Newsletter 20092

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Rooms of Our Own 17 - 31 October

New Senior Tutor Dr Stephanie Ellington

Alumnae News

Annual Newsletter 09 Lucy Cavendish College University of Cambridge

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Rooms of Our Own

3

Letter from the President

4

Gyll Moore’s study carrel

8

New Senior Tutor

9

Something to say:

10

Nineteenth-century ‘Chick lit’

12

Women’s Word

13

Fellows’ news

14

Alumnae News

18

In Memoriam

24

Art in College

27

An exhibition from 17 to 31 October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A lasting memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dr Stephanie Ellington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

English undergraduate and author Annabel Banks, interviewed by Anna Bull (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Anna Bull (2006) talks to Research Fellow Dr Katharine Mitchell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The new Curator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Lucy Cavendish Singers: A new choir for the College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Newsletter Editors: Meryl Davies and Alison Vinnicombe Photographs: Nigel Luckhurst, Phil Mynott, Alison Vinnicombe

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Rooms of Our Own An exhibition from 17 to 31 October

prospect of women’s colleges as it is represented in literature, polemic

and the visual arts will be conveyed

alongside the fear and mockery on the part of men and women

towards the idea of grown women living together and devoting

themselves to learning.

Lucy Cavendish College is working closely with Chawton House

Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum

and other collections to put together

this exhibition that will include

manuscripts and early editions of

works in which women’s education is imagined and discussed.

Before any women’s colleges

existed in England, Margaret

Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle,

imagined them in The Female

Academy (1662) and The Convent of

Pleasure (1668). Three hundred

years later, in 1965, Lucy Cavendish College was founded, a unique

Documents relating to the

establishment of women’s colleges,

The Exhbition will run from

satirical responses to the idea of

Saturday 17 October until 31

comic songs, articles, letters,

Cavendish College. Opening hours

women’s education, Punch cartoons, personal recollections and archive material will all be included.

October in the Library, Lucy are 12 Noon until 5pm, with an extended opening on Wednesday 21 October until 8pm.

institution where women of all ages and backgrounds come together to

pursue an intellectual education. It

is the latest and perhaps the last

women’s college to be founded in

the United Kingdom.

Rooms of Our Own is an exhibition

spanning several centuries of the

real and imagined female academy.

The education of girls was

widespread but the foundation of institutions for the education of

women of marriageable age

provoked both excitement and fury.

In the exhibition, the liberating

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Letter from the President I have now finished my first year as

President of Lucy Cavendish

College. It has been a remarkable time, not always what I expected but never dull.

There have been many

achievements during the year.

Firsts for Sarah Hickmott in Part II Music, Anna Bull in Part IIB and

Daniella Ritzau-Reid in Part IIA of

SPS (now PPS - Politics, Psychology

and Sociology).

Sporting successes are equally

impressive. More blades for our

rowers and, in addition, Alice

Barnes got a Blue for tennis and

together by a whole host of people,

college and go on to deliver many

Isobel Maddison. This exhibition,

and indifference encountered by

Fund, is subtitled ‘the Female

higher education for women.

most notably the English Fellow,

supported by the University’s 2009

Academy from Margaret Cavendish to Lucy Cavendish College’. This is

not just a coincidence of names

although it is a felicitous one.

mocked by men and women for her

fascination with science, her desire

to publish in her own name (and, it

interest in Lucy whetted or

dress). One woman, noting her

that there were ‘many soberer

Samuel Pepys called her a ‘mad

conceited, ridiculous woman’.

Nonetheless a distinguished female

the politician and barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy.

Our first Saturday conference called the University of Aberdeen,

start with her fantasies of a female

one of my doctoral students from Natasha Solomons and featured our medical Fellow, Sarah Gull and

English Fellow, Dr Isobel Maddison.

It was a moving event which

connected arts and sciences,

during the long struggle to get the

medical concerns and literary

College started, then accredited and

treatments.

finally given full status within an originally unsympathetic

I myself have three more day

University.

seminars planned: a Jane Austen day on 14th November, a day

Some of our history will emerge in

Page 4 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and

scholarship despite having no

and—of necessity—resilience

to Lucy and which has been put

enhanced, most notably the new

‘Infant Sorrow’ was organised by

how these were met with courage

which I proposed when I first came

fascinating women had their

educator of the time claimed that

instruction. The exhibition will

the exhibition Rooms of Our Own,

time, including the author Ali Smith

eagerness to trespass on the male

Of course the College has always

were here in the early days know

Meryl Davies’s organisation to the

many people who gave ideas and

and alumna Jane Wood. Many very

she overtopped many men in

had challenges. Those of you who

Saturday seminars. Women’s Word

must be said, her eccentricities of

the year, I realise I arrived at a

difficult but challenging moment.

them Rooms of Our Own, an annual

exceeded my hopes and, thanks to

Newcastle, was, despite her

People in Bedlam’, while the diarist

Looking back to the beginning of

imagined various events, among

elevated social status, much

Figures for Cross-Country Running Von Eye for Water Polo.

When I thought of joining Lucy I festival called Women’s Word and

preserve of knowledge, remarked

and by Sally Bullock and Maxine

those daring seriously to propose

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of

Rosalind Lloyd for lacrosse , while

Half Blues were won by Emma

examples of the mockery, hostility

entitled ‘English the Changing

Joan Armatrading

Profession’ on 21 November and a celebration on 19 June 2010 of the

journal Women’s Writing. Other

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exciting Saturdays include ‘Re-

reading Georgette Heyer’ (a

collaboration with Professor Sarah

Brown of Anglia Ruskin University)

on 7 November and on 23 January,

‘Women and the Gothic’ organised

by our alumna Dr Maria Purves - on whom see more below. We also

have planned a conference on the future of feminism, jointly

organised by fellows Dr Kate

Mitchell, Dr Mirca Madianou and Dr

Isobel Maddison. So please do

watch the News & Events section of

the College website for

announcement and details of

Carole Ann Duffy and Professor Janet Todd

am a victim of the British education

Hewitt at Barclays Private Bank and

physics and chemistry at the age of

with the author Diana Athill. I do

events. You are of course all

system which had me dropping

come to everything. And last but

14—but I do know how strong the

welcome—rather encouraged—to

not least we have set up our fiction

room at the top of the Library, stocked by novels donated by

anyone who has enjoyed a book by

sciences are in the College and we

hope that those of you who find it easier to get to London than to

have had some excellent events

Cambridge will be able to come to

Jenny Koenig through AWISE (the

coming academic year we are

here organised by our Fellow, Dr

a woman and wants to pass it on.

Association of Women in Science

I should here apologise for being so

of the year were the carol singing

arts-based in that last paragraph. I

featuring a fascinating interview

and Engineering). Some other joys

the next London Forum . This

organising a series of invited

speakers for Thursday evenings

before formal hall: these promise to

organised by the President of the

be informative and entertaining.

Foxcroft, the plays staged by

My own research work has rather

Alumnae Association, Louise

students in Warburton Hall, and the events put on by our non-

fallen by the wayside during this

packed time, although I have

auditioned College choir and the

managed an introduction to an

Cavendish Singers under the

four of which will be aired in the

establishment of the Lucy

leadership of Katharina Megli

(1991). And, of course, it was a great joy to welcome Joan

Armatrading to give our CWL Lucy

Cavendish Lecture in June. We also

Austen novel and some broadcasts, autumn on Radio 3. Several foreign

students have come to Lucy to work with me. One is Natsuko Hirakura,

who is studying women and letters

in late eighteenth-century England

had the latest Alumnae Association

and plans to translate one of my

by Fellow Commoner Joanna

already translated the calligraphy in

London Forum generously hosted

books into Japanese. She has

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the Wood-Legh Room. The words

Current Lucy Associates include

are by a woman writer Hiratsuka

writer Ali Smith; Geoff Morris,

Raichō (1886-1971) and can be

Head of the 800th Year; Julie

translated as ‘In the beginning,

Spence, Chief Constable of

passage goes on to lament that

Stenner, Under Sheriff of

woman was truly the sun.’ The

Cambridgeshire and Caroline

woman was once ‘An authentic

Cambridgeshire. Entrepreneur Alex

person. Now she is the moon, a wan

van Someren is another Lucy

reflecting another’s brilliance.… ‘

Development Officer for

and sickly moon, dependent on another, Raichō used the passage at the beginning of the journal Seito,

which she founded as the first publication in Japanese about

women and for women; she aimed

to help Japanese women reclaim

their sense of self-worth, reaffirm

their creativity, and fulfill their human potential.

