e-newsletter 2(1) Michaelmas 2013
EADEM MUTATA
HB
IN THIS ISSUE:
RESURGO
WELCOME
Updates from staff
Dear fellow alumni of the College of St Hild & St Bede,
College news
Welcome to the latest instalment of HB Resurgo, our termly online e-newsletter. After a year of absence, this will be the second year HB Resurgo has been produced and I hope it will serve as a great way to keep you updated with College life and for you to keep us updated with your busy lives. This edition is themed “Alumni from around the world” with a special feature highlighting how far spread the former students of this College are. We have a truly extraordinary and diverse body of alumni from across the globe and I hope you find their stories as interesting and inspiring as I did when putting this newsletter together. Please ensure you click through to our new blog to read the full stories of all those who contributed.
Sports, Arts, Societies Postgraduate news Events Alumni news Reunions College merchandise
News from Durham University Team Durham top the BUCS table at the end of Michaelmas term ahead of sports giants, Loughborough (Palatinate online article)
DU Lax team made history triumphing over England team, among the squad was Hild Bede’s own, Jenny Hobbiss (Palatinate online)
Rich geology of British Isles captured in new sculpture at the Science Site (read more)
It has been my absolute pleasure to be in contact with many alumni who are still such strong supporters of the College, regardless of their geographical distance, and who have given such great feedback to our rejuvenated approach to alumni relations. For me, my University experience was truly enriched by the Collegiate system, and I couldn’t have picked a better College in which to spend my three (going on four!) years. Although I will leave Durham at some point, I will always remember Hild Bede with fond memories, and I hope you feel the same. Bejing to Bangkok, New York to New Zealand, Denmark to Darlington – Hild Bede, and Durham, will always be here to welcome you home. In the profound words of Take That, “Never Forget”.
Updates from staff Prof Chris Hutchison, Principal
Rob Danvers , SRC President
This has been a busy term at Hild Bede. During the Association Weekend (20th and 21st September) we welcomed back over one hundred and twenty former students with a golden jubilee group taking pride of place. The next weekend we welcomed our largest single intake of new students (undergraduate and post-graduate) and just three weeks later some 280 former and current students came together at the Old Boys formal dinner. The term was capped off by a fabulous Venetian masked ball, which was a fitting finale for the year. Oh and by the way, our students continue to excel in academia, sports and performing arts; so everything you remember as good about Hild Bede continues!
Hello, I’m Rob Danvers the SRC President here at Hild Bede for 2013/14. I finished reading Law this summer and plan to follow a career as a solicitor when I leave Durham. I now have the wonderfully challenging task of leading our student body for the coming year as things at Hild Bede continue to change and progress. It’s my aim to ensure our current students have the most enjoyable time whilst at university and learn truly what it is to be a Hild Beder. I am looking forward to next year and the exciting times ahead, hopefully I will be seeing you back at our great college in the not too distant future!
Rev. Jonathan Lawson, Chaplain Greetings to our loyal alumni. All is well and flourishing in the College Chaplaincy here, with an excellent choir, and two organ scholars and a Director of Music and Assistant Director of Music too, as well as a Chaplaincy Assistant. We had an excellent choir tour to Heidelberg this summer, a wonderful Carol Service at the end of term, and on St. Hild’s Day we launched our Christmas C.D. recorded in Chapel (pictured during its recording, right). Things are going so well I have been awarded a sabbatical for next term, after twenty years since being ordained and after nine years at St. Hild and St. Bede. It is always great to see former students, and thank you to those who keep in touch. Jonathan.
College of St. Hild & St. Bede Durham University St. Hild’s Lane Durham DH1 1SZ 0191 33 48494 hildbede.alumni@durham.ac.uk Please click the CD cover (above) to purchase a copy of the Hild Bede Chapel Choir’s “When He Is King” from the Durham University online shop. All proceeds go directly back to the chapel.
www.dur.ac.uk/hild-bede/alumni/
@hildbede
News from College
Matriculation 2013 This year Hild Bede welcomed 356 new undergraduates and 225 new postgraduates into our College. Our freshers have leapt into the College spirit with many already elected onto our ball, bar and environment committees, encouraged by our exec and freps who did a wonderful job (especially teaching freshers a variety of anti-Hatfield songs!). For the second year, College matriculation was held inside the Chapel of the Venerable Bede (right) before the main ceremony in Durham Cathedral. I had the privilege of speaking to our new intake about what it means to be Hild Bede alumni, how our alumni have continued to support College, and the opportunities that lie ahead of them as a result of being part of the HB family.
