Cuthbert's Chronicle, February 2021, Issue No.13

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

St Cuthbert’s Society Alumni Magazine February 2021 Issue 13

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

July 2019

Please send your contributions and feedback to cuthberts.alumnirelations@ durham.ac.uk

Welcome

Professor Elizabeth Archibald, Principal of St Cuthbert’s Society

@CuthbertsAlumni

@CuthsAlumni

cuthberts.alumnirelations@ durham.ac.uk

durham.ac.uk/ st-cuthberts.society/alumni

Tell your story

By the time you read this, we should know who the next Principal and JCR President will be. Their roles will be unusually challenging. The last year has really dented the sense of community, specially for the freshers and new postgraduates but also for everyone else, and it will take time and work to rebuild it. Congregation was cancelled last July, and is deferred till September. The summer was constrained both by Covid guidelines and by the challenge of planning for the new year amidst constantly changing rules. Freshers’ Week and subsequent activities have been severely limited by household bubbles, social distancing and lockdowns. Many students tested positive in the first month of term and had to self-isolate. Most teaching has been online; some students have been at home for the whole year. We have had no in-person Formals, and very little music or theatre or sport.

The bars are closed. Livers out cannot come into college. The inter-generational mixing which is such an important part of college life has been severely limited. Everyone’s world has shrunk.

On the plus side, the magic of Zoom and other online platforms has allowed us to interact in ways we could not have imagined before Covid. Thousands of sixth-formers have attended virtual Open Days. Our clubs and societies ran a virtual Freshers’ Fair, and have continued to put on virtual events where they can. The alumni gathering on Zoom in September attracted members from North America, Europe and the Far East, some of whom had long been out of touch with the Society; and breakout rooms allowed alumni from very different eras to meet and talk. Research fora and discussions have worked well on Zoom, and have included both speakers and audience members who live far from Durham, such as Lord Falconer who joined us from London to discuss the political role of Supreme Courts in Britain and America, along with American SCR members.

We had international attendance too for our online Formals, which worked surprisingly well, again with random breakout rooms for socializing. At the Christmas Formal, the sense of happiness at hearing carols and singing the Twelve Days choruses together was uplifting, even if we didn’t all arrive at the pear tree at the same time. Burns Night too was very cheering, with more live singing, witty speeches, and a visible haggis to be toasted. Before the latest lockdown the JCR organized an online Formal with students in black tie in their kitchens, and Italian dishes delivered by a local restaurant. The SCR and the Fellows meet regularly for virtual drinks and chat. The JCR are working hard to support students both in Durham and elsewhere; so are the college staff who are all doing a magnificent job, some in college and some working from home. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and we shall retain some of our new ways of working and socializing even after we are freed from Covid restrictions.

The alumni memoirs in this and previous issues show clearly how transformative the student experience here can be. A fresher featured in the last issue for receiving a bursary funded by alumni donations has won a Norton Prize for outstanding academic achievement in her first year. This is a very tough time for all our students, from the freshers to those graduating soon. If you might be able to offer them support in the form of internships, bursary or hardship funding, or Career Angels advice, do please get in touch.

Keep well, and we hope to see some of you in person by the summer.

Contents issue

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February 2021

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St Cuthbert’s Society 12 South Bailey Durham DH1 3EE +44 (0)191 334 4300 cuthberts.reception@durham.ac.uk Principal: Professor Elizabeth Archibald Email: e.f.archibald@durham.ac.uk Communications Support Officer: Katherine Dodd Email: cuthberts.alumnirelations@ durham.ac.uk

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Awards, Prizes and Honours

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JCR News

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Anti-Racism Society

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Palatinate and Cuth’s Drama

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Bar News

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Alumni Association

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Remembering Professor Roy Boyne

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‘On The Covid-19 Frontline’

18/19 Memories Of Cuth’s 20

Cuth’s Authors

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‘There And Back Again’: 1964-2021

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Burns Night

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SCR

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Careers and Enterprise Prizes awarded to Cuth’s Students Startup Grant

St Cuthbert’s postgraduate Charlotte Clews (Biosciences Research Masters) has received a Startup Grant for her project ‘CURIOU’, producing a platform/community which allows researchers to communicate their work and findings to the general public in the form of blogs/visual diagrams/short interviews and Q and A sessions.

Bright Ideas Challenge

Joshua Ryan (MA Philosophy) has been awarded a runner up prize in The Bright Ideas Challenge, the annual ‘elevator pitch’ competition where ideas are shared by video with prizes for the top 3 videos.

The Game Changer Virtual Sprint - a 2 day challenge

designed to put Durham University students at the forefront of innovation and to champion sustainability around the world. This offered a unique opportunity to explore the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and use Design Thinking methods to find innovative solutions. In teams students had to explore the question: How Might We Encourage Global Consumers to Waste Less Food?

Congratulations to Cuth’s first year undergraduates who took part: Philippa Stephenson (Engineering) - 1st place alongside her team with their idea of a household waste app with educational elements to change consumer behaviour.

Gavin Chan (Maths) - 2nd place alongside his team with their idea of using food that doesn’t fit the standard of ‘perfect produce’ to be used in ready-made meals, donated to food banks, or school dinners with the help of 3D printing.

Lucia Dunn-Flores (Philosophy) - joint 3rd place alongside her team for their idea of a household bin with camera and scale technology to track how much waste was produced.

February July 2021 2019

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Durham University Research The Virus Dogs Poject is a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University investigating whether bio-detection dogs can be trained to detect the odour of COVID-19 infection on humans.

For more information see the webpage:

https://www.virusdogs.com/

College Prizewinners Principal’s Prize for exceptional contribution to the life of the college: Henry Johnson (Politics)

Vice-Principal’s Prize for exceptional contribution to arts and culture in the college: Alice Law (Politics)

Queen’s Birthday and New Year Honours Congratulations to Cuth’s alumni recognised in the Queen’s Birthday and New Year Honours.

Queen’s Birthday Honours

Miranda Curtis CMG (Spanish 1978) Awarded the Order of St Michael and St George (Companion) for services to Gender Equality.

Paul Chakravarti CMG (Applied Physics and Electronics 1986) Awarded the Order of St Michael and St George for services to National Security.

New Year Honours

Mohammed I Hamid MBE (Community and Youth Work Studies 1994) Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to Youth Empowerment and Social Welfare Projects.

Claudia Sykes OBE (Chinese 1994) Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Social Enterprise and the Social Care Sector.

Postgraduate Prize for outstanding academic achievement: Katharine Briggs (Archaeology)

SCR Prize for outstanding contribution to the charity and voluntary sector: Courtney Szanto (Environmental Geoscience)

Norton Prizes for first year outstanding academic performance (by Faculty):

Arts: Sophie Godden (Philosophy); Shake Mehrabyan (Classics); Sophia Graham (Modern Languages and Cultures)

Science: Tomas Alcade Lopez (Maths); Jacob Dobson (Maths); Ishaan Shukla (Physics)

Social Science and Health: Emily Osbourne (Sports); Elizabete Smildzina (Anthropology); Natasha Fisk (Education)

Charles Holmes Prize for best academic performance by a finalist: Joe Plunkett (Maths)

Ranald Michie Prize sponsored by the Alumni Association for outstanding fresher contribution to student activities: Lara Halici (Geography)

Classics Prize sponsored by an alumnus for best performance by a finalist: James Hua

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

JCR News

President’s Round-up The Michaelmas term at Cuth’s was incredibly different, pierced with a few small pieces of normality. We did put together a team of Freps and a week of Freshers’ Week activities though.I doubt any other Freshers’ Week has been finalised so close to new students actually arriving. The week was largely successful, if a logistical nightmare, and the Freps deserve unending credit for the way they adapted to the situation and managed to carry out the job despite social distancing and masks, and being unable to interact with the freshers in the ways they normally would. We also held two weeks of “online” Freshers’ Weeks before new students arrived and put on online events throughout the week to ensure all students were able to participate, whether in Durham, distance learners or just particularly conscious of the health risks. College families were allocated, although they have yet to meet in person.

The start of term was particularly quiet with sports and societies being unable to meet in person and the college bars being only open to freshers who live in. However we did manage to open the bars for a short period to all Cuth’s students which provided some relief, if short-lived, for students living out of college. During this time Social Committee were able to hold some creative events within the restrictions including a very popular Hallowe’en night. The college library was also initially only open to livers-in, but eventually opened to both livers-in and livers-out last term, meaning students were able to come into college physically in

some capacity. Sports and societies enjoyed a respite lasting for about as long as the bars’, and many did manage a few sessions before being closed down again. Though their closure is disappointing, I do hope that many new students were able to engage with sports and societies across household bubbles at least briefly, and used this chance to get to know some students in other years or living in other accommodation, and that this small window vastly broadened their social sphere within college.