This is very much what Lucy

Cavendish has done and aims to

continue doing. The College must

go forward, expand to stay the same, and always improve its

standards and aspirations. For any improvements fund-raising is

essential and I hope that we can all be involved in this. There is a professional element to fund-

raising, but for those of us without

training there is networking and

always the hope of the

serendipitous contact. This year we

have had some generous donations

and bequests but we need much more. Both the Head of

Development, Meryl Davies, and I

greatly appreciate the help we receive from the friends and

alumnae of the College, as well as

students, who give their time and

Page 6 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

Associate, as is the Literature

Dr Jenny Koenig teaching in front of the Japanese calligraphy

energy to fundraising and I have

been immeasurably helped by a

past president, Baroness Pauline

Perry. In recruitment, too, we have had much help from people in the

wider community. Lindsey Traub, a

past Vice-President and Lucy

Lyttelton Fellow Benefactor, has spread the word about Lucy

Cavendish in publications aimed at

professional women who may be

considering a course of study before making a career change. We would

like many more of you to be

involved in reaching out to people

and stirring them to believe in what

we are doing here: whether funds or applications follow, you will have raised the profile of the

College and feel—I know from

experience—a sense of achievement and community.

Lucy Associate is the name we have given to people who are coming in

to College to help us to raise the

profile of the College or to raise funds. These people are mainly

local and all are excited by the

College and the work that we do.

Cambridge, Helen Taylor.

There are new arrivals into posts and into the Fellowship: I am

excited to be working with our new

Senior Tutor, Dr Stephanie Ellington and our new Admissions Tutor Dr Maria Purves, an alumna of Lucy Cavendish and an enthusiastic

supporter of the College. Two new Fellows have joined us in recent months: Dr Helen Taylor and Dr

Fiona Walter, both in medicine, and we have two more in Law and Art

History whom we will be inducting

this autumn.

Sadly we have some departures:

Julie Dashwood is stepping down as

Senior Tutor after six years, and

Jane McLarty is leaving us for the

position of Senior Tutor at Wolfson

College. I wish them both well in their new roles.

I look forward to the next academic year and to seeing more of you all.

Please do let me know when you visit the College so that we can

meet and get to know each other.

Professor Janet Todd President

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Alumnae Association London Forum The literary editor, novelist, and

memoirist, Diana Athill, was our

speaker at

the Alumnae Association London

Forum in

April this

year. She

had just won

the Costa Book Prize for biography, for Somewhere Towards the End,

and been awarded an OBE. Diana

graduated from Oxford in 1939

and, after a stint at the BBC during the 2nd WW, she spent fifty years in publishing, working with,

among others, Jean Rhys, Simone

de Beauvoir, Margaret Atwood,

Philip Roth, John Updike, Norman

Mailer, and VS Naipul.

Diana suggested we have an

informal interview followed by

questions from the audience, and

this lead to a lively, entertaining, and occasionally unpredictable

conversation. We covered many

subjects, including her career as an editor, the nature of honesty, and

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Kingdom Come It may not look the way it does in your imagination. If you’re from north of here you’ll want more rise and fall; southerners want more sunshine, lusher vegetation: only children will confess they came expecting ancestors or men with wings.

Flatness is a common theme in postcards home the first few days, as though we live in two dimensions here and this vast dome of light were one thin pencil arc drawn on a sky of watercolour paper. But soon they’ll come to see that our more subtle contours open to them gradually like streamers of concertina’d tissue when their cardboard ends are pulled apart. And when the birds blow in ahead of Russian blizzards visitors stand like figures in a toy snow-shaker: dwarfed, in awe.

And now the white flocks settle on the fen their feathers foam, thick on its earthy tide.

The barns are boats, becalmed in greening seas and farmers walk the lands which once were ocean.

They will be ocean once again in time: water is history and destination.

All the while the sails of windmills creak their weathered shanties, grinding song from stone, and though this may not be the heaven of your imagination, dusk will find you dead reckoning, reading horizons like ship’s instruments, looking for Angles or angels, or whatever kingdom comes.

how age might allow one to escape

Gill Saxon 2009

really going from strength to

This poem was the winning entry in the

Association is already busy making

held in Spring 2009 on the theme of Journies.

the ego. The London Forum is strength and the Alumnae

arrangements for 2010.

Lucy Cavendish College Poetry Competition

Louise Foxcroft, Alumnae Association President

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Gyll Moore’s study carrel A lasting memory

Dedicating a library carrel to a loved one is a way to make a difference to the College and leave a lasting memorial. Elizabeth Speller (1992) here tells the story of how her family has joined together to name a carrel in honour of her mother, Gyll Moore.

Marriage and pregnancy meant that

brother’s widow and my own

my mother, Gyll, left St Anne’s

former husband, who had always

About the time Lucy Cavendish

more money gave what they could,

College, Oxford without a degree.

was founded she finally went back to London University and

been close to her. While those with

others thought of imaginative ways

to raise funds. Miranda is training

completed her studies an unusual

for a charity run. My other

for a married mother of three.

putting the extra money she makes

and not entirely popular step then We are a family of late-starting women. My sister left her first university after a year but

eventually read History at York as a

daughter, Abigail, a junior doctor, is

from signing cremation certificates aside, and my mother’s sister has

One of the things my mother loved

was her garden and I am very glad the library carrel now named after her looks out over the College’s

peaceful green spaces. Please think of her if you should find yourself sitting there.

Elizabeth Speller (Classics, 1992) For more information on naming a

library carrel, or any other aspect of

giving to the College, please contact the

Head of Development, Meryl Davies,

on 01223 764020 or mgd24@cam.ac.uk

sold a painting to raise her contribution.

mature student. My daughter, Miranda, got an MA from

Edinburgh but at thirty applied to Kingston to do the art course she

had always really wanted to

pursue. My daughter-in-law left

behind a career as a city solicitor to

re-train as a primary school-teacher.

So when I was thinking of a way to

remember my mother, and

especially because she now has

three great-granddaughters who

never knew her, a family donation

to Lucy and a permanent memorial seemed particularly appropriate.

My mother died relatively early and many who knew her were happy to give. But it was not just the obvious people who contributed. My

parents were divorced but my

father and step-mother were

generous in support, as was her

Page 8 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

A study carrel looking out over the College gardens

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New Senior Tutor Dr Stephanie Ellington

This year, Dr Stephanie Ellington (pictured right) will take up the

post of Senior Tutor at Lucy

Cavendish College. It is a huge job,

overseeing all aspects of

educational and pastoral care of

students, ensuring that the running the Tutorial Office is going

smoothly, working with her team of Tutors and, crucially, working

closely with the Admissions Tutor

and Graduate Tutor to make sure that the College attracts

Being a mature College we need to find imaginative ways of spreading the word that we are here. I am looking forward to working with the whole College community promote awareness of this amazing place and to make sure that every woman over 21 who is thinking of applying to do a degree knows that we are here.

Dr Stephanie Ellington

applications from bright women

aspects of early pregnancy: the

from all over the UK and the world.

effects of maternal obesity on

Stephanie also has a busy life as

offspring, early cardiac

College Lecturer in Physiology and

she runs a Part II course on early embryonic development and the effects of maternal diabetes on

programming the appetite of the development, damaging effects of reactive oxygen species on

embryonic development, and a

statistical analysis of the outcome of

1A and 1B of the Medical and

Veterinary Science Tripos.

Meanwhile in another area of her

life, Stephanie has been granted the Freedom of the City of London, an

honour of which she was rightly

proud. She attended the City of

London School for Girls as a pupil and is currently a Governor of the School so feels very pleased to

have been able to formalise her

association with the City. However,

says Stephanie, “legendary rights of Freemen to drive sheep across

London Bridge, to be drunk and

development . Last academic year

pregnancies of diabetic mothers.

disorderly without fear of arrest

doing dissertations on a range of

demonstrate and supervise in Parts

drawn sword apparently, sadly, no

she supervised four Part II students

She has also continued to lecture,

and to pass through the City with a

longer apply�.

