the College new opportunities for landscaping the grounds as a whole; and the refurbishing of Cripps Court after 40 years is now on the agenda.

The Rt Revd Robert Hardy, former Bishop of Lincoln, better known perhaps in College as Bob, was dragged out of a peaceful Cumbrian retirement at the start of 2008 to cover a twoterm interregnum between Chaplains. There was no kicking and screaming – in fact his wife and children encouraged him to agree to the request. Although he found himself in the same rooms he had occupied 1965-72 as Chaplain, other aspects of College life had changed significantly. Bob takes up the story.

For a start, the whole appearance of the site and College buildings has improved. In the 1960s there were still considerable areas of linoleum and World War II paint. Old Court, frankly, was somewhat shabby. The Library was drab, dusty and uninviting; the gardens looked tired. There were good reasons for this apparent neglect: the College hadn’t much money, and what it had was quite properly earmarked for buying out the leases on the West Road/Grange Road properties in order

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What of the community itself? The great change from the 1960s is the presence of women and computers, in addition to the widespread use of texts and mobile phones.

The women have brought both distinction and ‘normality’ to the whole community. The College has a relaxed feel about it, though on balance I think that undergraduates work harder than they did. Perhaps it is the pressure of computers and emails, not to mention the more professional approach of supervisors and lecturers which encourages this, but certainly in passing the JCR mid-morning one no longer notices languid figures reading the newspapers. More people seem to eat in Hall, albeit in a less formal, more cafeteria-based style (and there are probably more private dinners and celebrations).

John’s and Trinity). Successive Chaplains have diversified the pattern of worship without losing its basic C of E structure. Students are now involved in the management and day-today care of the Chapel, and are probably more devout and thoughtful than their counterparts of half a century ago.

As there is a serious and purposeful feel to Chapel life, so there is in the College as a whole. It was exciting to be Chaplain of Selwyn in the late 1960s, under the leadership of Owen Chadwick and his Bursar Chris Johnson. Cripps Court went up, enabling everyone to live in for the first time. David Harrison the Senior Tutor encouraged the recruitment of potential undergraduates from a far wider range of schools than before.

Older traditions such as gate hours and the wearing of gowns were passing away.

The numbers and the range of nationalities of postgraduate students have increased noticeably; the Fellowship is almost twice the size it was in the 1960s, younger too, and from a wider range of universities and experience.

Few however live in College, so lunch has replaced dinner for regular contact, though the same ease and friendliness that I remember so well is still there. Some old barriers have completely disappeared, for example as Heads of Departments now lunch with us in College.

We bumped along near the bottom of the Tripos table, but were determined to improve our standing. Now we have moved steadily up the table and find ourselves currently at the top. The diversification of the Fellowship, the development of the site and its buildings, the unpretentious atmosphere of High Table, and the dedication of College staff have all contributed to the sense of buoyancy and purpose. Certainly, undergraduates are less overtly ‘political’ than they used to be, more interested perhaps in getting a good degree and a job than they are in changing the world. But the community as a whole seems in good heart, and after 125 years, I think that George Augustus Selwyn, with his robust and practical attitude to both faith and life, would approve and rejoice.

Chapel, too, has changed. Attendance is down, musical standards are up (now as good as any other college outside the ‘big three’ of King’s,

Bob Hardy Honorary Fellow and former Chaplain

Mike Good

Alice and the Mighty Players: through the looking glass

Selwyn’s renowned and respected dramatic society the Mitre Players has recently been relaunched and rebranded as the Mighty Players (see www.srcf.ucam.org/mighty).

Older members who might deplore this loss of historical continuity should perhaps be reminded that the society’s original name before the Second World War was The Queeries, revived and unimaginatively renamed in Michaelmas 1947 as the Dramatic Society, then refounded as the Mitre Players in Michaelmas 1953. Its golden period was probably in the 1950s-60s – there was also a celebrated Much Ado about Nothing in the College gardens in the early 1970s – and those productions are always going to be hard acts for any hardworking modern students to follow. A fine Twelfth Night in the Master’s garden in Easter 2007 marked the reawakening.