JCR Committees have been formed despite the limitations, and it was encouraging to see good fresher engagement in our committees, including Finance Comm who, led by this year’s FCO Maddy, have been doing important work in the JCR including doubling the Participation Fund, our non meanstested fund for Cuth’s students to get involved in both Cuth’s and external sports and societies. JCR Meetings have shifted online and the inevitable initial problems seem to have been smoothed over. The JCR has run numerous schemes to help students through this current lockdown. We have been able to open both gyms to students who live in, Maiden Castle opened up its outside spaces to bookings from students, and we loaned out our sports and socs equipment to households to ensure JCR assets were still being used. We have also run a scheme to pair individuals with similar interests from across households so they can either talk online or go on walks together, to try to increase social opportunities.

We continue to run drop-ins.

February July2021 2019

Welfare have run campaigns including Take Time to Sign in partnership with the SU, tackling the housing rush in Durham and the impact this has on student wellbeing, and a campaign around lockdown, looking out for friends, and harm reduction information.

Despite the circumstances several new sports and societies have been ratified this term, including an Anti-Racism Society, a Working-Class Society, and a Yoga Society. Social Committee continue to run online events and partnered with Outreach to help deliver some Christmas events and activities. Societies such as FemSoc have managed a successful transition online and continue their inspiring and important work.

The term wasn’t an easy one but it wasn’t devoid of success. I remain indebted to the College and University staff who paved the way for the JCR to even be functional during these months, but most importantly to every member of the JCR who has pursued their passions and carried forward their love for Cuth’s even in such truly difficult circumstances.

As we begin the new year with mass testing taking place and vaccinations starting, there is optimism for a more normal experience of Cuth’s in future terms.

SASKIA WOOTTON-CANE

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Cuth’s Outreach 12 Days of Christmas 2020 - Supporting DASH The second term is upon us and it is fair to say that Michaelmas was just about lacking in everything, well, social.

However, we are here now (albeit still online) and whilst Cuth’s Outreach Committee are yet to make significant human contact (most of our team still have not met!) we are still standing strong and want to wish a massive thanks to all of you that got involved last term. In total, we managed to raise an impressive £712 for our local charity DASH (Durham Action on Single Housing) during our ‘12 Days of Outreach’ despite the circumstances - and it is fair to say that every penny raised will make such a massive difference to the lives of the homeless DASH strives to support.

So again, on behalf of all Cuth’s Outreach, THANK YOU times a thousand!

For those of you that do not know, ‘12 Days of Outreach’ is an annual campaign carried out at Christmas by Cuth’s Outreach Committee. We organise events EVERY DAY for 12 days ranging from social media challenges and silent discos to a classic pub quiz. Whilst lots of that had to be scrapped for this year, we still made the most of it. This year involved lots of collabs across our college and campus societies. Cuth’s Music held a live stream concert on our social media pages, an online yoga session with the Cuth’s Yoga Society and a socially distanced fun run with Cuth’s Running Club. Cuth’s Outreach also stretched far and wide across the student and non-student community. We held a quiz via Zoom, with prizes being donated from ‘Unihustl’ – a platform which allows students to buy and sell second-hand textbooks and other goods online (it also happens to have been set up by fellow Cuth’s students!)

Our team and many others also got involved with a volunteering campaign dedicated to showing our local community just how much we appreciate them. Cuth’s students wrote over 40 Christmas cards delivered to local care homes and spread Christmas cheer to those most vulnerable during the pandemic.

Lastly, and most importantly, the team and students got involved in the Durham University ‘Once a Month Drive’. This is university wide and aims to collect sanitary products and hygiene essentials to donate to DASH. This year, Cuth’s ‘12 Days of Outreach’ was in honour of DASH and the amazing support they carry out for the homeless community of Durham.

They are an independent charity that provides accommodation and support for those who are homeless or facing homelessness. DASH’S mission includes providing everybody with the opportunity to rebuild their lives, despite the circumstances they may find themselves in.

As members of Cuth’s we pride ourselves on an ethos of being a caring, empathic, and charitable College - and that’s why our continued dedication to these organisations is so important.

One of our very own Cuth’s students, Bea Kingsley, is the Durham University DASH representative, and that only makes it all the more important that we continue to show up and show our support for an organisation that makes such a difference in the local community we call home.

Now let’s make an even bigger difference this term!

LOTTIE BRAND CUTH’S OUTREACH COMMITTEE

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Cuth’s Anti-Racism Society Sachin Savur

Sachin Savur (Year 4, Combined Honours in Social Sciences) In the summer, following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests, a number of anti-racist reading lists began to circulate. It was really positive to see a lot of people genuinely engaging with these works and taking steps towards anti-racist action. But the same kinds of books cropped up in each of these lists, held up as definite, canonical, and ‘essential’, as if anti-racism begins and ends with them.

At the beginning of Michaelmas Term, Cuth’s Anti-Racism Society (affectionately known as CARS) was born out of these reading lists. We wanted to create a space in which we could critically engage with a variety of anti-racist topics, using different texts as accessible springboards for discussion.

We also wanted this space to exist separately from the ‘celebratory’ spaces in which racism is often discussed, such as Black History Month. While racism is a significant and formative part of the history of many minority groups, we recognise the importance of celebrating the achievements, actions and events of minority figures in a space that uplifts them, rather than using them as an allocated slot for a brief national discussion of racism. By creating a dedicated space for discussing anti-racism, we aim to facilitate an ongoing conversation about the structural and insidious nature of modern racism, as opposed to a view on racism that sees it relegated to the past.

So far, we’ve hosted three sessions, and it’s been fantastic to hear the contributions of everyone who’s attended. Among the people who have participated, there’s a diversity of backgrounds, prior knowledge and opinions, so we’re all in a process of mutual learning. We’ve looked at an array of media — a podcast on the often-erased British Black Panthers; ‘Natives’ by Akala;

and an article on the controversy around the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert — and explored a similarly broad range of associated themes, such as the differing stances between migrants of colour and their children, the notion of whiteness, and the somewhat tenuous role of brands in anti-racism.

We’ve also had many productive suggestions for the action we can take in our everyday lives. While acknowledging that racism is a persistent and structural issue that won’t be eradicated overnight, we recognise that it’s not enough to merely analyse the situation; there’s a pressing need to change it.

Next term, and more generally in the future, we’d like to consider an assortment of topics including deportation, mixedrace identity, and Orientalism. We hope to welcome guest speakers and to provide support for campaigns for our Ethnic Minority Rep, Hannah Moore, who is heavily involved with the society. Bearing in mind the notion of intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, we aim to collaborate with other liberatory societies in Cuth’s, including the LGBT+ Society, the formidable Feminism Society, and the more nascent Working Class Society. In this respect, we’re extremely proud of the support Cuth’s offers to students from marginalised backgrounds, including the anti-racism workshops designed with Daniel Vogel (former People Of Colour Rep) and Dan Takyi (President of Durham People of Colour Association) and run for freshers at the beginning of this academic year. CARS builds on a history of anti-racist work within Cuth’s and across the university as a whole, and we hope to do justice to that legacy.

Hannah Moore

Dan Takyi

Daniel Vogel

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Pandemic Press: editing Palatinate during Covid-19, and Cuth’s Drama

by Imogen Usherwood (Year 3, English) It goes without saying that our lives have been turned upside down. Back in March 2020, I found myself in a strange position to chart and document how the Durham student experience transformed during the pandemic, when I was elected Editor-in-Chief of Palatinate, Durham’s 73-year-old student newspaper. I didn’t know that a national lockdown was two weeks away, or what the next ten months would throw at us.

I worked at Palatinate for over a year before I became Editor, and in that time I adjusted to its sense of routine and tradition. Fortnightly meetings, over thirty of us crammed into a room in the Students’ Union, followed by a trip to the pub; hours spent in the office, moving columns by millimetres or quibbling over apostrophes; busy print days, asking editors to pass some papers to friends, colleges or departments.

As with everything else, coronavirus put a stop to that, as meetings moved to Zoom and newspapers had to be placed in secure communal areas, with a small note on the front page asking readers not to pass their copy around.

