non vestra sed vos
Chadsian Non Vestra Sed Vos
2011
In this Issue: The Browne Review and the Coalition Alumni working in Nepal The Poetry of Anne Stevenson Rowing the Atlantic 1
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From the Principal
The Revd Canon Dr Joseph P. Cassidy
It’s been quite a year so far. Both the government’s comprehensive spending review and the Browne Review (about which I’ve written a separate piece) have raised questions about the public value of Higher Education. With most students now expected to pick up the whole cost of their education, many commentators have remarked that Higher Education has been more or less privatised, even if Government still wants a big say in HE policy. As my later article suggests, I actually think that’s a fair reading of the situation, but the current situation presents not just frustrations, but also opportunities. The chief opportunity is for us to reaffirm the value of what we do, and even to buck the trend of privatisation by redoubling our efforts to turn out students who think about much more than themselves and who remain excited about the future.
Our students continue to break academic records, which is wonderful, but they do so while maintaining an incredible range of extracurricular and charitable, and increasingly international, activities. I hope that readers of this issue of the Chadsian will have the same reaction I did when I first read the proofs: our students really are incredible, and generous, but they seem often to be somewhere else, be it in South Africa, Indonesia, Kosovo, Nepal – or even cycling around London! But that’s what makes Chad’s what it is today. Being a smallish college, we have to work at setting our sights outside of our own little world. And I have to say that our students embrace that challenge with verve and with some very real daring. That outward focus informs their studies and helps with motivation when, in the blues of January and February, many start wondering what it’s all about. And while the current climate may suggest in Clintonesque terms that it’s (still) all about the economy, fundamentally it’s actually all about people, some close to us, others further away. I hope you enjoy reading this edition of the The Chadsian. In the spirit of Chad’s, the articles are not about things, but about people --- about the remarkable ways we link with one another. With the re-launch of the College Foundation and with the explosion of such social networking sites as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Linked In, we hope to keep you ‘linked’ with us in the months to come, offering you ever more timely news of the College and a chance to join us in promoting what remains a great adventure.
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Dr Joseph P. Cassidy
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From the Senior Man JCR President Dan Whiteley
It seems like no time at all since the glory of the Durham summer here at Chad’s: a time when exams were over, the Summer Ball was coming up and graduands were all too aware that their time here was coming to an end. In June we bid farewell to so many colourful characters and committed students who made Chad’s the vibrant community that so many of us have enjoyed in the past. We wish you all well for the future. But while the people at Chad’s may change, the sprit and traditions do not. Despite a biblical downpour and biting northerly breeze, our Exec and Freshers’ Reps welcomed some 126 new Chadsians into the college from across the globe, accompanied by an ever-growing number of postgrads too. Under the enthusiastic and able coordination of Ruth Traynor (Vice President) and Emily Campbell (Social Secretary), to whom we owe an enormous amount of thanks, Freshers’ Week was a whirlwind of fancy-dress, greyhounds and green facepaint. The cathedral proved a dramatic setting for a private tour with an introduction not only from the Dean, but also Mr Nick Barton himself… maybe the people don’t always change here then.
As the term got underway and our new Chadsians learnt the real meaning of ‘freshers’ flu’, we enjoyed a whole host of events, not least the boat club’s wonderful Winter Ball, the Hope Ball (this year raising money for ‘Building for Kenya’ and featuring performances by the College’s numerous musical talents) and the now well-established college pantomime, which saw Robin Hood and an indecent number of men in tights taking to the stage.
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whirlwind of fancy-dress, greyhounds and green face-paint
Further, our University Challenge team gave a sterling performance again this year reaching the inter-collegiate semi-finals. The 54th Candlemas Ball, with a 1960s theme, was a huge success and there is plenty for our students to look forward to in the coming months. This issue of The Chadsian includes Dr Cassidy’s assessment of the current Higher Education funding changes and the impact that these may have not only on Chad’s, but on Higher Education as a whole. In this last year, securing the future of not only the JCR, but also the College, has been our priority. The JCR has been engaged in ensuring that Chad’s remains the supportive and flourishing community in which we all live, work and socialise, whatever the future may hold. As well as this, in these increasingly uncertain times we have been working closely alongside all JCRs to safeguard our future as unique student unions and as an unquestionably integral part of the ‘Durham difference’nowhere else is this difference felt more acutely than at Chad’s. The coming year will be a crucial period in the JCR’s history. Follow the JCR on Twitter- twitter.com/StChadsJCR Visit the website- www.dur.ac.uk/st-chads.jcr
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The Browne Review and the coalition Joe Cassidy
The Browne review recommended getting rid of all funding for arts, humanities and social science courses, a move that signals the effective privatisation of much of the teaching element of Higher Education. No one else in the Western world has done this. Even in the US, with its private universities but also with its excellent lessexpensive state universities, taxes pay for a large portion of teaching costs. In other countries a portion of these costs or interest payments are tax deductible. In Canada, it’s much the same, with much lower tuition fees than those proposed for England, and with tax credits passing to parents, effectively making tuition fees tax-deductible for either the student or the parent. The logic behind the Browne Review seems to be that most higher education (apart from a few governmentpriority areas) is now considered to provide no real benefit to society at large, but only to the individual concerned, and principally in terms of his or her ability to earn more income. Since it is seen as a financial investment, the individual ought morally (or so the argument goes) to bear the entire cost of his or her ‘purchase’ of an undergraduate education. If there were any wider social benefits, one might have thought that the beneficiaries of these wider benefits (society at large) ought to bear some of the cost. True, scientific research will still be funded, but most teaching will not. True, too, the loan system may not pay for itself and may have to be subsidised. Poorer students will admittedly receive help, helping poorer students to climb the socio-economic ladder is still deemed a social benefit, even if their actual education is not, in and of itself, deemed socially beneficial (it being of value principally in terms of increased earning capacity). But the cost has skyrocketed, and HE has been reduced to a commodity, a consumer choice, like lipstick – and, strangely, nowhere else in the Western world but here. It is hard to imagine what sort of place the UK would be had this sort of thinking 4driven our HE policies for the last 50 years.
Image courtesy of Durham University
Across the OECD, the average fiscal rate of return for public investment in HE is 5.98%. That means that public expenditure on HE is already more than recovered by the increased taxes paid by graduates. Because it is true that private financial benefit outweighs the measurable public benefit, there is indeed an argument for increasing student fees, but that argument does not magically negate the public benefit, nor does it undermine the fact that public investment in HE is actually profitable. University students and their parents will be paying over the fiscal odds. Moderately well-off students (or rather moderately welloff parents earning over £40k or so) or anyone earning a decent salary in the future will be subsidising students from less well-off backgrounds, but this is surely a shared (and therefore a government) responsibility. True, the government will still have to finance the student loans that will never be paid off, but why any students ought to be required to subsidise any other students is not at all clear, especially in this market-driven system. After all, students are already foregoing income while they’re at University, and to tax them on money they’re not even earning seems very odd. There is a financial crisis, to be sure, but this is not a temporary measure to get us out of a hole. This is a radical change in how we understand (or misunderstand) the value of higher education in society. If higher education also benefits society and not just the individual, then the Browne proposals are based on an incorrect,far-too-narrow cost-benefit analysis. It is doubtful that policy-making based on such flawed assumptions would generate the best policies. Indeed, the Browne proposals represent a massive challenge to the very heart of what it means to be a society. This is an example of even more atomisation, even more individualism, now allowing the “what’s in it for me” question to drive the very heart of our HE policy.
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Image courtesy of Durham University
The cost ceilings are also based on a cynical approach to measuring value. What Browne (and several universities, it should be added) have done is determine how much universities can get away with charging before student enrolment drops off too dramatically, before students vote with their feet. But this is tantamount to measuring value with a gun held to people’s heads. It’s similar to asking people how much they would be willing to spend on saving their children’s lives, and then setting health insurance premiums accordingly. The sums are not based on any real measure of fairness, but on a skewed marketdriven analysis of values, prices, and tipping points.
