Sport

Sports, Outreach and the Arts

A celebration of the sporting, outreach and artistic talents and achievements of the Van Mildert College community.

Sports Roundup

Team Mildert has had an exceptional year despite the early ending of the season.

Team Mildert has really gone from strength to strength with many clubs becoming bigger and more successful than ever before. We have for the third time in four years finished second in the inter-collegiate sports table, with Collingwood only ahead of us!

Particular highlights include Van Mildert Hockey Club becoming Van Mildert’s Club of the Year and also being nominated for Durham University’s Club of the Year.

Our women’s team was undefeated all year, conceding only 4 goals all season and scoring 52. This has led to the women’s team being promoted to the premiership for next season. The men had a similar success story finishing second in the premiership.

Across all sports we have had many successes on the pitches at Maiden Castle and in some of the less well-known sports. These include the VMAFC men's E team securing a promotion even after a disappointing start to the season and one of our Cheerleading teams went on to win 2nd place at the intercollegiate competition.

The Boat Club, despite a shortened season and some bad weather conditions, performed well and the men’s 1st Novice Crew won Van Mildert’s Team of the Year for their dedication and commitment. Recognition for our exceptionally talented and dedicated sports players has been given in a virtual version of the annual Sports Awards, ensuring that these valuable members do not go unnoticed due to the unprecedented circumstances we currently face.

The enthusiasm and talent of every member of Team Mildert is something to be celebrated, and another year of growing sports teams and team successes shows that at Van Mildert we truly bleed black and yellow.

Lottie Forman

Outreach

This year has been an interesting one for Van Mildert’s outreach. Despite the challenges this year has presented, with all face to face volunteering coming to a halt in March in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mildert students continue to have a strong impact on our local community.

Earlier in the year, Van Mildert Outreach began as a new group of students were welcomed to the College’s many outreach projects. The Carers Respite Committee’s Happy Saturday and Home Visit sessions ran successfully, becoming well established in both Happy Saturday locations.

Their major fundraiser, the Mildert Valentines BOP, was hugely successful in raising funds and awareness of the project within our College community.

The Young Persons’ Project overcame many obstacles: securing a new school after a founding school left the project, with a potential third school on the horizon; and designed new fundraising ideas to help raise funds for the programme. The school sessions were enjoyed by the young people and volunteers alike.

The Community Visiting Scheme re-established their monthly coffee mornings with over 30 elderly people socialising with our volunteers. Moreover, they hosted 2 entirely student-run Christmas and Easter elderly parties which were immensely successful.

Perhaps one of the biggest highlights for Van Mildert Outreach has been the launch of a new seventh project. The new project will aim to work closely with charities in the North East that support vulnerable people who have found themselves homeless, offering mentorship and support for young people.

We look forward to developing this new project in the new academic year as we continue to work with our Community partners to expand this project. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Community Visiting Scheme organised the ‘De-isolating the Community’ project, and the team, which quickly grew in volunteers, has been working hard throughout Easter term and beyond, contacting those who may be isolated following the implementation of lockdown measures for weekly catch ups.

Our other Outreach Projects are also adapting quickly to the changing circumstances. Three of our programmes worked to redesign themselves this year and will continue to develop over the next months in order to help support our community, with many of the projects looking to expand to support new demographics and new areas.

This year has been a rough year for many of the teams, but I’m proud of the work they have done, and I am immensely grateful for the hard work and dedication of all the volunteers this year.

Kieran Vickers

Theatre and Arts

Although cut short, the academic year 2019/20 has been excellent for the Feather Theatre Company and music at Van Mildert!

The bar was set high in Michaelmas Term by the Disney Showcase – a wonderful evening of dance and music performance to very familiar tunes. It brought the whole College together and it was wonderful to see so many performances across every year group.

It was a joy to see the Ustinov Room once again filled for the Feather Theatre Company’s Michaelmas Play, Girls Like That. In collaboration with Talk and Support, the cast returned to College to encourage women to empower other women.

VM Choir also made history, performing at Durham Cathedral in the first true Intercollegiate Evensong. A result of much hard work from our choir, the music drew in crowds from across the city, a scene that was repeated again in Epiphany term. We are delighted that going forward, the Intercollegiate Evensong will become a termly fixture at Durham.

In the final weeks of Michaelmas term, MildARTS helped bring together Mildertians to share College Christmas. A delightful mix of classical festivities and Mildert traditions, it was an evening of merriment not to be missed! The evening began with the charming Carols by Candlelight, followed by a Mildert take on the Dickensian classic, A Christmas Carol. We finished the evening, as always, in the College Bar with a wonderful evening of carol-singing.

Epiphany Term was undoubtedly the highlight of Mildert’s artistic calendar this year. Opera by the Lake was the culmination of much hard work and determination of Mildert staff and students alike. It was wonderful to see Thomas Allen, operatic baritone and Chancellor of Durham University, perform in the Ann Dobson, supported by VM Choir. traditionally the Feather Theatre Company’s main event and this year was no exception! The cast of Grease enjoyed glowing reviews, and all must be congratulated for the extremely high standard of the iconic music numbers: from vibrant lighting and set design to stunning choreography, Grease was truly a team effort and really showed Mildert theatre at its’ best.

While Grease certainly ended Feather’s year on a high, there were of course more events planned for Easter Term – the exec had plans for the usual Summer Shakespeare and 48 Hour Musical, a final Intercollegiate Evensong and a celebration to mark Feather’s fifth birthday. Never fear, there will be plenty of opportunities to express your creativity next year at Mildert!

Thank you to all who have been involved with or supported the arts at Mildert this year – it has been a pleasure.

Alice Swann