I remember my second day in the job, in the last week of term, as an absolute baptism of fire as the University started to close down. Every hour brought a new email or notification – it was so hard to keep up that we created a rolling newsfeed, adding Covid-19 updates as we received them. We kept it going for weeks, until no-detriment policies were announced as mitigation for the issues created by online teaching and a lack of library access; that page is now the third most-read ever on Palatinate’s website.

My time as Editor was far from what I had expected, back when I wrote my application in a pre-pandemic world. Nevertheless, I’m really proud of all the work we did in that time: we reported on University restructuring, student mental health and abusive behaviour; we kept the paper in print after the SU withdrew its funding (with incredible help from some Durham alumni and their generous donations); and, of course, we gave scores of students the chance to see their work published for the first time.

It was also during the first lockdown that I decided to run for President of Cuth’s Drama Society, which we renamed 12 South Theatre (12ST), based on Cuth’s Bailey address. After a term of cancellations in June, the Assembly Rooms Theatre had bought a new set of cameras, so we could record productions without audiences. Our Michaelmas show was The Road to

Huntsville by Stephanie Ridings, a one-woman show about our modern obsession with true crime. Sadly, recording the show has now been postponed twice by the second and third national lockdowns. I had also arranged for 12ST to present at the 2021 Durham Drama Festival in February, with a new play I wrote called Meeting Point, featuring fellow Cuth’s students in the cast and crew. This has sadly been pushed back too, but we hope to produce a recording of the show in the future.

As Cuth’s continues to hope for a return to the traditions and events we know and love, it’s been reassuring to keep busy with other, safe activities, even if doing everything online just isn’t the same. I really hope to be able to produce a play with a live audience before I graduate this summer! Afterwards, I am hoping to continue my interests in writing and editorial work with a masters’ degree in creative writing or journalism.

Bar News

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

February 2021 July 2019

Image by Clarissa Atlee Instagram - @clarissaatlee_art

Joe O’Connor, Bar Steward

How has the bar coped during the pandemic?

Bar staff have been an extra set of hands to help around college. During Michaelmas Term alone College had to manage over five thousand parcels! Bar staff, being allowed in college, were able to lend a hand down at Parson’s Field by organising parcels, notifying students of parcels and delivering any to students in isolation. Luckily for livers-in and bar staff, the college gyms were allowed

to open. Bar staff were working at both college gyms to ensure that they were kept COVID friendly (only being used by one household at a time) and keeping all the equipment sanitised.

casual income, which many of us could not manage without. With the university’s plans for Lateral Flow Testing, I hope the bars will be open once more to students at some point, but we will always find ways to keep our staff and students busy!

Each evening during the first term, Bailey and Brooks bar were opened by a member of Bar staff and supervised. This allowed livers-in to come as a household and use the bars as a communal space (rather than a bar), with live sport being shown and a large selection of board games. Livers-in were particularly grateful as this gave them the opportunity to gather with their house somewhere other than cramped bedrooms or kitchens!

My shifts at the College Bar were highlights of my week, this year has been a shock to say the least. The Wednesday nights treading on each other’s feet as we frantically serve a throng of footballers dressed in fairy wings are gone. There’s no more thrill of finding random things left behind from socials (a whole pack of unbroken eggs or puddles of milk, anyone?) and wondering what vicious forfeit they were a part of. And the evenings of swaying arm-in-arm singing rowdily are, like everything else from our pre-pandemic lives, tinged with nostalgia and disbelief that they ever actually happened.

ELLEN MORGAN

On behalf of all bar staff I think many of us are very grateful to College for letting us continue to have regular hours of work, even if not behind the bar. Bar staff have been able to maintain their form of

Alumni Association

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Alistair Stewart, Geology (2016) As I write this, I can’t help but think about how much has changed over the last six months, and how everyone has had to adapt to everything that has happened. If you asked me 12-18 months ago about virtual events, I wouldn’t have thought that it was something the Alumni Association would pursue. One of the joys of alumni events is catching up with old friends and reminiscing about old memories of our times in Durham. For almost the last year, that hasn’t been possible – or at least not in person.

So like everyone else, the Alumni Association has had to adapt, and do things virtually. Since September, there has been a virtual Alumni Reunion Afternoon in place of the Alumni Weekend, a virtual Pub Quiz, and an AGM. There have been some hiccups along the way that are inevitable over Zoom, but overall the events have been enjoyable and it has been nice to see a wide range of alumni attending.

The Alumni Reunion in September saw alumni attend from across the globe

Contact us: @stcuthberts.association

@Cuths contact@cuths.org cuths.org

from the States to Hong Kong/Singapore, something that is only possible via platforms like Zoom. Hearing about everyone’s memories and what they were up to now was as fascinating over Zoom as it is in Cuth’s Bar. The use of breakout rooms meant that conversations were possible in small groups, and helped create a good atmosphere allowing people to catch up or get to know each other.

The Pub Quiz took place in December and saw over 40 alumni attend. The winning team received artwork drawn by members of Cuth’s Art Society and though voluntary donations we raised over £150 towards the JCR’s Sports and Socs.

The AGM took place in November with elections taking place for several positions including Treasurer, Events Manager and Social Media & Communications Manager. Thanks go to Matt Glover and Greg Dodwell for their contributions and hard work during their times as Events Manager and Treasurer

respectively. The newly elected Events Manager - Dannika Glaister - and the newly elected Social Media & Communications Manager - Siobhan Byrne - will introduce themselves, but congratulations and I look forward to working with you both alongside everyone else who was elected to the committee. The position of Treasurer went unfilled, though Greg thankfully is giving one more year.

If anyone is interested in running for Treasurer or Website Manager next year please do get in touch.

In terms of the future, the Association is in the middle of planning some future events and looking into doing a survey to gather feedback on what alumni want to see from the Association. If you have any thoughts do get in touch. Finally, following Elizabeth’s announcement of her retirement this summer, I would like to thank her on behalf of the association for all the work she has done and does for St. Cuthbert’s Society. Fingers crossed that we will be able to truly celebrate all she has done during her time at Cuth’s in person this summer.

Commitee Members: Chair - Alistair Stewart (Position up for re-election at AGM 2021), chair@cuths.org Secretary - Megan Croll (Position up for re-election at AGM 2021) Treasurer - Unfilled, Greg Dodwell Co-Operated for 2020-21 (Position up for re-election at AGM 2021) Events Manager - Dannika Glaister (Elected at AGM 2020) Social Media & Communications Manager - Siobhan Byrne (Elected at AGM 2020) Elected Members - Richard Peralta, Mark Rowland (Both elected at AGM 2018); Matt Glover, Rishi Jindal, Alex Lindqvist Jones (Elected at AGM 2020) Events Committe Members - Elena Martin (Elected at AGM 2020) Website Manager - Unfilled (Position up for re-election at AGM 2021; Volunteers sought in meantime)

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Remembering Professor Roy Boyne

July 2019

Principal 2003-2008 Professor Roy Boyne, Principal 20038, died on October 22nd 2020, after some years of ill health.

He joined the University’s Dept of Sociology in 1996, where he did innovative work around risk, surveillance and culture, and was Vice-Provost at the Stockton Campus before becoming Principal at Cuth’s.

Among his many contributions were the building of Brooks House at Parson’s Field, the establishment of the annual Fellows’ Lecture, and most importantly the preservation of our historic name of ‘Society’. Roy and Nicola were enormously hospitable and encouraging to generations of students and alumni; Roy will be much missed, and affectionately remembered.

A Tribute by John Norton

(Principal 1985- 1990 and St Cuthbert’s Society Alumnus 1967-1970) Written originally for Roy Boyne’s retirement in 2008.

Between June 2003 and December 2008. Roy successfully oversaw some of the most dramatic changes in the Society’s chequered history. When Roy took over in June 2003, he knew that as successor to Bernard Robertson he had a particularly hard act to follow. In addition

to swiftly assimilating the distinctive ethos of Cuth’s, he straightaway had to set about implementing development plans the University had already approved.

With student numbers of around 1200, those improvements could no longer be delayed.

Roy established excellent working relations with the Dean of Colleges and with members of the University administration whose decisions could benefit the Society. He was also good at delegating to able members of his own staff. The building development proceeded to the formal opening in 2006 of purpose-built accommodation for 355 students at Parsons Field. Roy regarded this as the high point of his term of office.