The Ruth First Scolarship
A South African Scholarship Fund was set up in the University in 1964 and after the assassination of Ruth First, a distinguished anti apartheid campaigner who taught for some years at Durham, the scholarship was renamed after her. The scholarship aims to enable students from disadvantaged backgrounds in southern Africa to undertake postgraduate study at Durham. Scholars are chosen for their active commitment to their communities as well as for their academic ability. This is in the hope that they will be inspiring role models for other young people in Africa. In recent times, St Chad’s, as host and sponsor, has enjoyed the fellowship of four scholars, each bringing insights into a different area of need and potential in The Browne proposals could affect us all dramatically. The southern Africa. HE system will survive (though it may well contract after a spurt next year) because people do actually value higher Peter Okeno read for a Masters in Ethnomusicology and education beyond the impact of their pay packets, and during his year here came to be known to many for the often for some rather altruistic reasons. They know better African drumming group, “Ngoma Vuma Uropa”. Peter is now undertaking PhD research into the role of Music in than government. war torn Rwanda. In 2009 Nomazile Chicho from Botswana Had there been any public debate before the coalition earned an MSc in Public Policy and Health and in 2010, made their decisions, we might not be where we are now. Simplicio Bhebe from Zimbabwe gained a distinction in Since first writing this editorial in October, Lord Browne his LLM. Simplicio’s dissertation was a brave piece on legal has apologised for the imperfection of his review with responses to state orchestrated torture. He is presently regard to the funding of the humanities; LSE Professor working in Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Nicholas Barr, who designed the first top-up fees regime Human Rights. The current Ruth First Scholar is Tinashe under Labour, has criticised the Labour-initiated report Ruswa, a Zimbabwean, who is enrolled in an MSc in Internet with regard to arts, humanities and social sciences, saying Systems and E-Business and hopes to use his knowledge the review ‘implicitly assumes there is no social benefit on his return to Zimbabwe to make education through efrom higher education in those subjects’; and the head of learning more accessible. He is also a very talented cricketer HEFCE, Sir Alan Langlands, has said that ‘he would not be and has been invited to play for the Northern Universities comfortable living in a country with no direct funding for Student Club-Community Cricketers’ Elite.
the arts and humanities.’
The Ruth First Scholarship Fund is very grateful for the These are big names. They have huge reservations. But it’s support of St Chad’s College, and St Chad’s in turn is honoured to contribute to - and benefit from – a scholarship not clear that anyone is really listening. that helps us to put flesh on the bones of our aspiration to promote justice. 5
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South Africa Rachel Acheson
In the summer of 2010 Kara Kendall, Hadrian Holloway, Tim Lee, Venetia Ellis, Thomas Welch and I spent a total of three months continuing St Chad’s commitment to St Matthew’s High School in Keiskammahoek, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. St Matthew’s is a girl’s boarding school, which admits boys as day students, and has around 500 students aged 1318. The ‘learners’ only pay a small boarding fee, and so it is the best education accessible to many children across the Eastern Cape, historically the country’s most deprived region. Over the three months we lived in the ‘Chad’s House’ beside the school, and each of us added to the project in our own way, be it in an educational, social, or material way. This included developing their careers service for school leavers, taking lessons for absent teachers, painting the boarding houses, organising extra curricular activities such as writing club, film club, choir, and bonfires, starting sports teams, individual tutoring, and trying to improve the level of written English in the school. We all really enjoyed our time in South Africa and St Matthews. We all feel that the St Chad’s project, along with the work of the Calabar Foundation, is
Tom Welch
having an extremely important impact in both the school and the region. The time we had there was not enough, in our opinion, and the project would really benefit from a volunteer there for an extended stay. The potential of the learners we encountered was substantial, and so many were very motivated to continue to university and professional careers. We could only hope upon leaving them, that the education given to them in St Matthews was a springboard off which some would be able to realise their dreams. The continuation and strengthening of Chad’s involvement in the school is crucial to its further development. However, this project also provides an invaluable experience to volunteers, and I can personally say that my experience there will stay firmly in my mind and I very much hope to re visit the region as soon as possible.
College Refurbishment... College spent £115,000 on a refurbishment of Grads in summer 2010 We refurbished all shower and toilet facilities, upgraded the kitchen area, redecorated, rewired, carpeted and refurnished all bedrooms. We also created bedroom
4 new en-suites and one new
Work in main College started at Christmas and will continue at Easter to refurbish the 300’s and 200’s
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Tom Welch
There are plans to invest several hundred thousand pounds in Lightfoot hopefully starting in Summer 2011.
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From the former Chaplain Rob MacSwain
Rob MacSwain, Ramsey Fellow and Chaplain from 2005 to 2008, writes from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, USA with news of two milestones. First, he is happy (and relieved!) to report that this past summer he received his PhD in theology from the University of St Andrews. Chadsians may recall that Rob arrived in Durham in 2004 to commence doctoral research on Austin Farrer (1904-1968) with the Revd Canon Professor David Brown, and then became Chaplain at Chad’s the following year. When Professor Brown moved to St Andrews in 2007, Rob moved with him in order to retain him as his supervisor. Moving to St Andrews in 2008 to focus fulltime on his thesis, Rob was then offered the position of Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at the School of Theology of the University of the South.
...Work in Grads house
He moved from St. Andrews to Sewanee in July 2009, submitted the thesis in December, defended it back in St Andrews in March 2010, and then happily graduated in June. He has an offer to publish it in a series titled ‘Studies in Philosophical Theology,’ and so he hopes to revise it for publication sometime next year. Secondly, Rob has just published The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis - a volume he co-edited with the Revd Dr Michael Ward, now Chaplain of St Peter’s College, Oxford. Due to their interest in aspects of Lewis’s work, two other members of the College were invited to contribute to this volume as well; Joe Cassidy and Ann Loades. The Principal wrote a chapter titled ‘Lewis on Discernment,’ which considers The Screwtape Letters and Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer as they relate to the Ignatian tradition of spiritual direction; and Professor Loades wrote a chapter titled ‘Lewis on Gender,’ which focuses in particular on Lewis’s influential arguments against the ordination of women. Thus, in addition to any general interest in the legacy of C. S. Lewis, Chadsians in particular may want to look at this volume due to the participation of three past and present members of the College in its production.
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theChadsian
How ‘Sustainable’ are we?
Alex Parkyn-Smith on Indonesia
For years now sustainability has been a buzzword overused by multinationals and slapped all over big businesses in their attempts to appear ethical and responsible. It is still the case that the realities of development are altogether rough, unorganised and under-funded. Even with the best intentions from some of the biggest organisations there are often conflicts of interest and sensible judgements are often lacking. Students at Chad’s will go on to fill influential positions and be key decision makers. College is the perfect place for interdisciplinary study and discussion because it is the environment where people begin to form ideas that will influence them throughout their lives. During fieldwork for my dissertation I encountered a number of issues that demonstrated the complexity of problems that often hide behind ‘sustainable’ projects.
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the realities of development are altogether rough, unorganised and under-funded
The island of Wangi-wangi sits off one of the worlds richest coral reefs. The area is at the centre of the ‘Coral Triangle’, world renowned for its high biodiversity. As tourist numbers soar the pressure on the reef grows a multinational gaze swings across the white sand beaches and dollar signs appear in the eyes of rich investors. A normal discussion of sustainability would see this immediate threat as the main issue. It would evaluate the impact of growing tourist numbers to the reef’s ecology and scientists would tut loudly and wag fingers at the detrimental effect to such a valuable resource as the developers move in. One way that this problem is often tackled is the establishment of marine parks and protected areas, places where development will be staved off.
