The Journal
FROM THE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR 2019-20 has been a peculiar year for alumni relations. After the full calendar of 2018/19, when we celebrated both the end of the Campaign and the 150 years of the institution’s foundation, Michaelmas 2019 marked a return to ‘business as usual’, with the Reunion Weekend, the Careers Fair and a number of subject dinners. In November 2019, Deputy Development Director, Donna Thomas and Development Officer, Millie Papworth caught up with local alumni when they attended the University’s Global Cambridge event in Birmingham. At the end of the month, Nina Caplan (1992) was guest speaker at the annual Modern & Medieval Languages Dinner. She talked about her book The Wandering Vine: Wine, the Romans and Me with Director of Studies, Dr John Leigh. On 12 December, Development Officer Carol Lamb joined over 70 alumni and friends at the Varsity Rugby at Twickenham. It was a good day for Cambridge with both teams winning their matches. In early January, I travelled to Singapore with the Master, on her first visit to meet our alumni community there. In a quiet moment between meetings, I remember catching an update on a local news channel, saw my first pictures of the Wuhan lockdown, and was intrigued by the conviction of the newscaster that this threat might escalate. They had, of course, seen this before with SARS, and were quite right to be worried...
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As February shifted into March, the cancellations of events began. We looked nervously at the calendar, trying to balance sensible precaution with a desire not to overreact, but of course, in the end, it was clear that all of our remaining events must be cancelled or postponed. We know how much our alumni look forward to catching up with their friends and contemporaries and, sadly, it doesn’t look like we will be able to hold any in-person events for quite some time.
Left-Right: Baroness Morgan puts her surgery skills into practice during a simulation at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore; Baroness Morgan and the Development Director meet for drinks with Fitz alumni at the Cricket Club in Singapore in January 2020; the Telephone Campaign takes place in September 2020 under strict physical-distancing and other COVID measures.