In honour of Leslie Brooks, the Society’s longest serving Principal, he had the building named Brooks House. Despite the difficulties inherent in a split-site operation, Roy subsequently ensured that the Society adapted cheerfully to this new situation.

mature students within the University.

However, there were far fewer mature students applying for university places.

The growing preponderance of school leavers joining the Society inevitably made the influence of the less mature majority more marked. It also made necessary a somewhat firmer guidance than had previously been the tradition in the Society. Roy was willing to provide this.

He took great pride in proclaiming the achievements of the Society’s students in whatever activity they excelled. Their quite remarkable achievements in so many varied activities gave him frequent occasions to rejoice. He gave enthusiastic backing to the Society’s Choir and to other performers.

Ever mindful of the welfare of all students in the Society, Roy did not shrink from unpopular decisions if these were in the best interests of everyone concerned.

When he imposed restraints on alcohol it was resented by students but Roy remained true to his convictions.

Roy hosted a dinner for former Presidents and Principals. He demonstrated his love of cinema by organising an annual film night for SCR members. Another of Roy’s initiatives was the institution of an Annual Fellows’ Lecture open to all members of the University and the public at large. Roy’s further initiatives with regard to the Society’s Fellows included the introduction of “Distinguished Fellow” status and lectures in the Society from its Visiting Fellows.

Under Roy’s leadership, Cuth’s preserved its reputation as the natural home for

A marked feature of Roy’s term of office was the large number of people

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

who enjoyed the hospitality he and his wife Nicola so generously extended.

Visiting alumni who left Durham years before Roy arrived as well as current staff and students received a genuinely warm welcome. Time and again Dun Cow Cottage buzzed with guests’ lively conversation and laughter. Nicola and he made a point of having the whole of the JCR Executive to dinner every year, with Roy doing the cooking for as many as 22 people! At many of those events Roy was urged to make a speech.

These speeches, delivered in a quiet voice, replete with erudite digressions and philosophical speculation, conferred upon Roy a rare mystique. By contrast, when expressing his gratitude to staff and students for their support, Roy’s voice was clear and unmistakeable.

Roy was eager to resume his duties as Principal as soon as possible after an urgent operation in early 2008, and one of the major tasks then falling to him was preparing a response to the Review of St Cuthbert’s Society. In line with the majority view in the Society and against the Review recommendation, Roy won the fight to keep the Society’s name unchanged.

Roy’s medical consultants advised that Roy should lighten his load in 2008.

Accordingly, it was arranged that Roy, on relinquishing the post of Principal of St. Cuthbert’s Society, would lead a research group, finish his book on governmentled cultural strategies, and develop new teaching on the role of ‘spectacle’ in the 21st century.

Roy, with the constant support of his wife Nicola, made his own very successful mark upon the Society. The Society has reason to be grateful to him for that success and for his dedication to St. Cuthbert’s throughout his time at the head of the Society.

John Norton

Tribute to Roy Boyne by Vice-Principal Dr Jon Warren November 2020 I am deeply saddened to hear of Roy Boyne’s death.

Roy Boyne taught me when I was a part-time postgraduate student studying for my MA in the 1990s. In fact, Roy taught my very first class at Durham. I remember this vividly as I was lost in the Elvet Riverside 1 building looking for the right classroom. I decided to ask someone who was also looking for a room if he knew where it was, the answer was “I hope so, I’m giving the lecture!”

And that was how I first met Roy. Roy was my MA dissertation supervisor too. Later when I was considering applying to do my PhD I turned to Roy for advice and went down to meet him at Stockton campus when he was in the role of Vice-Provost of the campus. He encouraged me to apply for a PhD place under the supervision of David Byrne and Roy became the second supervisor of my thesis.

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It was Roy who first introduced me to Cuth’s too. After a supervision meeting on a Friday he asked me what I was doing for lunch. I said I had no plans and Roy brought me up to 12 South Bailey for Friday “Fish and Chips”. In those days sherry was served in the SCR prior to lunch, and participants would be asked if they wanted anything from the bar which opened at 1pm.

Of course, I had no idea at the time that I would one day end up as Vice-Principal of the Society.

Roy was always very kind to me; he always had time for a chat and he was always so encouraging. I remember that some years later I had gone for several job interviews and been unsuccessful.

I was feeling really down and about to turn my back on academic life. Luckily I bumped into Roy who asked me how I was doing. He listened and said “you’ll get there, don’t give up, I believe in you” It really made such a difference to me, and I think for me it was a pivotal moment.

Roy truly touched my life as I know he did so many other students.

I am very glad to have known him.

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Tribute to Professor Roy Boyne Tony Crook , Refounder (Pure Science 1958)

Having been invited (dragooned?) to become Secretary of Cuth’s Refounders a few years before Professor Boyne took over, meeting him for the first time was not without some apprehension. What would be his views of this odd group of oldies that enjoyed an annual get-together, with dinner, back at Cuth’s, years after they had departed?

As I look back at Roy’s tenure, how could I have worried? Before formal dinner at Refounders’ reunions, Roy introduced his Sherry Welcome at Dun Cow Cottage, a gregarious natter before walking down South Bailey for the meal and reminiscing in the bar afterwards. He loved to hear about former days at Cuth’s, as did Nicola, his wife, a great advocate of the Society. Roy was always warm, urbane, interested as well as interesting, and a stalwart ambassador for the Society and the retention of its name despite the pressure to change it to that of ‘College’.

My last meeting with him before he retired to more book-writing research was a lasting privilege for me. The Refounders agreed to make a retirement gift to him, and with their donations I bought a fine-cut crystal decanter with silver collar. I travelled to Durham and back to Gloucestershire the same day to present it - to his surprise and delight - at a special lunch in the SCR. Roy was a delight to talk with, Puck-like humour, nimble of mind and profound in thought, a readiness to laugh at life’s absurdities. It was a defining pleasure to have known him.

Memories of Roy Boyne Ian Stewart, Former Chair of the Fellows Roy Boyne came to St Cuthbert’s after a period as Vice-Provost of University College Stockton, later the Queen’s Campus. Earlier he had been a successful Social Sciences Dean at the University of Teesside.

Ably supported by his wife, Nicola, he proved to be an inspired choice as Principal of the Society. In a quiet way he got to know the members of the different Common Rooms. Before Roy’s time, when I was appointed a Fellow, I had felt honoured but unsure of what was involved or expected. Roy it was who drafted a constitution in 2005-06 and inspired a continuing calendar of events and meetings for the Fellows. I have a feeling that he also rather arranged me into the chair. At least I cannot remember a formal process. Nobly Roy took the minutes of the early Fellows’ meetings giving me, as chairman, a much easier ride than my successors have enjoyed. As Principal he had to battle against ill health and a major operation. He managed difficult situations patiently, such as when a central University desire for needless uniformity in nomenclature led to a proposal most unwelcome to the members of the Society. There was no wish on their part for the substitution of ‘College” for ‘Society’ and the proposed change eventually dropped away.

Roy’s portrait in the hall by Roar Kjærnstad suggests a somewhat melancholy and rather private man. Perhaps he was. Certainly he was an effective and conscientious leader of the Society who fully deserves his honoured place in the succession of Principals.The Fellows miss him as do those others who remember him.

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

A Student’s View Major Tom Coker (Law 2005) Defence Academy of the United Kingdom My lasting memory of Roy Boyne is from the first Christmas Formal in his first year as Principal. During the rather chaotic rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas (sung post-port and cheese) Roy was standing on his chair, singing at the top of his voice, and flapping his arms to the words ‘Three French Hens’ before diving back down to his place, only to be back up again when it came round next time. It is a memory that still makes me smile, and I think always will, because it was so characteristically Roy. Roy took over as Principal at the start of my second year at St Cuthbert’s and instantly made his mark. He and Nicola were the perfect pair - generous, enthusiastic, interested, and most crucially, interesting. Putting it simply, they had style.

I served as the Senior Freshers’ Rep that year and so was lucky enough to get to know them well early on. They had their sleeves rolled up from the start, and that never changed.

They will always be anchored firmly in the hearts and memories of those of us who had the good fortune to be at Durham during their tenure because they set the best of examples.

They lived life to the full, and that flowed to us all. From the chance encounters in the bar to the balls and Formals, the Society was their family and they both treated it as such.

Roy was the most fantastic company, and embodied the (slightly renegade) spirit of Cuth’s at the time. He had seemingly boundless energy for fun and mischief, but had the perfect sense of balance and judgement when things became serious. He took a keen interest in everything that the Society did, from the welfare and conditions of his staff to the development of the students, through to the Senior Common

Until we meet again, sleep well Professor; you are missed by those of us down here.