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However there is a major flaw with this level of understanding as it completely neglects the local people, forcing them out of fishing areas, not by developers but the tourist’s preference for sustainable trips. This threatens not only their livelihood but also a newly established and fragile identity. The truth requires further exploration. The initial consideration should have been the protection of local fishing communities and local ecology; instead it was more a question of how much commercial development tourist companies could get away with. The direct impact of a few diving tours to local fishing is minimal and so was over-looked, but it led to the creation of protected areas as a consequence of western pressure to protect the reef from commercial development. The intended ‘sustainable development’ was in fact economically conceived for quick capitalist maximisation. The knock on effect from tourist development was indirect but extremely damaging to locals, especially for the sea-faring Badjoe, who are most affected by these changes. The real issues are often overlooked as it is easy for companies to provide a standard spiel about the sustainability of their trips and the customer is happy with the illusory knowledge that they are being ethical, often remaining oblivious to the underlying issues. We can clearly see that simply ticking a few boxes and being ‘sustainable’ is often not enough, an intrinsically ambiguous term that only helps us to avoid thinking about the ramifications of our actions.
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London Cycle Map Campaign Ben Irvine
After studying philosophy and psychology at BSc and MA level in Durham, and as a doctoral student at Cambridge University, St Chad’s College alumnus Ben Irvine wanted to make practical use of his research into the positive side of human nature. Growing up in East London he had always cycled around avidly, so he decided to turn his enthusiasm into a business, founding Cycle Lifestyle; a free magazine designed to encourage more Londoners to discover the physical and mental health benefits of using the bicycle as a means of transport. Now into its fourth issue, Cycle Lifestyle is running the ‘London Cycle Map Campaign’. The big idea, which recently featured in The Guardian online, is to create a single ‘London Cycle Map’ that’s clear and easy to use and corresponds to a unified network of signed cycle routes throughout Greater London: the cycling equivalent of the iconic London Underground Map. Why? Because a London Cycle Map would make cyclists much less vulnerable, with a network of routes on quieter roads (as well as parks and canals) accompanied by signs telling drivers to what to expect. And because navigating by bike would become so much easier, with signs guiding cyclists unerringly to their destination just like on the tube. Wherever you were in London, you’d be within minutes of a cycle network that would lead you wherever you wanted to go.
Decent cycle routes already exist in the capital, but there’s no consistency in their signage and you need bunches of different maps to cover Greater London. In 1931, Harry Beck’s famous Tube Map succeeded in taming a complex system of underground lines; something similar is needed today for the capital’s cycle routes. Thankfully, the work has already begun. Maverick inventor Simon Parker has developed an ingenious system for organizing London’s cycle network into a single, coherent, Tube-style map, and Cycle Lifestyle is helping to bring his ideas to the nation’s attention. The capital would be transformed by a London Cycle Map – into a greener, cleaner, quieter and friendlier city. You can find out more about the campaign, read the latest issue of Cycle Lifestyle and see Parker’s fascinating map at www.cyclelifestyle.co.uk. And if you want to lend your support to the campaign, there’s an online petition at www.petition.co.uk/london-cycle-map-campaign. What’s next for Ben? “I call myself a recovered philosopher these days”, he jokes, “but you never lose that fascination with the subject”. He’s developing a new publishing project, The Good Life Journal, which aims to get public thinkers and the thinking public together to address the vital topic of how people can bring out the best in themselves and others. “The low profile of cycling in London is arguably caused by a wider cultural and economic tendency,” says Ben, “ one in which people sell each other phony shortcuts to happiness – whether 4 x 4s that end up bumper to bumper in a traffic jam, or other trophy possessions that soon lose their sheen. I’m interested in using philosophy to uncover deeper and more reliable sources of wellbeing, and promoting these through social enterprise.” Contact Ben Irvine at: benirvine@cyclelifestyle.co.uk
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Kosovo and ‘The Ideas Partnership Ben Andrews and Sarah Farrell
On Thursday 22nd July 2010 at 16:00 The International Court of Justice announced that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not break international law. At that moment, everyone in Pristina let out a sigh of relief. The five St Chad’s undergraduates - out in the capital of Kosovo to embark upon various internship programmes – had spent the week chatting with local Kosovans and representatives of the UN, speculating as to what the verdict would be and what it would mean for the Kosovo and for the rest of Europe. Pristina is a welcoming, thriving city which speaks volumes for the progress that Kosovo has made since the war ended just over ten years ago. As the capital city, it is the most developed and modern area of Kosovo with all of the usual trimmings of a European city; bars, shops, parks and a cinema. In the heat of the day, we would often spend lunchtimes sat outside in one of the many cafes, sipping a cold Lemon Schweppes, or working in the stylish internet cafe which played Bob Dylan and Jeff Buckley on repeat.
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Later we had the opportunity to live and work in a rural community in the West of Kosovo. We worked for an NGO called ‘The Ideas Partnership’ (TIP) introduced to us by former tutor, Alex Standish. TIP was created in 2009 by Elizabeth Gowing and her colleagues. The main aims of the organisation are to support educational and environmental projects in Kosovo whilst striving to protect the nations’ cultural heritage. Elizabeth is an inspirational person who, along with representatives from TIP, runs projects such as an eco-awareness summer camp for Kosovan children. After our briefing we were soon dispatched to a village called Srbobran to build on efforts by the UN to provide the villagers with a sustainable source of employment with the possibility of an eco-bag business in mind. A lot of the villagers relied on their relatives living in Western Europe for financial support and, though they had been given a place to live and a six-month supply of basic amenities, most were unemployed and un-educated. Villages such as Srbobran were built to support the members of the minority communities such as the Gyptian and Roma families that were displaced throughout Europe during the war. We lived with Sadik who was originally from Bosnia and ran the village shop. He spoke English which meant that we were able to communicate with the community and to gain insight into the workings of the village. Initially, the prospect of spending three weeks in an isolated village in the middle of Kosovo, where only two villagers spoke English seemed slightly daunting. Within an hour of our arrival, this anxiety disappeared. The village was bursting with life; everyone was waiting to greet us from young children, to inquisitive livestock! Over the next few weeks, we became part of the community; playing football with the children, taking pictures, visiting the neighbours and looking after the village pony. It was a very humbling experience to live with people who had been through decades of displacement and hardship and who had very little yet were proud, respectful and
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occurred to us that existing eco-businesses in the UK would be interested and we received positive feedback from various online stores.
incredibly generous. Some of the people in their thirties have spent most of their adult life as refugees. The war has left many communities like Srbobran with limited education resources and very few employment opportunities. The children had just been accepted into a newly-built school and were due to start towards the end of our stay so we were eager to encourage them to attend. Alex and Elizabeth wanted to set up an ethical bag-making business that would give each villager who took part an easily accessible. The bags would be made by the villagers with materials provided by TIP and sold as ethically sourced bags that function as an alternative to plastic bags in a drive to increase eco-awareness in Kosovo. We launched the proposal in the village and with Sadik’s help were able to get the community on board. We also got a sense of how grateful the village was for the help provided by the UN and now TIP. Our next task was to conduct market research in the capital to assess who would buy the bags. We were met with both opposition and enthusiasm for the project from supermarkets but were able to liaise with Elizabeth and Alex’s contacts to find information about materials and project logistics. The internship very quickly became a project of passion because of our relationship with the community but we were anxious that it would be difficult for the eco-bag business to succeed because of the lack of concern for the environment in Kosovo. It
Finding the right sewing machines and materials proved very difficult. On the advice of a market-stall owner, we were led to a car-boot sale in the middle of nowhere and had a fantastic time haggling for a good price on a shabby looking Singer. Our last week in the village was spent visiting each household and explaining the developments in the project, working with Sadik, sewing prototypes and of course playing lots of football with the children. Needless to say, we were very sad to leave!
