Homertonian 19

ANNUAL REUNION The Annual Reunion Weekend is the perfect oppor tunity to catch up, reminisce and discover what’s been going on at Homer ton since you finished your studies.

A S napshot of HOMERTON COLLEGE Our student population is the biggest in Cambridge

with 1400

students

students are employed or in further study within 6 months of graduating – higher than any Russell Group university, including the University of Cambridge as a whole

600 undergraduates and 800 graduates in our We have

community.

50% female 50% male

BOOKING FORM 2015 We would encourage you to book online at homertonalumnireunion.eventbrite.co.uk if possible.

If you’d prefer, then you can also book by returning this form to the address below.

If you wish to attend the Reunion Weekend, please ensure you book online or return this form to us by Friday 4th September.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept any bookings made after this date. Please enter the number of tickets you require in the boxes below.

Our undergraduates

We have the

STUDY 35

biggest

different subjects from Anglo-Saxon to Zoology

single site of any

Cambridge College

Number required

Friday 25th September

96% of Homerton

Dinner at £35 per person

Saturday 26th September Reunion Lunch at £22 per person ‘Alice through the Ages’ (free of charge) Charter Choir Performance (free of charge) Dinner at £35 per person

Room booking

We have more en-suite rooms than any other Cambridge College, and our rents are the lowest in Cambridge

Single en-suite room for Friday night at £49 per person (Includes breakfast) Single en-suite room for Saturday night at £49 per person (Includes breakfast)

We are the University’s

NEWEST C LLEGE,

though we’ve been in Cambridge for 120 years, and in London for over 125 years before that

Single en-suite room for Friday and Saturday nights at £87 per person (Includes breakfast) Single en-suite room for any additional nights at £38 per person per night (Includes breakfast) Please specify which night(s) ___________________

___________________

Total payable

___________________ Please see overleaf for payment details.

We are the only College to elect a full-time sabbatical President of its Student Union

All our undergraduates can

live on site for

3 YEARS

of their course

Each academic year we spend over half a million pounds on

outstanding welfare provision for our community

HOMERTONIAN Homerton College Alumni Magazine

Number 19 | July 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Rowing into the History Books Wonderland Week New Head Porter

As a lifelong member of Homerton and the University of Cambridge, you are entitled to a number of benefits. You are most welcome to visit Homerton and use our College Library, Dining Hall, Buttery and Bar. Subject to availability, you can also book overnight accommodation at preferential rates, and book function rooms for private dinners and events.

News 4

Chancellor’s Visit

5

New Head Porter

6

‘Education Nobel’

7

Poetry by Heart

Features 8

Rowing into the History Books

10 Fellow in Focus 12 Witness to History 14 Wonderland Week

Updates 3

Principal’s Welcome

15 Senior Tutor’s Report 16 Development Update 18 Homerton Union of Students 20 Bursar’s Report 21 Library and Archives 22 Charter Choir

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For further information about alumni benefits, please email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk

Welcome!

Anniversaries are on our mind this year. In September we’re celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Alice with Wonderland Week – a medley of events for researchers, alumni and the general public (see inside).

And though it’s five years since our Royal Charter as a full College of the University, we’re thinking of how to mark our 250th Anniversary in 2018! We rather enjoy being both old and new at the same time, and baffling the uninitiated by being both the newest and the biggest Cambridge College (see back cover). Lewis Carroll would have enjoyed that nonsensical but factual phenomenon, one feels.

The 2015 Boat Race was an event whose anniversary future generations will doubtless remember: the first time the women’s boats raced before the same audience, on TV and on the riverside, as the men. Thanks to a superbly generous donation, a Homertonian was playing a leading role – Daphne Martschenko (inside and front cover) is the first holder of our Horobin Award, which enabled her to come from Stanford University, USA to study with us this year and to compete in the great race.

Daphne will continue with a PhD at Magdalene, and carries our best wishes with her.

Matthew Moss Director of External Relations and Development

23 Retired Senior Members Association

The Homertonian is published once a year to keep members informed with College and alumni news. Do contact us in the Development Office: Telephone 01223 747066; Email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk. All our publications are available to read online on the Homerton College website: http://www. homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni/publications.

24 Obituaries 26 Our Donors 28 Letters 30 Annual Reunion 31 Alumni Benefits

Thank you to all of our contributors and to those who supplied images. The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of Homerton College, Cambridge.

Cover photograph: Stephen Bond. Design and print management: H2 Associates, Cambridge.

Editors: Francis Dearnley and Matthew Moss

‘Like’ Homerton College on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on. Visit www.facebook.com/ HomertonCollegeCambridge Homerton College is on Twitter!

Follow us for the latest new and updates @HomertonCollege

Name of guests:

Dietary requirements: Guest’s dietary requirements: Accessibility/assistance requirements:

Year you started at Homerton:

UNITED KINGDOM BRANCHES

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You can take advantage of great deals at a growing number of Cambridge venues and retailers by using your CAMCard. You will also receive automatic membership to the University Centre and free entrance into most of the Cambridge Colleges.

Alumni can also sign up for cantab.net, the University’s email for life service, and continue to use the University Careers Service.

WAYS OF STAYING IN TOUCH

Year you left Homerton:

Cambridge Anthea Wicks wicks.hmc.eeur@lineone.net

Address:

London Stephanie Beardsworth stephanie.beardsworth@btinternet.com

Telephone: E-mail:

Stephanie Rogers stephanie.rogers51@gmail.com

PAYMENT METHOD

Manchester Margaret Blott mblott_8@yahoo.co.uk

Cheque made payable to Homerton College

Newcastle Elise Wylie elise.wylie@gmail.com

Card number:

Credit/debit card Card type:

Security code: Start date:

Oxford Lucy Barnett glebecottage@gmail.com

www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni Do visit our website for details of our events, our regional branches, and alumni benefits. You can also read our publications online, and we’d be grateful if you would check our ‘lost sheep’ list to see if you recognise any names to help us fill in the blanks. You can also find out details about our current fundraising priorities on the website and even make a donation to Homerton.

‘Like’ Homerton College on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on. Visit www.facebook.com/HomertonCollegeCambridge Homerton College is on Twitter! Follow us for the latest new and updates @HomertonCollege

First Name:

Surname: Groups of Homertonians meet in local branches throughout the country and around the world. You may find that there is an active group near you; if there isn’t, and you’d like to set one up, you’d be most welcome to. You can also find the University of Cambridge Worldwide Directory at https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/getinvolved/find-a-group

Expiry date:

Issue number: Name as it appears on the card:

Wessex Coral Harrow coralharrow@waitrose.com

All prices include VAT at 20%.

A refund can only be given if we are notified at least seven working days prior to the event.

INTERNATIONAL BRANCHES Southern California Branch Angela Das ad301@cantab.net

Data protection: we take care All information is held and transmitted securely. Records held are used for alumni relations and fundraising purposes; this includes the sending of the Homertonian, alumni surveys, appeals and the marketing of alumni events. Communications may be sent by post, telephone or, increasingly, digitally. If at any time you have queries, wish to restrict data sharing or don’t want to be contacted, please say. (Minimal information is always retained so you are not contacted inadvertently).

China Xianwen Meng mengxianwenhf@gmail.com

See www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/homertonians/dataprotection.php for our full data protection statement. You will need to contact the University separately if you wish to restrict University data processing, sharing or contact.

Have you received our email newsletter?

If you haven’t seen a copy recently, do please send us an email at alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk to make sure we have your current email address so you don’t miss out.

From 2016 we will be publishing our first Annual Review – the College’s official record, which should be delivered to you early next year.

HOMERTON COLLEGE

31

DETACH ALONG THE PERFORATION

Contents

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Title:

Please return this form with payment to: Matt Hann, Alumni Relations Officer Homerton College, Development Office Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PH T +44 (0) 1223 747066 E alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni

Registered Charity No: 1137497

JULY 2015

ALUMNI BENEFITS

BRANCH CONTACTS

Homerton College is a

HOMERTONIAN19

UPDATE

PROFESSOR GEOFF WARD UPDATE

I have held the role of Principal of Homerton for almost two years, and having lived through more than one cycle I understand better the circadian rhythms of the College, its times of hard work and hunkering down, and its moments of celebration and renewal.

M

y second year in office began as had my first, with alumni gathering for the Reunion Weekend just prior to the arrival of a new cohort of freshers. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to tell alumni about the new initiatives the College is undertaking, just as it was to explain to the first year intake of 2014 what a rich and historically complex institution they have now joined.

The initiatives are significant. From 2016 Homerton will admit undergraduates to study Medicine. This makes perfect sense: for one thing, Homerton is by far the closest of the Colleges to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, making it instantly attractive to the talented doctors of tomorrow who will live in College and be trained on that site.

Moreover, the Addenbrooke’s site itself is growing massively to accommodate Papworth Hospital and a multitude of biotech companies that contribute to what will be the biggest biomedical campus in Europe.

This year we swore in Professor Tim Eisen, eminent oncologist, and Professor Douglas Easton, who analyses patient data, as Professorial Fellows. We are proud and delighted that they have joined us, as have Dr Mark Manford and Dr Rachel Williams, who will direct our clinical students’ studies.

More appointments will follow, ensuring that the medical freshers of 2016 experience a welcoming system of support and advice, as well as being a pioneer year, who will study to treat the patients of tomorrow’s society. Social justice, access to education irrespective of background and the training of young people for a profession are there

in Homerton’s new medical adventure, but were always part of Homerton’s DNA. This was a theme echoed by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Chancellor of the University, who made a formal visit to the College at the beginning of the academical year. This was an opportunity for a whole team effort from our staff in catering, gardens and other departments, as well as students and Fellows, to show Homerton at its best. The sun shone on Homerton in every sense that day, and we are deeply grateful to the Chancellor for encouraging all the work the College does, and affirming our values of academic excellence and readiness to collaborate for the greater good. On this last note, we are co-funding two new Junior Research Fellows with the University’s Department of Public Health. Our commitment to this field goes wider than Medicine, and includes Geography and Politics, where we now have significant academic strength.

As well as new students, we welcomed new Fellows in these two subjects as well as Drama, Law, Education, Biology, Mathematics and Children’s Literature. Speaking of our children’s classics, in September 2015 Homerton will host an international conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. I am delighted to say that the Fitzwilliam Museum, of which I am now Chairman, will host an exhibition to coincide with the conference. Other events are planned, so watch this space (in which a Cheshire cat or a white rabbit, not to mention a 10 foot tall animatronic caterpillar, may suddenly appear… to book a space, see elsewhere in this edition).

Homerton is now the largest as well as the newest of the Cambridge Colleges. As we near the final phase of building on a newly acquired 3.5 acres, which will help attract and house postgraduates and early career researchers, this is true in terms of campus size as well as student numbers.

And our employability statistics are impressive. According to a recent survey, 6 months after graduating 93% of Cambridge University students are in full time work.

This is the best result of any Russell Group university and indeed according to one recent global ranking, of any university in the world. However I am pleased to report the University statistics revealed that the percentage for Homerton graduates is 96%.

This means almost a 100% chance of real work (and not just bar work two nights a week in the Dog and Duck). Just as the qualifications of those graduating when Homerton was a teacher training college were a national benchmark by which others were judged, so now our readying of a fullspectrum cohort of graduates for the world that is before them is second to none.

And so, as the end of my second year as Head of House approaches, I am no longer the new Principal. But then, five years after the granting of Charter Status, Homerton is no longer a newcomer either. We are taking our rightful place in collegiate Cambridge. What remains fresh are the ideas with which we started nearly 250 years ago in East London, but which are ready to adapt to societal need as we look with our students to tomorrow.

Geoff Ward Principal, Homerton College

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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CHANCELLOR’S OFFICIAL VISIT NEWS

Elected Chancellor of the University in 2011 to succeed HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, a Cambridge alumnus himself, made his first official visit to Homerton College in October.

I

n October Homerton was delighted to welcome the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, for his first formal visit to the College.

After an initial gathering with the senior leadership of the College, Lord Sainsbury was taken by the Principal, Professor Geoff Ward, on a brief tour of the grounds before meeting Homerton students, staff, and Fellows over drinks in the Combination Room. There he inspected the College’s founding documents – the Trust Deed, Grants of Arms, and the 2010 Royal Charter marking Homerton’s transition to becoming the 31st Cambridge College.

After an official welcome from the Principal, the Chancellor thanked the College for welcoming him and said that

Homerton was perfectly placed through its location and its history to have a great impact both in academia and the world beyond. He then raised a toast to ‘Homerton College’, before receiving a special lunch in the Drawing Room.