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Something to say: English undergraduate and author Annabel Banks, interviewed by Anna Bull (2006)

'For me, writing is about the

genius' trope, she talks in

something to say, so listen,

process of writing and the reasons

Cambridge and beyond is starting

lot of things I want to say and I

arrogance of saying, I've got

dammit.' The literary world in

to listen to Annabel Banks. The

Lucy Cavendish College English

student still has a year to go before graduating with her BA, but has

already amassed armfuls of prizes

I ask Annabel whether studying

fascinating detail about both the

English has changed the way she

behind it. 'I write because I have a

awareness of technique. Besides my

writes. 'I've got more of an

studies of literature and criticism,

don't think anyone's going to listen

Lucy Cavendish College set me up

a crazy, handing out leaflets'. One

winning poet and author Tobias

to me otherwise - I don't want to be

of the themes that Annabel keeps

creative writing lessons with award Hill, who was amazingly helpful.

returning to and 'worrying over' is

He made me write in the third

and prestigious include winning the

character type I might be writing

closely focussed on the first person

prize in June and publishing a short

was raised Catholic, but now, as I

to write first person is always most

and publications. The most recent John Kinsella/Tracy Ryan poetry story in the prestigious Mays

anthology of the best of Cambridge

religion. 'I think if I was a different

religious or philosophical tracts. I look around me, I’m becoming

person – The Handmaid's Tale is

and that's all I was doing. He said comfortable, while third person is

more of a reacting anti-theist. I'm

daunting because you're in charge

writing, as well as placing second in

think you'd understand.'

narrator-as-god.' On the other hand,

As if this weren't achievement

She also uses dystopian science

practical criticism has asked

Recorded Drama Society where she

our own society, such as in the

practical criticism is that you can

writes regular theatre reviews for

published in the Mays. 'You can

and judge its value, but I don't

injustice that you’re socialised into

But 'whereas before I wasn't really

and Oxford students' creative

a national short story competition.

enough, she is also president of the

writes and directs her own plays,

the Cambridge student papers, and is working on a novel.

I met Annabel when she arrived in Cambridge two years ago, fresh

sorry God if you're there, but I

fiction to provide a social critique of

post-apocalyptic story which was create a world that explores any accepting'. In Auguries of

Experience (the Mays story) I

wanted to dwell on sexual-social

of all these things, you're the

the Cambridge emphasis on

interesting questions. ‘The idea of look at something out of context

think you can do that: it's a fallacy.'

worried about the mechanics of

sentences it has helped me develop

more of a sense of the weighting of

from work hand-making bespoke

mores and what it means to be

words and literary devices.'

and promptly set up theatre group

Speculative fiction as a genre can

This technical sense has helped with

has twice won the Alumnae

but Annabel's work refuses to

won the Kinsella/Ryan prize has

parts for Formula One racing cars,

The Lucy Players. Since then, she

Association Prize for contribution to

excluded because of them.’

often be overlooked as literature, accept this hierarchy. One of her

writing poetry. The poem which

got a complicated rhyme scheme. 'It

the arts at Lucy Cavendish College.

inspirations is Margaret Atwood's

should read aloud as prose but it's

rather than dwelling ad infinitum

Tale, a sci-fi dystopia which is also

running through it – each major

wanted to ask about why and how

inspiration is TS Eliot. 'He should

But in my interview with Annabel, on the prizes and publications, I

she writes. Far from subscribing to the 'author as mysterious creative

Page 10 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

work, in particular The Handmaid's

got perfect rhymes and half-rhymes

serious literary fiction. An anti-

word should echo back on itself,

have stuck to writing about cats!’

scheme echoes the theme of the

like radioactivity.' This rhyme poem, which links together

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Chernobyl and the death of

College Prizes 2008-09

worked so hard on a poem in my

The achievements of the undergraduate and graduate students, the award of

Alexander Litvinenko. 'I'd never

life. It's still not finished. I was quite

surprised because they gave me a

copy to read out at the prize giving

and I looked at it and thought, oh

no, it’s completely changed! But I've

got to try and abandon it now.'

Winning the prize has also saved

Annabel's poetry career. 'I had been

considering not writing any more

poetry but it's re-enthused Me. I’ve

just had another short piece

accepted for an anthology.’

Finally, a tribute to Lucy Cavendish College. 'Coming to Cambridge

changed my life. A full-time focus

on words is something I only

dreamt about when I was working.

Having creative writing

supervisions has been brilliant, but it’s more about encouragement. At

the college there's definitely a

feeling of “you can do this” which

becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.'

For a writer, Annabel argues that

being a mature student is a definite

advantage. 'They say you can't

really write anything good until

you're thirty. You can't have a

world view when you're younger. I

look back at all the writing hidden

under my bed and cringe, but now?

Let’s just say I've done a lot of stuff in the last 33 years.' I predict that

Annabel will do a lot more stuff in

the next 33 years, and I look

forward to reading it.

prizes for sporting Blues, and the range and versatility of the students who have received prizes for their contribution to College life show how vibrant and successful we are. My thanks go to all those who make it possible.

Julie Dashwood Senior Tutor

Marie Lawrence Prize for First Class Results in Tripos

Sarah Hickmott, First Class result in

Part II Music; Anna Bull, First Class

result in Part IIB Social and Political

Sciences; Daniella Ritzau-Reid, First

class result in Part IIA Social and

Political Sciences

John Butterfield Prize for Clinical

Medicine

Alumnae Association Prize for

Contribution to the Arts

Annabel Banks, for her work with

the Lucy Players, and for winning the Kinsella Poetry Prize

Annabelle Dixon Prize for the

student who has made the most of her time at Lucy Cavendish Carol Atack

Emma Yeoman

Emmeline Pankhurst Prize for

Berti Sapir Medical Prize for the

Sara Jackson and Jane Anderson

student with the best results in

Contribution to College Life

Clinical Stage Two (first part of

Myson College Exhibition for

Caroline Woods and Katherina

Anna Blumstein and Holly Cox

Final MB) Kohler

Kate Bertram Prize for

distinguished performance in non-

Tripos exams

Lorna Brokenshire, Merit in two Papers in the Final Veterinary

Personal Achievement

Dame Veronica Sutherland Prize for Sporting Blues

Alice Barnes, Full Blue for Tennis;

Rosalind Lloyd, Full Blue for Lacrosse

Examination, Part III; Sal

College Prize for Sporting Blues

Project for the Engineering Tripos

Country Running; Sally Bullock,

Drummond, for a high First for her

Part IIB and Overall Merit; Felizitas Weidner for Merit in Part III Maths

Emma Figures, Half Blue for CrossHalf Blue for Water Polo; Maxine

Von Eye, Half Blue for Water Polo

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Nineteenth-century ‘Chick lit’ Anna Bull (2006) talks to Research Fellow Dr Katharine Mitchell

“Romantic love and physical beauty

debates on the changing role of

of 19th century Italian women who

largely illiterate Italy; in 1870 only

to hold a bank account, let alone a

are probably the most destructive

women in a newly unified and

thought" asserts Toni Morrison in

2.5% of Italians could read and

ideas in the history of human

The Bluest Eye. Research Fellow,

Kate Mitchell, explores the idea of

romantic love as an unattainable

ideal in her forthcoming book, Gendering the Everyday in Late

write the new official language,

which was based on the Tuscan

dialect. “The realist novels of these

three women writers give glimpses

were ill-educated and unable even

job. “It does seem that it's all fitted

into place. I still have to pinch

myself on a daily basis to remind

myself that I got here. I think Lucy

is one of these spaces in British

of the everyday”, Mitchell

society which is really special and

Realist Fiction and Journalism by

these writers presented themselves

nurtured, particularly in our day

The book, to be published by

being women in the public eye, but

Nineteenth-Century Italy: Domestic

Women Writers.