After we returned to England, Elizabeth and The Ideas Partnership continued to work with the village and the supermarkets. Very soon, we received the wonderful news that the first batch of bags had been bought by an independent shop. The bags are now available to purchase through The Ideas Partnership which made our Christmas Shopping very easy. Our Kosovo internship provided us with an invaluable experience. However, it was the people we met, both in Pristina and Srbobran, that made the trip so wonderful. The Ideas Partnership is now looking for enthusiastic volunteers of any age and background, to join their projects next summer.
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theChadsian Two Nepali Runners, One Double Swiss Marathon Rob Cousins
Paint a picture of the Nepali Long Distance Running Team in your minds. Perhaps like the Jamaican 1988 Bobsled Team, the idea initially seems novel and not to be taken too seriously. However, there is a long history in sport of people from underprivileged backgrounds being exceptional athletes. Rob Cousins, a Chad’s alumnus, spent three months training two Nepali runners to prove that given the opportunities and knowledge, Nepali athletes can become true sporting contenders. People in Nepal are used to moving around a lot: Nepal is full of hills and valleys; there are no cars or taxis to help people reach their destination. Nepal is also one of the poorest counties in the world. Rural poverty is widespread and its impact was something that Rob couldn’t ignore. He admitted: “It seemed a shame that they were so poor that they could only race in their back garden. I was sure they would give many an elite runner some stiff competition. What would happen if they weren’t just given a chance to race against some of the best runners, but to train properly, to have the time to focus on it, to be given the chance to do what they love?”
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Nepali athletes can become true sporting contenders
The Davos Ultramarathon, held in the Swiss Alpines each July, was the perfect event to showcase what the Nepali runners could achieve with the right backing. The event is high profile and is run over 78km, with over 2800 metres of steep climbing and descent – the best mixture of distance and terrain to match what the runners would be familiar with.
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When Rob met Bed and Sudip, it was among other hopeful Nepali runners at the local dilapidated stadium’s running track (which was essentially a field with some strategically placed paint lines). With no funding for an Institute of Sport or for supporting athletes and coaches, Rob had an awful lot of work to do. He recalls that “their stretching (in the middle of their training session!) was somewhere between strange dance moves and a seizure.” However, Rob was impressed by the determination, enthusiasm and raw talent among all the runners. He chose Bed, an Army private who had incredible stamina and a playful smile, and Sudip who was a rather different athlete: immensely strong from years carrying 90kg loads up the trekking routes, and extremely competitive. Rob comments: “Over three months Bed and Sudip blossomed from shy and quiet boys into outgoing and joyful young men. They transformed as they were given the chance to focus on something they loved doing… What great athletes to work with!” Rob concentrated on the benefits of simple changes. These included structured interval training; a training logbook; massage (despite Bed and Sudip’s initial misgivings); improved nutrition (despite unavailability of rehydration drinks in Nepal); and “silly exercise” sessions that involved movements to improve posture, core stability and lower abdominal strength. He had to work hard to respect the cultural differences.
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Sara Maitland - On Becoming a Fairy Godmother
By Elspeth Craig and Kelly Mendonça
So what happened when the team eventually reached Davos? For Bed and Sudip, it was their first time ever outside of Nepal. It was also their first plane ride, train ride and glimpse of a dishwasher! The pressure for the race was immense. Nepali races attract 50 participants at most. Davos had 1500. Ultimately, Bed and Sudip placed 25th and 56th. Although they were disappointed with their 7 hour time and felt they had let Rob down, Rob was keen to tell them this was not the case. Considering that Bed and Sudip are in their early 20s, having had only three months of training and preparation, and the overwhelming experience of a maiden trip to a developed country, they did wonderfully well. They are exceptional athletes with true ability that only needs a bit more development and investment. For Rob, this has been an experience he will never forget. “Nepal is a hard country to live in. Every day has some sort of struggle to eat or find shelter, and it is sad that there is so little opportunity for their talented athletes. To achieve what they do with battered old shoes, and just the will to go outside and run… As a coach this has been such a rewarding experience – about how much our attitude and beliefs can affect what we feel we’re able to achieve. In years to come I will look back on my time with Bed and Sudip, smile deeply, and think of what they have taught me.”
Adam Lee
Sara Maitland, author of On Becoming a Fairy Godmother and various other works, was recently nominated for the BBC National Short Story award for her work Moss Witch. In 2009 Sara’s non-fiction work, A Book of Silence, was nominated for the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award. As Chads “Writer (not) in Residence”, she launched A Book of Silence in one of the college libraries. While Sara originally became involved with St Chad’s as a guest reader, in order to access the academic libraries both the college and the University offer, she also enjoys the opportunity to be a part of the college on a social and intellectual level. Though she currently lives in a remote area of Scotland pursuing a life of silence, as a fellow of the college, Sara appreciates the “intellectually diverse” group of people that make up the SCR. She believes that they are a wonderful resource for fellow SCR members and undergraduates alike. She advises that undergraduates “shamelessly exploit the SCR”. Given that curiosity is the driving force behind Sara’s fiction, she tends to write about diverse subjects often incorporating interdisciplinary elements. Her recent short story Moss Witch was written in conjunction with an ecologist, and her current project also makes use of non-literary disciplines. For Sara, “no subject is too boring that good writing can’t make it interesting”. This approach allows her to draw inspiration from subjects that would otherwise remain unexplored. Though not be residing in Chad’s, Sara looks forward to her visits to the college and taking part in the college community. While Sara has various inspirations for her writing, St Chad’s gives her a “toehold in academia” and a sense of belonging to a group of interesting people gathered due to “their positivity towards the college”.
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theChadsian A Chadsian’s Footprints on the World: ‘Justice for Maina’ Emma Lui speaks to Rob Cohen
In 2004, the escalating violence of the Nepalese civil war claimed the life of Maina Sunuwar, a 15 year old girl, in the Kavre Palanchowk district. She was caught in the crossfire of the government forces and Maoists (the Communist Party of Nepal). When soldiers acting on intelligence came to Maina’s village, they found Maina there and not her mother – who had been named by a captive Maoist as having ties with the party. Despite there being no evidence in the home that linked her with the Maoists, Maina was arrested and taken to the Panskchal barracks for interrogation. She was subjected to severe torture and died within hours. A military cover-up ensued and the fight for justice for Maina continues to this day. Rob Cohen, an alumnus of St Chad’s College, has been the instrumental force behind setting up the campaign www. justiceformaina.com. Rob read Law during his time at Durham and, following completion of his graduate legal training (Bar Vocational Course), he was called to the Bar in 2009. Having successfully obtained a place for pupillage at a chambers in London, Rob found himself with a year to fill - Kathmandu was calling.
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military cover-up ensued and the fight for justice for Maina continues
Rob describes his “addiction” to Nepal as beginning in the time he spent in the country during his gap year in 2005. Rob learnt to speak Nepalese and gained a first hand perspective of the country’s internal struggle for power and its effects upon the people. When Rob was afforded the opportunity of a second gap year, he actively sought opportunities that would lead him back to Nepal in peacetime.
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He approached a Nepali lawyer, Mandira Sharma, who had set up an organisation called Advocacy Forum which campaigns for the rights of the ‘disappeared’: political prisoners and other victims of the Nepali justice system. Following the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy and the holding of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly elections in 2008, the newly formed Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has been entrusted with the challenges of providing lasting stability after years of conflict and civil war. Nepal is currently in the process of drafting a new constitution which Advocacy Forum hopes to inform with the reports that they produce. In order to help create a brighter, optimistic future for Nepal, the mistakes and tragedies of the past have to be addressed, examined and resolved. Advocacy Forum had the idea of preparing a report assessing the quality of Nepali criminal justice against international standards, for submission to the UN and the Nepali Parliament, and it was with this project that Rob became involved.
non vestra sed vos
Advocacy Forum asked Rob to use the resources which they had secured to produce a report. Rob travelled to Nepal last year to conduct research on the Nepali criminal justice system. This research involved travelling to, and investigating, various prisons, police stations, courts, and pressure groups. Rob explains that “this enabled me to develop a unified view of the Nepali justice system at a time of intense political discord with many rival factions”. The subsequent report that Rob produced consists of some 150 pages and is due to be widely published soon. However, Rob is “highly flattered” that his report has already won plaudits from some of the notable players in the fields of international law and comparative criminal justice. Rob’s work in Nepal has not yet finished. He has become involved in presenting a case to the Nepali Supreme Court and is heavily involved in the Maina Sunuwar case. Almost seven years on, Maina’s alleged killers have either been cleared by the military courts or have never been brought to trial. Her case has been publicised by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights among others. Rob and the other members of the campaign are continuing their fight for justice.