The office of Chancellor is held by a distinguished individual, from academia or public life, who is not usually resident in the University and does not hold any other University office. The Chancellor presides at major ceremonies – the best-known being the annual ceremony for the conferment of Honorary Degrees – and is also, ex officio, the Visitor of ten Cambridge Colleges, including Homerton.

Lord Sainsbury was elected Chancellor of the University in a ballot of the Senate

in October 2011, succeeding HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. He is a Cambridge alumnus, having read History and Psychology at King’s College, Cambridge. He has a life-long interest in education and has supported many projects in schools and universities through his Charitable Foundation, called the Gatsby Foundation. In 2003 he received, on behalf of the Sainsbury family, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy, and was the first Briton to give over a £1 billion pounds to charitable causes.

He became Lord Sainsbury of Turville in October, 1997, sitting in the House of Lords, and was appointed Minister of Science and Innovation, serving from July 1998 until November 2006, under the premierships of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The Principal gives Lord Sainsbury a tour of the College

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HOMERTONIAN

NEWS In January, Homerton’s Head Porter Chris Stanton retired after 16 years’ service, and after an exhaustive search, the College found a worthy replacement in Gordon Murray.

Serving for 31 years in the military and police, he has lived a life touched by many events of national significance.

Gordon Murray

NEW HEAD PORTER B

orn in 1965 in Edinburgh, “another relatively tranquil student city”, Gordon spent much of his childhood abroad, in places as diverse as Gibraltar, Malta, and Bahrain, as part of his father’s work for the Civil Service. Gordon, too, quickly dived into public service after his Scottish Highers, initially training with the Royal Marines then joining the Household Cavalry, where he served in the Life Guards – the senior regiment in the British Army – for three and a half years. During that time he undertook numerous ceremonial duties at home and abroad, including Trooping the Colour and forming party of the Bridal Escort to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York, at their wedding in 1986.

“I’ve always been a people person and loyal to the institution I work for, and I hope that this comes out in my new role”, says Gordon. “I think a Head Porter should always remember that we work in partnership with a community of students, staff, and Fellows, and it’s important they continue to see the Lodge as open and approachable. It’s about finding the perfect balance between talking and listening.”

Forging a close relationship with the public has been a constant thread in Gordon’s life. In 1987 Gordon joined the City of London Police, where he served for six years in various roles, first as a patrol officer and later as a tactical firearms officer. He was present at some of the capital’s most tragic incidents, including the King’s Cross fire, the Marchioness disaster, a bombing by the IRA, and the Cannon Street station rail crash. “It’s a privilege to serve in those situations, when you are able to give someone the best possible care in the most terrible of circumstances.”

It was at this time that he met his future wife, Alison, a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Not long afterwards, they got married and moved to Cambridgeshire – Gordon transferring to Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Alison studying midwifery. In addition to patrol work, he is proud to have served as a hostage negotiator and in the Armed Response unit. In the early 1990s, Gordon was assigned the role of Close Protection Officer to the then Prime Minister John

Major, accompanying him on events in his constituency of Huntingdon and getting to know him and the family well.

In a neat twist of fortune, it was at this time that Alison studied at Homerton, bringing Gordon to the “beautiful” College for the first time. He and Alison now have two children – a son and a daughter – and two dogs, an American Cocker Spaniel and a Flat-Coated Retriever.

This year marks their twenty-fourth living in Cambridgeshire.

“It’s a privilege to now be part of a University as renowned as Cambridge”, he says, “and every day this month I’ve been waking up and thinking how lucky I am to have such a great job. I’m excited to meet old and new students, who – refreshingly – are always looking forward. I’ve always tried to do that myself.”

Outside of work, Gordon is a keen cyclist, also enjoying badminton, swimming, and golf. Gardening in another one of his passions, “although”, he remarks wryly, “I doubt the Head Gardener would let me anywhere near his flowerbeds!”

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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NEWS Camfed

Ann Cotton OBE

HONORARY FELLOW WINS ‘EDUCATION NOBEL’ Ann Cotton, who in 2007 became Homerton’s first Honorary Fellow, has been awarded the most prestigious international prize in education the 2014 WISE prize.

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HOMERTONIAN

I

magine one million girls in Africa, all from a background of rural poverty; all prisoners of circumstance. Imagine if they were given the opportunity to work in the education and health systems, in politics, in journalism, in law, in engineering, and in science what could they achieve? How would they transform their world?

For Ann Cotton, this was – and remains – not simply a matter of imagination, but her ambition. Her charity, Camfed, is already committed to supporting a million girls through secondary education over the next five years, assisted by the $500,000 just awarded by the WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) Initiative – whose annual prize rewards individuals who make outstanding and world-class contributions to education.

Camfed (Campaign for Female Education) began life in Cambridge in 1993, and raised its initial funds by selling cakes on Cambridge’s market, but it quickly grew and has now worked with more than three million children in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Its programmes,

which include bursaries to help girls stay in education, are now delivered in over 5,000 schools in rural districts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.

Ms Cotton has previously been awarded an OBE and was named the UK’ s Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. She also received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law in 2007 from the then Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Presenting her to the Chancellor, the University Orator said, “It is a big enterprise, perhaps better seen as many, many little ones; she drops her gentle rain precisely where it will do most good”. This targeted approach is seen in Camfed’s unique model, which breaks the cycle of poverty, child marriage, high birth rates and high rates of HIV, by working in partnership with all the constituencies that have power over a girl’s education and life choices.

Ms Cotton said that Camfed was committed to helping millions more girls through secondary education, who otherwise would be “robbed of confidence” and control over their own lives because of poverty and a lack of education.

NEWS The finalists of the contest

POETRY

BY HEART

Below Sir Andrew Motion and Emily Dunstan

crowns new Champion

The finals of Poetry By Heart – the national poetry recitation competition for pupils aged 14 to 18 – were hosted by Homerton this year.

S

ince its launch in December 2012 an estimated 10,000 students have had some experience of Poetry By Heart; this year 333 schools and colleges from across the country took part in 43 county competitions and the winners gathered at Homerton in March for the final contest to crown a national champion.

The day before the competition began the College hosted a dinner for the competitors and their teachers, featuring poetry reading by distinguished poets, including Sir Andrew Motion – former Poet Laureate and Homerton Honorary Fellow – and the Principal, Professor Geoff Ward.

Over the following two days the competitors recited three poems in front of a distinguished panel of judges from the

world of poetry and academia, including Sir Andrew, Jean Sprackland, Daljit Nagra, Patience Agbabi, Tim Dee, David Whitley, Debbie Pullinger, Catherine Robson and Paul McLoughlin. A special feature of the competition this year was the reciting of poems from the First World War to commemorate the centenary of the start of the conflict.

After a close competition, Emily Dunstan, aged 16, from Graveney School, Tooting was declared the new champion, presented with a specially designed trophy by Sir Andrew. Praising the performances of all the competitors, the former Poet Laureate said that “Poetry is in safe hands”.

Over the course of the competition the judges heard a diverse range of poetry, with

Emily performing ‘The Fish’ by Elizabeth Bishop, ‘The Death Bed’ by Siegfried Sassoon, and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ by John Keats.

The Rt Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, the Secretary of State for Education, commented on the competition’s success: “I am delighted so many more young people are learning to love poetry as a result of this excellent competition.

It is a brilliant way to develop a deep understanding of someone’s work, which is why we have placed poetry at the heart of our reformed English literature GCSE.” In addition to watching fellow competitors recite, students enjoyed a range of activities including tours of Cambridge, creative writing workshops, and talks on applying to University.

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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FEATURE

ROWING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS Thanks to an exceptional donation, Homerton offers a fees award to an academically gifted woman graduate student rowing at international level.

We profile the first holder of the Horobin Award, named after the Principal who in the nineteenth century established women’s rowing at Homerton.

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HOMERTONIAN

O

n 15 March 1927, two crews of eight women broke convention to race on the Isis. On one level, the contest was between rival universities, but, much more profoundly, both teams were, together, contesting centuries of inequality. The riverbank brimmed with a hostile crowd, chanting against their ‘unladylike’ behaviour.

Fast-forward 88 years, and another set of young women is waiting for the starting flag, but this time the scene is very different.

This time it is Tideway on the Thames; the same course, on the same day, and with the same sponsors’ funding as their male counterparts. In the Cambridge boat is Homertonian Daphne Martschenko. The two boats bob side by side on a choppy Thames, and seconds before the flag is dropped, all is quiet on the riverbanks of London.

“Time stands still, because you know – and your competitors know – that the first stroke is the most important of the race. All

Above Daphne rowing for Homerton W1 at May Bumps

you can think about is not messing it up.

We’d run through the race a thousand times in our heads, so we felt very prepared.”

Suddenly, there’s an explosion of noise and the race begins. Cambridge starts well, “our best start ever”, and are neck-and-neck with Oxford as the boats rush past Bishop’s Park towards Hammersmith.

It is difficult to overestimate the psychological and physical challenge of the historic Boat Race. It is a gruelling 4-mile slog, broadcast live around the world to an audience of upwards of 100 million people.

In London 250,000 people are crammed against the walls that enclose the Thames, desperate to catch a glimpse of the boats as they go by. In the months beforehand, the crews have rowed at least twice a day, six days a week, throughout autumn and winter – whilst also studying for some of the most demanding degrees in the world.

Such is the pressure exerted on the crews, that both Cambridge and Oxford employ experienced sports psychologists to prepare them for the day, and as Daphne explains, “the crew were remarkably calm.

Kate Hays, our brilliant psychologist, had told us to go out in disguise amongst the crowds before the race to soak in the atmosphere, so that we were mentally equipped to handle them when we left the boathouse. Coming from the States, I knew that the Boat Race was a big deal, but I had no idea how much of a big deal until the weeks before the event, when suddenly all eyes were on us.”

Six minutes into the race and Oxford are three lengths ahead as the women pass Harrods Depository. Money, or the lack of it, has been a constant hindrance to Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club, who until 2015 were chronically underfunded. When Siobhan Cassidy – another Homertonian to row in the Women’s Blue Boat and now Vice-Chair of CUWBC – began training for the 1995 Boat Race, she was shocked at how rudimentary the training regime was for women. Having rowed for other universities and Great Britain before coming to Cambridge, the “narrow stretch of

river, very limited training opportunities and a different coach every two weeks” was stark.

Despite rowing “with some fantastic women”, it was clear that the current provision was unsustainable in the long-term.

By the nine-minute mark, as the crews curve around the Surrey Bend, the experience of the Oxford crew – which featured an Olympian and several Team GB rowers – is on devastating display. As Barnes Bridge appears into view, Oxford are five lengths ahead. By this point, adrenaline alone is what’s keeping the ladies on track to the finish, and when they finally do, at the face of Chiswick Bridge, Oxford cross the line six-and-and-a half lengths ahead and 19 seconds before Cambridge.

“Of course it was disappointing to lose”, says Daphne, “but I don’t regret it one bit.

To see the sport I love being appreciated by so many others – it’s priceless. But this is the first hurdle for women’s rowing, not the last. Women’s programmes have a long way to go to foster a culture of professionalism, having been held back by lack of funding and presumptions of what they can achieve.

Even in Cambridge there’s much more than needs to be done. Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club has launched a major fundraising appeal called ‘Project Ely’ to build a boathouse on the banks of the River Ouse, because right now both men and women crews are in little more than tin shacks (though the men have showers and a kettle)!

“The funding was meant to be split equally between the men and women’s crews, but we are really struggling to raise our share and the men may have to go ahead without us, which sends all the wrong signals. But we’ve come such a long way in a very short period of time, so we should be optimistic and positive about the future – even if Oxford beat us this time around!”

Cambridge may have been unlucky in 2015, but they were unlucky in 1927 too – Oxford won by 15 seconds. Like then, it will not be the result that is remembered in 2015, but the significance of the occasion.

First and foremost, the crews made history; and Homerton was part of it.

For more information about Project Ely, and how you can help, please visit www.cuwbc.org.uk/ely-boathouse-campaign

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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FEATURE

FELLOW IN FOCUS Dr Louise Joy Homerton has over 50 Fellows and around 20 Bye-Fellows. Many of them act as Directors of Studies for undergraduates in their subject as well as supervising postgraduate students and conducting research.

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HOMERTONIAN

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you down the path you now follow?