Toronto University Press, is based

on Mitchell's PhD from Warwick

University. But it also draws on her

earlier interests and research,

describes. “In their journalism

as anti-feminist in order to preserve

the propriety which they lost by

their fiction reveals covert

engagements with debates on the

changing roles of women such as

creative but also it needs to be

and age because there are questions

about whether there should be colleges just for women”. The

continuing inequality of our society

“goes disregarded - actually we're

not equal, because men still do less

including reading literature by

lack of access to education and the

workplace”.

housework and childcare and earn

Margaret Atwood and Nadine

One aspect of these novels that

In a paper given recently in London

women as a teenager, particularly Gordimer, and research into

representations of heroines in tragic

opera. The latter formed her final-

year undergraduate dissertation in Italian Studies, and alerted her to

the fact that there was very little

written about real women in 19th

struck Mitchell on first reading

them was the protagonists'

realisation that there is no such

thing as romantic love; “they're

the women writers she has been

day-to-day reality they're expected

She notes that “whether a women is

dreaming of, their ideal, because in

Italian women's history in the 19th

is still very much alive today -

comes out next year.

or double bind', highlighting

another parallel between the lives of

researching and life for women

to marry as a business transaction

century – at least until her book

Mitchell explored the 'couple bond,

never going to get what they're

century Italy. There is still no

English-language monograph on

more than women”.

and produce children”. This ideal “we're conditioned from a young

age to look for our prince”. In 19th

today – the stigma of singledom.

singled or partnered matters very

much to society today, and is even a

defining feature of her identity,

such as race or class”. Far from

being solely of interest to historians,

century Italy, as now, the ideal

Mitchell's work explores discourses

journalism and the realist fiction of

day-to-day life, work and children.

women in contemporary, as well as

La Marchesa Colombi (1840-1920),

think?

Mitchell's research examines the

three women writers of this period: Anna Radius Zuccari (1846-1918), who wrote with the pseudonym Neera, and Matilde Serao (1857-

1927). Their writing engaged with

Page 12 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

tends to clash with the realities of

Maybe less has changed than we

I suggest to Kate that being a fellow

at a women's college provides an

interesting contrast to the position

and cultural representations of

19th century, society, showing how

received ideas that we may take for granted have developed over time.

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

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Women’s Word

Women's Word at Lucy Cavendish is our new summer festival. From 13-28 June 2009, audiences enjoyed workshops,

readings, discussions and talks featuring Carol Ann Duffy, Helena Kennedy QC, Prue Leith, Fay Weldon, Irma Kurtz and many other exciting writers. We worked in collaboration with the Cambridge Film Trust on Women’s View: a celebration

of women in cinema which was part of Women’s Word shown at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge.

In June 2010 we will continue the festival with more workshops, readings and screenings. Please keep an eye on our

website for more information and join the mailing list by email womensword@lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 13

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Fellows’news We are thrilled to announce that Dr

Ruth Cameron, a Fellow here since

1992, has been promoted to a

and at international conferences.”

Still in the area of medicine, Dr

personal Chair in the Department of

Allison Curry, Admissions Tutor for

and Dr Laura Wright is now Reader

Associate in the Cambridge Clinical

exciting change is the appointment

focuses on the immunology of

Materials Science and Metallurgy

in the Faculty of English. Another

Medicine, is a Senior Research

Neurosciences division where she

of Dr Stephanie Ellington as Senior

Multiple Sclerosis: a clinical trial

year we have welcomed new

demonstrated that Alemtuzumab,

Tutor her at Lucy Cavendish. This

Fellows Dr Fiona Walter and Dr

Helen Taylor and we say goodbye to Jane McLarty, Admissions Tutor, who leaves us to join Wolfson

involving 334 patients in 2002-2004

which has previously been used to effectively treat patients with

leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and

in transplantation, was more

College as Senior Tutor. Farewell,

effective in treating MS than the

Banaji, Julia Forman, Jo Depledge

treatment but was associated with

Dashwood, who for six years was

currently being recruited to

conventional interferon beta 1a

Julie Dashwood has been one of the

autoimmunity. A subsequent trial is

Tutors’ Committee. She published,

Senior Tutor, will become a College

understand further the effectiveness

Federico de Roberto, which she co-

2009.

underlying effects on

also to Research Fellows Ferzina

and Erica Bithell. Meanwhile, Julie Senior Research Fellow in autumn

Research News

Associate Secretaries of the Senior in July 2009, The Risorgimento of

of Alemtuzamab in MS and the

edited with former Visiting Fellow,

autoimmunity.

came from the University of

Dr Anna Abulafia, College Lecturer

has also published several articles,

Professor Margherita Ganeri, who

Calabria to work with Julie. Julie

Professor Ruth Cameron writes:

in History, has now finished her

and medical materials has

Christendom’ and it will be

Research is ongoing in materials for

Dr Edith Esch, University Senior

Dr Isobel Maddison, College

regeneration, drug delivery through

continues her work on second

enjoyed researching the nineteenth-

development of artificial tissues to

focus on educational development

“My research in pharmaceutical continued to progress well.

orthopaedic applications, nerve

oral and pulmonary routes, and the reduce and replace animal testing.

Industrial and academic

collaborations continue within Cambridge, the UK and the

international community. Results

from the group have been

published in peer reviewed journals

Page 14 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

book on ‘Jews in the service of Latin published by Pearson (Longman).

Research Fellow in Education,

including one on Pirandello’s

literary legacy and another on Pirandello and Balzac.

Lecturer in English, has particularly

language education with a special

and twentieth-centuries for the

in post-colonial contexts and

Female Academy from Margaret

multilingual societies. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are a special

exhibition, ‘Rooms of our Own: The Cavendish to Lucy Cavendish

College’ which will open in October

interest because of the contrast

2009. Interesting connections have

pedagogical cultures.

World War II, for example, Bedford

between the UK and the French

emerged from the research: during College, London, evacuated its

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

women students to the houses

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This has been Dr Jo Depledge’s last

One application that I'm currently

Fellow, working principally on the

objects under a rough surface,

Jo has been pleased to see her

mines.

which would go on to become part

year as a Sutasoma Research

Strathaird.

global climate change negotiations.

of Lucy Cavendish, Barrmore and

Professor Christine Howe has two

major research interests: peer

publications attracting increasing

attention, with several invitations to

interested in is the detection of

which could for example be buried

I'm delighted to be able to use my

groups and children's development,

present her work, including to the

research in my Part III course this

mathematics and science. Her work

Nations, the UK Foreign Office, and

Inhomogeneous Media' and give

and children's reasoning in

on peer groups has resulted in a

number of publications this year,

including an article on

'Collaborative group work in

middle childhood: joint

Academic Council of the United the University of Cambridge

"Festival of Ideas". She was also interviewed by a Swedish TV

channel for a documentary to be

aired in November. One of the early

publication, with her co-author

Dr Mirca Madianou, College

book "The International Climate

Sociology (formerly SPS) writes:

highlights of her fellowship was the

knowledge', which appeared in

Farhana Yamin (Sussex), of the 2004

Human Development. Her book

entitled 'Peer groups and children's

the students a flavour of interesting,

topical research in the making.”

Conferences, papers and research travel

construction, unresolved

contradiction and the growth of

year 'Wave Scattering in

Change Regime: A guide to rules,

development' will be published by

institutions and procedures". In

Walter is a new Fellow in clinical

they are now making preparations

Lecturer in Politics, Psychology and “I spent the winter of 2008-09 conducting fieldwork in the

response to demand from readers,

Philippines for my ESRC-funded

to write a new edition of that

and new communications

primary care-based studies into

to-date analysis of the fast-moving

tremendous experience during

(oesophageal and melanoma), and

negotiations.

people at higher risk of serious

Dr Orsola Rath Spivack writes: “my

disease and diabetes. One example

inhomogeneous media is turning

this research exploring the

within this area, which is basically

family separation.