St Chad’s College Boat Club
Silk Tie
£25
For more info contact: lara.green@durham.ac.uk
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theChadsian
Class of 2000 Reunion
Angela Franklin
As the train from King’s Cross chugged across the viaduct and into Durham station, a long lost, yet still familiar, feeling came over me- a feeling of coming home. Anyone who has ever caught the train to or from university can probably recall the emotions they felt when seeing that wonderful view of the city from the viaduct. After ten years there was that same feeling of excitement to be returning to St Chad’s, when I went back to Durham for the Class of 2000 reunion in September 2010. I was so excited to be returning that I was on my feet, ready to see the view before the city was even in sight. I was met by a blast of cold air when I got off the train and it didn’t take long for the rain to start, this was Durham in autumn after all. As the taxi drove up the Bailey towards St Chad’s, my excitement grew. Though it had been many years since I had last visited, it was still hard to believe that I had graduated from the University ten years before.
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That same feeling of excitement to be returning to St Chad’s
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The number of Chad’s graduates attending the reunion was small, but the group was boosted by our partners who had come to Durham to get a taste of what life was like for us in our ‘formative’ years. Needless to say a ‘what goes on on tour, stays on tour’ mentality had to be adopted over the weekend as we didn’t feel our partners needed to know every detail of our time at Chad’s. They were amused enough by the edited version that they got! Over the course of the weekend, there was lots of catching up and lots of laughs. It was really lovely to hear about where our lives had taken us and to find out from each other about absent friends.
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It was interesting to see the changes that had taken place in College. All of the changes but one were definitely for the better, however none of us could quite get over our what had happened to ‘our’ bar. Most people’s favourite room in college had received quite the makeover since our time. Many of us remarked on the fact that the long lost mermaid and her underwater world was a far superior choice of decor in comparison to the current effort; however those that followed us in the years after our graduation would probably have different thoughts on the matter. The reunion weekend was a real success; highlights were a college tour to see updates to the buildings, visits to our first year rooms, a delicious dinner in the S.C.R. and tea and cake in Vennel’s on Sunday morning. Thanks to Ashley Wilson and Karen Wheeler for arranging the reunion, I’m sure those of us in attendance would agree that it was a wonderful weekend and one we’d love to repeat in Durham again. Whilst in Durham, we talked about having a reunion for our year group in London as we felt the travelling distance may have made it difficult for many to attend the September gathering. We all felt that we’d love to catch up with more of our old Chadsians before ten more years pass. For this reason I have created a Facebook Group called ‘Class of 2000 (2001)- where are they now?’ The aim of the group is to enable those of us who started as Freshers in October 1997 to reconnect. If there is enough interest, it would be lovely to organise an informal London reunion in 2011. Please join the group if you’d like to catch up with those old College friends that you haven’t seen for a while. If you aren’t on Facebook but would like to be informed about the reunion, please contact Ashley Wilson at St Chad’s as he can put you in touch with me via email.
non vestra sed vos
Senior Common Room
David Crookes - SCR Secretary
Project Sri Lanka Since the Tsunami of 2004 there have been a host of natural disasters around the world and one tends to forget the survivors of the less recent catastrophes. The University acted quite quickly in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami and set up ‘Project Sri Lanka’ to help restore life to one very badly affected area. Part of the project was to support schoolchildren financially throughout their school career and many people within the University got involved. St Chad’s SCR was the first to subscribe as a body. For the past three years, at special formal dinners, we have collected the money to see two children through their school education, a boy and a girl aged 11 and 14 respectively. However, ours is not an anonymous donation situation like many other charitable organisations. We know the names of the two children and have sent them educational presents along the way. This will be an ongoing work for several more years and we hope that the impetus will not be lost in that time. Unsung Heroes For the past two years the SCR has made a small sum of money available for unsung hero awards. These are designed to recognise those students who willingly and unstintingly give their time and talents to help others in ways that would normally be totally unrewarded. The names are put forward by the student body, both in the JCR and MCR, and this year they went to a final year undergraduate and a postgraduate studying for a Masters degree. Small Awards For the first time we have also introduced a small awards fund to enable students to apply for small amounts of money to help top up the costs of some worthwhile project they might be involved in. In this instance the SCR invites applications and these are vetted by a small panel of the SCR Executive, including Andrew Hunt who had the initial
idea. This summer we were able to help three students; Jamie-Leigh Ruse, Sally Holt and Madeline Callaghan. “The £100 SCR grant was invaluable to me whilst in Mexico as it contributed to around 6 weeks living expenses allowing me to focus on my research instead of worrying about the financial burden of extended residence abroad, and for this I am extremely grateful to the SCR for making such a generous contribution” – Jamie-Leigh Ruse. I received the £100 SCR grant to put towards my fundraising for the DUCK Romania Expedition 2010. Twelve Durham students spent a month working on a project in the Harghita region of Transylvania in partnership with the Future Sense Foundation. We spent the time renovating children’s homes and working directly with the children on summer camp activities in order to improve both their long and short term quality of life. It was an amazing experience and on my return I successfully applied to lead the Romania Expedition this year so I will be returning this summer with a group of new volunteers! - Sally Holt SCR Conversations About twice a term we hold a conversation before a formal dinner where we gather to listen to, question and discuss the research of one of our members. One speaker from this term was Reverend Dr John Munns, a Visiting Research Fellow, who gave a richly informative and enjoyable talk on the Crown of Thorns and the Sainte Chappelle in Paris. We were also grateful this term for the company of Charles Stewart ,Vicar of Walton-on-Thames and a visiting Research Fellow.
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theChadsian
Mind and Body in the Poetry of Anne Stevenson
Eleanor Spencer
Washing My Hair
Anne Stevenson, Honorary Fellow Contending against a restless shower-head, I lather my own. The hot tap, without a mind, decides to scald me; The cold, without a will, would rather freeze me. Turning them to suit me is an act of flesh I know as mine. Here I am: scalp, neck, back, breasts, armpits, spine, Parts I’ve long been part of, never treasured much, Since I absorb them not by touch, more because of touch. It’s my mind, with its hoard of horribles, that’s me. Or is it really? I fantasise it bodiless, set free: No bones, no skin, no hair, no nerves, just memory, Untouchable, unwashable, and not, I guess, my own. Still, none will know me better when I’m words on stone Than I, these creased familiar hands and clumsy feet. My soul, how will I recognise you if we meet?
