FROM THE PRINCIPAL Someone said to me the other day, "It's been a quieter year at Homerton, hasn't it?" I wasn't sure how to answer. Was it a quiet year? And is a quiet year a good or a bad thing? Does it represent calm and purposeful progress or sloth and inactivity? Do Principals strive towards the former while trying to avoid fireworks and disasters? Put another way, is no news, good news? From my perspective there has been plenty of action. There has also been plenty of actual noise as we built South Court, completing the last phase of the programme that will allow all undergraduates to live on site, if they wish. The Bursar boasts that we now have more bedrooms than the Ritz! I can just see South Court's green roof, half-hidden by the trees, which frame it and give it perspective. The Court itself is surprisingly spacious and we have maintained the long vista across from the old buildings. So far the building has proceeded calmly enough: the excitements will come when all 138 new residents try out the plumbing at the same time in October. New plumbing has the possibility of nightmares for Principals. Cambridge, as you know, has a micro-climate created by the hot air emanating from 18,000 academic minds, all at work at once. So the early summer examinations have kept us relatively dry while all around us waters rise and flood. But even Homerton is having a damp summer. In the wild area, beyond the pond with its newts and yellow iris, is a magnificent flush of hundreds of pink pyramidal orchids, reflecting the swampier conditions of the summer. The gardens are magnificent. We have just replanted the herbaceous border outside East House and the treeplantings of recent years, many of them generously presented by Roll members, are leaping upwards. The College is looking good and as a result its members are feeling good. A matter of quiet satisfaction to a Principal. In December, we celebrated two things. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard and Chairman of the Trustees, Sir David Harrison, opened Harrison House, our new building for graduate students. (Harrison House's plumbing proved very exciting but is calming down). We chose to open it on 9th December 2006, thirty years to the day when Homerton succeeded in winning the vote in the University, which allowed us to become an Affiliated Society of the University, with our students matriculating as members of the University. That victory, achieved by the work of Dame Beryl and Alison Shrubsole, was possibly the most exciting thing that has happened at Homerton since our move from London at the end of the nineteenth century. Nothing in this year can match it. Now that's what makes for an exciting year. So this has been a year of consolidation. Our first Engineering students have received their M.Eng after four years and both the Principal and the Praelector had to learn some new Latin as a result. Our first mathematicians for the Maths Tripos will start in October, completing the list of new subjects we began in 2001. There is a new Education Tripos beginning this year. We are putting the finishing touches to our draft Statutes and Ordinances as we prepare the documentation for our application to the University and Privy Council to become a full College in name as well as in fact. And when that happens there will be fireworks! Kate Pretty July 2007
1