Read more about this here.
Sport
College
Total Points
1st
Collingwood
723
2nd
Van Mildert
644
3rd
Hild Bede
601
Winter Ball 2013
A third of the way into the sporting year and Hild Bede are in third place in the Collegiate sports table. Having last won in 2010/2011, Hild Bede is still a name feared on the sports pitch and our reputation as sporting elite upheld.
As usual, Bede RFC has been unstoppable and remain unbeaten this season. Read more about their recent triumphs here
In the Netball premiership, Hild Bede seconds and firsts are also having a solid season so far, currently placing 2nd and 3rd respectively
Our spectacular Venetian Masquerade themed Winter Ball was yet another huge success for Hild Bede this year, selling over 500 tickets. For more pictures visit our facebook page.
Trust & acquiring Charles Stranks
Hild Bede are table leaders in the premierships of pool
The Caedmon/Coelfrid Trust, involved in grant-making, is set to acquire Charles Stranks house from the University. This will be an incredibly important asset for the Trust in In rowing, HBBC have been growing rapidly with 60 new providing a reliable and secure source of income from and actively rowing members to add to their team. The residency fees. men’s squad were the fastest college 8 and the fastest college 4 at Rutherford Head recently. For the first time Bede Film Society the inter-collegiate Rowing competition will also conThe predominantly alumni-funded, state of the art digital tribute to the College league table, and could cause a projector was finally installed this term, shake-up in the current Collegiate standings. enabling Bede Film Soc to continue as a society. On behalf (Hild Bede A) and men’s squash
of the society, and the College, I wanted to thank all of
A full summary of sports (& societies) will be provided in the annual alumni Association magazine, available as part of Association mem- alumni for their generous donations and enabling our socibership for just £5/year. Contact hildbede.alumni@durham.ac.uk to ety to develop and expand. Please do read my full thank you on the Hild Bede alumni blog here. arrange a standing order subscription.
Theatre Hild Bede Theatre staged another poignant drama this term, “Pornography” by Simon Stephens, dealing with the juxtaposition of London’s 7/7 bombings and the successful bid for the 2012 Olympics (despite the title, the play contains no sexually explicit content). Read the Palatinate’s review here.
HBT announced that the 2014 musical will be "Chicago", promising to be the biggest and boldest musical HBT has ever performed. It's no coincidence that Hild Bede Theatre has won Best College Musical for three years on the trot, with last year's Oliver! securing both laughs, tears and critical acclaim. Running from the 26th Feb - 1st March, the show will not disappoint, and HBT would be thrilled to present its offerings to our alumni, so save the date!
Postgraduate news New postgraduate president
facilitated increased opening hours (later and throughout weekends) and will, eventually, be the first College library with online access to journals/ books. Hild Bede has utilised this space becoming the first UG/PG College in Durham University to open it’s own postgraduate centre. This beautiful study area is exclusive to our PG community and is complete with computers, lots of desk space, sofas, shelves of books, an electronic piano, and a conference desk.
Thanks go to Nick Hoggard who, after a great service to our PG community, is stepping down from his duties as president. Here he is pictured congratulating his successor, Gabriel. My name is Gabriel Fidler and have big shoes to fill having recently taken over from Nick Hoggard as Postgraduate President. I am a PhD candidate and Tutor studying the history of Norman architecture, previously having lectured and finished two degrees in history in the U.S. We have a lot planned for next year and I would really like to see PG alumni at social and academic events, so please do get in contact: g.e.fidler@dur.ac.uk.
We are also working on an alumni exhibition adjacent to the PG centre, showcasing our various donated memorabilia and the history of the College.
East/West Gardens Project
Hild Bede collaborated with Ustinov College in hosting an international research scholar, Professor Sinkwan Cheng to work with us and our communities of postgraduate students to carry out a research project on East/West Gardens and their links to culture, inter-cultural understanding, philosophy and wellbeing. The project aimed to better integrate our PG community and consisted of seminars, Opening of postgraduate centre trips to English, Islamic, and Chinese gardens, and will culminate in an extravagant Chinese Banquet Pictured below you can see that the relocation of around Chinese New Year next term. In the longer the College library to Leazes Place Library (in the term we hope to create a Chinese Garden here in school of Education) is now complete. This has Durham.
news Congratulations to HB alumnus on winning Small Business Sunday award
Happy birthday to our Supercentenarian!