Blackwells early in 2010. Dr Fiona

medicine (general practice), whose

current research activities involve earlier diagnosis of cancer

using the family history to identify illnesses such as cancer, heart

is a randomised controlled trial set

in 15 general practices around

Cambridgeshire, assessing whether

using a diagnostic device known as

the MoleMate system improves the accuracy of GP referrals of

suspicious pigmented lesions

(possible melanomas) to secondary care.

volume, in order to present an up-

world of the climate change

research in wave propagation in more towards inverse problems trying to find what causes an

observed scattered field - rather

research on transnational families

technologies. This was a

which I collected some excellent

research data. I am now reliving

this experience as I am writing a

book on ‘Parenting from a Distance’ and a series of articles drawing on

phenomenon of migration and

Our new Fellow Dr Fiona Walter has

than the easier 'direct problem' of

been Clinical Senior Lecturer at the

or a radar, or ultrasound) at a well-

School of Primary, Aboriginal and

scattered field will be observed.

earlier this year was awarded a

aiming a wave (for example light,

defined object and predicting what

University of Western Australia’s

Rural Health Care since 2007, and

travelling fellowship by the Raine

Annual Newsletter 09 08 | Page 15

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Medical Research Foundation to

visit the department. She gave talks

at the Universities of Sydney,

Melbourne and Western Australia

in Perth, as well as leading a day-

long workshop on qualitative

research and addressing the Human

Genetics Society of Australia’s

Western Australia Branch.

Dr Isobel Maddison, College

Lecturer in English, spoke on her

research on Elizabeth von Arnim at

an international conference,

‘Middlebrow Cultures,’ was held at the University of Strathclyde in

July. Her paper, ‘Complementary

Cousins: Elizabeth von Arnim and

Katherine Mansfield’, was based on

a chapter from her critical study of

von Arnim, for which research is

on-going.

Dr Anat Scolnicov, College Lecturer in Law, represented the Centre for

Public Law, of which she is deputy

director, at a conference on the

constitutional aspects of judicial

independence at the Jagellonian

University in Krakow and during a

term of research leave she

participated in a conference at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem on

Judicial Review (in domestic and international law) and gave a

lecture at the University of Haifa on

Religious freedom in international

law.

Dr Anna Sapir Abulafia, College

Lecturer in History, gave a paper at

an international seminar on

Page 16 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

‘Encounters & Perceptions –

Christians, Jews, Muslims and

Research Fellowship, which

followed an extended career break.

Mongols in the High Middle Ages’

She writes that “ it was a proud

Closer to home, she had the honour

presented my recent research at an

at Aalborg University in Denmark.

of addressing the Graduation

moment last September when I

international conference (the 2008

Ceremony for Access students at

European Microscopy Congress in

handing out the certificates to the

building on the opportunity given

Cambridge Regional College and successful graduates.

Dr Edith Esch gave a paper entitled

Aachen). I am looking forward to

to me by this Fellowship scheme as

I continue work in this area”.

‘Cameroonian Teachers’ Interviews:

Jane McLarty gave a seminar paper

Context’ at the ‘Cutting Edge’

Swansea University (a centre for

Developing Discourse Data in conference organized by

to the Kyknos group based at

research on the narrative literatures

Canterbury Christchurch and

of the ancient world), and a

paper entitled ‘Primary school

their July conference ‘The Erotics of

travelled to Beren, Norway to give a teachers’ autonomy in the

Cameroonian context : the

ambiguous role of the official

conference paper on Jealousy at

Narrative’. Both of these papers flow out of her PhD dissertation.

languages’ at the 10th Nordic

Teaching

in the Foreign Language

Dr Jenny Koenig (Dean and

putting in place a Virtual Doctoral

the history and use of herbal

University to support research

audiences from FE Summer school

Conference on ‘Learner autonomy

Classroom’. Bergen University is

School jointly with Yaounde

training to which she has been invited to contribute

Dr Erica Bithell has now come to the end of her Daphne Jackson

Steward) has given several talks on

medicines today for a variety of

students to the University of the

Third Age. She is currently working on an outreach project linked to the

Cambridge Science Festival to bring

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

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the science of pharmacology to

Tutor on the Graduate Diploma in

She also talked on the use of

Dr Isobel Maddison, College

in teaching at Cambridge and is

“Creative writing has continued to

contributions.

Kelly Smith (2003), a Lucy alumna

Dr Jane Greatorex writes: “I started

alternative health practitioners.

technology, particularly CamTools, now developing a course to train

new supervisors to teach maths for

biologists. She gives introductory

Notarial Practice.

Lecturer in English, writes:

be a feature of English at Lucy with who has recently graduated with a

investment portfolio in 2007 has

helped to contain our losses. And throughout this ‘looking on

darkness’ of a year, all who work

here have again made outstanding

a new job in June 2008, in the

and advanced courses in

Master’s in creative writing from

Health Protection Agency at

pharmaceutical industry and is co-

running workshops with the first

working on a project investigating

pharmacology for employees in the

authoring a text-book on

mathematical modelling in biology.

Jenny has published two books on

calculations in pharmacology which are available through her website

www.sci-etc.co.uk.

the University of East Anglia, years.

things we needed to know about

In the Michaelmas Term, several of

pandemic…. As we now know this

studies by teaching sixth form

been awarded almost £150,000 to

Academy. The theme is ‘Love

caused by so-called swine ‘flu.

our students will develop their pupils at the Northampton

across the Ages’ and the intention is

The Cambridge Graduate Course in

to move beyond the sonnet and the

enthusiastic students from diverse

initiative arranged with the Head

medicine continues to attract

academic backgrounds. The course is evolving in line with the

“standard” clinical course whilst

working the Faculty of Biology to

National Curriculum. This is an

Teacher and the Head of English at

the school in an attempt to break down misconceptions about

Cambridge, whilst allowing our

make the course as coherent as

students to test their knowledge of

Cavendish is very well placed to

completely different and

possible with medical science. Lucy

‘practical criticism’ from a

deliver strong student support with

challenging angle.”

Fiona Walter from the Department

The Bursar, Dr David Carter, writes:

the addition of two medical fellows:

of General Practice and Helen Taylor, consultant radiologist.

Jillinda Tiley spent 6 weeks in March

and April in Sydney and Melbourne

and returned in time to act as

influenza virus before the next

was timely and we have recently

investigate the on-going pandemic

As well as influenza, I have

commercial money to look at ways

of preventing the spread of

norovirus, and I will be moving into

molecular testing for a range of bacterial infections.

I shall be supervising all the second

year microbiology for the Biology of Disease course. and will be Director

of Studies in Pre-Clinical Veterinary

Medicine.

When the economy takes a

Lastly, I finally realised an

suffer, but amidst all the challenges

made it to the Andes to ride. I am

downturn, the College finances

there are many positives,

contributing to Lucy’s long term

wellbeing: student numbers are on

Director Of Studies to the Lucy

the up; we have continued to invest

on leave. She continues to act as

equipment; diversifying our

lawyers while Anat Scolnicov was

Addenbrookes Hospital. I was

in our accommodation and

ambition at the end of the year and

now full of enthusiasm and am

planning a cross Andes horseback trip with three companions,

travelling from Chile to Argentina just after the snows melt in 2010.”

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 17

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Alumnae News one-woman shows: Ten Days that

www.ginnydavis.com

I would do that….”

my new flexibility, which allows me

Matters, in which the narrator, a

Sarah Lovell (2007) has spent the last

and travelling. (I need to former to

Ginny Davis (1984) has written two

shook the Kitchen! and Family

beleaguered mother of three,

describes life at the cutting edge of

year working in Iraq as a computer

time to take aerobics and weight

training, as well as do more cooking offset the latter!)”

Elizabeth Kincaid-Ehlers has recently

family life. She performed Ten

Days.. in the summer of 2008 at the

published her second volume of

Family Matters which she has

Leaping and Looming (2005) was a

verse, Seasoning. Her first book

Edinburgh Fringe and then wrote

collection of poems written from

performed up and down the

1979 to 2004. Elizabeth was featured

country in venues ranging from

in the first year of the Sunken

state of the art theatre spaces to

Garden Poetry Festival and has

school gyms via a Literary Festival

received many awards, including

the North Country Poetry Prize and

Nimrod magazine.

Policy Graduate Fellowship with

For the last ten years Polly

Sciences that will start this autumn

season (Jan Feb March) directing

the Christine Mirzayan Technology

the U.S. National Academy of in Washington, D.C.