There was an inevitability about my decision to study English; at age 17, reading, and reading about reading, seemed self-evidently the most important thing, and I don’t recall having been very openminded about other possible options. I had encountered my first samples of literary criticism, and I had an overwhelming sense of wanting to produce some myself. Once I had already embarked on graduate study, though, my desire to become an academic was as much motivated by the anticipated pleasures of teaching as the lures of research, and both remain equally important to me.

What research projects are you involved in at the moment?

I am finishing a book called Literature’s Children, and co-editing a volume of essays on the aesthetics of children’s verse. I am also working on a book on eighteenthcentury literary theories of the emotions.

I am particularly interested in thinking about the kinds of critical strategies we can use to appreciate the literary qualities of neglected, often female, writers from the past who never made it into, or carelessly fell out of, the canon.

As a Director of Studies for Homerton, how do you motivate your students?

What would you like to achieve over the next five years?

I try to tailor how I work with my students to take account of people’s individual strengths, weaknesses and circumstances. Motivation is closely allied to confidence, and it can be hard to hold onto your confidence in Cambridge. I encourage my students to believe in themselves and to remember why they signed up for the kind of education which Cambridge offers. I push them hard – I want them constantly to strive to read more, think harder, write better – but you can only afford to have high expectations if you provide constant encouragement, try to make the experience pleasurable, and give practical advice on how to improve.

When the standards are so high, it’s easy for students to lose sight of how much they are achieving, so I try to remind them of this. I also make a point of saying that it’s a positively good idea to have a day off once in a while, to keep things in perspective.

I am passionately committed to the importance of studying a subject for its own sake, and not merely as training for an eventual job. I think that a new Cambridge College with a unique history such as Homerton’s has an opportunity to play a leading role in

defending – and demonstrating – the vital significance of advanced study across the disciplines in a fast-changing world. Through my work with students, my research, and my participation in the institutional life of the College and the University, I want to help find creative and fair ways of ensuring that future young people, irrespective of background, have access to a worldclass education.

The second annual CUSU Teaching Awards, when students are invited to nominate any member of staff that has enhanced their learning experience at Cambridge, took place in May, and Dr Louise Joy won in the ‘Pastoral’ category. Here is a selection of her nominations: “Louise has gone far beyond the call of duty to help us through this stressful year in our degree...She has the perspective to get outside the Cambridge ‘bubble’ and highlight what is really important, which is rare to find in a supervisor.”

“Her breadth of knowledge and clarity of communicating ideas is exceptional. I honestly can’t praise her enough, she is an incredible academic who cares so much for her students, and makes sure her students know she is just at the end of a phone call or email if we need her support at any time.”

“Her supervisions are hugely rigorous but her style is never aggressive…Louise demonstrates a genuine care for the students as people as well as for their academic needs. She has consistently pushed and encouraged me in a way that other supervisors sometimes become complacent about.”

“Louise organizes a number of informal meetings every term to keep our spirits up (with the aid of cake!)”

“Cambridge can be tough, and Louise does everything she can to make it that little bit easier for us all. I really am grateful for her advice, encouragement and total support.”

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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PILKINGTON TRAVEL AWARDS

WITNESS TO HISTORY Ben Jones, who graduated from Homerton last year, has visited more countries than most reach in a lifetime, raising awareness of war-torn, developing and post-conflict environments. He’s advised 10 Downing Street and has even worked with a former US President. He now hopes to inspire others with what he has learnt by sharing the stories of his experiences in Congo, Ukraine, North Korea and Libya. We talk to Ben about what inspired him, and how Homerton helped him achieve his dreams.

How did you first become involved in visiting conflict-affected areas?

In 2011, the year I applied to Cambridge, I went abroad alone for the first time. I had been working night shifts in a factory and in restaurants to save up the money so I wanted to go somewhere where I would really get the most out of the experience. I asked myself where I would go if I really wanted to learn about social change, and back in the summer of 2011 the answer was obvious as this was the year of the Arab Spring.

I took a flight into Istanbul and a flight back from Cairo and backpacked between the two, talking with and learning from Palestinian refugees, Iraqi merchants and Egyptian revolutionaries en route. I got to Cairo early and had the opportunity to spend time in Libya, where I began to understand the motivations of those involved with the uprising. I have always taken the view that in order to really understand history and those that make it, you have to see it made first hand and not just accept someone else’s account. Anyone can give reasons why an event happens but to really grasp and feel what motivates people to act the way they do and to understand the situation in a particular place at a particular time, you have to be there. There is simply no substitute!

My degree at Homerton – Politics and International Relations – fostered my belief that great action can only ever follow from great understanding. The opportunities offered by Homerton, such as the Pilkington Travel Grant, were essential in fostering my interest in conflict and development, and gave me the best apprenticeship possible in understanding social change. I organised a peace conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013 which I would not have been able to accomplish without Homerton’s support. Academic knowledge is one thing, but practical experience is quite another, and I will always be grateful to Homerton for enabling me to see places that would have otherwise been impossible.

What have you done with your experiences?

You can read more about Ben’s experiences on his website: internationalconflictwitness.com

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My friend and fellow Cambridge graduate Kamila Kingstone and I created a website – internationalconflictwitness.com – recounting our own experiences in a way that is, we hope, interesting and enjoyable to read. It is a response to the difference

Top Ben with President Jimmy Carter and Mrs Carter Bottom Ben at the barricades in Ukraine

Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and conducted research project through the Balkans for the Sir Peter Kirk Memorial Fund. I’ve also been very fortunate to work for The Carter Center (founded in 1982 by former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering) on the international response to Ebola, specifically by improving access to justice in Liberia.

It’s strange to think that only one year ago I was approaching my Finals. Without Homerton’s support, I may not have had the incredible experience of speaking with the inspirational President and Mrs Carter. The brilliant minds and fascinating conversations I had at College enabled me to think critically and analytically, and this is crucial to succeed in this line of work.

What messages would you bring back to Homerton from your experiences?

between the realities of conflict-affected regions and people’s perceptions of conflict affected regions, and we want to try and break down the prejudices and myths surrounding areas of conflict. We’ve collected some amazing stories which give insights into the human reality of armed conflict. In the long run we hope to build

up a detailed bank of reports from other people who have spent time in or lived in conflict areas.

Since leaving Homerton it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster – I’ve advised the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission at 10 Downing Street, observed the election in Kazakhstan for the Organisation for

Thanks to Dr Roger Pilkington, former Trustee of Homerton, the College is able to offer students an annual travel award from the Pilkington Trust. It is directed towards Homertonians who are contemplating ambitious or out of the ordinary journeys during the summer vacation.

For 2014, the grant was awarded to 13 students: Name Andrew Bowdery Finnian Brewer Kevin Burri Frederica Cooke Alexandra Greenwood

Beth Huckstep Ellen Hurley Felix Jackson Quinlin (Leo) Li Lily Mortimer Annabel Parkinson

Zuzana Strakova Isabella Yamamoto

Tripos Classics English Mathematics English Education with English and Drama Natural Sciences History Natural Sciences Natural Sciences Law Education with Modern and Medieval Languages Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Human, Social, and Political Science

Country Visited Zambia Nepal China Nicaragua Nicaragua Zambia Nepal Morocco China Uganda Kenya Nepal India

I say that if you like my philosophy of seeing history as it is made, if you think that is something you would like to do – then do it! Many people tell me they admire my way of life, but there is often not much to stop anyone from doing what I do. Clearly there are limits, and noone should ever go somewhere without considering in detail the security situation – I always undertake an assessment prior to deciding to go somewhere – but in general, the world is a lot safer than news reports would have us believe. No media outlet every reports the day-today banalities of peace, but most people I have met in most places are willing to help you out if you are respectful and go with a genuine desire to listen and learn from them. Money has been a constraint sometimes, but even that is a barrier that can often be overcome – there are an incredible amount of travel grants offered in and outside of Cambridge and there are part-time work opportunities outside of term for those with work authorisation.

If we were given £80,000 a day and told we could spend as much of it as we wanted as the remainder would vanish at the end of the day only to be replaced the following morning, most of us would get as much as we could out of the £80,000. Yet we are given 80,000 new seconds of life every day, and few people really make the most of every one of them.

It motivates me to take every opportunity I can to see the world.

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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FEATURE

WONDERLAND WEEK Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2015, and Homerton is hosting the biggest celebration anywhere in the UK. Wonderland Week will run from 15th – 19th September 2015, and you are invited!

Above Editions of Alice in Wonderland from Homerton’s Children’s Literature Collection

L

ewis Carroll’s famous book inaugurated the golden age of children’s literature – the classics of the genre from Winnie-thePooh to Dr Seuss and beyond owe their playful and fun tales in part to this daring and ground-breaking work.

For the 150th anniversary, Homerton will be honouring Carroll’s iconic Wonderland and its lasting legacy through academic discussion, performances and adaptations, tea parties, and, in keeping with the true spirit of Carroll, a little playful nonsense, too! The centrepiece of Wonderland Week is an international academic conference masterminded by Homerton Fellows Professor Maria Nikolajeva and Dr Zoe Jaques. Around the conference are plenty of events open to Homerton alumni and to the general public. Tickets for these events can be booked online at www.wonderland.homerton.cam.ac.uk.

Film Screening at the Arts Picturehouse 15th September, 6.30pm In keeping with the conference focus on ‘Alice through the Ages’, this screening will feature a double bill of the earliest Alice film, Cecil Hepworth’s 1903 Alice in Wonderland – at 12 minutes, the longest film ever released in Britain at the time – followed by the most recent, Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice in Wonderland in 3D. The Arts Picturehouse Cinema is located in the centre of Cambridge, with a lovely café bar and atmosphere. We very much hope that you will join us for this filmic element of Wonderland Week – tickets can be booked directly through the cinema.

A Looking-Glass Banquet 16th September, 7pm for 7.30pm “Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!”

Please join us on the evening on 16th of September for an Alice-themed, candlelit, three-course banquet in Homerton’s magnificent Great Hall. Reception drinks, wine, and coffee included.

Price: £49 per ticket Cellophony 18th September, 7pm reception for 7.30 performance London based cello octet Cellophony have rapidly established themselves as the UK’s leading cello ensemble, carving a reputation as accomplished exponents of both the

standard cello ensemble repertoire and a diverse array of specially commissioned arrangements and adaptations. This unique repertoire base and its exhilarating delivery on stage have won the group a following across the globe, with acclaimed performances on the festival scene across Europe and as far afield as South Korea.

As part of Wonderland Week, Cellophony will perform a new musical version of Alice in Wonderland, written specially for them by renowned young composer Richard Birchall and narrated by the Principal of Homerton College, Professor Geoff Ward. A pre-concert drink is included in the ticket price.

Ticket Price: £6 The Grand finale: Mad Hatter’s Tea Party 19th September, from 3pm We conclude our Wonderland Week with a glorious tea-party, Homerton alumni and the wider public are welcome to come and celebrate in style. Alongside Wonderlandinspired food and drink prepared by the College chefs, there will be face painting, entertainment and (of course) croquet on the lawn. There will also be a chance to meet Cuthbert, the College Caterpillar, who has relocated from Wonderland to Homerton along with his seven-foot toadstool! Please feel free to dress up and be, perhaps, a little bit Mad! Ticket Price: £10 adult £5 child

For more information on Wonderland Week, and to book your tickets, please visit wonderland.homerton.cam.ac.uk

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SENIOR TUTOR’S REPORT

UPDATE

There is a light bulb joke about Cambridge University. Question: ‘How many Cambridge academics does it take to change a light bulb?’ Answer (in outraged tones): ‘CHANGE??!!’ – however, whilst this tends to apply to Cambridge as whole it is certainly not an attitude recognisable at Homerton, where evolution proceeds at a visible pace. Having been at Homerton since 2002, previously as Graduate Tutor, I am used to the astonishing changes always taking place here – it is one of the joys of the place.

Dr Penny Barton

H

omerton has a reputation for being a friendly, happy, relaxed, caring College, and this is something we treasure. However, we are also concerned that sometimes the relaxation is a little contagious, and that more of our students have the academic capacity to be nudged from good 2.1s into First Class degrees. I have spent much of this first year in post looking at ways of raising the aspirations of the undergraduates whilst building the support needed to boost the confidence of individuals and enhance the academic environment of the college.

The first task was to show our Directors of Studies (DOSes) how much we appreciate and value their attention to our students: a firm, inspiring and enthusiastic DOS is key. As well as being able to offer a significant increase in remuneration, I have met individually with all DOSes to discuss their students’ progress and results, and we have also instigated an annual social dinner, joint with Tutors. It is our longer term aim to have as many DOSes as possible who are internal to the College, as this is something the students want and value.