We would like to wish St Hild’s alumna, Margaret Smith, many happy returns for her 110th birthday on Monday. Margaret trained as a teacher at St Hild’s ColHild Bede alumnus, Alex Levington, was picked by Drag- lege and is thought to be the oldest lady in the North ons Den entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis, as one of 6 winEast! Members of our alumni Association took her flowners for a twitter-based competition for small business- ers in the Hild’s colours – mauve, green and white. An es. This gives Alex substantial business networking oparticle about her and her amzing life can be read online portunities, plus the potential to help mentor start-up on the Northern Echo website. businesses.
College memorabilia HBOBBC We are establishing a Hild Bede Old Boys Boat Club with an annual meal, annual race and strong social network. I am currently looking for alumni to help set up the club so if you are interested then please get in touch. Benefits will include access to HBBC on College Day for private use of the club’s equipment and priority option to organise a table for the HBBC Summer/Winter Balls. Planning is in its early stages so if you would like to be kept up to date with developments then please join our Facebook group www.facebook.com/ We are in the process of revitalising our College mergroups/544664112269893/. chandise. Sterling silver HB cufflinks, pin badges, ladies Thanks, Will Horrocks charms for bracelets/necklaces and the return of the traditional, academic Bede scarves and Hild scarves will will.horrocks@googlemail.com (HBBC Captain of Boats 2013/14). be available to purchase from the Alumni Office next year. If you have any suggestions for memorabilia that you would like available, please let us know.
HBAFC London reunion Delighted that we had such a strong turnout for our first Hild Bede AFC Christmas reunion in London. Organised by former HB players, I now hope this will be an annual event. There was even some chat surrounding a 5 a side game followed by a BBQ and beers this Summer, so if you want to be involved please do get in touch (no level of fitness required!). Mike King (HB 2008-11) m.j.king8834@gmail.com
Careers This College is fortunate to be the alma mater of many alumni who remain loyal and supportive long after graduating. We have seen tremendous eagerness to help our current students in our careers initiatives this year.
HB alumni have generously ran a variety of careers events for us including CV clinics, mock assessment centres, and talks to individual years with advice on securing internships/graduate jobs. If you or your company could run something similar, please get in touch hildbede.alumni@durham.ac.uk.
Thank you to all who responded to my earlier email appealing for involvement in our Career Mentor Scheme. We have now tripled the number of alumni contacts for our students and are able to represent professions from banking to museum curating, and everything in between. This is a fantastic achievement for a young initiative which I hope will continue to grow, diversify, and enable our alumni to stay connected with College in a meaningful way. Click here to register online and for further information.
Ann Boynton Memorial Award winners’ dinner
SCR Tutor, Grant Slater, organised a special Londonbased lunch in November inviting all previous Ann Boynton Award winners to ensure that their outstanding contribution towards this College remains appreciated and celebrated.
The meal was exceptionally well attended (particular recognition goes to Scott Thomson who flew over from Switzerland, especially!) and we were honoured to be joined by Ann Boynton’s father amongst other special guests. All were touched at the loyalty shown to Hild Bede.
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Nicola Maloney (HB 2010-13), Uganda Paul Tant (HB 1984-87), Ballrat/Melbourne, Victoria (Australia)
Paul Tant has now relocated to Ballarat with wife Melinda and children Luke (5) and Sienna (3). He currently commutes to Melbourne daily, where he is Head of Finance and Administration for an organisation working in the disability services sector. Unbelievably, one of the things Paul misses about the UK is being able to attend Crystal Palace matches; somehow the standard of living, the wineries, and the proximity of Melbourne outweigh that disadvantage (read the full article).
Trevor Davies (HB 1984-87), San Francisco, CA (USA) I was at HB from 84-87 and studied engineering. I now live near San Francisco where I am Senior Director of Engineering at Dolby Laboratories. I have very warm memories of my time at HB where I was Secretary of the boat Club. I also played the oboe in the University Chamber Orchestra and the HB College Orchestra.
Sitting on the grass with an incredible view of Bwindi Impenetrable forest planning a science lesson on rabbit diseases whilst goats and chickens roam around me is a slight culture shock compared to the life I was living a few months ago in Durham. I have been working in Southwest Uganda for two and half months now and don’t want to leave (read more here). To find out more about Nicola’s experiences in Uganda, visit her blog: nicolamoloney.wordpress.com/.