Anne Stevenson, Poems 1955-2005 (Bloodaxe Books, 2005)
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‘Washing My Hair’(2003) takes its rightful place within a rich and lengthy tradition of poems that take as their subject the complex relationship between human consciousness and corporeality. In arguably the most famous poem of this ilk, ‘A Dialogue between the Soul and Body’ (1681), Andrew Marvell dramatises a conversation between a belligerent body and a disgruntled soul, giving us not only the familiar notion of a heaven-wards-yearning soul confined within the fleshly ‘dungeon’ of an earth-bound physical body, but also the perhaps more startling notion of a physical body exhausted by the constant demands of a despotic soul: ‘O who shall me deliver whole / From bonds of this tyrannic soul?’ In Marvell’s poem, the extravagant metaphorical conceits coupled with the plaintive pleading of each speaker means that the soul and the body come to resemble an oddly comedic double-act. Despite its humour, however, the poem poses a serious and seemingly intractable conundrum (indeed, the poem ends at what ostensibly appears to be a digressive impasse): How might an immortal soul with lofty aspirations rub along with a mortal body with rather less lofty appetites? Over three hundred years later, Stevenson’s speaker finds herself pondering a very similar question: Who are we? Or perhaps more accurately, what are we? ‘Here I am’, the poet asserts, ‘scalp, neck, back, breasts, / armpits, spine’. 1 Yet, mere lines later, she corrects herself: ‘It’s my mind with its hoard of horribles, / that’s me.’Yet, characteristically, this ‘harmonious skeptic’ subjects even her second-guesses to yet more second-guessing: ‘Or is it really?’ The poet imagines an escape from her physical body, those ‘creased familiar hands / and clumsy feet’ (we cannot help but think back to Marvell’s soul ‘fettered… In feet’ and ‘manacled in hands’), and yet a disembodied existence entails, she suspects, a loss of identity: 1 Anne Stevenson, ‘Washing My Hair’ (2003), Poems 1955-2005 (Tarset, Northumberland: Bloodaxe Books, 2004), p. 281.
non vestra sed vos
I fantasise it bodiless, set free: No bones, no skin, no hair, no nerves just memory, Untouchable, unwashable, and not, I guess, my own.
With the alternation of longer, capitalised, left-aligned lines that represent the physical presence of the body, with shorter indented lines that evoke something of the nebulousness of the mind or soul, Stevenson seems to subtly respond to the dialogical structure of Marvell’s poem. Throughout her career, Stevenson has returned again and again to the alluring (im)possibility of escape or transcendence. Like Marvell, she conceives of not only a state of independence from the physical body, but also the body’s liberation from the constant demands of consciousness or awareness. In ‘Journal Entry: Impromptu in C Minor’ (1988), for example, she describes how she ‘unhook[s] the wires of [her] mind’, blissfully extricating herself from ‘the intellectual spider’s web.’2 Perplexingly, though, it is often the mind rather than the body that is figured as being a unwieldy physical burden. In ‘A Luxury’ (2000), Stevenson writes, ‘I’m questioning / the weight / of the human cortex // and what it costs / per life / to ship its freight’.3 Similarly, in ‘Toy’ (2004), she describes human consciousness as ‘Monstrous equipment / [sprung] from that tiny head – / creator jammed, enfin, / in the created’.4 In these poems human consciousness has become ‘the mind’s machine’ described in ‘Saying the World’ (1996); it is a cumbersome piece of computer hardware or a crude mill, ‘grinding out the formulae you have to fit’.5 The possibility of escaping or turning off ‘the mind’s machine’ is both enthralling and unnerving: in ‘’Journal Entry’, the speaker quickly finds herself grasping again for the castoff ‘wires’ of her conscious mind:
But I correct myself. Soon I’m standing in my grid of guilts hastily reaching for my thoughts. ... In the black, beyond the blue of my perception, in the huge vault where the wires won’t reach, the dead are lively. The moment I take off my thought-clothes I expose every nerve to their waves.
In an interview with Poetry Wales, Stevenson insists that ‘any poet, any observant person... can become, for moments anyway, that eye – e-y-e, not the ubiquitous capital I – to which nothing is mere.’ Here, she seems to advocate a momentary shrugging off of the ‘monstrous equipment’ of the self-conscious self – ‘the ubiquitous capital I’ – and a privileging of what she refers to in ‘Making Poetry’ as the ‘simple senses’. Whereas Marvell’s Soul considers the physical senses to be nothing but a disability – it complains of being ‘blinded with an eye, and… / Deaf with the drumming of an ear’ – Stevenson sees immersion in thoughtless physical sensation as a blissful escape, as ‘loosing yourself to find yourself’. In ‘Journal Entry’, for example, she asks, ‘Let me have no thoughts / in this weather of pure sensation.’ At the denouement of ‘Washing My Hair’, the poet seems to tentatively align her ‘self’ with her physical body. As in Marvell’s ‘Dialogue’, in which the Body is afforded not only the last word, but an additional pair of rhyming couplets, it appears that the ‘Body’ has prevailed, even if only temporarily, over the ‘Mind’ or ‘Soul’. She associates her ‘I’ with ‘these creased familiar hands / and clumsy feet’, and the soul is a seemingly discrete entity, not an ‘I’ but a ‘you’: ‘My soul, how will I recognise you if we meet? 2 ‘Journal Entry: Impromptu in C Minor’, p. 42. 3 ‘A Luxury’, p. 365. 4 ‘Toy’, p. 365. 5 ‘Saying the World’, p. 18. Anne Stevenson photo by Annie Lennox
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theChadsian
Building upon the Foundation
Getting Serious about Development The St Chad’s College Foundation was set up a decade ago to enable alumni and friends to work with the staff and Governing Body to support the college in its growth and development. Over this period the college has made significant advances. In fact, just how far Chad’s has advanced since 1999 might come as a surprise to many. What won’t come as a surprise, especially in the current funding climate for higher education, is that the college can’t afford to be complacent about its approach to development and fundraising. So, since May 2010 a small steering group has been established to review the college’s objectives and approaches to its development work. In particular the group has been critically examining how the college can build a continuing community of support, based on the distinct Chad’s ethos, which will ensure that the progress of the past ten years is sustained and extended.
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community of support, based on the distinct Chad’s ethos
This is a challenge. Just how do you articulate what is special about St Chad’s – the things which make an emotional connection which in turn engenders support - in a way which will make sense to an increasingly diverse college community, including not only today’s students, but also 3,000 alumni and 200 SCR members? How do you effect the culture change which converts beneficiaries of the Chad’s experience into benefactors? This, of course, brings us rapidly back round to our starting point. Beneficiaries of the Chad’s experience will only feel they have benefited if the college has the resources to make that experience as good as it can possibly be, and if it can sustain those improvements in the long term.
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The steering group is chaired by The Revd Canon Stephen Cherry from the Governing Body. The membership comprises the Principal and the College Chaplain (under whose remit development work falls) together with Sue Shaw (tutors’ representative on the Governing Body); David Coppock (Visiting Fellow); Peter Heath (the JCR’s representative on the Governing Body) and Richard Taylor (SCR member and college alumnus). The group has also been supported by advice from Tim McInnis, the University’s Director of Development and Alumni Relations as a key objective is to ensure that the college development strategy is not only distinctly Chad’s but also remains aligned with the university’s vision. This is still a work in progress, but the group has quickly come together in a determination that, if we are to do this work, we need to do it properly, professionally and passionately. We need to have a clear, simply articulated, case for giving based on being honest and positive about the reality of St Chad’s. We need to make significant changes to the way in which donations are recorded, and acknowledged, and we must have a carefully thoughtthrough and calibrated scheme for donor recognition. The first fruits of this new focus on development - the re-launch of the St Chad’s College Foundation - will be dropping through letterboxes later in the year. Watch out for it!
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Raise a Tree
Chad’s Graduate - Andy Stephenson Following on from the Blueprint Business Awards in May, Raise A Tree has gone from strength-to-strength over the summer and into the autumn. The website, which helps educate Primary Schools about trees, the environment and climate change by planting real and virtual trees; pupils must then look after their trees and answer online activities to help them grow whilst competing against their peers in a class league. The company’s strategy is to sell licences to the site to Schools, Local Authorities and Companies as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As an engaging and environmentally friendly product, there has been a huge interest from a spectrum of companies who are looking to integrate Raise A Tree into their national marketing campaigns as well as their educational programmes. In addition to the educational website, the iPhone & iPad app (which are designed for everyone) have been very warmly received with over 25,000 downloads in over 50 countries globally. Recently, Raise A Tree was invited to Westminster as part of the Sunderland Economic Masterplan, which saw leaders of Business come together with MPs to discuss the direction and strategy for high-tech industry in the North East. Following this event, Raise A Tree was personally commended as an example of a new breed of environmental and technological companies setting up in Sunderland in a speech by Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson on the 10th November 2010.