The other side of the coin is that Cambridge can be a stressful place, and students need to be able to count on excellent pastoral support. This support is provided through a team of Tutors and also two in-house Counsellors and the College Student Health Advisor. It is also important to provide help in specific areas where students may have gaps in their academic preparation, and we have developed a programme of talks on academic skills such as time management, note-taking, essay

writing etc, supplemented by individual sessions with specialists as needed.

In an attempt to get to know all the undergraduates in the College, I meet all 180ish first years individually in the Lent Term – I hope by doing this every year I will eventually know all the students slightly, and they will know me. A lot of Senior Tutor time is taken up with meeting students who are doing less well, together with their DOS and Tutor, to help to find a strategy that will work for them. I find that taking this time with them individually is a good way to express to our students how much we care about them and their academic future. Small interventions of individual care and attention may be crucial: what seems at the time to be quite trite and obvious advice or encouragement may actually be critical for the person concerned, who may not, yet, have seen it all before.

The Easter Term is a roller-coaster of crises, and emotions run high as exams loom.

Last year for the first time the University scheduled exams in the new sports centre in West Cambridge, which is more than 3 miles from College. Whilst some toughened science students were accustomed to cycling the route regularly, for others the prospect of arriving flustered and breathless on a bike, or getting stuck in traffic on the constantly delayed buses, was the last straw. This particular crisis was tackled by the College and HUS arranging and paying for taxis to take students to their exams. At the same time unprecedented numbers of students ended up taking their exams in College – a rather alarming trend over the

whole University – which results in massive extra organisation by the Tutorial Office. As the exams finish, the results begin to come out, and in no time we are presenting prizes, pinning on gowns and hoods, and in 2014 wading through water several inches deep on our way to the Senate House.

Of course the College is not just the undergraduates. Graduate students form around half of our number: in 2014–15 Homerton was home to around 250 PGCE students and similar numbers of students studying for Masters and PhDs, who are involved in fascinating cutting edge research throughout the University.

In July we also run our Summer School, for students at UK maintained schools with the potential to apply to Russell Group Universities. Responding to feedback from students we increased the residential element to two nights, and included a wider variety of activities, such as a careers workshop and a detective challenge. Summer School places are hugely oversubscribed, and the calibre of participants is noticeably high.

An initial count shows that seven of last year’s participants went on to apply to us this year, which is very pleasing.

As I near the end of my second academic year as Senior Tutor I am now more accustomed to the amazing range of issues crossing my desk every day, more accustomed to improvising where needed, and more accustomed to trying to look wise.

Dr Penny Barton Senior Tutor

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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D E VE LOP M ENT U P DAT E UPDATE

You knew this already, but now we have proof: Homertonians are wonderful and generous people. You had a tremendous time as students, you’re interested in how your successors are getting on, and you want to support them. How do we know? Because over Easter, a team of 13 current students called alumni and asked. Among the 800 or so of you we called were teachers, actors, lawyers, a Formula 1 brake engineer, London’s number one sandwich maker, and a clown. Our students made notes littered with phrases like “amazing conversation... such a nice talk.... wonderful to hear about...”. If you took part in those conversations, then thank you!

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ver those two weeks, an amazing 48% of people we called chose to make a donation to help support student life here, raising nearly £80,000. That’s a terrific vote of confidence, and we are truly proud to know that there’s a body of past Homertonians who are connected, loyal and affectionate when it comes to this exceptional place and the people who each year move through it.

Many of you chose to support our two main funds: the Charter Fund which focuses your support on students in residence (through hardship funds, choral scholarships and sports prizes, and awards

for academic achievement), and the Kate Pretty Fund, which provides bursaries for graduate students. The Kate Pretty Fund did particularly well, perhaps because the problem is particularly acute – students graduating with their Bachelor’s degree these days are more likely to want to get a job and pay back their student loan, than to go on to graduate study, even if that was their hope and their dream. The Kate Pretty Fund makes the decision to pursue further study that little bit easier, so that talented students can become dedicated researchers. And along the way, it honours an exceptional Principal.

In 2014 we received three major pledges of support: Jan and Erika Hummel, parents of Maximilian (2011, MPhil Philosophy) and Charlotte (2014, MPhil Economic and Social History), have pledged £100,000 to create a Principal’s Fund. Recognising that Homerton needs to be nimble to make the most of this key moment in our history, the Fund is designed to allow the Principal to respond quickly to opportunities to take the College forward. We will invite further

investment in this Fund, which will set Homerton apart from other Colleges: the aim is to master the trick of being both fleet-footed and monumental!

We also welcomed an exceptionally generous pledge allowing us to offer the Horobin Award, amounting to the full University and College tuition fees for a woman graduate student with the potential to row at international level.

Thanks to our wonderful donors, we can offer this Award to five talented scholarathletes. The first, Daphne Martschenko, is profiled earlier in this edition.

The 1768 Society was launched during our Easter campaign to recognise alumni and friends of Homerton who are regular donors to the college, making a gift of at least £17.68 a month.

This giving society welcomes donors who give ongoing financial support, as these recurring funds enable the continuing success of an institution with deep roots – it was in 1768 that the College was founded in Homerton High Street, London.

Finally, we are hugely grateful to Santander UK plc, who have made a generous grant for student support. The grant will fund academic prizes to reward our second-year students for examination achievement and set them on course for success in their final year; and Masters and Doctoral students for exceptional academic performance. It will also help fund our Modern Languages and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies undergraduates during their compulsory year abroad.

University Campaign In the autumn Cambridge will be launching a fundraising campaign – led by the University and fully including all 31 Colleges.

The campaign will be a collaborative enterprise to help Cambridge better serve society through our extraordinary people and our inspiring environment, and Homerton is excited to be a part of it.

Matthew Moss Director of External Relations and Development

HOMERTON DEVELOPMENT OFFICE The Development Office coordinates all this activity on behalf of the students, Fellows and staff of Homerton. We are responsible for raising funds to benefit our students, we run events for our alumni and produce publications (like this one!), and we also promote the College within Cambridge and beyond, through the press and social media. The College is increasing support for this area of activity so that we can support past, present and future students, and the team has grown accordingly: Matthew Moss joined Homerton at Easter 2014 as Director of External Relations and Development. Previously he was Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at Cambridge, and the Vice-Chancellor’s principal speechwriter.

Erin Bond came back to Homerton at Easter 2015, as Deputy Director of Development. A US national, Erin had previously been a Junior Year Abroad student at Homerton in 1999–2000, and was recently a fundraiser for Anglia Ruskin University.

Matt Hann has joined the College as Alumni Relations Officer, having completed a PhD in political theory at Durham University.

Charlotte Jenner is the part-time Development Office Assistant, maintaining our database and providing degree transcripts. She previously served as Head of the Tutorial Office in the College.

Left to right: Jack, Charlotte, Matthew, Francis, Erin and Matt.

Francis Dearnley (2014–15) and Jack Hooper (2015–16) are former Presidents of the HUS working for a year as Communications Associates in the office. During their year, they work on a variety of projects using their experience of working closely with staff and students. One of their focuses is on general external communications, including through social media (Facebook, Twitter, and the news page of the Homerton website) and connecting with recent graduates.

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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HOMERTON UNION OF STUDENTS UPDATE

Homerton is unique among the Cambridge Colleges in having a full-time sabbatical President of its JCR, the Homerton Union of Students. The HUS has had another busy year, putting on events from a distinctive ‘not-forprofit’ Ball to Homerton’s inaugural ‘Masque-Rave Bop’, all made possible by a hard-working team of students.

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W

e are told on countless occasions that Homerton’s motto, respice finem, means ‘look to the end’ – often liberally translated as ‘there’s light at the end of the tunnel’; the tunnel being a gruelling, but undoubtedly rewarding, 3 or 4 year stretch of long nights in the library, poring over volumes you’re likely to never touch again in the forlorn hope that one day you might – just might – leave Homerton in a graduation gown.

In this flurry of academic activity, there is rarely time to reflect on extracurricular achievements. This article therefore, written as I end my time as JCR President, seems like a perfect opportunity to briefly cast off our motto and instead celebrate the successes and contributions our students have made over the past 12 months.

Even before the academic year began, my 15-strong Executive team were hard at work preparing for the year ahead. Special thanks must go to Lucy Taylor, our Academic Affairs and Liaison Officer, who had the gargantuan task of assigning all of the 175 incoming students a College family – a tradition at our College since the 1910s.

I am also grateful to Marina Anastasi and Lydia Redman (Entertainments) for their help planning the Freshers’ Week schedule for the undergraduate and PGCE cohorts who would be joining us, which is always a daunting task.

Throughout the year, too, the dedication of the JCR Exec has been constant, with each Officer being a valuable and deeplyappreciated colleague and friend. Our Welfare Officers, Leonardo Buizza and Bryn Porter, have been exceptional in their coordination of the Welfare team, and in providing myriad stress relief opportunities and unwavering support. I must also thank Eireann Attridge (Target and Access), for expertly and single-handedly running the largest Homerton College Shadowing Scheme to date, Kennedy Bloomer (Communications), for managing to keep all the students in the loop when I certainly couldn’t, and Will Hewstone (Services), for his innovative and successful themed Formal Hall ideas, including the spectacular black-tie Grand Formal (a tradition I am sure he will continue next year as Vice-President Internal).

Thanks also must go to Amy Angilley (Environmental and Ethical Affairs), for her involvement in helping to reduce paper wastage around the College, Anita Magee (Sponsorship), for securing an impressive

pledge of £2000 sponsorship for our sports teams from the construction company Balfour Beatty, and, last but by no means least, to James King, who masterminded Homerton’s inaugural Masque-Rave Bop, our most profitable Bop for some years (which bodes well for his time as Treasurer of the HUS in 2016)!

Whilst I’ve had a fantastic year managing this team, I could never claim all the credit for doing so, and my deepest appreciation goes to those members of the team who have managed to put up with working closely with me throughout the year. My most heartfelt thanks must go to Bobbie, our Office Manager, who has been the unwavering voice of reason throughout the year. Tim Hubener (Vice President Internal), Ruth Taylor (Vice President External), and Radley Cunliffe (Treasurer) have all been an invaluable source of support and advice when things got hectic or stressful, and I will deeply miss working alongside them all.

Of course, the HUS aren’t the only people organising things around here; Homerton has seen a number of regular events expanded and improved by the student body beyond measure this year. One prime example is the now famous (at least within this city) Harry Potter Formal Halls. Once again, we had over £12,000 of dinner tickets ‘disapparate’ in less than 2 minutes, and special thanks for helping me coordinate a trio of such magical evenings go to Millie Bartlett, Steph Trapp, Connie Bennett, and Katie Duce. Walking through Homerton’s very own Diagon Alley to see owls soaring across the Great Hall will surely be one of my enduring memories of Homerton. The May Ball Committee, spearheaded by James Blake and Ben Lauwers, also deserve enormous compliments for putting on the most ambitious Ball Homerton has seen in recent memory, featuring five stages spread across the College, and three international headline acts. The Ball was also run not-for-profit, in aid of the Sickle Cell Society, as a result of the tireless work of Poppy Ellis Logan. Not only did she provide the best musical lineup Homerton has seen for some time, but she also campaigned to raise awareness of Sickle Cell, showing that we needn’t choose between organising an amazing night to remember or highlighting and supporting severely underrepresented causes.

It has been fantastic to see so many Homertonians excelling in other fields, in all spheres and at all levels. Apart from the

HUS Harry Potter event

academic side of things, we’ve had Blues representation in sports such as rugby, football, netball, hockey and Ultimate Frisbee, amongst others. Our College teams continue to do us proud in the Cuppers leagues, with two of our tennis teams remaining unbeaten in their divisions. One of the greatest success stories is found in the recently resurrected Women’s Football team, who this year remained unbeaten in League 2, and won promotion back to the top flight, and gained the support of The Maypole pub in a highly successful campaign. The Boat Club have also enjoyed two successful Bumps campaigns this year, with two of the four crews winning Blades in the Mays. Homerton also contributed to Boat Race history, with Masters student Daphne Martschenko rowing in the first Women’s Boat Race to be held on the same day as that of the men.