Cherry Seaborn (HB 2010-13), Durham, NC (USA) Ironically moving from Durham to Durham, I have recently made the trip over the pond to complete a one-year Masters in Management Studies at Duke University and to continue pursuing my passion: hockey. I have always wanted to study and play in the States, and Duke was the perfect combination of academics and athletics. I graduated from Durham (UK!) this year after studying Cell Biology. Whilst at Durham I played hockey for Hild Bede and the University first team. We were two-time British University champions, and I was also selected to represent England’s Under-21 team in 2011, 2012, and 2013, winning the bronze medal at the 2012 European Championships in Holland. I miss all my Hild Bede and Durham friends, but will be home for Christmas! The Tab recently wrote an article on Cherry’s move to Duke which can be read here.
John Welch (Bede 1951-55 & Bede Senior Man 1955-56), Hollywood, CA (USA) After leaving Bede in 1956 with my B.A. (Hons) degree in French and a Dip. Ed., I taught French in grammar schools in Gateshead, York (my home city) and in the London area. Friends in California encouraged me to move to the US and I made my “escape” (from the “comprehensive” system) in 1982 when I was appointed to the Chair of Foreign Languages at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, a prestigious private establishment (near Hollywood) where I enjoyed 16 extremely happy years before retiring in 1998. Oh, the stories I could tell about the world-famous showbiz personalities and their off-spring who were in my classes ….. ! (read more here). (John pictured right)
Susannah Harvey-Jones, Hong Kong (China) Hild Bede holds many happy memories for my husband and I. We met there for a start! We also made some wonderful friends that we are still very much in touch with. After living and working in London for 9 years we upped sticks and headed to Hong Kong to start a new adventure together (read more here and visit the website of Susannah’s own mobile pottery business- www.pandapottery.com).
Scott Thomson (HB 2008-12), Fribourg (Switzerland)
Oliver Palmer (HB 1994-97) Singapore I went travelling, on a round the world ticket, after graduating from Durham. I got as far as Sydney in 1998 and have never moved back to the UK. I worked for a couple of internet startups in Australia and then founded Tigerspike in 2003. Durham taught me a lot about dealing with people from all different walks of life, how to instil a great culture in a team and how to get the most out of any situation (read more).
Oliver (left) playing golf in Singapore last week with Richard Thomas (right, HB 1994-97 and SRC President 1998)
Fribourg, Switzerland (pictured right) has offered many insights into continental mathematical culture in both the Franco- and Germanophone worlds, as well as being a reminder of the importance of having linguistic abilities (of the sort not necessarily possessed by me). It is common in the mathematical world for recent doctoral graduates to move around the globe, and so prior to my Swiss arrangements it seemed likely that I would need to make a significant relocation if I were to remain in academia. I of course need to make trips back to the UK fairly often, and in particular to Durham, so as to obtain the necessary fixes of music in Bede Chapel, real ale, and the Rajpooth, amongst other things.
Photo credit to Scott Thomson
Paul Middleton (Bede 1962-66), Spain I was at Bede 1962-66 and gained a BA in Geography and MA in Archaeology. Was sports mad at Durham and University captain of Swimming and Modern Pentathlon. Then spent a year at Glasgow University as Research Assistant in Cartography. Found my way to London and Reader’s Digest General Books as cartographer and production liaison until 1977. Moved to Times Books as Senior Editor then Editorial Director and Cartographic Director of Times Books Group. In 1990 moved back to Reader’s Digest as Managing Editor UK Books. Retired in 1998 and moved to Spain as my wife is a Spanish teacher (read the full article here, and check out Paul’s collection of e-books accessible through: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ paulredfern.
Tony Quinlan (HB 1984-87), All over! Given the call for alumni who live overseas, I’m cheating. My house and my family are in Bedfordshire, my office a mile and a half’s walk every morning and night. But I think I count as I’m not often there. (I realise my regular absences may be part of the secret to my still-happy marriage.) In the past 12 months, I’ve worked in Bangladesh, Washington DC, Colombia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Slovakia and am on my way home from Belarus as I write. Can I squeeze in on the international requirement? If you’re reading this, the answer was yes (read about Tony’s fascinating stories here).
Join us on Thursday 23rd January 2014 for our first London Drinks Club of the year. Your first drink is on us, bring some old friends, and enjoy catching-up and reminiscing about your University days. An email will be sent out early next year confirming the venue and times.
From all staff and students at the College of St Hild & St Bede, we wish you the warmest of wishes this Christmas time and hope that your New Year will be both prosperous and fulfilling.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year