Alice: A Fresher's Tale was the Society’s first musical and possibly even its first original

piece: it premièred on 26 February in the Chadwick Room to an enthusiastic and packed house, of whom I was one.

Alice told the story of the heroine’s new life at a Cambridge college in a series of scenes loosely inspired by Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Full of exciting and unusual characters (according to the publicity), the musical featured Alice’s dealings with a talking cat, boisterous Fellows and an all-singing, alldancing Societies Fair. In the time-honoured tradition of postwar musicals, Alice’s problems were all happily resolved by the end of the show, and the audience went home with a song in their hearts. Considering the dramatically inappropriate venue, the production achieved minor miracles of lighting, staging and co-ordination via CCTV with the live band next door in the JCR. While the tunes were just about memorable, lyrics tended to the bland: the final chorus enjoined its

undergraduate listeners to ‘forget what you knew and do as we do, it’s OK if we are all living this way’.

There was some gentle humour in the form of lightly-veiled College characters (which Fellow does gibbon calls for his party piece, I wonder?) and a starring role for Gus, the world-weary College cat, as well as the usual clichéd situations of university life, but 1960s satire this was not; nor was there any serious attempt to be historically informed about the College.

Bishop George Augustus Selwyn appeared fully robed and mitred (a nod to the Society’s former name?) in the opening and closing numbers, but in his character or life bore no resemblance whatsoever to his historical counterpart; the cleancut Master struck me as an affectionate send-up of Owen Chadwick, but when asked, the Director replied ‘Owen who?’ So I must pitch my criticisms somewhere between Kiwi’s spoof review sight unseen and Varsity’s traditional and gratuitous

hatchet-job. I agree however with Kiwi that Alice ‘really only scratches the surface of the Selwynite existence’ – but then that’s what musicals do. With the stage crew and band made up 100% of Selwynites, and the cast over 50%, this production proved that the Mighty Players are in good health.

Mike Good

Selwynites in the Varsity 100: names to watch

The Oliver Wyman Varsity 100 is an annual attempt ‘to list 100 of the most influential students in the University’. We thought you might like to know which current Selwyn students made the grade, and how the Varsity 100 Editors assessed their prospects.

Jenny Hall (SE 2007), 1st Year, History Fresher hockey player Jenny Hall arrived at Cambridge already capped at U18 and U21 level by England and playing regular national league hockey at Ipswich.

An utterly ruthless forward who packs the attacking power of a nuclear doomsday device into her relatively small frame, her goals and all round play have propelled the Light Blues to the summit of the BUSA Midlands Premier League this season, and looks set to win her first Blue this term, before gaining her first caps as a full England international.

Ben Nicholls (SE 2005), 3rd Year, Music Ben is a Choral Exhibitioner, President of the University Musical Theatre Society and sits on the ADC Committee. His productions have included the hugely successful US Tour of Twelfth Night, and the opera Les Incas du Perou, of which the Varsity reviewer declared, ‘This is the best thing I have seen in Cambridge’. As well as this, he has conducted and directed concerts and shows across Cambridge, including the Charpentier Consort, a new choir which he founded last year along with his all-female close harmony group, Sexytet.

Sven Palys (SE 2006), 2nd Year, Oriental Studies (Japanese) As co-editor of The Cambridge Student, he has instigated a comprehensive redesign of the paper and is behind the

Ben Nicholls

Sven Palys

innovative weekly magazine ‘Thursday’. He has also spearheaded the idea of the ‘Bursting the Bubble’ section, created to inform students about matters happening outside Cambridge.

The editors of Selwyn would like to make their own addition to this list.