In the world of music, Homerton College Music Society (HCMS) have put on a suite of stellar recitals, and have attracted the performance of many notable musical figures. Particular highlights of this year’s timetable have included a piano masterclass from Joanna McGregor, and a sublime violin concert from Madeleine Mitchell. Under the direction of Coleman Chan (President), HCMS’ links with the Haileybury Almaty School in Kazakhstan have been strengthened, and Michaelmas Term saw a visiting concert from the School, in which they demonstrated traditional Kazakh music using the national instrument, the Dombra. Furthermore, the

Charter Choir has also gone from strength to strength recently, culminating in tours to Croatia, Ireland and Monaco, and the recording of an album, Audite Finem (a title, or a command?).

Homerton Amateur Theatre Society (HATS) has also built upon last year’s successes, and, over the summer, took their adaptation of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s God on Trial to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it opened to excellent reviews and sell-out performances.

HATS have staged performances of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening, April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures, and Harold Pinter’s The Collection, alongside a plethora of original writing, to really cement HATS’ growing reputation amongst the wider Cambridge student body. To top off a prolific year, writer Emily Layton and director Miranda Slade plan to continue the model of God on Trial and take their original play, Two Thirds, to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.

It’s clear to see that it’s been a golden year for every aspect of student life at Homerton, and I feel very privileged to have been involved with it all, and to have been part of such a strong community. It is the warmth and kinship of Homertonians which will always stay with me, however, and which sets us apart from other Colleges. To paraphrase that much-loved College song, ‘home is (and always will be) in Homerton’!

Jack Hooper HUS President 2014–2015

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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UPDATE Homerton continues to grow and develop in innovative and exciting ways: construction of new postgraduate accommodation is already underway!

BURSAR’S REPORT T

The College is embarking on a period of focused and strategic growth.

Underpinning this growth is the need to invest in our students – those here now and future students, our Fellowship, our staff and the estate to ensure that, as a community, we are achieving the highest standards possible.

To attract the best Fellows we must provide opportunities and support; our Fellowship should be of a size and quality that attracts students and researchers and allows for most of our teaching to be undertaken “in-house;” the College buildings must continue to be well maintained and we want our student residences and catering to be considered some of the best in Cambridge; and importantly we must increasingly assist the funding of students and in particular graduate students to allow them to have a Cambridge education and enhance their experience.

The College enjoys more diversified income than many others. In July last year College Council approved a Financial Strategy that will provide a framework to guide the Council regarding budgets, assessment of risks and large scale projects.

With the Faculty of Education adjacent to Homerton and our strong reputation in teacher training we still attract a large number of PGCE students and they are an important part of the DNA of Homerton. With the PGCE course under political threat, despite the Faculty consistently receiving an outstanding evaluation, this may impact Homerton’s fee income and the rental income we derive from

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Deborah Griffin

the leases of our buildings to the Faculty. We aim to break even on our student catering and residence operations and are proud that we have only increased the costs to students by less than 5% over the past five years. Our student rents are amongst the lowest of all the Colleges and the rooms are some of the highest quality.

Income from the Conference Centre and letting student rooms during vacation forms a vital part of the College’s funding and will continue to do so going forward.

To this end, the College continues to invest in its conference business amidst increasing competition from other colleges and new rival facilities. We are also developing land adjacent to the College which was purchased as an investment in 2011 and will provide long-term rental income and allow us to plan more securely for the future. Planning consent was gained early in 2014 and construction is underway, with a completion date of the end of 2016.

To strengthen our teaching and improve the experience and achievements of our students we have already undertaken a number of initiatives in 2014–15, including increasing the stipends and allowances for Directors of Studies and Tutors, and increasing the number of teaching staff and Fellows for Law, Geography, and Natural Sciences, with a particular emphasis on Medicine in anticipation of receiving medical students in 2016. We have also increased the subvention to the Homerton Union of

Students to provide more support to student societies, and increased the level and range of prizes and awards for academic achievement.

Each summer vacation also sees considerable maintenance and project work undertaken throughout the College. From the mundane but essential works to replace boilers, to a rolling programme to decorate and refurbish student accommodation, the College is a hive of activity once the undergraduates leave at the end of June. In the summer of 2014, the work included a complete refurbishment of the Griffin bar and buttery which also houses the JCR, to provide improved media, lighting and ambiance. I am pleased to see the room is now well used and coffee sales have increased! The Macaulay Room was reinstated from the two offices it had become and a new supervision room created to increase much needed internal meeting space. The Principal’s residence was also extended and completely refurbished to improve the College’s entertaining space.

The College is also embarking on a 10 year plan to improve the Estate. This will be undertaken in 3 phases. Phase 1 will see a new graduate accommodation block of 120 bedrooms incorporating a new MCR that will create “a campus within a campus” for our graduate community, which we hope to be ready for student entry in 2016. Phase 2 will be a new Porters’ Lodge to provide a sense of arrival to the College. This will incorporate extensions to the Library to provide a new archive, exhibition space and a resource centre to house the College’s children’s literature collection. Queen’s Wing will be adapted to improve student leisure facilities (it already house the new College gym) and the provision of much-needed Fellows offices. This phase is planned to take place between 2016 and 2018. Finally, Phase 3 will see the development of new student facilities – yet to be determined – but likely to include a performance centre, music and art practice rooms, faith and meditative provision and leisure space.

In undertaking all this development, we are cognizant of the need to retain the beautiful gardens, openness and friendliness so welcomed by our students and visitors.

I look forward to keeping you up to date with the progress the College is making on all fronts.

Deborah Griffin OBE Bursar

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES UPDATE

Time marches on in the Library, as we

again see a year group graduate, and new keen faces replace them in the perpetual cycle of academic terms. Constant renewal is an integral part of the Library and keeps us on our toes to provide the best services to our students.

Liz Osman

T

he past 18 months have been extraordinary for the scale and range of donations to the College Library and Archive. We received a delightful donation of books from Miss Elizabeth Cook, a former member of the English Department, which covered a breadth of English literature, including children’s literature, as well as theology and history. We also acquired a substantial collection built up by Mr Malcolm Lealan of children’s annuals, over 5000 items, along with around 1000+ children’s books; and to mark 150 years since its publication, a wonderful donation from Professor Maria Nikolajeva of over 100 copies of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a wide variety of languages. Most recently John and Ann Corsellis donated a large number of books from their childhoods, which create a wonderful snapshot of what children were reading in the first half of the 20th century.

All the collections will now become an important part of the children’s literature collections of the Library, and eventually, we hope, a draw for researchers from across the country and beyond.

The Archive has also had a busy year: staging a number of exhibitions for alumni and college members, opening its doors to visitors from all over the country and abroad, answering written enquiries from former students, researchers, family historians from as far as Japan and Australia, as well as providing information for student projects.

It’s been a year of growth and change, with

more people coming to consult and use the documents and images in the collection – the music department is recording an obscure “College song”; whilst the catering department are considering if they could recreate a formal dinner based on an original old menu. All these were discovered during cataloguing of the student memorabilia and College ephemera collections held in the College Archive. The Archive has a unique photographic record of early College life: images of the College buildings and grounds, and student and staff group photographs which date back to the late 19th century. There are inevitable gaps in the collection, for example the period 1938–1946 is currently poorly represented in the collection. With the approaching 250th anniversary of the founding of Homerton Academy in 2018, the College Archivist is keen to hear from anyone who can help her to trace information and photographs.

Like the Library, the Archive too has received a number of notable donations and loans from former students and their families, retired senior members, as well as members of public: John Ball’s (retired Senior Lecturer in Education) extensive collection of school medals, certificates and early teaching aides was displayed in the Library for the Alumni Reunion Weekend in September 2014. Special thanks go to John as he has also subsequently lent a number of books for exhibitions, most recently relating to the teaching of French in honour

of Barry Jones. Dr Stephen Tomkins, formerly Director of Studies for Biological Sciences, deposited a unique collection of botanical illustrations by Nellie Riley (née Spain 1901– 1983). Nellie started drawing aged 13 and continued doing botanical illustrations of British wild flowers throughout her life. This collection contains more than two hundred annotated watercolours of plant specimens and was previously used in teaching plant ecology at Homerton College.

Among other memorable gifts was one by Mrs M. Couch. She wrote to the College saying: “while turning out the loft I came across a document belonging to my grandfather who attended a teacher training course at Homerton in the late 19th century, would it be of any use to anyone?”

Among the documents that she offered to the archive was “The Budget” – an 1890 copy of a manuscript student magazine from the College in the late 19th century. Its existence was known, but no copies survived in the Archive, a gap now partially filled. In January 1893 “The Budget” was replaced by the long-running “Homertonian”, this publication’s previous incarnation.

Such generous donations have necessitated buying extra storage to ensure the rare books can be housed logically and securely. New building plans are at a very early stage to create more space for these special collections, and hopefully to facilitate better access for researchers, family historians and others who wish to consult items.

We aim to be able to house the material separately from the main undergraduate Library in an arrangement that will suit both students and researchers better than the current ad hoc systems in place.

Consideration in this planning will be given to the creation of some sort of exhibition space in College, which would allow the Library and Archive to stage exhibitions on a larger scale than we are currently able, and to be accessible to the general public.

The Librarian and Archivist wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many other donors, to both the Library and Archive, who have generously presented material to us over the course of the year.

Liz Osman Librarian Svetlana Paterson Archivist

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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UPDATE Late in 2014 – just in time for Christmas – Homerton received a very special delivery: 600 copies of the Charter Choir’s first CD, professionally released with EM Records. The disc, entitled Audite Finem, traces Homerton’s history through a selection of choral favourites from the last 450 years. Composers featured include Henry Purcell, S. S. Wesley, C. V. Stanford, Greta Tomlins, Peter Maxwell Davies, John Hopkins, and Daniel Trocmé-Latter. It is selling well, with already several hundred copies sold worldwide.

Homerton alumni and friends can obtain a copy directly from our website or from the Porters’ Lodge (priced £10 + P&P).

CHARTER CHOIR

The Charter Choir’s first CD

FORTHCOMING DATES Sunday 23rd August, 11am: Choral Eucharist, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich Tuesday 25th August, 6.30pm: Choral Vespers, St Charles, Monaco Wednesday 26th August, time TBC: Concert, Notre Dame de l’Assomption, Cabris, France Thursday 27th August, 8.30pm: Concert, Protestant Church, Antibes, France Friday 28th August, 8.30pm: Concert, Protestant Church, Cannes, France Saturday 29th August, 8pm: Concert, Chapelle Victoria, Grasse, France Sunday 30th August, 10.30am: Choral Mass, Monte Carlo Cathedral, Monaco Saturday 26th September: Alumni Reunion Concert, Homerton College Sunday 29th November, 6pm: Advent Carol Service Tuesday 1st December, 6.30pm: Homerton Carol Service

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Daniel Trocmé-Latter

T

he Choir’s tour to Ireland in August 2014 was a great success, with performances in Dublin and Galway, and a tour of the Guinness brewery. The Alumni Weekend again featured a short concert by the Charter Choir, very well attended. This summer we will visit the French Riviera and Monaco, with a busy week of concerts and services (see details below) in August.

In March the Charter Choir sang to an impressed audience of Homerton Fellows and distinguished guests at the Charter Dinner, and also featured on BBC Radio 3’s International Women’s Day celebrations.

Other special events this year include joint services with the choirs of Magdalene, Churchill, and Robinson this year, Evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and singing for a wedding in Cambridge.

Alumni are always welcome at Charter Choir services and concerts. The Charter Choir website (www.homerton.cam. ac.uk/charterchoir) contains full details of sung services. Other forthcoming dates of interest are listed below. The website also contains biographies, and details of tours and recordings. Alumni can also follow the Charter Choir on their Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/ homcharterchoir.

Dr Daniel Trocmé-Latter Director of Music

RSMA UPDATE

The Retired Senior Members Association The College RSMA is flourishing. Founded exactly 30 years ago for retired staff

John Axon

living “in the Cambridge area” so that they could remain in touch with College, and with each other and join in many of the College functions they had enjoyed while they were actively on the staff. It created an important support network, which still continues to this day and is unique in the University.

I

t began with a handful of members and gradually expanded to its current size of eighty-five, but no matter how generously the area is defined, only about thirty RSMs live in the Cambridge area. Of those, about twenty-five regularly come in to our monthly social events, give or attend seminars, College Formal Halls and other College occasions. The remaining fiftyseven members have settled elsewhere in the British Isles, Europe and Asia; our most distant members live in Australia. For anyone interested in the origins of the RSMA there is a more detailed description of how it all began on the College website: just follow the Retired Senior Members link.