Cynthia Glassman (Hon Fellow Marquee and the fourth plinth in

Trafalgar Square as part of Antony

Board of Directors of Discover

artefacts, there are comprehensive

Trustee of the SEC (Securities and

Exchange Commission) Historical

went on to get a First in the exam!).

Society. In May, I gave the

good, I tells myself, though I might

George Washington University

have done better if I’d stuck to Law. My two children are now teenagers.

They watch my shows with suspicion; just waiting for

representations of themselves. As if

Page 18 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

Lucia. The site includes C18th ruins

Aristocrat who was Governor of St

Financial Services and become a

That, in the world of theatre is

Historic Site of Mamiku Estate in St

Secretary of Commerce in the Bush

position in January as Under

in the words of John Tiley when he bad, but not good either’ (though I

excavations and research at the of the Residence of Baron de

Administration, I have joined the

marked my final Equity essay: ’Not

Thompson (1989) has had an annual

2006) writes: “Since leaving my

Gormley’s One and Other project.

Ginny writes: “the financial loss is,

a Pushcart Prize nomination from

technician and has been awarded

Micoud (1765), a colourful French Lucia. As well as a wealth of

records: personal, colonial state

/military and intriguing documents referring to a period of

imprisonment in Holland for

commencement speech at the

spying. She would eagerly welcome

undergraduate business school

researching in any related area.

graduation. I am in discussions with other boards about the

possibility of joining them, and

have other speaking engagements

scheduled for the fall. I am enjoying

input from anyone who is

When not in St Lucia, Polly lives in Appledore and is the secretary to

both the Appledore Book Festival and the Appledore Visual Arts

Festival. Both festivals attract

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

national and international artists

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Lorraine Cavanagh (1994) has now

and authors.

seen her PhD published, in totally

Vanessa Fox (2003) has moved to

the title By One Spirit:

Nairobi to start a new job as chief accountant for a sisal company

there. Her daughter Emily is with

her, and they are thoroughly

enjoying meeting up with the large number of family members they have in Kenya.

revised and updated form, under Reconciliation and Renewal in

Anglican Life published by Peter Lang.

Philippa Jones (1975) has two books out at the moment: Satan's

perfectly timed to take the hard

edge off a downturn in health.

Patapia M Tzotzoli (2004) returned

Housebound for long periods with

to Greece almost a year ago, and is

now working at Hygeia Hospital as

ME, I was (and can) escape to

neuropsychologist at the

commitment to linear, analytical

different worlds. After years of

a clinical and research

Department of Neurosurgery &

thinking, I was finding that words

Initially, she was employed to carry

themselves, making their own

have a way of organising

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery.

connections. At the time I was

out a research project on the quality

unable to follow the plot in a book

of life of patients with brain

and following the trail of my own

metastases who undergo either

thought in a conversation was

knife or WBRT. This project will

beyond me. So I felt a great

conclude in June 2012. In the

excitement at having these poems

meantime, she also perform

come along� She has since been a

Kingdom came out in 2007 to

abolition of the slave trade; The

"Feeling Trapped (A True Story)"

celebrate the bicentennial of the

the tale of Jonathan Trappe, a man

the accession of Henry VIII.

of them. You can see Mary's poems

Mary Courtney (2004) writes “I

http://marycourtneypoetry.co.uk

started writing poems at the age of

offers psychotherapy to patients.

were selected from 7,500 entries and

Other Tudors came out this year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of

neuropsychological evaluations and

commended winner in the National

Poetry Competition:. 13 poems

most prone to day dreams, was one

on:

45 - when I thought there was

Laurel Patterson (1999) lives in

surprise me. Never before having

Director for UNDP Somalia.

nothing about myself that could

the urge to do such a thing, it was a

Kenya and is Assistant Country

delightful shock! Pure playfulness -

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 19

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Rachel Brown (2004) has completed

Soma Sengupta (1998) is currently

English teacher at Samuel Ward

Harvard and writes that she is

her NQT year as a secondary

Upper School in Haverhill, Suffolk.

She did her PGCE last year at

Cambridge and is loving being a teacher

Marcia Schofield (1992) writes:

training in neurology at BIDMC-

enjoying the work enormously.

June Thompson (1975) writes:

“having 'officially' retired eight

years ago, I continue to edit the

international journal ReCALL,

published by Cambridge University

Sue Swan (1996) is working at

Press, which I co-founded twenty

Birmingham as a Criminal Defence

research on new technologies and

Russell Jones & Walker Solicitors in

years ago. The journal publishes

“This year, the Chief Medical

Police Federation.

Solicitor, primarily working for the

language learning, which means I

knowledge of health care

Together with a number of

operate electronically between East

Officer's report highlighted the poor professionals in the assessment and treatment of pain. Our group, the

colleagues from the UK and

Education Special Interest

have to keep abreast of the rapid

developments in this field and also Yorkshire, Cambridge and India. It

also means I help to organise the

annual conference of EUROCALL,

committee of the British Pain

the journal's parent association, this

Society, has recently completed a

year to be in Valencia, Spain”

nationwide survey of

undergraduate courses for doctors,

Louise Ogundere (Louise Allum,

to determine the amount of

clinician at The Beaumont Animal

pain. Following on from this work, I

Royal Veterinary College, this

nurses and health care professionals

1992) started a new job as staff

curriculum devoted to the study of

Hospital in Camden, part of the

have moved into assisting with

compiling a large database of web-

January. As well as being a busy

based educational resources for

overseas Svetlana Kurtes (1997) is

is our hope that the results of this

international research network for

emphasis in the assessment and

education activities. The Network is

addition to my elected duties, I

initiatives clustering around the key

Lecturer at the University of

specific aspects of communication,

inter-professional pain education. It

survey will lead to a greater

treatment of pain in the NHS. In have been appointed Senior

Cardiff: seconded from my NHS

work. I will be helping to revamp the MSc course in Pain

currently involved in setting up an

linguistic and intercultural

meant to undertake a variety of

concepts of language and culture

especially with reference to English

for Academic Purposes and English

as a Lingua Franca. Svetlana has

first opinion practice they teach

final year vet students their 'first

day skills'- from consulting skills to

routine surgery. Louise is loving the new challenge and the added dimension of teaching.

Nicole Laviolette (1997) is Associate

Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa. Her research and

publications are devoted mainly to

international human rights,

international humanitarian law, and

Management for completely on-line

been busy promoting and

the rights of refugees. She is also

course for students worldwide”.

carrying on with her own research

issues, international feminist theory

delivery to improve access to the

Page 20 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

expanding the Network and work.

interested in lesbian and gay legal

and transnational family law. She is the co-editor of The Human Rights

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

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Next April Granta are bringing out a paperback edition of her latest

book, Hot Flushes, Cold Science: A

History of the Modern Menopause, and she spent a good deal of this year promoting it. She is now

working on the next book now, as well as doing radio work and

starting her fourth year as a Non-

Alcoholic Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous GB and being

company secretary to my sons' arts

business.

of Anti-Terrorism (Irwin Law, 2008), a collection of papers

discussing the Ottawa Principles on

Anti-Terrorism. Along with Mélanie

Claude and Richard Poulin, Prof.

LaViolette also edited Prostitution et traite des êtreshumains, enjeux nationaux et internationaux (Les Éditions L’Interligne, 2009). Her

chapter is entitled, “Le cadre

juridique interaméricain face aux

problèmes engendrés par la traite des femmes et des enfants.” In

March 2009, she presented a lecture

entitled, “Independent Human

Rights Documentation and Sexual

Minorities: An Ongoing Challenge for the Canadian Refugee

Hot Flushes, Cold Science A History of the Modern Menopause Louise Foxcroft ‘Gripping ... Packed full of the thoughtprovoking information you never come across ... Read this book’ India Knight, Evening Standard

Hilary Levey (2002) recently finished her PhD at Princeton and for the

next two years will be a Robert

Wood Johnson Scholar in Health

Determination Process” at an

Policy Research at Harvard working

Angeles which focused on sexual

for economists, political scientists,

international conference held in Los

orientation and the law.

Louise Foxcroft (1992) is in her final year as President of the Lucy

Cavendish Alumnae Association.

on an inter-disciplinary programme

and sociologists.