Frances Gregory (SE 2004), 4th Year, Oriental Studies (Chinese) Frances took the top prize at the 7th UKVarsity Chinese Competition on 15 March 2008.The competition strives to find the UK’s best young scholar of Chinese language and culture. Judges and audience alike were won over with an impressive display of Chinese sword-dancing and a maximum score in most question categories, as well as an admirable understanding of architecture in Beijing and a knowledge of ancient Chinese proverbs. Frances was also commended for her in-depth awareness of Chinese current affairs and gave a speech, in Chinese, which used examples drawn both from Western and Eastern societies in support of equal rights between women and men.

Mike Good Selwyn 2008

11

Sage reflections I am still something of a new boy on the Fellowship at Selwyn, having arrived in the summer of 2006. However, I am old hand in Cambridge terms, having spent the previous quarter of a century at the other end of Sidgwick Avenue in Queens’. I went up to Queens’ in 1981 to read Natural Sciences and after taking my Part II in Physiology I stayed in the Physiological Laboratory to do a PhD. I then became a Research Fellow at Queens’ in 1987, a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 1989 and a University Lecturer in Physiology in 1994. I was appointed Reader in Cell Physiology in 2003.

My PhD research was on intracellular calcium signalling mechanisms in human blood platelets. Platelets are the smallest cells in the blood and they play a key role in blood clotting. When you cut yourself, normally covered elements in the blood vessel wall are exposed, and along with various chemicals generated locally, these stimulate circulating platelets to undergo changes resulting in their clumping together to form a blood clot. This is good news when it results in sealing a damaged vessel preventing

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Selwyn 2008

blood loss and helping in vessel repair (a process known as haemostasis). It is not good news when the clot forms inappropriately resulting in thrombotic disorders such as heart attack or stroke. The World Heath Organisation estimates that almost 13 million (22%) deaths worldwide result from these disorders annually.

Although my research is very much on the pure side, better understanding of platelet activation mechanisms may help in the long-term search for new ways of tackling thrombosis.

My particular area of interest concerns the mechanisms by which calcium ions enter platelets from the surrounding blood plasma. Together with my research students, postdoctoral workers and collaborators in the Netherlands and Spain, I’ve published nearly ninety papers on this topic, along with a couple of dozen reviews and over a hundred conference abstracts. Most of my funding has come from the British Heart Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

Outside of my research, my main University responsibilities concern lecturing on the kidney and body fluid physiology to first year Medical and Veterinary students, and all three years of Natural Scientists. At the college level I presently supervise first and second year Natural Scientists in Selwyn, first year Medics and Vets at Magdalene, and second year Medics in both colleges. I serve on the Editorial Board of Cell Calcium and am a past Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Physiology.

My spare time, such as it is, is mainly devoted to croquet, real

ale and tiddlywinks, though not always in that order. I took up winks on my arrival at Cambridge, having been told (wrongly) by my college ‘parent’ that almost everyone in my college played the sport.

Contrary to popular belief, the adult game bears little relation to that played by children, being as much about strategy and tactics as physical skill. It is best thought of as a combination of chess and croquet. I wink regularly with Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, now based in Selwyn and of which I am Senior Treasurer. I am also Vice President of the English Tiddlywinks Association and play in most national tournaments, currently being ranked 20th in the world. I can be found in the Fellows’ Garden most Sunday evenings in summer when the weather affords putting to use the croquet set Dr Thompson and I presented to the Fellowship on my arrival in Selwyn. It is not unknown for either a game of croquet or winks to end in a glass or two or real ale. As a life member of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), I can usually be

spotted at beer festivals in the region hunting down brews I’ve not tasted before. I keep brief notes in a ‘beerbase’, so I know I tried my 2500th at the Cambridge Festival this spring.

Stewart Sage Fellow

Wil’s Windows: insight through stained glass glass artist and family friend, whose husband Matt was taught

by Wil, offered to make a window in his memory, to be designed by Wil’s widow, Jenny, a professional artist.