Since that beginning in 1984 communications systems and College have changed dramatically. Digital communications, 3G and 4G mobile phones and social networks have revolutionised the way people communicate with each other, though the chosen method is agerelated. News in Cambridge today can be disseminated anywhere on the day it breaks, in fact the University publishes its own Daily News Digest to disseminate news instantly. The potential of these new technologies for the RSMA can be illustrated quite simply. Shortly after its inception RSMA news was spread by telephone, letter, or a newsletter, whose frequency depended on the current Chairman (so far all the Chairmen have been men but that

must surely change). The annual newsletter developed from a couple of sheets of paper to a folded, multiple sheet, then added black and white photographs, and finally colour photographs. The Association was fortunate indeed to have two members who were skilled artists and communicators and had the facilities to produce a high quality magazine each year.

In general, Cambridge members meet in College monthly during term, give seminars on topics of their own research or personal interest, support a choir now appropriately called the “Emeritus choir” but at first known affectionately known as the “Crumblies”, have a thriving Book Club, continue their research interests, and so on.

This year RSMs began a series of visits to the great Cambridge college libraries, including St John’s Old Library, the Pepys Library at Magdalene, the Wren Library at Trinity and the Library at Corpus Christi College.

Other excursions will undoubtedly follow next year: Cambridge has a great many institutions worth a visit. The nature of such visits will depend on the members who happen to be in Cambridge at the time: the future is promising. Yet behind these social and collegiate events the quietly efficient almoner, who somehow listens and watches for news and spreads the word accordingly, enables the RSMA to rejoice with colleagues’ successes and support those of our number in need. And this is

important, for some of our members are in their nineties.

The concept of mutual support also works between the RSMs and College. In the past RSMs have collectively made many donations to College, for example to help the gardens programme, to present books or artefacts or pictures. The latest example is the annual Charter Bursary, set up to celebrate the award of the College’s Charter.

Its purpose was to give financial assistance to Homerton graduates so that they could undertake some kind of long vacation work with children to enhance their classroom experience in the PGCE programme to follow. Their reports are published in the annual newsletter and presented at the AGM in September each year. Next year this particular programme will come to an end as its funds are exhausted, but a decision about a similar scheme will be made at the AGM next year. At the same time we will consider whether other kinds of support might be given to new areas of the College curriculum. This has yet to be debated.

Retired our members might be but many are very active in their various professional fields. Recently, for example, RSM members have published books on education, have published fiction for young teen-age readers, been involved in writing the libretto for a musical, been invited to take part in Ofsted inspections, and been involved in a range of educational advisory panels here and overseas. Others have sailed their boats around the world, some have taken flying lessons. Many have raised money for charity, of which the most recent was one RSM member who cycled from Homerton, London, to Homerton, Cambridge and raised over a thousand pounds for a children’s charity. And these are simply a few recent examples.

Finally, the opportunity to bring the RSMA into the remit of the College Development Office is a positive development this year.

It makes good sense as well opening up new possibilities by positioning the Alumni Association and the RSMA together. Given the ease of mobile communications it might be that the network of RSMA members around the country might be linked to the network of Alumni groups, so as to foster contact between their members. At this stage there is much to conjecture, but all that is for the future.

Dr John Axon Chairman

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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OBITUARIES UPDATE

Mr Mike Bibby died February 9th 2015, Senior Lecturer in Education 1970–1989 and RSMA member 1989–2015 Mrs Elizabeth Birkby (née Owen) died 13th October 2014 aged 90, Cert Ed. 1942–1944 Mrs Mary Patricia Brown (née Chadwin) died August 2014, Cert Ed 1951–1953 Dr Helen Bunton died April 2015 aged 95, Senior Lecturer in Physics from 1955 and RSMA member Miss Christine Carpenter died peacefully in her own home on 23rd February 2015 aged 107, Senior Lecturer in Arts and Ceramics c.1950–1970 Perhaps not many colleagues will remember Christine Carpenter. She taught pottery in the Art Department and was already quite a senior member of the College when John Murrell and I joined in 1968. In fact she was my ‘mentor’ (though we did not use such terms then) on my first teaching practice supervision in a Huntingdonshire primary school. She was very accepting of my youthful naivety and total lack of relevant experience and gave me the confidence to believe that I would soon get the hang of it (though I don’t think I ever did!). She was one of those rather formidable spinster ladies who dominated Homerton at that stage, and though her manner was calm and quiet (the ‘quiet word’ was a major source of instruction in the Combination Room in those days – disregarded at your peril) there was quite a steely side to her. She was close to Dame Beryl and exerted considerable influence in the early days of the Academic Board, both inside and outside the meeting.

David Bridges, April 2015 Mrs Greta Cooper (née Markham) died 2014, Cert Ed. 1948–1950

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Mrs Joan Drane (née Richardson) died in April 2015, Cert Ed. 1960-1963’ Mr Andrew Eddyshaw died March 2013, B.Ed. 1994–1998 In the early part of 2014 I learnt with great sadness of a friend and past student at Homerton who had passed away. Andrew Eddyshaw, a B.Ed student I had the privilege of knowing and studying with, left us and will be fondly remembered by many people.

Together with Andy’s partner Mary, and some friends and colleagues of his, we spent a day in May together celebrating his life. He was a well respected man who knew many people in his home town of Shrewsbury, and taught in a nearby primary school.

Frequently referred to were the different sayings he had such as “ren!” which he’d say as a shortening of horrendous!; also his unfortunate luck with cars (the ‘Cream Dream’ car- a cream second hand Rover- that he owned needing serious and frequent mechanical attention); and with his gardening skills whereby he cut one plant in his garden back with vigour, pointed his finger at the plant, and said “You’ve got one chance!”

Also a frequent topic: his golfing interest which had started, so several people agreed in the various Shrewsbury pubs we visited, with a rather disastrous induction where he struggled to grip the club properly, but following some golf lessons as a present for his fiftieth birthday, he then went on to play regularly and with much improved skill!

“It’s simple: once again I’m treated with derision” he’d say in complete earnestness, describing some situation, his listeners never quite sure if he was joking or not, until the smile appeared, irony spilling into the room; “here’s my trusty steed” he would say, proudly pointing to an old but solid looking bike; the walks he’d take us on, showing us proudly the Shropshire countryside.

On one occasion we had been sitting in Andy’s local and he pointed to a sea weathered man with a long white beard around the age of sixty sitting at the bar, talking to some people about his various maritime adventures. Andy in a hushed

voice described how some people had put all the dates this man had spoken about, all the time periods he’d mentioned when he’d been at sea in this port and at that place, and they’d worked out that (while the seafaring stories told were fascinating) the man himself would have been at least 105 years old if all his accounts were to be believed.

When I was at Homerton I was considering going to America (with Camp America). Andy persuaded me to go, saying opportunities like that should be seized.

I was in America for three months and revelled in the chaos of New York, drove through the colossal forests of Pennsylvania, and listened to bands play in Nashville.

We spoke often of the literature we read; of the books that can’t be classified, of the short story genre, of the craft of the classical authors. A handful of books I received from him over the years: a poetry book, and a fascinating book that has tension throughout every chapter, quietly triumphant on my book case. How he enjoyed and revelled in some of the literature we studied and discussed in seminar groups at Homerton.

How Andy visited us in Germany and we saw castles, the Rhine, and sat up one summer evening outside in a bar until the early hours, the temperature never cooling in the darkness.

How proud he was of his qualification from Homerton: how he joked even the postman would be told about his degree.

I addressed all my letters to him with his full University title. How he enjoyed living, studying and socialising with people in Cambridge, and visiting some of his favourite pubs there.

He was such an entertaining person, and I will miss him very much. He was the sort of person that could make anyone laugh, and he will never be forgotten. Andy was an absolute pleasure to know.

Simon Watson June 2014 Mr Peter Fickling died 3rd October 2014, PGCE 1971–1972 Ms Jean May Fisher (née Seath) died 14th April 2014, Cert Ed. 1966–1969 Mrs Frances Hardy (née Essen) died 8th August 2014, Cert Ed. 1959–1961 As one of the last of the 2 year trained teachers, she then went on to the Royal

Academy of Music to complete her studies.

She was an accomplished musician, playing the piano, the cello and the organ, and her beautiful contralto voice added warmth and depth to any choir.

Frances was a competitive sportswoman, and loved playing both cricket and lacrosse, to county standard.

As a teacher she inspired her pupils to work hard and to enjoy what they were doing, whether it was music or physical education.

Discipline was never a problem for Frances: her deportment, manner and voice commanded attention and her students admired and respected her in equal measure.

We, her friends were treated to her lovely sense of humour and her wonderful, infectious laugh. She was always the voice of reason, sensible, down to earth, and her integrity and determination, her vitality and energy made her an ideal companion for our time at Homerton.

Music was to be her passion and on her travels with her husband Brian she started choirs in Holland and Saudi Arabia, where much subterfuge was needed to keep the choral activities of the expatriates secret.

Frances taught at Ashford school in Kent until she retired in 2004 and was the organist at St Nicholas’ Church at Leeds in Kent for 20 years.

She was devoted to her two children and her grandchildren – family was her highest priority.

Sadly for the last 8 years or so she succumbed to the ravages of Lewy-Body Dementia. This heart breaking disease is a combination of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, such a cruel end for such a vibrant, talented lady.

Frances died on the 8th August 2014, but she will never be forgotten.

Violeta Stafford, October 2014 Mrs Freda Hills (née Stickney) died 3rd August 2014, Cert Ed. 1932–1934 Mr Barry Jones died 1st April 2015, Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages and Fellow Homerton College, 1971–2010, Emeritus Fellow

2010–2015 and RSMA member 2010–2015 An inspirational and innovative language educator and much loved member of the College for many years. A full obituary can be found on the College website.

Mrs Pamela Ann Marshall (née Johnson) died 27th September 2013 (notified 16th July 2014) Cert Ed. 1961–1964 Pamela Ann Johnson was born in 1943 in Leicester but moved later to Northamptonshire when her father a civil engineer was transferred. She was brought up in the village of Moulton and was very much a country girl. She loved animals, plants and the seasons of nature.

At primary school she was happy and successful. However, when an older and bigger boy bullied her she stuck his head in the school railings where the fire brigade finally managed to extract him. She always remained feisty and single minded but was also renowned for her kindness and loyalty. She took a rare county scholarship to Northampton High School for Girls which she loved and in due course proceeded to Homerton. Her ambition had always been to teach and this she did in schools in the Fens, Northampton, Oxford, Dorset and Yorkshire as she followed and supported her husband’s career. However she still managed, during her pregnancies and house moves, an Open University Degree in Physics which strengthened her teaching portfolio still further.

I met Pam whilst we were students at Cambridge and married in 1965. We have four children, two boys and two girls and now six grandchildren, three of each sex! Pam loved them all and spent much time sharing their joys and sorrows. After careful consideration and preparation she was received into the Catholic Church over thirty years ago and it became a central part of her life. She worked hard and enthusiastically on committees and front line for Children in Need, Tradecraft, Inner Wheel and also the organising of pilgrimages for her church and deanery.

Some of these highly organised trips introduced her fellow parishioners not only to Walsingham and Lourdes but also at different times to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Sicily, Spain, Israel and Jordan. Pam was tireless in her passion for learning and exploring the new and also for sharing it with both friends and pupils at school. She will be sorely missed dying at the early age of 70.

However hers was a fulfilled and passionate life well lived.

David Marshall, August 2014 Mrs Audrey McGregor (née Webb) died 23rd March 2014, Cert Ed. 1941–1943 Mrs Josephine Mary Minty (née Frith) died September 2014, Cert Ed. 1949–1951 Mrs Fiona Shields (née Shute) Cert Ed. 1973–1976 Fiona died following a brief illness in Galle, Sri Lanka on 23rd May 2014. A fantastic alumnus lost to this world.

Ross Shields, Husband Mrs Barbara Studd (née Thomas) Died July 2014, Cert Ed 1955–1957 Barbara Eileen Studd (née Thomas) known as Judy died at the age of 75. She began a two year teacher training course at Homerton in 1955 and stayed on to complete a supplementary course in physical education. Born in Penrhiwceiber, a mining village in the Aberdare Valley; much of her life centred on the local Welsh Congregational Chapel. Although after the age of 18 she lived all her life in England she remained Welsh to the core and she was staunchly proud of her Welsh heritage. Her two great loves were music and hockey. She had a beautiful singing voice and sang with a number of outstanding choirs and had especially happy memories of singing with CUMS while she was in Cambridge. She was a gifted hockey player and enjoyed a very successful career as a Welsh international.