Elizabeth Speller (1992) has been

short-listed for best single poem in

The Forward Prize for Poetry. She

has also run poetry workshops

which Caron Freeborn at Lucy

Cavendish which she says have been “enjoyable and very

interesting explorations into poetry

and full of surprises. (I hope

attendees were as stretched by it all as I was)”. Elizabeth’s new book and first novel The Return of

Captain John Emmett will be

published by Virago on March 4th

2010 and a second novel is due out

a year later. From October she

takes up a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at the University of Warwick.

Morag Kersel (2002) is now the co-

director of the Regional Exploration

into the Galilean Ancient Landscape

(REGAL) project, a new initiative investigating social and ritual

organization in the Chalcolithic (c.

4500-3600 BC) of the Levant. This

coming academic year she will be a

postdoctoral fellow at the Joukowsky Institute for

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 21

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Commission (expenditure patterns

booklet on "Assessment in Schools.

(submissions on the regulation of

policy makers to think more about

of retired people), Age Concern NZ

financial planners), Age Concern Wellington (pre-retirement

education) and the NZ Institute for Research in Ageing (family, ageing

and migration in the NZ Indian

at Brown University where she will be teaching classes on museum

policy and the archaeology of the

Middle East.

Former Fellow, Harriet Crawford

the uses and misuses of assessment and testing.

Anne McDougall (Visiting Fellow

2006) is Professor of Academic

Gerontology of which she is the

Wollongong and Principal Fellow at

national and Wellington branch

secretary. She has also become an

"accredited visitor" to older people who are housebound.

Mary James (Fellow Commoner)

retired from her Chair at the

(1971) is still raising money for the

Institute of Education, University of

and is chairman of their scholarship

back in Cambridge, her new role is

archaeologists and museum staff

the Faculty of Education. This

British Institute for the study of Iraq

increasing public understanding of

community). Her unpaid work is for the NZ Association of

Archaeology and the Ancient World

Fit for Purpose?" which challenges

Development at the University of the University of Melbourne. Her

latest book, which she has co-edited with John Murnane, Anthony Jones and Nick Reynolds is Researching IT in Education: Theory, Practice

and Future Directions. The book is

intended for everyone interested in

or undertaking research on IT in

London, in December 2008. Now

education: academics, research

Associate Director of Research at

and others. The 31 contributors to

enables her to help colleagues with

the UK, Germany, Italy, Greece,

colleagues here and update their

publications, using some of the

Argentina, New Zealand and

contract with Routledge to edit

almost ten years working on the

programme which brings Iraqi

over to this country for short stays during which they can meet

skills. She has also just signed a

writing research proposals and

experience she has built up over

another in their Ancient worlds

ESRC's UK-wide Teaching and

World.

2008/9 she completed her ESRC

series to be called The Sumerian

Judith Davey (1967) continues to be attached to the Institute if Policy Studies at Victoria University of

Wellington as a Senior Research

Learning Research Programme. In Programme Director's Fellowship, travelling to the USA, Australia,

New Zealand, Hong Kong, South

Africa, Spain, Sweden and Norway.

She is now editing a section of 57

Associate. As well as being

articles on the theme of educational

institute - seminars, lectures, round

Elsevier's "International

involved in the activities of the

table discussions - she undertakes

contract research. In the last year

she has worked for the Retirement

Page 22 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

assessment for the Third Edition of Encyclopedia of Education". With

colleagues in the UK's Assessment

Reform Group, she has written a

students, teachers, policy makers

the book come from ten countries:

Switzerland, Iceland, Botswana,

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

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Australia. The chapters describe a

Karen Stephenson (1995) and Will

perspectives, some of them

May 2009 at Shire Hall and St

variety of approaches and

contrasting markedly with one

another. This is intended; there is

no single ‘correct’ way to approach

research in this area, and awareness

of the range of possible methods

to search for - and study -

Miller were married on Saturday 2

transitions to novel

Peter’s Church, Cambridge.

states. This technically challenging

Christina Duffy Burnett (Christina

understanding in an area of great

Duffy 1994) is looking forward to

and strategies is important for

superconducting and magnetic work will further our

theoretical and technological interest.”

researchers. Anne writes: “My early

For Beverley Cottrell (1979) training

a Visiting Fellowship at Lucy

year graduate conversion course at

work on the book was done during

as a barrister involved doing a one

Cavendish College. I thank the

the University of Hertfordshire and

project during that time, and for

City University, London. She is due

College for its support for this

a one-year bar vocational course at

provision of a most congenial

to be called to the Bar by Middle

academic environment for my

Temple on 8th October, having got

work.”

a Very Competent grade overall -

Beverly Floersheimer (1982) recently

returning to teaching at Columbia

in a Thai Monastery, with her

constitutional law) having been on

meditation. She is on the parent

of her second daughter, Consuelo.

spent several very wonderful weeks

daughter, studying Buddhism and

boards of her children’s schools.

Her husband, Dan, continues to

work in the Alternative Investment environment with Hedge Funds and Private Equity Companies.

i.e. over 70% average.

Law School (immigration and

Penny Granger has published her

maternity leave following the birth

and Liturgy in Medieval East

Her elder daughter, Francesca is two years old.

book ‘The N-Town Play: Drama Anglia: Drama and Liturgy in Medieval East Anglia’

Patricia Alireza (1999) was one of

the winners of the four 2009 L’Oreal UNESCO UK and Ireland

Fellowships For Women In Science which were announced on 1 July

2009 at an awards ceremony at the Royal Institution in London. Dr

Alireza’s award will allow her to

undertake research on new

electronic transitions under extreme conditions of pressure, magnetic

field and temperature. As the

UNESCO website states: “Patricia

Alireza’s research will use pressure and new measurement techniques

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 23

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In Memoriam Steph Gray 1979-2008

for de-Wildt Cheetah Sanctuary in

All who knew her agree Steph was

called Ukuthula. At the time of

experience at Lucy Cavendish, she

Sarah Pellet remembers: “On the

South Africa, sponsoring a cheetah

tragically killed in a car accident

sponsoring she was three years old

28th January 2008, Steph Gray was while working in South Africa.

and staff are hopeful that she will

major part of college life, she rowed

breeding program.

When she was at Lucy, Steph was a for college, she ran the bar and

bring new blood lines to the

a large part of our lives and

was a very special person with so

much to give and a great friend to

us all.

Angela Lang 1948-2009 Bel Trew has written to us with the

somehow found the time to do her

following sad news: “My mother,

vet degree.

Angela Lang, was a mature MPhil

I am lucky to have lived with Steph

student at Lucy Cavendish between

Not only did she help with the

in college life, as well as truly

2004 - 2005 and was very involved

during the final years at vet school.

loving her time at Lucy Cav. I am

academic side, she got me involved

writing to sadly inform you that she

with things in and out of college,

soon getting me into the Cambridge

way of life and very quickly

becoming a close friend.

Steph’s love was horses, and all the

Ukuthula the cheetah adopted in memory in Steph Grey

In 2009 I went to South Africa to

work with a wildlife vet, fulfilling a

passed away a week ago, after an eight year battle with cancer. I

know there are many people at

Lucy Cavendish who knew her

well, from those working on the

way through vet school she was

promise that I would go over to

academic side to the housekeeping

vet. Since the age of seven she had

country Steph loved. Two days

the family if you could pass this

riding and become very good at

sanctuary where there is a plaque

determined to work as an equine

fundraised for Redwingsgone horse

dressage. She achieved her

South Africa and get to see the

were spent at De-Wildt cheetah

on the wall in memory of Steph to

ambition and after graduating in

say we have sponsored a cheetah.

work as a racehorse vet. Her hard

De-Wildt Cheetah Centre was

2006, moved to South Africa to work, determination and

established in 1971 with the aim of

personality came across where she

breeding endangered species. More

male dominated area in South

born at De-Wildt. The conservation

became very well respected in a

Africa. Steph fell in love with South Africa and wanted her friends to

visit to share her enthusiasm for the country.

Steph’s friends have raised money

for two charities in her memory:

£400 for Redwings and over £200

Page 24 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

than 500 cheetah cubs have been

ethic soon widened to include other rare and endangered species such

as the African wild dog, brown

hyaena, serval, African wildcat and

staff, and so it would mean a lot to news onto the college. I do

appreciate that many people might

have moved on since then but her

year at Cambridge was really one of her happiest.”