Jenny Sanders at the window dedication

As Fellow in English between 1968 and 2001, Wil Sanders made an impact on generations of students. Following his untimely death, many contributed to prizes which are now awarded annually for Shakespeare and dissertation work. Denise Leone, a prominent American stained

Denise is based in Hamilton, New York, and Jenny travelled to the States to identify the exact colours of glass for her design and to work with Denise on cutting, painting and sandblasting the glass for what would now be two narrow panels seven foot high. The design incorporates abstract images of mountains and water and the colours and the shapes at the top of the left-hand panel were inspired by a painting much loved by Wil and Jenny, Titian’s great altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari, Venice.

The inscription, ‘impatient as the Wind’, is from Wordsworth’s sonnet Surprised by Joy.

Despite attempts by American airport security to confiscate the panels, Denise was able to make the transatlantic crossing with them in Michaelmas 2007 and see them installed at the top of the stairs to the New SCR. Their vivid colours and intriguing design transform what previously was a somewhat bland space. Although they were designed to be seen from inside by daylight, it is worth also catching them from Old Court, by night, when the colours, illuminated from inside, glow. In December, Wil’s family, colleagues and some former students gathered to thank the artists and celebrate the reception

by College of what has quickly become a cherished addition to its fittings.

Jean Chothia Acting Master

Launch of Parents’ lunch

The Student Lunch Committee (L-R Heidi Gastall, Tom Kemp and Christine Norman) welcomes Nigel Newton to Selwyn

On Saturday 19 April, an event took place which marked a new departure for the College.

Parents of first- and second-year undergraduate students were invited to a lunch, with their sons and daughters, in order to experience dining in the College Hall at first hand, and to have the chance to meet some of the Fellows and hear from an alumnus about life at, and since, Selwyn.

A total of 170 people attended, and a hot buffet lunch of chicken and salmon was

enjoyed with a tasty dessert selection of chocolate mousse or apple pie and cream. The speaker was Mr Nigel Newton (SE 1973) who kept us entertained over coffee with tales of his arrival at Selwyn from California to read English in the ‘Winter of Discontent’, and learning very quickly of the interesting ways of the English.

He told of his move into publishing on graduation, and how he was inspired by the pioneering spirit of Bob Geldof (with whom he had the pleasure of working) to set up

Bloomsbury Publishing.

We were amazed to hear of the mere £1,500 advance paid to J K Rowling following her submission of three chapters of the first Harry Potter book to Bloomsbury, of Nigel’s pride in having published The English Patient and his chagrin at having turned down Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNabb.

Following the success of the event we look forward to further gatherings in the future.

Selwyn 2008

13

Building update: the hoardings and beyond The College was delighted when, on the day of the opening ceremony for Phase I of the new development in September 2005, Dr Chris and Mrs Ann Dobson announced their intention to donate £5 million from the Ann D Foundation to enable work on Phase II of the development to begin. Their earlier gift from the Foundation of £5 million, along with the many hundreds of donations from generous alumni and friends, made possible the building of Phase I.

The College is grateful to have received support, and sponsorship, from the building contractor for the project, Morgan Ashurst, who not only assisted with preparation of the boards for painting, but also provided the paints and materials and offered generous prizes for the winning designs.

Heather Kilpatrick Development Director

On 4 March, the College celebrated the start of Phase II with a ceremony at which Chris and Ann laid some concrete (see above) and were presented with a memento of the occasion. Chris Dobson came to Selwyn from St Julian’s High School, Newport, to read Natural Sciences from 1957 until 1960, and went on to found Electrotech (later Trikon Technologies) which made equipment for the manufacture of semiconductors. He returned to Selwyn in 1998 to read for a PhD in Materials Science. Since that time Chris has retired and, along with his wife Ann, has taken the opportunity to become involved in both College and University life.

The building will provide a further 41 en-suite student rooms and will also house a new JCR in the basement. This is a significant development: it will not only define the three courts on the main site, but will also move the centre of gravity of the College to the north, and re-establish close ties with Cripps, the ‘fourth court’ across Grange Road. It is anticipated that the building should be completed in April 2009. The current JCR space will then be converted into a new Senior Combination Room which will provide an improved working and social environment for the Fellowship.