She began her teaching career at Priorswood School, Taunton, where she was to meet her husband George who joined the staff 2 years later. They were married in August 1963. After several moves they finally settled in Cheshire in 1977. She is survived by husband George, a son Rhodri and daughter Rhian.

George Studd, August 2014 Mrs Cynthia Sturgess (née Smith) died March 2014 in Spain, Cert Ed. 1946–1948 Ms Margaret Todman died 19th January 2015, Cert Ed. 1942–1944

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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OUR DONORS UPDATE

1 March 2014 – 30 June 2015

The Principal, Fellows, students and staff of Homerton College wish to thank alumni and friends who have generously made donations to the College over the last year. Every effort has been made to ensure the list is accurate; do contact us if you believe we have made an omission.

The College would in addition like to thank those who wish to remain anonymous and those who have expressed interest and intent in leaving a legacy gift to Homerton in their Will. We are also very grateful for those members who give up their valuable time in support of the College.

Kathleen Abbott Carolyn J Adams Jean Addison-Fitch Theresa Y Adenaike Evroulla Agathangelou Roger Ali Rosemary L Allan Alison E Allen Della A Allen Mary C Alpass Lisa J Aspinall Elizabeth Atkin Tamsin J Austoni Charlotte A Bacon Joan M Baker Gillian M Baker Alyson Baker Anne M Bambridge Gillian Barford Amy Barnecutt Sylvia J Barratt-Eatough Bernice A Barton Gayatri Basu Naomi A Baynes Catherine M Beavis Dora Beeteson (in memory of Fran Essen) Margaret A Benson Sheila M Berry Rosemary A Billett Marianne J Billitt Linda M Birtwhistle Jane S Bishop Wendy Bishop Margaret Blott Patricia A Blythe Erin L Bond

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Tobias A Bown Patricia A Bradley Victoria Brahm Schild Ruth R Brass Ruth M Briant Jane N Brind Alison Brinklow Caroline L Brook Rosemary J Brooke Alison E Buck Matthew Buck Sandra E Burmicz Jacqueline A Butler Cathleen M Butler Kirsty N Byrne Marjorie Caie Andrea Caish Joanna Carlton Christine Carne Susan B Carter Kim C Chaplin Anna J Chapple Shruti Chaudhri Jingdong Chen Raymond C Cilia Frances M Clare Patricia Clare Jean M Clarke The late Muriel Cole Lavinia F Colley Sally J Collins Colin Cook Eileen P Coombes Karen E Coombs Lorna Cordell-Smith Jane Coverdale Olivia Craig

Lesley-Anne and Gareth Crooks Bernadette M Crossley Margaret E Crowe Sheila A Crowther Pauline M Curtis Patricia Cusack Gary Dadd Margaret B Dale Diana Dalton Lesley A Daniel Clare M Danielian Laura E Davenport Eliza M de Uphaugh Anthony J Delany Adam R Dennett Susan Dickinson Christopher T Dix Marguerite M Donkin Kathleen L Down Mary L Dowse Patricia Drake Helen M Draper Sheila A Duncan Wendy A Dunnett Alison Dunphy Ruth K Eccles Jonathan D Edge Amanda J Edwards Jane E Edwards Margaret Eedle Cameron C Evans Janet K Farley Sam Farmer Adrienne H Ferguson Marilyn Fersht Lidia Fesshazion

Gillian E Figures Mike Flude Sarah Flynn Marion W Foley Anna C Foster Miriam France Dorothy Franklin Jenifer A Freeman Maureen R Frost Robert Fulford Jill Fuller Margaret G Funnell Pamela J Gaddes Diana M Gallop Gillian M Ganner Andrew and Scarlett Gard John D Gersh Joan H Gibson Dennis S Gilbey Kathryn A Gilden Charlotte Gimwade Sarah E Gordon Jane M Grant John M Gray Roger Green Joan V Gregory Deborah Griffin Jill M Grimshaw Avril H Growcott Mary Hackett Diana Hadaway Anne Hafford Hannah M Hames Mark D Hanley-Browne Ann F Hardie Elizabeth C Harding The late Frances M Hardy Julia A Harker Coral Harrow Clare F Harvey Dan M Harvitt Shirley D Haslam Corinne M Haworth Kathleen Hayward Claire M Heald Neil J Hennessy Gillian M Hewin Catherine J Hicks Jill R Hicks Susan C Hill Doreen E Hobbs Gregoire A Hodder Ian C Hodgson Nell G Holden Joan Hollinghurst Sarah E Holmes Richard A Hopkins Anne M Howell Rosemary J Howells Ann E Hughes Angela M Hulme Anne Hulse

Jan and Erika Hummel David and Lyan Huntley Leonie M Hyde Emily Ikelle Beryl A Izzard Ann E Jackman Joan Jacobs Amanda E James Katherine James Sally E Jaspars Jean E Jeffery Ann Jennison Ruth E Jerram Elizabeth C Jestica Katy M Johnson Valerie A Johnson The late Margaret I Johnson Paul R Jones Jocasta Jones Daria Kalyaeva Chloe J Kee Alison L Kent Christine A Kershaw Michaela R Khatib Ann J Kirkby Thomas E Kitchen Lisa E Knight Audrey C Knighton Joy M Kohn Arjun Kumar Carolyn M Kural Gwendoline E Lancaster Laura F Latham David J Lawrence Teresa Lea Yvonne L Leater Gek-Ling Lee Lynn Lemar Rachel I Lewington Xiajuan Li Brenda M Liddiard Chistine M Lincoln Angela P Lipson Alison B Littlefair Sally M Lomax Sally E Mabon Rachel M Macdonald Ann-Marie Mackay The late Margaret S Mackie Christine W Macpherson Susan E Main Judy N Manson The late Pamela A Marshall Sheila A Martin Maria-Esther MartinezCantu Judith O Martin-Jenkins Jane R Matthews Elizabeth M McCaul

Susan McFarland Elizabeth J McLean Matthew A McNally Victoria M McNeile Elisabeth A McOwan Patricia Mee Brenda C Meek Caroline C Melrose Margaret Meredith Kerry A Merriam Anthony R Metcalfe Grahame B Miles Benjamin Mills Karen L Miranthis Helen M Mitchell Robyn A Mitchell Denise M Mitchell Fiona Morgan Ian Morrison Sidella Morten Matthew Moss Remi H Moynihan Dilys E Murch Louise M Mursell Clare L Myers Maria Nikolajeva Carole R Nolan Catherine and John Nutter Wendy E Oakley Imogen C Ogilvie Helen E O’Hara James V O’Neill

Christopher P OwenSmith Evelyn P Parker Christine A Parkyn Esme J Partridge Lucy A Partridge Catherine L Payne Bridget E Peachey Laura M Penrose Augustine J Pereira Rebekah Perry Susan M Pinner Moira E Pitchford Elizabeth R Plumpton Marion A Pogson Mary G Powles Beatrice M Pryce Krista A Pullan Christine Purkis Peter H Raby Elizabeth W Rainsbury Joseph J Randall-Carrick Holly E Ranger Sarah J Rawlins Karen W Ready Rosemary A Rees Marilyn S C Reid Amanda J Renwick Susan Rescorla Vivien Rink Margaret Rishbeth Margaret C Robbie Daniel W Roberts

Anne R Rogers Alexander J Rolfe Hayley Romain E J Rose Barbara A Rumley Phillipa C Rushby Catherine Ryder Gillian M Sallis Helen R Sandle-Baker Santander UK plc Elizabeth R Sartain Ruth A Saunders Timothy D Scott Mark Sendell Rosslyn J Sendorek Alice A Severs Denise E Shakespeare Salih M Sheikh Christopher A Shephard Helen E Sheppard Barbara Sherlock Vera E Sklaar Annette Smallbone Pamela Smart Rebecca Smith Emma J Smith Anne Sparrowhawk Penelope M SpencerChapman Patricia Spurgeon Violeta Stafford Alison M Steer Sheila E Stephens

Doris Stephenson Susan J Stirrup Patricia M Stockdale Penelope J Stokes Giles D Storch Patricia K Stott Frances R Surridge Josephine M Sutton Jennifer D Svrcek Sarah Taylor Paula M Tebay Elizabeth R Telford Elizabeth L Thomas Brenda J Thompson James D Thomson Marjorie Thorley Zena P Tinsley Jacqueline M Tizzard Victoria M TrueBhattacharyya Marilyn J Tullys Eric Wing Nin Tung Elizabeth Tunnicliffe Frances E Turner Joanna T Turner Emma Turner Kenichi Udagawa Victoria L Urding Tessa M Vivian Brigid Vousden Emma R Vyvyan Wendy A Wale Peter M Warner

Anna M Waters Ruth Watkin Janet S Webb Joyce L Welch Dilys West Maureen P Weston Maralyn Westwood Alison M White David Whitebread Carolyn F Whyte Diana M Wilkins Janet Wilkinson Heather R Wilkinson Gwendolyn J Williams Eunice M Williams Rhiannon D Williams Elizabeth A Wilson Sara Wolfson Janet R Woodford Chikako Woodgate Sally A Woods Di Wu Mary Wyatt Rhiannon L Wynne Hillary J Young If you would like to join the many others who have given to College please complete the donation form on the reverse of the address sheet.

MA graduation, 2015

HOMERTON COLLEGE

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YOUR LETTERS

UPDATE

We are always delighted to receive your emails and letters, and in future editions would love to feature more of those we receive. So if you have a memory of the College that you would like to share, or to update us on your life after Homerton, please get in touch. You can email us at development@homerton.cam.ac.uk or write to us at: Development Office Homerton College Hills Road Cambridge CB2 8PH

T

hank you so much for the kind wishes from the Principal, Fellows and Alumni staff on my 80th Birthday. I have indeed celebrated in style, starting last January and continuing up to the present. It has been a wonderful year of travel, theatre, and meeting up with friends and family.

Highlights have been a party at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall and a trip to Ecuador. My son, inspired by his father’s accounts of Darwin’s letters in the Old Library at Christ’s College, went to the Galapagos Islands and married an Ecuadorian, all – you could say – as a result of my time at Homerton.

The College has given me a lifetime of opportunity, with teaching in Bristol, Berkhamsted, Vietnam, Further Education in Chester and a B.Ed degree from Liverpool University. It has allowed me time to bring up four children. I have been very fortunate.

I returned to Homerton for the first time two or three years ago and was very impressed by the new buildings – well, new since my time. The librarian asked me to write a memoir about being a student in the early 50’s which is now in the College archives. It was a different place then, but sixty years on, I continue to value what Homerton and Cambridge taught me.

With my very best wishes to you all, Patricia Green (Homerton, 1953)

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C

areers advice was somewhat cursory at the Grammar School I attended in the early 1970’s – girls were asked just one question, ‘Nursing or teaching?’ and so, being squeamish, I opted for teaching without further thought. No-one questioned my motivation for applying to Homerton and in September 1974 I was unpacking my bags in Room ABC123. Summer Term brought teaching practice in a school off Mill Lane – and a very different perspective of Cambridge, none of the children in my class had ever been into the city centre, walked along the backs or been inside a college – which led to a class trip which I don’t think would meet current health and safety requirements as we simply took the bus! I found that I was drawn to working with the children who found school most difficult, those who struggled to focus and were both distracted and distracting to others and started to wonder, somewhat belatedly, whether I was following the right course.

During my college holidays I worked as a ‘Home Help’ for the local authority, providing support for older people and those with physical disabilities to enable them to continue to lie independently – my role was to cover other people’s holidays so I met an astounding number of people all with interesting stories to tell and glad to have a new audience. I began to think maybe social work was where my future lay, although broaching this with my personal

tutor revealed to me that not to want to teach was, at that time, an unspeakable heresy within the college. She told me, emphatically, that I was deluded and would soon see the error of my ways as only education could change lives.

Fortunately I was not dissuaded as I have worked in the Social Care field ever since. My first job was in a generic team where we did everything – and at all times – no ‘out of hours’ teams then.

Subsequently I worked with challenging children with learning difficulties in a very specialised unit but working for Social Services became less rewarding as the role of the Social Worker evolved from problem solving to being a financial gatekeeper, when we no longer looked for the best solutions but offered people only the economical options, I found I was out of step and frustrated by the bureaucracy.

A move from the statutory sector to the voluntary sector was reinvigorating as now part of the role was to challenge the very restrictions which had been hampering me.