Major Tom Coker

Room and the alumni community. Roy was an incredibly impressive academic, and his credentials are too long to list here, but that was not how he presented himself. Roy was interested in people, but more particularly in how he could help them realise their potential. He was a willing mentor and friend to anyone who asked for his guidance, and in many cases to those who didn’t realise they needed the hand. His generosity of spirit was something that infused the whole Society, and like all of the best leaders he set the tone seemingly effortlessly.

He didn’t waste opportunities or time, and if there was a chance to do something for the benefit of others then he would seize it. As a result, for the years he was in post, we all benefitted enormously. Everyone who met him came away wiser for the encounter, and that is a rare skill. The world is a lesser place for his absence, but those of us who knew him will always remember his seemingly endless energy, sense of humour, and wise counsel.

I count myself lucky to have known him, and like so many others, to have called him my friend.

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On The Covid-19 Frontline 16

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

July 2019

Cuthbert’s Cuthbert’sChronicle Chronicle

Major Chris Molyneaux RA

Battery Commander 127 (Dragon) Battery RA BSc (Hons) Biology and Biochemistry (2006) In early November 2020 my Battery had our exercise on Salisbury Plain cancelled and we were redirected to Liverpool to conduct mass testing. I was impressed by how quickly the Battery re-organised itself and had 75 soldiers in Liverpool ready to start testing in only 48 hours.

Once we arrived, we conducted a day’s training, then set to work constructing COVID test centres across the city. There were a total of 2000 personnel deployed on the operation set up and over 48 sites were manned within a few days.Testing began immediately as the sites reported ready.

The response from the public was amazing with people dropping off chocolates and cakes for the troops and delivering messages of support wherever we went. This isn’t part of our normal work (we are an armoured artillery battery) but everyone has approached the task with positivity and a sense of innovation. This has overcome all sorts of practical problems and has shown that relationships with key community leaders are critical on tasks like this.

The Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) can produce a result in less than 30 minutes and can detect asymptomatic individuals who are still capable of spreading the virus. The registration for the test is quick and easy and most people get a text or email within the hour telling them if they need to isolate or not.

The speed of the test combined with its accuracy in detecting those capable of spreading the virus make it a powerful weapon against COVID-19.

Morale remains high in 127 (Dragon) Battery with testing ongoing.The days are long and sometimes the PPE can be uncomfortable, but we’re glad to be involved and making a difference to Liverpool.

What is happening in Durham?

Durham University began to offer Lateral Flow Tests before Christmas 2020 and this is continuing for all staff directly employed by the University, and for students who have remained in Durham or have returned to Campus.

For those students returning to Durham in Term 2 testing takes place on the day of their arrival back in the City, then on day 4 and day 7. Weekly testing continues after that.

Participation is entirely voluntary, but the University encourages all its members to take advantage of this opportunity to test for their own benefit and for the benefit of those around them.

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How St Cuthbert’s and Durham changed my life Grahame Williams

Economics (1960-1963), JCR President (1962-1963) My time at Alleyn’s School was most enjoyable and provided me with many opportunities on the sports field. I assisted with the production of school plays, greatly improved my ability as a public speaker, and learnt to take on responsibility by becoming a House Captain & School Prefect. I was a member of the school’s 1st XI at football and cricket for 2 years. Sadly my academic achievements did not match and I left school with a poor set of A level results. Careers advice was not good in those days. I was advised to try for a place at Oxford and Cambridge. I tried but failed which was not unexpected as only 5% of students went on to University in those days.

I went out to work in London and I was anxious to go up the ladder but the lack of a degree held me back. Fortunately I was working for an enlightened boss. He suggested that I should apply to Durham and St Cuthbert’s Society as a mature student.To my surprise, I was offered a place and this changed my life.

I joined a small group of 15 students, several much older than me, and the course was most interesting, enjoyable and rewarding. I took part in all the activities that Cuthbert’s had to offer, participated in the Durham Union Society debates, played hockey for the University 1st X1 and a full range of sports for Cuthbert’s. In my final year I was President of the JCR and this gave me the opportunity to chair meetings and discuss issues with officers in the College and University. The balls were memorable, with all the top bands from Johnny Dankworth to Kenny Ball. It was at an Informal Ball that I had the fortune to meet my wife Myra (née Nixon) and we have been happily married for 56 years.

February 2021 July 2019

I will always be indebted to the institution that helped a student who failed to obtain a university place at 19 to become a University Registrar and Secretary some 23 years later. Thank you Durham and Cuthbert’s.

After 10 years at Salford, I started to apply for Registrarships and I was offered the post of Secretary and Registrar at Queen Mary University of London, a position I held for 12 years. Soon after taking up my post, the fee structure in universities was altered: poorer countries could no longer afford to send students to British universities and it became necessary to recruit from richer countries.

Queen Mary was one of the first in the field and I visited countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Cyprus on student recruitment missions.

My next stroke of luck came when J. J. Grant, Principal of St Cuthbert’s, and Ian Graham, Registrar of the University, both encouraged me to go into university administration and I was offered a place in the University’s Registry. I reluctantly declined, as I felt that I should gain experience in other universities. I was appointed at Loughborough as their first Administrative Assistant at a time when they were just about to achieve university status. I was thrown into the deep end and covered most tasks undertaken in a registry like admissions, student records and examinations. I also assisted with the Degree Ceremonies and acted as the minutes secretary on the committees that drafted the Development Plan and the Charter and Statutes for the new institution. After 2 years I was offered a post as an Assistant Registrar at the University of Leeds and 4 years later a post of Deputy Registrar (Administration) at the University of Salford. Whilst at Salford, I was elected as Founder Secretary of the Conference of University Administrators (CUA) which has subsequently become the Association of University Administrators (AUA) with 3,000+ members. A few years ago, I was awarded the FUA (Hon) for my services to higher education.

I was heavily involved in the discussions that led to the merger with Westfield College and those that led to the Royal London Medical School and St Bartholomews Medical School coming under Queen Mary’s wing. I was pivotal in the establishment of Fellowship Ceremonies in the College and I liaised with the University regarding the arrangements for all Degree Ceremonies involving Queen Mary students. In addition to my responsibilities in the College, I was very active, on behalf of the University, in discussions with Trade Unions, an area of work I much enjoyed.

Around that time, several Cuthbert’s graduates obtained similar posts in Universities like Joe Clinch (Open), Doug Porter (Queensland) and David Foster (York). On retirement, I founded a group now known as the Former Heads of University Administration and we meet annually in a different university each year.

My 3 years in Durham and in particular at Cuthbert’s greatly changed my life.

Durham Memories

Cuthbert’s Chronicle 1919

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

John Roberts BA Social Sciences (1964-1967) 2012 After six years at Guisborough Grammar School, my modest GCE A level grades in 1964 were enough to secure a place on a BA Degree course in Social Studies at Durham University and at St Cuthbert’s Society. I benefited from an expansion of higher education provision for the so-called baby boom generation, born in the years following the end of World War Two. My interview at Cuth’s had been sufficiently convincing for me to be accepted; I remember mumbling ‘Graham Greene’ when asked about my reading tastes. This seemed a more appropriate answer than ‘Ian Fleming’ and I was relieved when the next question moved to another subject.

1967 from the relatively sheltered world of a grammar school. Within a few days there was a General Election that resulted in a Prime Minister with a Yorkshire accent; the previous PM was an aristocrat. The country and my life were changing direction quickly.

50th Anniversary Reunion, 2017 I was allocated accommodation in a former pub at Shincliffe Bank Top (now High Shincliffe). My journey for Freshers’ Week was not planned well, as I didn’t check where the B&B was for transport purposes. I took a train to Durham, to find I needed to cross the city and beyond to reach my destination. Not knowing local bus services, I walked all the way with my luggage; on the way up Shincliffe Bank I saw a bus with Middlesbrough as its destination. Some three hours earlier I’d gone through Middlesbrough by train; it would be the bus in future.

Freshers’ Week was a low key event compared to what it seems to be now: my only recollection is of a coach trip to Seahouses in the rain. My first days as a student entailed dutifully buying books on my reading list from the House of Andrews (now Waterstones) and walking around Durham wearing a suit and gown. Few students wore a gown so I dispensed with this; the suit soon followed. I’d just turned 18 when I started my course, having come

I familiarised myself with the regime at Cuth’s, which included two obligatory evening meals there each week. Gowns had to be worn on these occasions, one of which descended into some diners throwing food across the hall at each other.