Whilst work on the new building was providing College residents with plenty of interest, the large expanse of white hoardings surrounding the site had been looking decidedly uninteresting. So, in Lent Term a competition was run to find a design to be painted onto the hoardings.

The venture was co-ordinated jointly by the College Art Society, the College Paintings Committee, Morgan Ashurst and the Development & Alumni Relations Office. The winner was Veterinary student Catherine Williams whose design was applied by a hardy group of intrepid artists in appalling weather conditions at the end of Lent Term.

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Selwyn 2008

The hoardings

Alma Mater and daughter reunited

Year Group Representatives 1947 1954

After a tour of the College and gardens by Heather Kilpatrick and Sarah MacDonald (who speaks Canadian) the latter demonstrated the Chapel organ (another Quebec connection) before the whole party moved to the Chadwick Room for the official welcome by the Senior Tutor Dr Tilby and a talk by Mike Good. As well as providing a crash-course for Canadian teenagers on the early history of Selwyn College, the mysteries of University and College life and the history of England at around the turn of the nineteenth century, Mike displayed photos and correspondence from the Archives of Messrs Lucas and Macaulay in their student days, and speculated on the reasons for their emigration, careers and (in the case of one at least) untimely end.

alfred@wallerfawley.co.uk

1963

Andrew Millinger

andrew.millinger@virgin.net

John Barnard

therealjb@tiscali.co.uk

1967

Michael Rowles

1966

1968 1969

1974 1976

1977

1978

1979 1980

1981

1982

Mike Walton

Michael Folger Nick Mercer Nigel Hirst

Charlotte Carey Matts Malcolm Burwell Gareth Quarry Kevin Brown Peter Spargo

jwitrevelyan@yahoo.co.uk

tripled@fsmail.net

rogerleclercq@btconnect.com mike.walton@waitrose.com

michael.rowles@bristows.com mfolg@aol.com

nick.mercer@london.anglican.org nhirst@hadenfreeman.com ccareymatts@aol.com mcburwell@aol.com

gareth.quarry@ssq.com

selwyncambridge@epublish.co.uk

spargosindeal@aol.com

Catherine Wightwick (née Carr) catherine@wightwick.co.uk

Stephen Speak

stephen@speakfamily.com

1984

Peter Thacker

1987

Anna-Louise Brown (née Parkin) anna-louise@wealthbuild.com.au

1985

1986

1991

1992

1993

1994 1995

1996

1999 2000

2001

Mike Good

David Denton

Roger Le Clercq

1965

1998

We are fortunate in that the Archives preserve substantial records and good photographs of both men, largely because they were fine sportsmen; it was probably sport that brought them together in the first place. Remarkably, the Archives preserve the entire College admissions correspondence for Lucas, including a testimonial from his vicar: ‘always well behaved and well conducted when home during the holidays’. At any rate, one hopes that those distant days were brought to life for the boys by the images on screen; there was certainly a lively question-and-answer session after the talk, as well as a vote of thanks from the school, followed by an opportunity for the boys to buy copies of Selwyn Celebrated and other merchandise. We are grateful for the gift of an oil-painting of Selwyn House as well as a copy of the school’s anniversary book Selwyn House School: celebrating 100 years. The party finally adjourned to Hall for a hearty lunch before a brief walking tour of tourist Cambridge.

James Trevelyan

1964

1997

Hockey XI 1901: Lucas and Macaulay middle row first and second left

Tel: 020 8455 3379

daysludlow@yahoo.co.uk

Alfred Waller

1962

On Friday 14 March 2008 we were visited by our daughter institution in Canada, Selwyn House School, Westmount. This prestigious private school for boys was founded in 1908 as Lucas School by a Selwyn alumnus, Algernon Lucas. In 1912 he transferred ownership to a Selwyn contemporary and friend, Colin Macaulay, at which point the school acquired its present name of Selwyn House and eventually moved to its present premises in a Quebec suburb. As we celebrate our 125th Anniversary, they are celebrating their centenary, and that was the occasion of a visit by over 20 boys and over half a dozen staff to London in March, with a day trip up the M11 to pay their respects to the Alma Mater of their founder and first Headmaster.