During the 1990’s I was a Senior Manager for Age Concern Staffordshire, helping to grow an organisation with 17 staff based in one office until we had over 300 staff, seven offices and over 500 volunteers supporting older people through a wide range of services. Subsequently I was CEO of a charity supporting carers in North London, until when my parents became

frail and unwell I became a carer myself.

Enforced early retirement has offered a new perspective and the opportunity to be variously trustee, chair and income generator for various local charities and groups.

For the past few years my husband, Chris, and I have been developing a relationship with a village in Eastern Uganda, Kyemula. The big aid agencies do not operate in the more remote villages where there are no roads for their 4X4’s.

Chris met the village elder, Milton Makabilia, when he was best man at Chris’s cousin’s wedding in Mbale. Milton impressed Chris with his insight into how some of the problems confronting his village might be solved – and Milton was delighted to find someone who listened – his previous encounters with the aid community had led him to think that no-one listens, they simply tell you what they think needs to be done. Together we have fixed the village well – previously three children had drowned getting water from the river – set up a micro-credit scheme managed by ladies from the village – they buy cloth to make clothes to sell and seed to grow additional crops to sell – bought some community goats – the pedigree input is

improving the stock of those already on the village and more families now own at least one kid. Last Christmas Milton told us his next priority was the 34 older people in the village who have very poor housing, often no more than a hut of broken mud bricks and tattered banana thatch, and many of whom are struggling to raise grandchildren orphaned by Aids. He felt that rebuilding the huts was not the best solution and together we explored the options. Milton held community meetings to involve everyone and to let them know that they had a say in the solution. Milton’s preference was to build a community home where the older people could support each other, grow some crops and look co-operatively after the children. Over the summer he has masterminded the building of Kyemula’s first community home with 8 bedrooms, a big community lounge and kitchen – and a garden which already has crops planted. Our next task is to spread the word about the model we have developed – and of course to raise the money for Kyemula’s second community home!

Best wishes to all, Karen Whitaker (Woods) (Homerton, 1974)

T

he HUS (Homerton Union of Students) is unique among student unions in Cambridge for the close working relationship it has with the Fellows and staff, and continues to be the only JCR of all 31 Colleges to have a sabbatical President.

Despite its idiosyncrasy, very little is known about the union’s history. Apparently it was very politically active in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and we’ve heard rumours of HUS events that (for the right or wrong reasons!) swiftly passed into Cambridge folklore – but details are hard to come by.

To rectify this, we would love to hear from any former committee members who have interesting stories to tell from their time on the union. In the long-run we’d love to be able to add a section to the archive, for what must be an absorbing segment of Homerton’s history only remembered by a small number of former students.

The more mischievous the memories, the better.

Francis Dearnley (HUS President, 2013/14) Jack Hooper (HUS President, 2014/15) Ruth Taylor (HUS President-Elect, 2015/16)

Above Karen Whitaker’s picture of 1F Romsey School visiting Kings College

HOMERTON COLLEGE

29

ANNUAL REUNION UPDATE

Friday 25th to Saturday 26th September 2015 PROGRAMME Friday 25th September 19.30 for 20.00 Dinner in the Great Hall

Saturday 26th September 09.30 – 10.30 Registration 10.30 – 12.00 Anniversary Group meetings Retired Senior Members Association AGM 12.30 Lunch in the Great Hall

Preceded by addresses from the Principal, the Keeper of the Roll, and the President of the HUS 14.30 – 15.30 ‘Alice through the Ages’

Dr Zoe Jaques, Fellow of the College, takes us to Wonderland in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice. She will introduce the history of the text’s original telling and explore how subsequent translations – through print, illustration, film, song and even stamp-cases and biscuit tins – have reimagined this childhood favourite.

College building tours and Garden tours 16.00 – 17.00 A performance by the Charter Choir

College building tours and Garden tours 17.00 – 18.00 Tea 19.30 for 20.00 Dinner

30

HOMERTONIAN

The library will be open during the afternoon of the 26th, with an exhibition accompanying ‘Alice Through the Ages’ as well as a selection of photographs of Homerton past from the archives.

Please do book early if you’re able to; this not only greatly assists the organisation and planning of the Reunion Weekend, but also increases the possibility of our being able to accommodate all those who wish to attend.

This year, bookings will close on Friday, 4th September. Please do ensure that we receive your booking and payment by this date.

The best way of booking for the Reunion Weekend is via our bookings page, homertonalumnireunion. eventbrite.co.uk. If you wish to book using the booking form attached to the back cover of the Homertonian, please do make sure you post it in good time. Bookings can also be made over the phone, by card only, by calling 01223 747066.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the College in September!

As a lifelong member of Homerton and the University of Cambridge, you are entitled to a number of benefits. You are most welcome to visit Homerton and use our College Library, Dining Hall, Buttery and Bar. Subject to availability, you can also book overnight accommodation at preferential rates, and book function rooms for private dinners and events.

News 4

Chancellor’s Visit

5

New Head Porter

6

‘Education Nobel’

7

Poetry by Heart

Features 8

Rowing into the History Books

10 Fellow in Focus 12 Witness to History 14 Wonderland Week

Updates 3

Principal’s Welcome

15 Senior Tutor’s Report 16 Development Update 18 A View from the HUS 20 Bursar’s Report 21 Library and Archives 22 Charter Choir

14

For further information about alumni benefits, please email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk

Welcome!

Anniversaries are on our mind this year. In September we’re celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Alice with Wonderland Week – a medley of events for researchers, alumni and the general public (see inside).

And though it’s five years since our Royal Charter as a full College of the University, we’re thinking of how to mark our 250th Anniversary in 2018! We rather enjoy being both old and new at the same time, and baffling the uninitiated by being both the newest and the biggest Cambridge College (see back cover). Lewis Carroll would have enjoyed that nonsensical but factual phenomenon, one feels.

The 2015 Boat Race was an event whose anniversary future generations will doubtless remember: the first time the women’s boats raced before the same audience, on TV and on the riverside, as the men. Thanks to a superbly generous donation, a Homertonian was playing a leading role – Daphne Martschenko (inside and front cover) is the first holder of our Horobin Award, which enabled her to come from Stanford University, USA to study with us this year and to compete in the great race.

Daphne will continue with a PhD at Magdalene, and carries our best wishes with her.

Matthew Moss Director of External Relations and Development

23 Retired Senior Members Association

The Homertonian is published once a year to keep members informed with College and alumni news. Do contact us in the Development Office: Telephone 01223 747066; Email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk. All our publications are available to read online on the Homerton College website: http://www. homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni/publications.

24 Obituaries 26 Our Donors 28 Letters 30 Annual Reunion 31 Alumni Benefits

Thank you to all of our contributors and to those who supplied images. The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of Homerton College, Cambridge.

Cover photograph: Stephen Bond. Design and print management: H2 Associates, Cambridge.

Editors: Francis Dearnley and Matthew Moss

‘Like’ Homerton College on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on. Visit www.facebook.com/ HomertonCollegeCambridge Homerton College is on Twitter!

Follow us for the latest new and updates @HomertonCollege

Name of guests:

Dietary requirements: Guest’s dietary requirements: Accessibility/assistance requirements:

Year you started at Homerton:

UNITED KINGDOM BRANCHES

8

You can take advantage of great deals at a growing number of Cambridge venues and retailers by using your CAMCard. You will also receive automatic membership to the University Centre and free entrance into most of the Cambridge Colleges.

Alumni can also sign up for cantab.net, the University’s email for life service, and continue to use the University Careers Service.

WAYS OF STAYING IN TOUCH

Year you left Homerton:

Cambridge Anthea Wicks wicks.hmc.eeur@lineone.net

Address:

London Stephanie Beardsworth stephanie.beardsworth@btinternet.com

Telephone: E-mail:

Stephanie Rogers stephanie.rogers51@gmail.com

PAYMENT METHOD

Manchester Margaret Blott mblott_8@yahoo.co.uk

Cheque made payable to Homerton College

Newcastle Elise Wylie elise.wylie@gmail.com

Card number:

Credit/debit card Card type:

Security code: Start date:

Oxford Lucy Barnett glebecottage@gmail.com

www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni Do visit our website for details of our events, our regional branches, and alumni benefits. You can also read our publications online, and we’d be grateful if you would check our ‘lost sheep’ list to see if you recognise any names to help us fill in the blanks. You can also find out details about our current fundraising priorities on the website and even make a donation to Homerton.

‘Like’ Homerton College on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on. Visit www.facebook.com/HomertonCollegeCambridge Homerton College is on Twitter! Follow us for the latest new and updates @HomertonCollege

First Name:

Surname: Groups of Homertonians meet in local branches throughout the country and around the world. You may find that there is an active group near you; if there isn’t, and you’d like to set one up, you’d be most welcome to. You can also find the University of Cambridge Worldwide Directory at https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/getinvolved/find-a-group

Expiry date:

Issue number: Name as it appears on the card:

Wessex Coral Harrow coralharrow@waitrose.com

All prices include VAT at 20%.

A refund can only be given if we are notified at least seven working days prior to the event.

INTERNATIONAL BRANCHES Southern California Branch Angela Das ad301@cantab.net

Data protection: we take care All information is held and transmitted securely. Records held are used for alumni relations and fundraising purposes; this includes the sending of the Homertonian, alumni surveys, appeals and the marketing of alumni events. Communications may be sent by post, telephone or, increasingly, digitally. If at any time you have queries, wish to restrict data sharing or don’t want to be contacted, please say. (Minimal information is always retained so you are not contacted inadvertently).

China Xianwen Meng mengxianwenhf@gmail.com

See www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/homertonians/dataprotection.php for our full data protection statement. You will need to contact the University separately if you wish to restrict University data processing, sharing or contact.

Have you received our email newsletter?

If you haven’t seen a copy recently, do please send us an email at alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk to make sure we have your current email address so you don’t miss out.

From 2016 we will be publishing our first Annual Review – the College’s official record, which should be delivered to you early next year.

HOMERTON COLLEGE

31

DETACH ALONG THE PERFORATION

Contents

7

Title:

Please return this form with payment to: Matt Hann, Alumni Relations Officer Homerton College, Development Office Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PH T +44 (0) 1223 747066 E alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni

Registered Charity No: 1137497

JULY 2015

ALUMNI BENEFITS

BRANCH CONTACTS

Homerton College is a

HOMERTONIAN19

UPDATE

ANNUAL REUNION The Annual Reunion Weekend is the perfect oppor tunity to catch up, reminisce and discover what’s been going on at Homer ton since you finished your studies.

A S napshot of HOMERTON COLLEGE Our student population is the biggest in Cambridge

with 1400

students

students are employed or in further study within 6 months of graduating – higher than any Russell Group university, including the University of Cambridge as a whole

600 undergraduates and 800 graduates in our We have

community.

50% female 50% male

BOOKING FORM 2015 We would encourage you to book online at homertonalumnireunion.eventbrite.co.uk if possible.

If you’d prefer, then you can also book by returning this form to the address below.

If you wish to attend the Reunion Weekend, please ensure you book online or return this form to us by Friday 4th September.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept any bookings made after this date. Please enter the number of tickets you require in the boxes below.

Our undergraduates

We have the

STUDY 35

biggest

different subjects from Anglo-Saxon to Zoology

single site of any

Cambridge College

Number required

Friday 25th September

96% of Homerton

Dinner at £35 per person

Saturday 26th September Reunion Lunch at £22 per person ‘Alice through the Ages’ (free of charge) Charter Choir Performance (free of charge) Dinner at £35 per person

Room booking

We have more en-suite rooms than any other Cambridge College, and our rents are the lowest in Cambridge

Single en-suite room for Friday night at £49 per person (Includes breakfast) Single en-suite room for Saturday night at £49 per person (Includes breakfast)

We are the University’s

NEWEST C LLEGE,

though we’ve been in Cambridge for 120 years, and in London for over 125 years before that

Single en-suite room for Friday and Saturday nights at £87 per person (Includes breakfast) Single en-suite room for any additional nights at £38 per person per night (Includes breakfast) Please specify which night(s) ___________________

___________________

Total payable

___________________ Please see overleaf for payment details.

We are the only College to elect a full-time sabbatical President of its Student Union

All our undergraduates can

live on site for

3 YEARS

of their course

Each academic year we spend over half a million pounds on

outstanding welfare provision for our community

HOMERTONIAN Homerton College Alumni Magazine

Number 19 | July 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Rowing into the History Books Wonderland Week New Head Porter