Our Guardian Angel: Dr Barbara Oldham, 1913- 2009 Lucy Cavendish College’s first

purpose-built building, Oldham Hall, was named after Barbara

Oldham, its principal benefactor

and in memory of her late husband,

vultures. Many of these species

Edward Oldham.

later reintroduction into the wild.

Barbara Oldham was herself a

have been successfully bred for

mature student, reading medicine at

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

Manchester University. She took a keen interest in this College when

she met one of our trustees in 1978.

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As Phyllis Hetzel wrote in The

Japan”.

neither I nor she knew it, was to be

Among memories of Carmen as an

came from both the Oldham Trust

that she subscribed to Buddhist

Crucial Years “This lady, although

undergraduate stand out the fact

She became a supporter of the

our guardian angel”. Donations

Oldham Foundation and the

and the Edward Oldham Charitable

thought and that she kept a

Settlement.

difference to the College: without

immediate postwar years,

College and donated funds from the Edward Oldham Charitable

Barbara was born in 1913 in what

Settlement and made a crucial

these gifts the College would not have been in a strong enough

harpsichord in her room. In those

undergraduate ages and experience ranged more widely than is usual

was then Southern Rhodesia where

financial position to gain Approved

today and Carmen (at 25 and ex-

the family returned to Derbyshire

the path to becoming a full

good discussions she particularly

her father was a missionary. In 1919 where she was educated at Lady

Manners School, becoming Head

Foundation status, a crucial stage in Cambridge college.

Girl in 1931. Barbara became a

The relationship with the College

hats for her family drapers business

was a firm friend to the College and

teacher, but it was when delivering that she met Edward Oldham,

grandson of the founder of Oldham and Son, battery manufacturers.

lasted for decades: Barbara Oldham

to many of those who worked here.

Barbara and Edward were married

Carmen Blacker OBE FBA, 1924-2009

post as a teacher but went on to

Carmen Blacker: Carmen Blacker

in 1939 and Barbara gave up her

Dame Anne Warburton remembers

train as a doctor, at Manchester

was an unusual First Year student

medicine during the war years. She

1947. She already had a BA in

University as a mature student in

specialised in psychiatric work and

spent 20 years working among

when she went up to Somerville in

Japanese (first class honours) from

SOAS and had worked on Japanese

Manchester students.

matters at Bletchley. With Senior

In the summer of 1978, Alastair

call an Affiliated Student), she did

Wordern, one of the Lucy

Cavendish College Trustees was on

a trip to New York and met Barbara Oldham on a Concorde flight. She

took a keen interest in the College, having herself been treated as a

curiosity when she sought to study as a mature student in the 1940s.

Status (ie what we in Cambridge

Bletchley) contributed fully to the enjoyed over Dining Hall meals. In

doing so she made good friends,

won by her personality and also the remarkable modesty about her own abilities and achievements and her readiness to praise and encourage

others.

After Oxford and a year as Fellow

at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, a

Treasury studentship made possible

her first visit to Japan. (Carmen told

later of her embarrassment then to discover that her spoken Japanese shocked those listening because,

having been taught by a man, she

used masculine word endings!) Her research at Keio University on its founder was the basis of her

the full Oxford PPE course in two

doctoral thesis, published in 1964 as

later, on her 85th birthday, The

Study of the Writings of Fukuzawa

years. When Carmen died 60 years Times obituary wrote of “an

outstanding scholar of Japanese

“The Japanese Enlightenment: A

Yukichi.”

culture” who “throughout her life

Carmen’s Cambridge career

understanding between Britain and

the early 1980s she played the key

did all she could for closer

spanned the years 1955 - 1991. In

part in preserving Japanese studies in the University of Cambridge

Annual Newsletter 08 09 | Page 25

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

from being axed for economy. Not

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made OBE. She was a Founding

only did she actively recruit

Fellow of Clare Hall and an

proudly refused premature

Combination Room at Lucy

students, she decisively and retirement and secured the help of

the British Ambassador in Tokyo in

Honorary Member of the Cavendish College.

persuading Japanese benefactors to

Natasha Squire adds: Carmen more

Cambridge in 1984.

Membership of Lucy Cavendish

fund a chair of Japanese studies in

Appointments as Visiting Fellow or Professor took Carmen to

Columbia, Princeton and Toronto

Universities in North America and to Kyoto University in Japan. She continued until a very few years ago to teach folklore, one of her

main interests, almost annually at Ueno Gakuen University. Her

research included much travel in

Japan, observing and participating

in pilgrimages and rituals—even walking barefoot on hot coals.

Her other great interest was the

study of Japanese religion and she

than earned her Honorary

College. She and Michael Loewe share the demanding work of

directing, teaching and guiding our first students in Oriental Studies, especially Chinese and Japanese.

Their enlightened care was a labour

or love well beyond the demands of the job. Their house was always

open to those in need of guidance

and comfort. Carmen supported the College with admirable loyalty at

dinner, academic and other events radiating humour and generosity.

She is greatly missed by all who

came into contact with her.

was much respected in Japan for

her contributions on both subjects, most notably The Catalpa Bow: A

Study in Shamanistic Practices in

Japan (1975, published in Japan in

1979). Numerous articles appeared

in learned journals and other books

included two edited jointly with

Michael Loewe, lecturer in Chinese

at Cambridge, her long term

partner and, since 2002, husband.

Carmen was awarded the order of

the Precious Crown by the Japanese

Government in 1988 for her services to scholarship and to Anglo-

Japanese relations. In 2004 she was

Page 26 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge

Witch Hazel planted by friends in memory of Hazel Sopp, 1966-2008

newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2

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Art in College The new Curator

Sarah Gull, fellow in clinical

medicine and joint College director for the Graduate Medical Course,

and someone who has long been

involved in encouraging creative activity within the College, has

taken on the role of curator, a post

held by Dr Jane Renfrew for more 18 years.

This year, Michelle Baikie, MPhil student, put on an exhibiton of

photographs from Canada and local

artist Rebecca Ivatts holped to stage

an “Art Day” to explore the theme

of Life. Sarah also organized an

event on ‘Why I Paint The Human

Body’ featuring the artists Tom de

Freston, Rebecca Ivatts and Ulyana

The Lucy Cavendish Singers: A new choir for the College

Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength ...

The Lucy Cavendish Singers is a

John Wesley Instructions for Singing, 1761

group of around twelve auditioned singers - all women: Fellows,

students, alumnae and friends of

Lucy Cavendish College who are

committed to delivery memorised and polished performances of

music in many styles and from different periods.

Founder and Director, Katharine Megli, is convinced that singing without sheet music removes a

retaining the College title – hence

Gumeniuk. The annual College

barrier between performers and

Arts and Crafts. Meanwhile, Sarah

throw themselves whole-heartedly

“In establishing the choir, I was

programmes which will appeal to a

in the new President, Prof Janet

exhibition this year extended to

has introduced a system of art on loan to the College and we

audience and allows the singers to

into their song. She loves to present

currently have works on loan from

broad range of tastes by combining

wants to consider lending art-works

known and by juxtaposing comedy

fellows and alumnae. If anyone

to the college please let her know on seg30@cam.ac.uk

familiar pieces with others less well and tragedy, satire and religious fervour.

The College Choir still provides the

the Lucy Cavendish Singers.

very fortunate to find a warm ally

Todd, who immediately gave us the

opportunity to sing at the Winter

Reception for Benefactors in

January 2009. Our audience was

delightfully appreciative and as a result of that performance we

received a terrific boost in the form

opportunity for all at Lucy who

of a generous donation to cover our

to establish a second choir for small

Megli.

want to sing. However, she wanted group of singers who were willing

costs for the year.” says Katharina

make a strong commitment to

Since then they have sung at two

the College. The group took shape

of Women’s Word in June and have

that would reflect their eclectic

concert at Emmanuel Reformed

performing both within and outside and found that it needed a name

programmes we present whilst still

formal halls, the opening reception

presented a full-scale lunchtime Church in the city centre.

Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 27