Michael Day

1959

1960

Selwyn House School pupils and staff outside the Hall

Stan Bunnell

2002

Vanessa Webster

Mark Carey

Sian Walters

Karen Knighton

peter@pthacker.com

vanessa@vanessawebster.com

m.carey@moodmedia.com

walterssian@hotmail.com

karen_knighton@hotmail.com

Graeme Daykin

graeme.daykin@mac.com

Liz Ross Martyn

liz.rossmartyn@jcdecaux.co.uk

Matthew Cheeseman

egp05mjc@sheffield.ac.uk

Mary Clegg

Charlotte Dalton

Jonathan Halliwell Ruth Longmaid Claire Wood

Rebecca Candy (née Chesson) Dominic Ashcroft David Cockayne Amit Bhola Jack Butler

James Thompson

Kelly Bond

marylclegg@hotmail.com

charlotte.dalton@btinternet.com hallisax@yahoo.com

ruthlongmaid@hotmail.com c_e_wood@hotmail.com becky.candy@cantab.net

dominic.ashcroft@gs.com

dcockayne@humana.com amit.bhola@citi.com

jack@future-foundations.co.uk

james_thompson44@hotmail.com

klb49@cantab.net

Shiraz Masood

shiraz@cantab.net

2004

Joe Braidwood

joe.braidwood@cantab.net

2005

Maria Staiano-Kolaitis

2003

USA

Tom Parks

Alison Dickson Alice Howell Nick Wright

Mark Denne [SE 1979]

Jacqueline Adams [SE 1987]

Ruth Saunders [SE 1978]

John Whitehead [SE 1972]

France Karen Williams

(née McDermott) [SE 1978]

tomparks@mac.com

alibalibee85@hotmail.com alice.r.howell@gmail.com nick.wright@cantab.net mariask@cantab.net

C/o alumni-office@sel.cam.ac.uk

jacqueline_adams@yahoo.com ruthsaunders@yahoo.com j_whiteh@bellsouth.net

williams.karen@tiscali.fr

Selwyn 2008

15

Future events

Please contact the Development & Alumni Relations Office if you would like to enquire about any of the following events.

Booking forms and further details are available on the College website at www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/EventsCalendar/index.html.

Monday 17 November Reception, National Liberal Club, London A reception will be held at the National Liberal Club, London, for all alumni and former Fellows.

Further details will follow in late September.

Saturday 7 March 2009 1882 Dinner All those who have made provision for the College in their Will and are members of the 1882 Society are invited to dine in College on the evening of 7 March.

Partners are welcome. Booking forms will be mailed in early December.

Saturday 21 March MA Dinner At the start of 2009, the Tutorial Office will be in touch with all of those who matriculated in 2002, with details about the MA Congregation and College dinner.

For further information, please contact the Praelector’s Secretary, Mrs Margaret Hay, on 01223 335897 or at mmh29@cam.ac.uk.

Saturday 4 April 1989 Reunion A dinner will be held in College for those celebrating 20 years since matriculation, with a chance to meet up in Cambridge during the afternoon. Partners are welcome.

Overnight accommodation will be available in Selwyn. Further details will be mailed in due course.

Friday 3 July Commemoration of Benefactors All members who matriculated before 1960 or in 1964, 1974, 1984 or 1994 are invited back to College in July for evensong followed by a reception and black tie dinner in Hall. Booking forms will be mailed in April.

Saturday 4 July Donors’ Garden Party An informal garden party, open to all donors, will be held in the College grounds. Live music and children’s entertainment will be provided.

Guests, including children, are most welcome. Booking forms will be mailed in May.