Choral Outreach James Randle
The College Choir has continued its choral outreach work this term with a new partnership with St Mary’s Cathedral in Middlesbrough where SCR member Tim Harrison is the newly appointed Director of Music. In October the Choir travelled to Middlesbrough to form the core of singers for an afternoon of music making culminating in the singing of a service for All Saints’ tide. James Randle, Director of Music and Organist at St Chad’s College and Peter Swift the College’s Sub Organist shared the accompanying leaving Tim Harrison directing the singers. The Cathedral used the opportunity to draw local singers into the Cathedral to make music and to help encourage recruitment for the Cathedral Choir. The College Choral Scholars returned to the Cathedral in November to work with local school children in preparing music for a short service. In addition to this work in Middlesbrough, James Randle has continued his work with the Durham Cathedral Young Singers, a community outreach choir based at the Cathedral that offers opportunities for children to learn to sing as part of a choir that rehearses on Saturday mornings and performs in concerts and services on a regular basis.
For more information about Raise A Tree or its effectiveness in both schools or companies, please contact andy@raiseatree.co.uk. The iPhone and iPad applications are available to download through iTunes.
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theChadsian
Mind The Gap
The Policy Research Group Up to 50,000 jobs could be lost in the North East over the next five years with new private sector-led economic growth struggling to make up these losses, a Policy Research Group (PRG) report has warned. The research commissioned by One North East and conducted by the PRG in St Chad’s College, Durham University - analyses the potential impact of recent Government spending cuts on the regional economy as outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). Analysis was made using the respected North East Economic Model operated by the PRG which gives a unique, independent insight into the future of the regional economy. The report’s key findings show by 2014/15 that: • While the North East economy will continue to grow, there could be a reduction of around 49,000 jobs, primarily in the public sector • 20,000 of the job losses could be in the private sector caused by cuts to the public sector supply chain and a reduction in household expenditure • There could be a £1.8bn reduction in North East economic growth over the next five years, compared to an economy with public spending at pre-spending review levels • Manufacturing, construction and financial services are likely to be the sectors most impacted because of their key role in the public sector supply chain • The retail sector is likely to be hit by reduced household spending • There could be growth in other parts of the economy, and increased levels of exports, but these are unlikely to be enough to offset job losses • There is likely to be a mis-match between the skills and occupational levels of many people being made redundant in the public sector and the demand from growing businesses in the private sector
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Paul Callaghan, One North East Chairman, said: “While we have all been clear about the broad challenge that lies ahead for the regional economy following the CSR - this report actually quantifies it for the first time. “The North East was growing strongly pre-recession, and is coming out of it at least as well as other parts of the country. The region’s economy is much stronger coming out of this recession than in previous recessions because of the work over the past ten years to deepen and widen the private sector. However, the North East economy has a higher proportion of jobs in the public sector, and it is the public sector that has been badly affected by the CSR. This report is a commentary on the potential consequences of the CSR on the North East, and details the scale of the problems that lie ahead. We are unveiling this academically-led document as a valuable information tool for the region, to help us understand and fully address the challenges that lie ahead to rebalance the economy.” Report author Andrew Hunt said: “We need to realise the size of the task ahead if the North East is to meet the economic challenges it could face over the next few years. We hope our findings will help inform public and private investment which could lead to sustainable job creation and aid the future economic prosperity of the region.” Experts from One North East, the Association of North East Councils, NHS, Government Office for the North East and Job Centre Plus are developing a strategic response to public sector job losses. The organisations have handson experience of supporting private sector firms to deal with major job loss situations, by supporting affected staff into new opportunities. They are putting this experience to good use in dealing with public sector job losses. The report is one in a series of economic papers prepared by One North East and St Chad’s College and is available at www.onenortheast.co.uk.
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Organ Composition Featured Alumnus: James Davy The Choir & Organ magazine ran a competition in summer 2010 for a piece of choral music, based on a Psalm text for SATB choir, to be premièred by the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. The competition was won by James Davy with Domine Clamavi. James is a Chad’s alumnus; he is assistant director of music at Blackburn Cathedral and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. His setting of the psalm text (taken from Psalm 141 vv1-3) focuses on the reflective aspect of worship. He commented, ‘At the cathedral, psalms are part of our daily tradition. In these particular verses there’s a lot that sums up worship, and music for it – it is quiet and reflective in nature, rather than triumphal. For me it expresses an aspect of worship that often goes by unnoticed, and that is certainly underrated.’ The première was given on November 6th 2010 by the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, directed by Andrew Nethsingha. James writes: I was a member of Chad’s during 2000 – 2003, reading Music. Chad’s was the ideal College for a musician; it was near the Music department, Durham Cathedral (where I was Organ Scholar for the three years of my degree) and Palace Green Library. The size and atmosphere of the College suited me very well. Although I was Cathedral Organ Scholar and Organ Scholar of Castle in my second year, I was occasionally able to play for Chapel services and for the Chapel Choir on a visit to Southwell Minster in 2001. My friends and I had some great laughs (some unprintable stories, sadly). Memories include: annual preChristmas parties in the Senior Organ Scholar’s room in November, with mince pies and Port and Christmas Carols from King’s Cambridge blasting out of the hi-fi; playing a piano duet in the back of a Transit van; taking part in an SCR soirée with Rabbi Lionel Blue; putting a friend in a skip outside his house at a particularly good party; and my 2003 yearbook entry was quite amusing…
I really enjoyed my time at Chad’s. As a College, it must be the most friendly in Durham and I always receive a warm welcome from the staff whenever I pop back in (which is not often, sadly). I made some enduring friendships and I was really pleased to be joined at the première of my piece Domine Clamavi in November 2010 by half a dozen College friends who came along to listen.
Barefoot Disciple Walking the Way of Passionate Humility - The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2011 By Stephen Cherry In our celebrity-obsessed culture, humility is unfashionable and too often dismissed or confused with the cringeing, false humility of Uriah Heep. Here the author shows that, when genuine humility is energised by real passion, fresh and exciting light is shone on the challenge of following Jesus Christ today and humility is rediscovered as a healthy, life-giving and community-building virtue. Stories and concrete examples as well as allusions to fiction, poetry and art engage the reader’s imagination; and big theological ideas are articulated in a highly accessible way. The emphasis on learning from challenging experiences and on very practical application makes this a ‘theology travel book’, for Lent and well beyond. It powerfully synthesises values and practices which are often disconnected.
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theChadsian
Rowing the Atlantic
Chad’s postgraduate breaks world record The East to West Trans-Atlantic Record is the ultimate prize in ocean rowing. Naomi Hoogesteger (a Chad’s PhD student) is one of the six rowers in Team Hallin who landed in Barbados and completed the 3,000 mile course from Tenerife in 31 days, 23 hours and 31 minutes shaving more than a day off the previous world record. Skipper David Hosking MBE, a Grey College graduate of 1976, was delighted that he and his team had broken the record: ‘Everyone has been amazing though all our bodies are wrecked! It was stunning team work that saw us set a new world record and the culmination of two years of planning!’ The oars on board Team Hallin did not stop rowing after setting off from Tenerife on 6th January until their revolutionary trimaran vessel passed the finishing line in Barbados on Monday 7th February. Each rower lost more than 2 stones (13 Kilos) in weight during their record-breaking row, despite consuming three times the average adult’s daily calorie intake every day. (Naomi was responsible for making up the packs which consisted of five rehydratable meals per day and snacks such as Mars bars, pork scratchings, oat cakes, flapjacks, beef jerky, nuts, and dried fruit. At significant milestones along the journey the crew had special food packs that included things such as Christmas cake, cheese, and After Eights).
salt sores and blisters on your backside and the best way to cure them is to get some sun and air on them.’ Naomi (29) said: ‘There was no privacy on the boat and I’ve seen enough male dangly bits to last me a lifetime! But that doesn’t matter – we did what it took to set a new world record.’ Naomi’s father made her a lavatory seat that was fixed to the side of the boat. (Naomi comments ‘It is true that my father made the loo seat, but some media reports say I was the only one allowed to use this – not true!!’) The rowers worked in two shifts - each rowed for two hours and then spent their time eating, washing (very important to help sores heal!), resting and carrying out any maintenance during the next two hours, before getting back on the oars. During the 31 day ordeal team members suffered acute seasickness, amazing blistering and sores on their hands and backsides, bad knees and ankles, athlete’s foot between their fingers, attack from flying fish and were almost ran down by a Maltese tanker. Naomi said “the most gruelling part of the row was actually the last few miles when we rounded the northern headland of Barbados and had to row into a 15 knot headwind to land on a beach. At times we were being blown backwards but had to carry on rowing because we could smell the barbecues on the beach!”
