FROM THE PRINCIPAL Lord Woolley of Woodford
ANNUAL REVIEW COLLEGE NEWS
When I arrived at Homerton on 1 October 2021, I was politely informed during one of the many gatherings I had that day, that in following Professor Geoff Ward, the outgoing Principal of eight years, I had ‘big shoes’ to fill. I nodded, knowing that it was both true, and untrue.
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rue in the sense that as the outgoing custodian of Homerton, Geoff had set the excellence bar really high. During his time Homerton had not only become a fully-fledged Cambridge College, offering the full range of subjects from Architecture to Veterinary Science; it
had also made some of the shrewdest investments to ensure a stable financial footing. But, I would guess, Geoff is most proud to have continued the Homerton legacy of being the friendliest College in Cambridge, indeed Oxbridge. In truth I neither can nor want to fit in Geoff’s or anyone else’s shoes. I can only fit into my own shoes. We can only be ourselves. Learning to be our greatest self is a particular challenge, but one that’s worth the endeavour. One of the distinct elements of Homerton, beyond its North Star principles of academic excellence and teeming diversity, is wanting our David Johnson
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