Saturday 5 September 1969 and 1979 Reunion A dinner will be held in College, marking 30 and 40 years since matriculation. Partners are welcome. Overnight accommodation will be available in Selwyn. Further details will be mailed in due course.

Saturday 12 September 1959 Reunion An anniversary dinner and other events are planned. There will be some alumni of 1958 and 1960 who may wish to share with us this weekend event. Please make a note in your diaries. Further information will follow before Christmas. Please contact Alfred Waller (alfred@wallerfawley.co.uk) or the Development & Alumni Relations Office for more details.

Chapel Choir, Michaelmas Term 2008

Wednesday 17 September, 6:00 p.m.

Evensong, St Giles’ Church, Cripplegate To mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton Preacher: the Archbishop of Canterbury Music by John Milton Senior, as on the Choir’s latest CD release Sunday 9 November, 8:30 p.m.

Remembrance Sunday Requiem, Selwyn College Chapel Music by Tomás Luis de Victoria

Sunday 23 November Launch of the Friends of the Choir, Selwyn College Evensong, conducted by Sir David Lumsden, followed by light supper Rehearsal: 3.00pm; Tea: 5.00pm; Evensong: 6.00pm; Supper: 7.00pm

Wednesday 3 December, 7:30pm John Armitage Memorial 10th Anniversary Concert To be performed at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street Tuesday 9 December, 1:10pm Christmas Concert, Bury St Edmunds RC Church

For further information about the choir, or any of the above choir engagements, please contact the Director of Music in Chapel, Sarah MacDonald, on 01223 335877 or at seam100@cam.ac.uk.

Friends of the Choir

We have been delighted by the response to the letter from the Director of Music in Chapel sent out earlier this year. Many people have expressed interest in keeping up-to-date with the activities of the current Chapel Choir, and so we are pleased to announce that we will be setting up a Friends of the Choir scheme, with the launch taking place at Selwyn on 23 November. For a small subscription, all friends will receive regular updates about the choir, and have the chance to come back each year to sing with other choir alumni.

Anybody who did not sing with the choir, but is interested in joining, would be most welcome.

The launch will be in the form of evensong, sung by the current choir, followed by a light supper.

Any Friend who would like to join the choir for this service would be most welcome: timings are listed above.

All who have already contacted us to say they sang in the choir will receive further information about the Friends, and benefits associated with the scheme. If you did not reply, and would like to be added to this mailing list, please contact Sarah MacDonald or the Development & Alumni Relations Office.

Mailing Policy Selwyn College

Selwyn College keeps in touch with members and friends with a number of mailings throughout the year.

We hope that you are happy for us to contact you in this way, but if you would prefer not to receive mailings, please contact the Development & Alumni Relations Office.

Keeping in Touch

We are always very happy to hear of your news and achievements, so please stay in touch by contacting the Development & Alumni Relations Office or by logging into our recently launched Online Directory at www.alumni.sel.cam.ac.uk. This directory replaces the printed College Directory and is a great way to ensure that you are looking at the latest contact information for your contemporaries and friends. All members for whom we hold valid contact details will have been provided with log-in user names and passwords. If you have not received this information, have lost your password, or are only recently back in touch with the College, please contact the Development & Alumni Relations Office at: alumni-office@sel.cam.ac.uk or 01223 767844. All details that you enter in the directory will automatically be passed onto the College’s main alumni database, but please note that if you directly inform the office of changes by other means (e.g. by email or phone), these updates will not be transferred to your directory entry, since you have control over the data appearing there.

Dining Rights Those of you who are MAs or who have taken any other masters or higher degrees are entitled to dine at High Table on three evenings per year on Tuesdays or Thursdays, providing there are at least six current Fellows present.

You may bring a guest at your own expense. To book, please contact the Catering and Conference Office on 01223 335855 or at catering@sel.cam.ac.uk.

Staying in College We have a small number of guest rooms available to alumni throughout the year. These are basic rooms and are usually in one of our hostels. To book, contact the Porters’ Lodge on 01223 335846 or porters@sel.cam.ac.uk.