One thing Hosking had to do before casting off was to warn Naomi, as the team’s sole female, that on long jaunts, rowing nude often goes with the territory: ‘You get
The record stood for only one day but that takes nothing away from the incredible achievement. They still hold the record for a mixed crew and the record for a multi-hulled boat.
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Team Hallin is well on course to raise its target of £60,000 for the charity Combat Stress, which specialises in the care of service veterans’ mental health. To sponsor them or to read about their journey, go to their website: http://www. teamhallin.co.uk/wp/ Naomi’s personal charity was St. Margaret’s Somerset Hospice and her Just Giving page is at www.justgiving.com/naomi-hoogesteger
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Sports News
Dan Darwin - JCR Sports Rep As we all know sport is a staple part of the diet of a Chad’s student, however this term has seen widespread hunger as adverse weather has hindered scores of fixtures. Some teams managed to squeeze a number of fixtures into the relatively small amount of time prior to the big freeze, while others such as Women’s Rugby only found enough time to perform a demolition job of Collingwood A, 26-5. Chad’s only Premiership team; Women’s Badminton, have battled to a 50% record in the top flight so far this term, while Men’s Hockey have streaked into the top spot in Men’s Division 1 under the leadership of Ed Fryzer. Football and Rugby have been the most heavily affected sports with Men’s Football standing at two wins from three matches in Division 1. Although they were victorious in the Floodlit Cup, Battle of the Bailey against John’s 33 with Chad’s winning 4-2 on penalties in a game that had possessed everything but quality. Men’s Rugby are positioned in mid-table after a heavy win over Bede B tempered with a 19-0 Floodlit Cup defeat by Hatfield A. Men’s Basketball, and both Netball teams are still to put points on the board, however they will be straining at the leash to set the records straight next term when the melted snow makes more matches playable. Overall this term has been one of frustration for Chad’s sportsmen and women with many taking a role purely as spectators in the last month or so. With this in mind Andrew Strauss and co. must surely be Chad’s favourite sportsmen this term. Although with the new batch of first years growing in confidence and stature, I’m sure this will not be the case in a few months time.
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Bloomin’ Beautiful - St Chad’s Allotment Society Dover and Out
Alex Parkyn-Smith
Sam Carpenter
St Chad’s has many associations with all things green, from the crest itself down to the ominously tinted liquid of the college’s signature drink, now for the first time green fingers can be included with the recent launch of St. Chad’s Allotment Society.
Should you have been travelling south down the A1 on Saturday 13th November you would have noticed a smattering of yellow t-shirts along the way; DUCK was doing jailbreak - a charity challenge in which people have to make it as far away as possible from HMP Durham in 36 hours. Our team had signed up and was ready to go…
The green revolution is taking place in a corner of the croquet lawn. Once a glorious garden, then a car park, it has come full cycle and is now a hubbub of activity with numerous flat-capped students de-turfing and digging over the ground. Within the year we expect rows of plump tubers, luscious greens and the addition of fresh organic herbs to the kitchens daily creations. With room for expansion into Trinity and across the river the future looks bloomin’ beautiful.
We began our adventure with the quintessentially British journey of a short lift with a mother taking her young boy to football and arrived at the junction to the A1. We were greeted by a sea of yellow shirts and an hour later we found ourselves lounging in the in the back of a van, surrounded by a host clearly un-sanitised tools, alarmingly including saws, but regardless morale was high and so it continued until a miscalculation from chief navigator, admittedly a disputed position, Andy Jennings. We found ourselves on the edge of Birmingham and bearing in mind our intended target, Dover, this was somewhat of a surprise. We quickly realised we had made our way “south” with less than savoury gestures emanating from passing cars, rather than the lifts we were craving. We eventually made our way to into Sutton, incidentally Andy’s hometown! Somewhat depressed we went to McDonalds, in which we were assured that Dover was indeed a planet and the women on the counter wondered if we had walked most of the way so far. Sometimes stereotypes do ring true. After a total of 13 different lifts we arrived in Dover just after midnight and we were re-united with the three mutant ninja turtles we had left behind in Durham. Ten hours and multiple thumb convulsions later, we were forced to admit defeat. The story of our hitch-hike unfortunately ended in Dover but congratulations must go to all the other Chad’s teams, all of whom made it out of the country. DUCK Jailbreak has managed to raise about £25,000 for a variety of charities a feat we can all be proud of.
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St Chad’s on the Web
Facebook - St Chad’s Students Alumni & Friends This page is for all students, alumni, friends and supporters of St Chad’s college. On this page, you’ll find a variety of ways to get involved in the College community and connect with other Chad’s friends and alumni. Simply search ‘St Chad’s Students Alumni & Friends’ Virgin Money Giving College will shortly have an online giving site with Virgin Money Giving: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/ Flickr College now has a group on Flickr. Please add any photos that you are happy to share (on a royalty-free basis) for use in college publications/websites etc.
Events Diary 16th-27th June College Choir tours to Schenectady, Princeton and New York City Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June Durham Regatta Saturday 2nd July Decade dinners (10, 20, 30, 40 & 50 year reunions) Sunday 4th December Advent Procession in Durham Cathedral. Organ music from 7.00pm, and buffet in the College Quadrangle after the service Keep checking www.dur.ac.uk/Chads for new events
Group name: St Chad’s College – Durham http://www.flickr.com/groups/1541452@N25/ Amazon Donate to the College with no cost to yourself… College is now an Amazon Associate – click through to Amazon from the link on the College website and college will receive commission on anything you purchase.
Where there’s a will....
Durham is a great University and St Chad’s is a great College - not just academically but also in preparing students for life. St Chad’s is a living legacy. Each generation of students passes on the torch to the next. By leaving a gift in your will you could help to ensure that St Chad’s can continue to flourish and enhance the lives of many in this country and beyond. Are you prepared to be committed to a vision of St Chad’s College that stretches beyond your own lifetime? Would you consider making a gift in your will to support your college and enrich the lives of young people? To find out more about leaving a gift to the College please contact the Development Office at the College address or chads. development@durham.ac.uk
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theChadsian
Chadsian
The Development Office St Chad’s College 18 North Bailey Durham, UK DH1 3RH T: +44 (0) 191 3343358 F: +44 (0) 191 3343371 E: chads.development@durham.ac.uk W: www.dur.ac.uk/Chads St Chad’s College is an Excepted Charity Charity number X10082
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Editor Ashley Wilson
Design & Layout James Walker
Journalists/contributors Rachel Acheson, Ben Andrews, Sam Carpenter, Joe Cassidy, Rob Cousins, Elspeth Craig, David Crookes, Dan Darwin, Sarah Farrell, Angela Franklin, Naomi Hoogesteger, Andrew Hunt, Ben Irvine, Emma Lui, Rob McSwain, Kelly Mendonca, Alex Parkyn-Smith, James Randle, Megan Roots, Hannah Smith, Eleanor Spencer, Andy Stephenson, Tom Welch, Dan Whiteley