Incidents such as this suggested to me a divide between students who’d come from a state education and those from a private school background. Thursday dinners were particularly popular as Top of the Pops and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. were televised then. There was a steady stream of students ‘bowing out’ early in order to grab a prime seat in the television lounge.

Periods of my life are defined by music and the JCR at Cuth’s provided a soundtrack I remember clearly; Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones records spring to mind.

Some days didn’t involve going into Cuth’s: meals could be purchased at the students’ refectory in Old Elvet during my first year and at Dunelm House later. Also, the Kwai Lam in Saddler Street did three-course

lunches for 3s. 9d. Lectures and tutorials were held across the city, from Kepier Terrace to the Appleby Lecture Theatre and Old Elvet, so breaks would be taken at convenient places between classes. I was from the hilly terrain of rural east Cleveland so walking around Durham came easily.

Sports activity also entailed getting around the city, from football, cricket and squash at the Racecourse to table tennis at Cuth’s and kickabouts in the tennis court below 12 South Bailey. The new Maiden Castle centre also provided a base for keep fit activities. Visits to personal tutors took me to the Cathedral cloisters and to South Street for sherry or to obtain exeats.

Further familiarity with the city came during Rag Week when Cuth’s students tried to reverse the course of the River Wear (by taking buckets of water between Elvet and Framwellgate bridges) and smashed pianos somewhere behind the County Hotel. You may get a sense of the mid-1960s by viewing photographs on the stairs of House 12 at Cuth’s.

A valuable feature of my time at Cuth’s was getting to know local people, from drinkers in the pub at Shincliffe Bank Top to members of a working men’s club in Framwellgate Moor where a fellow student lived. An affinity with the area developed, leading me to attend the Miners’ Gala which I support as a ‘Marra’.

My time at Durham prepared me for a fulfilling career in further and adult education. I feel privileged to have been there and I’m forever grateful to Cuth’s for the opportunities available at a key stage in my lifelong learning journey.

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Recent Books

by Cuth’s Authors Tony Wells, History (1962-1969), Michelle Hockley, History (1996-1999), Jack Edwards, English (2017-2020) and Kate Silverton Psychology (1990-1994)

Commander Anthony Wells RN (Retd) PhD Captain of Boats and President of Cuth’s JCR 1965-1966

Tony (Hank) studied Modern History at Durham. He was trained and educated by the Royal Navy and later went on to be awarded a PhD in War Studies by King’s College, University of London, becoming Senior Lecturer and Tutor in uniform at RNC Greenwich 1972-1974. He worked in Washington DC from the British Embassy with the US intelligence community and the US Navy. Later he was head of Special Programs in one of the UK’s Intelligence organizations at the height of the Cold War then returned to the US permanently in late 1983. Tony became a US citizen, and is the only living person to have worked for British Intelligence as a British citizen, and US Intelligence as a US citizen. His latest book is Between Five Eyes, published in August 2020 by Casemate Publishers

Memories of Cuth’s

Between Five Eyes

Mine was the last very small entry to Cuth’s in 1962, with I recall 67 students. Dr. J. J. Grant was the Principal. I later recruited his son into the Boat Club! When I was President of the JCR we had over 700 undergraduates, the expansion was that rapid after my 1962 entry. We were the largest JCR in Durham at the time. My great friend, whom I met on “Day 1” at Cuths, was Nick Scheele, who became President of Jaguar when Ford acquired the company, then President of Ford Europe, and finally President of the Ford Motor Company, and of course became Sir Nicholas Scheele. Nick never ever changed from his Cuth’s days, still the wonderful person that he was as a student. That’s why he was so successful. I recall flying from Coventry to Le Mans in his personal jet to watch Jaguar in the 24 hour Lemans Race. Nick and I were close friends up until the day he died in July 2014.

Time passes so quickly.

UK-US intelligence and the wider Five Eyes community with Canada, Australia and New Zealand is primarily about one main thing, relationships. Anthony Wells charts fifty years of change, turmoil, intense challenges, successes and failures, and abiding UK-US and Five Eyes relationships. He traces the development of institutions that he firmly believes have sustained and indeed may have saved the free world, Western democracies and their allies from those ill-disposed to the value system and culture of our nations. More than a chronology of the UK-US intelligence community during this fifty-year period, it is also a personal insight into key relationships and how the abiding strength of the United States and the United Kingdom and its Five Eyes allies builds relationships. Tony’s own extensive unclassified collection of papers, personal notes, diaries, as well as his family library, were used for source material to create this book. https://www.casematepublishers.com/between-five-eyes.html

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Michelle Hockley History (1996-1999) The year is 1996 and the cobblestones of South Bailey are firmly beneath my feet. The autumn sun is shining over Durham Cathedral and I’m minutes away from embarking on the next chapter in my life; where my love for facts, debate, analysis and investigation for the truth, is about to flourish. Prior to my coming up to Durham to read History and be a member of the wonderful St Cuthbert’s Society, I’d spent many years in rehearsals perfecting my craft as a ballet dancer, which in turn rewarded me with a successful career in television and on London’s West End Stage. At the start of my degree I knew I was going to learn from the very best, but what I didn’t know then was that my final year dissertation, ‘The Court Ceremonies of Charles I’, would introduce me to the extraordinary life of Jane Whorwood (1612-1684) and be the springboard from where my first novel, Before Spring Came Summer, would hail.

Before the dust from graduation had time to settle, I was walking through the Great Gatehouse of Hampton Court Palace after being invited by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to investigate why and how Charles I escaped the palace in 1647.

Jack Edwards

English (2017-2020)

Jack’s début book The Uni-Verse, The Ultimate University Survival Guide was published by HarperCollins in August 2020. He is already well known across social media. See issue 12 of Cuthbert’s Chronicle for Jack’s story.

It was during the course of this research and the publication of my thesis by HRP, where I first encountered Jane Whorwood. As the civil war dug deep and the royal court hurtled its way towards bankruptcy, Jane grasped every opportunity, regardless of the dangers, to raise funds for the King’s coffers, eventually resulting in her own imprisonment after the war. An extraordinary life by any reckoning. Yet, some years later, when in my role as Senior Early Modern Record Specialist at the National Archives, I recognised that the account of Jane Whorwood’s life was far from conclusive and up to this point I’d merely touched the tip of the iceberg.

My second novel, For The Sake Of Art, is not based on true events and is set in the twenty-first century, but at its core is a miniature portrait of the seventeenth century and a desire to seek out the truth. I’ve been very fortunate that both these novels are currently with a Hollywood producer, and as I tweak the final scenes after writing the movie scripts, one can’t ignore the fact that I’ve come full circle since my feet stood firm on the cobblestones of South Bailey in 1996. Except this time, I have so much more to say.

ISBN – 978-1720172239 – Before Spring Came Summer ISBN – 979-8688308495 – For The Sake Of Art

Kate Silverton

Psychology (1990-1994) There’s No Such Thing As Naughty written by Kate Silverton, inspirational journalist and newsreader, will be published by Pikatus Books in April 2021. With roots in neuroscience and psychotherapy it is written in a way that is accessible and fun.

KEEP IN TOUCH @CuthbertsAlumni

@CuthsAlumni

cuthberts.alumnirelations@ durham.ac.uk durham.ac.uk/st-cuthberts. society/alumni

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

There and Back Again 1964 to 2021

Phil Budgell, Philosophy and Psychology (1964-67) Phil Budgell, Nick Day, Mike Clark,John Beck, David Nicholson, Haydn Cracknell, David Wolff in Pen-Sarn, Wales 2019 On a late Friday afternoon in the autumn of 2004, eight cars pulled into the car park of the Croxdale Inn, just off the A167. Most of the drivers had not seen each other for 37 years; so, how did they know each other, and how come they all arrived at the Croxdale Inn on that Friday afternoon?

In late September 1964, 8 fresh-faced (one might even say naïve) young men arrived in Durham. Mike Clark was ‘billeted’ with Nick Day and Dave Davison in 19 Hawthorn Terrace; Haydn Cracknell was billeted with John Beck, David Nicholson and David Wolff in 10 Sutton Street and Phil Budgell was billeted in 16 Allergate.

These three houses were all about 75m from a pub called the Colpitts Hotel. Haydn, Mike and Phil had been at school together and this connection led to 8 freshers meeting in the Colpitts Hotel on their first day at university.

10 Sutton Street was unusual in 1964: there was no resident landlady. However, it would be OK, John Beck and David Wolff were over 21 so they were grown-ups (and obviously not so fresh-faced). They had been put there deliberately by St Cuthbert’s to be sensible and exercise an element of control over the children. Yeah, right - they never managed to influence Haydn as he indulged his pyromania on Bonfire Night by merely firing rockets over the viaduct.

Being intelligent young men, they quickly realized that there were 3 Davids: therefore, they would need nicknames to stop getting confused. Al Betts (of whom more later) christened David Nicholson ‘Smooth’ and David Wolff ‘Hairy’. Dave Davison was christened ‘Swede’ on the basis of his family name looking like a Swedish patronymic. John reserved his soubriquets for Nick (Nickel arse) ‘Tinbum’, Mike ‘Norbert’ and other part-time members of the cast as Loquacious John, The Albanian Goatherd and Mushty from Grey. At least he had the grace to refer to himself as ‘Ratbag’. Ratbag and Hairy, being older, if not more grown-up, already had long-established girlfriends and it was not long before Christine and Penny were introduced to 10 Sutton Street.

Ratbag’s other key characteristic was his love affair with his ‘flock-tic’ (bed). This frequently led to the others returning at the end of the day to find him still in bed asleep. The most noticeable occasion was the day the landlady had arranged for his bedroom to be decorated. Somehow, decorators managed to do this without waking Ratbag up – despite having had to move the bed several times.

The terrace houses around the Colpitts Hotel were unlike student accommodation today: toilets at the bottom

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

of the garden; bathrooms built onto the kitchen (only one bath a week); no heating in the bedrooms, except a 120-watt human body. Norbert and Tinbum shared a very cold bedroom and neither were willing to get out of bed to turn the light out. As you can imagine, a game of target-practice ensued, the upshot of which was that Norbert got covered in the shattered remains of the lightbulb. Staying with the issue of lightbulbs, Norbert proceeded to wire up their outdoor toilet so that he could read ‘Inorganic Chemistry for Swots’ - he was such a swot that he went on to study Chemistry very successfully (like very successfully) in Durham.

At the end of their first year, there was lots of shuffling of accommodation. Essentially, the two grown-ups and Phil had nowhere to live in September 1965. Ratbag and Hairy found somewhere to live above Close and Weston’s Estate Agents (now The Fat Hippo) on Saddler Street; Phil found temporary accommodation miles away in Gilesgate, but in January 1966 Ratbag and Hairy moved up to 58 Hawthorn Terrace and Phil moved into rooms above Close and Weston’s. In these apartments, three students lived: Phil had a room on the first floor; Al Betts (of the Rochdale Rugby League family) and, more importantly, a member of St Cuthbert’s, had the room above Phil; and there was also Jan Adam, a Dutch student.

In Phil’s room, the gas fire was free but the gas ring was on a meter, whereas in Al’s room, the gas ring was free but Al had to pay to heat his room. One evening, when it was really cold (like -5°C) Al decided that they should burn one of his armchairs and then have a beer in the warm. So, they broke up a large armchair and proceeded to burn it. At the same time, Jan was listening to short-wave radio and heard an emergency announcement that there was a fire at 36 Saddler Street. As Jan realized that that was where he lived, Phil and Al heard the sound of heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs; followed by a very large axe head breaking through the door. Al’s room looked down over Elvet Bridge; at night time somebody walking into the City Centre across Elvet Bridge would be able see, up to their left, what they would assume to be a house fire – not just Phil and Al trying to get warm.

Now fast forward to 2004: how come they all arrived at the Croxdale Inn on that Friday afternoon, some of them not having seen each other for 37 years? First of all, it wasn’t an accident or an error of sampling.

Whose original idea it was, is lost in the mists of time; but it was intentional. The Friday evening in the hotel was polite, but tentative. They agreed that they would tour Durham in couples or small groups and meet in

the Colpitts for lunch on the Saturday. This was a great idea; people relaxed as they walked into the Colpitts. In fact, they burst out laughing; other than the price of Sam Smith’s, it had not changed a jot. It facilitated much more conversation between people – some of whom (partners) had never met before. It also led to the decision that they would go into Durham in the evening – go in by bus, have a curry and get a taxi back to Croxdale. One noticeable feature of the evening was that Tanya, who had only been to England once before, was propositioned by the taxi driver who told her that she would be better off with him rather than wasting her time with a sad old pensioner like Phil.

Although more recent discussions have indicated that none of them thought that it would be more than a ‘oneoff’, the weekend was a great success and they agreed to meet again – many times as it happens. Obviously, some of the group have important family commitments and so can’t make every reunion, but they have taken it in turns to arrange meetings in Durham, the Lake District, Wales, Portugal, Scotland, Bulgaria, Durham again in 2014, Canada, Northumberland – alternating between small hotels and self-catering cottages. They should have met in 2020 in the Peak District – but this last re-union had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. However, there has been a very positive outcome: this group of old members from 1964 meet each other on Zoom every Monday afternoon.

Where are we now?

Sadly, Dave Davison (Swede) died soon after the 2004 reunion, after a successful career in town planning in Manchester and Rochdale.

Nick Day (Tinbum) worked in town planning in England before moving to Dundee, where he worked with Scottish Enterprise until retirement.

Mike Clark (Norbert) joined the chemical company Ciba Geigy, developing and marketing lightweight composite materials, particularly for the aerospace industry.

David Nicholson (Smooth) moved to Toronto as a chartered accountant before owning a design and construction company, also working in Shanghai for 12 years.

For 35 years, when not in Portugal, David Wolff (Hairy) was a psychologist in UK schools, social services and the courts.

Haydn Cracknell emigrated to Canada and earned an MBA at night school while working 30+ years with IBM Canada, retiring at 55.

John Beck (Ratbag) lectured in politics and economics in Oxfordshire before moving to run a village Post Office and shop in Pembrokeshire.

As usual, Phil Budgell wasn’t paying attention and woke up to find found himself playing the role of Principal Inspector in Sheffield Local Education Authority.

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

Burns Night

The traditional Formal adapted remarkably well to Zoom, and about 40 members of Cuth’s enjoyed a lively evening of music, speeches and conversation on January 27th 2021.

Sarah McAllister (Student Union Postgraduate Academic Officer) was the Inspiring Woman Speaker, with a searing account of how she survived a very challenging time last year. Yet again Professor Graeme Small (History) embellished the Address to the Haggis most ingeniously with accounts of how the Principal has hunted it over the years, and cut into an actual haggis most dramatically. Alumnus Matthew Morgan (Music, 2011) had recorded a lovely version of ‘My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose’, and with Choir members Caroline McCartney and Megan Davies he sang ‘The Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond’ for us – it’s such a pleasure in these constrained times to hear live singing.

Professor Elizabeth Archibald (Principal) discussed Burns’ enthusiasm for the American Revolution and his subsequent popularity there in her Immortal Memory address, printed opposite. Rishi Jindal (Ancient History, 2019, former FCO) and Elena Martin (Anthropology, 2019, former JCR President), both now working in Manchester, were wonderfully witty in their Toast to the Lassies and Reply.

Those present included alumni, SCR and JCR members (some as far away as America), and Jeremy Cook (PVC Colleges).

July 2019

The Immortal Memory Professor Elizabeth Archibald, Principal Credit: Michael Dodd

Robert Burns was born on Jan 25th 1759 and died in 1798 aged only 37.

He grew up in poverty, working hard on a series of farms with his father, and this affected his health. All over the world this week people are celebrating Burns’ birthday, yet he never left Scotland. In 1786 he accepted a job on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, but just before he was due to sail he was given enough encouragement about his poetry that he decided not to go.

Had he gone to Jamaica, he would have been overseeing slaves. 1786 was also the year that Wilberforce started making speeches against the slave trade; from Burns’ later work it seems very likely that he would have found the job in Jamaica unacceptable.

Six years after his decision to stay in Scotland, he wrote a moving poem called ‘The Slave’s Lament’, and one of his most famous poems is ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ that’, a rejection of snobbery and discrimination based on class and wealth, and a hymn to equality. It is heavily influenced by the ideas of Tom Paine, author of The Rights of Man. Burns was a big fan of the French Revolution and consistently presents himself as a democrat and egalitarian: ‘The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor, / Is king o’ men for a’ that’.

He was also a supporter of the American Revolution, shocking a dinner party once by insisting that after a toast to the current British Prime Minister William Pitt, they should drink to a much greater man, General Washington. His poems include ‘A Ballad on the American War’ and ‘Ode for Washington’s Birthday’. Burns was hugely popular in America. Among his many admirers were Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass who frequently quoted him. Douglass did a

tour of Britain in 1845 and visited Burns’ birthplace, Alloway, also meeting his elderly sister. He commented later ‘I have felt more interest in visiting this place than any other in Scotland for as you are aware, painfully perhaps, I am an enthusiastic admirer of Robert Burns’.

The Inauguration of President Biden was a powerful reminder that in the 21st century as in the 18th, poetry matters. It can express complex and passionate thoughts and emotions in a very powerful yet compressed way.

It can address the private and the public, the personal and the political, the domestic and the national. I am sure Burns would have been surprised but delighted to know that a self-described ‘skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother’ is not only the Youth Poet Laureate of America, but was watched by millions around the world as she performed a mesmerisingly powerful poem outside the Capitol in Washington, weaving a compelling declaration out of rhythm and rhyme, references to the Bible, past poets and current writers like Maya Angelou and Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame. Many countries today have a national poet, not necessarily officially declared but confirmed by being so well known and frequently quoted.

A recent TV programme celebrated the eighth-century Chinese poet Du Fu, still hugely loved and celebrated today, and sometimes described as the Chinese Dante or Shakespeare. He wrote in exile like Dante, whose Divine Comedy is about politics as much as theology. Shakespeare is still hugely relevant today, produced and enjoyed all over the world, and often quoted unintentionally because so many of his

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Chess at Durham and Beyond

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lines have passed into the language.

Nelson Mandela read Shakespeare in prison.

Burns is Scotland’s national poet, and his themes still resonate with us today.

Some celebrate the pleasures of life – Burns was definitely a wine women and song man. He could wax philosophical, as when he famously expressed his anxiety about the impossibility of seeing the future: ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ go wrong. But he also used his poetry to support the cause of justice and equality, declaring at the beginning of his ‘Ode for Washington’s Birthday’ that ‘Tis liberty’s bold note I swell’, and this is the side of him that so inspired Lincoln and Douglass.

The song by Burns that everyone knows is of course ‘Auld Lang Syne’ – well, everyone knows a few lines. For us tonight, and for our Cuth’s community, there are two key ideas in the song, it seems to me. The opening lines are ‘Shuld auld acquaintance be forgot / And never brought to mind?’ The friendships begun in college can last a lifetime, as older people here tonight can testify, and as the students will find out over the decades to come. The chorus of the song declares that ‘We’ll take a cup of kindness yet / For auld lang syne’. This is the other key component of the Cuth’s community. Our motto is gratia gratiam parit – kindness begets kindness. And these two elements, friendship and kindness, are bound together in the song and in our human and Durham experience by ‘auld lang syne’ – old long since, time past, days gone by.

We look forward to the time when we can take a cup of kindness together in person again, in the dining hall, in the college bars, in each other’s homes and elsewhere.

Some of you will have lit a candle this evening as part of the Holocaust Memorial Day celebrations. Let’s remember that Burns read and wrote by candlelight – how easy life is for us today! His poetry, and other poetry too, acts as a candle for us, illuminating, encouraging, inspiring. Please join me in the toast to the Immortal Memory.

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Peter Hornsby MSc Management Studies (2018) BA Social Sciences (2016) The popularity of chess has risen exponentially over the last year and this has been reflected in an extraordinary increase in participation. This is in part due to the launch of the critically acclaimed ‘Queen’s Gambit’ series by Netflix, as well as online chess being one of the few means of competitive entertainment available as a result of lockdown and other restrictions due to the pandemic. With that in mind, we launched our project ‘2020 Chess’ into a worldwide online Chess Championship, http://www.2020chess.com/.

part of our time at Durham and Cuth’s.

It was originally a project which was started by myself and some former Durham students back in 2015 to organize university-based tournaments across the UK, raising hundreds of pounds for charity in the process.

Durham University through the ‘Blueprint Enterprise Initiative’ had given us great support and resources and, back in 2017, ‘2020 Chess’ reached the finals of the award stages.

My experience at Durham enabled me to take chess forward into my professional life. During the pandemic I was able to assist with teaching it at the ‘keyworker schools initiative’ (https://www.thetimes. co.uk/edition/news/eton-launches-100mdrive-to-help-teach-poorer-children), as well as running the online tournament for the enjoyment of thousands of people from all demographics and backgrounds.

The format of the tournaments was adapted from the successful introduction of the Durham Inter-College Chess Cup after I was elected Durham Chess Society President. St. Cuthbert’s managed to win two years in a row!

Elizabeth Archibald invited the team for lunch in celebration of the achievement, which we will always fondly remember as

Moving to the present day, the ‘2020 Chess Championships’ have attracted 116 teams from around the world, including Harvard and Oxford Universities along with famous schools such as Eton College and international teams like Cape Verde and Fiji. ‘Chess.com’ broadcast matches through their Twitch Channel, and the Durham Alumni Team were recently featured with their 8-0 win over Oxford Brookes with nearly 2000 people tuning in to watch.

It has also been a great part of my personal life along with many others at Cuthbert’s and Durham. Since we graduated the team has kept in touch with socials and playing in competitive tournaments in real life, which we look forward to continuing when things hopefully get back to some kind of normality whilst building on the gains that chess has made!

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Cuthbert’s Chronicle

July 2019

Senior Common Room I usually write my column for the winter edition of The Chronicle in the warm afterglow of the Cuth’s Carols Service at St Margaret’s Church, spirit raised by good company and fine music, and body insulated from the cold weather by mulled wine. We were denied that conclusion to the Michaelmas Term this year, but we have learned how to flourish online instead.

The choir has mastered the art and technology of assembling performances from recordings by individual singers, and presented two carols at an online Christmas “Formal”. Former Musician in Residence Matthew Morgan went a step further and recorded a medieval carol single-handedly by singing all the parts himself and seamlessly combining them. Most impressively of all (and contrary to my dire predictions), we discovered that The Twelve Days of Christmas can be sung communally on Zoom with no more chaos and almost as much fun as in the Dining Hall.

The album of photos taken by SCR members and alumni during the lockdown of spring 2020 is now a valuable snapshot of Durham and further afield under unprecedented conditions.

The album can be browsed on Google Photos by typing tinyurl. com/SpringLockdown into your browser. We are once again under lockdown and have opened a new album to capture scenes from the winter season. I invite you to browse and contribute at tinyurl.com/WinterLockdown. Please feel free to add images from wherever you are, using the “info” field to tell us a little about the subject. Just one request: please keep images below 16 megapixels so that they do not count against our storage quota.

Bob Banks, Durham Cathedral, 30th December 2020

We have taken advantage of the online format of events to involve members who do not live in Durham and have had regular participants from as far away as North America.

Highlights have included a discussion on Supreme Courts with SCR members Kevin Waite (History) and Ted Gup, and honorary member Joel Motley (former co-chair of Human Rights Watch) joining from the USA, and guest speaker Lord (Charlie) Falconer here in the UK. I would also like to highlight a lecture given by Cuth’s Fellow Professor Dick Watson entitled ‘The Hymn and the Imagination’. Dick is a co-editor of The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and was the recipient of the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020 in recognition of his leading contributions to the study and promotion of Christian hymnody. Dick’s lecture can be viewed on the Society’s YouTube channel; search for St Cuthbert’s Society on YouTube.

DR MARK MILLER, SCR President scr.president@durham.ac.uk

Mark Miller, Durham Cathedral in the snow, 9th January 2021

Cuthbert’s Chronicle

We believe that the best and brightest should be able to study here, regardless of financial capacity

Supporting the next generation of Cuth’s students

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You can help to ensure that students from all backgrounds can enjoy the same opportunities as past generations of Cuth’s students

Support the St Cuthbert’s Society Bursaries Fund today Visit durham.ac.uk/st-cuthberts. society/alumni/fundraising

Keep in touch with Cuth’s

@CuthbertsAlumni

@CuthsAlumni

cuthberts.alumnirelations @durham.ac.uk

durham.ac.uk/ st-cuthberts.society/alumni

Plans for summer events are tentative.

Please follow us on social media and check emails for details of online and (we hope) face to face events coming up.

Cuth’s Alumni Facebook page: @CuthbertsAlumni St Cuthbert’s Society Instagram Page: stcuthbertssociety

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