The Aularian, Issue 21, 2014

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

ISSUE 21. 2014

AULARIAN THE

P8

P16 & P17

P26 & P27

LEWIS

CROCODILES, DEATH ADDERS AND MUD

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Filming at the Hall for the new series of ITV’s detective drama with Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox.

DPhil student Eden Cottee-Jones (2007, Geography) describes a conservation trip to remote Indonesia.

John McGeever, our awardwinning chef, discusses foie gras and Teddy Burgers.

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

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SCHOOLS LIAISON

04-05 FROM THE PRINCIPAL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH KEITH GULL 06-07 ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 08

VISITORS TO THE HALL

09-11 SPORT 12-13 JCR NEWS

14-15 MCR NEWS

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18-19 GOODBYES: INTERVIEWS WITH

SHARON ACHINSTEIN

AND SUE HEATH 20 ST EDMUND HALL ASSOCIATION: AN INTERVIEW

WITH LAWRENCE CUMMINGS,

SEHA PRESIDENT

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16-17 FROM THE MCR: AN INTERVIEW

WITH EDEN COTTEE-JONES

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21 EVENTS 22-23 FROM THE SCR: INTERVIEWS WITH

ROBIN FEUER MILLER

AND JEFFREY ALMOND 24

25

ST EDMUND’S COPE MUSIC: AN INTERVIEW WITH JUSTIN STEAD

26-27 FOOD: AN INTERVIEW WITH

JOHN MCGEEVER 28-29 WRITING AT THE HALL

30 DRAMA: ACT FOR CHANGE 31

DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE NEWS

Cockerill, Charlotte Cooper, Richard Fishlock, John Mabbett, Philippa Machin, Zara Morgan, Lucy Newlyn, Laura Palmer, Seb Siersted, Sally Smith, Kate Townsend, Roxana Willis

CHIEF EDITOR Dr Wes Williams, Fellow and Tutor in French INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES (unless otherwise stated) by Claire Hooper, Communications Officer

DESIGN Victoria Mackintosh

CONTRIBUTORS Chris Atkinson, Jonathan

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If you have any comments or suggestions regarding The Aularian, please contact Claire Hooper.

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THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

HALL NEWS: SCHOOLS LIAISON

Student Ambassador John Waite (2011, Materials Science) showing a school group around the College

QUICK FACTS • 288 schools are linked with St Edmund Hall

Outreach has been blossoming in size, popularity and interest at the Hall. Our Schools Liaison Officer Claire Hogben talks here to Student Ambassador Zara Morgan (2013, English) and shares her thoughts on admissions, the importance of working with schools and colleges, and life in Teddy Hall since her arrival in September.

What first brought you to Oxford?

I came to Oxford as an undergraduate studying Biochemistry at Brasenose College. I only first considered Oxbridge when my Head of Sixth Form approached me about it on GCSE results day. I was very daunted by the University, but after visiting on an Open Day I couldn’t help but fall in love with the tutorial system and the idea of living in a college.

Why do you feel that outreach is important to Oxford colleges?

Outreach gives potential applicants the chance to actually experience Oxford student life with their own eyes and meet current students, which is hugely influential in determining if someone will apply here or not. Oxbridge stereotypes can make perfectly able students feel that getting a place here is impossible, which it isn’t. I definitely had a lot of preconceptions before I arrived, (almost) all of which I found to be untrue!

What do you consider to be the hardest aspect of outreach in your job?

We get a plethora of schools coming, from all kinds of different backgrounds – some are quite clued-up about Oxford, and some less confident. It’s important to find a balance – engaging and helping both in different ways.

What would you say have been your main achievements in Teddy Hall thus far?

We’re very proud of our excellent new prospectus, which has been completely re-written. But for me there are the smaller successes like seeing students I have spoken to at school come back with their parents to hear more about Oxford, which means we are really getting through to people.

What is your favourite fact about Teddy Hall that you like to share on school visits?

The Kelly building is reportedly the tallest in Oxford without a lift, and the Wolfson Hall is said to be the largest dance-floor in Oxford. Most of the student ambassadors tell lots of great stories so I’m sure I’ll pick more up!

Do you have any plans for the next academic year?

I’ll still be on the road a fair bit and making contact with new schools, but next year I’m hoping we’ll be at a stage where we’ll have much stronger relationships with the schools that we’re working with, and a much larger number. It will also be the third year of the student ambassador scheme.

• So far in 2013-14, 148 schools and colleges came to visit or were visited by Claire • The College has 16 Student Ambassadors

UNDERGRADUATE BURSARIES Each year over 100 St Edmund Hall undergraduates receive bursaries.

Together with the University, we provide non-repayable Oxford Bursaries for those students with the greatest need.

In the coming year we will be seeking leadership gifts for a Bursary Challenge Fund to raise funds to endow our bursary provision at the Hall. Aularians Richard Glynn (1983, Jurisprudence) and Ivan Gazidis (1983, Jurisprudence) are helping with this initiative.

“I am profoundly grateful for everything that Teddy Hall gave me.

Now, I want to recognise what I was given and to help to ensure that Teddy Hall can continue to develop as a modern institution, full of diverse ideas and perspectives, and provide the same kinds of chances to new generations, regardless of their ability to pay.”

Ivan Gazidis For more information on the Campaign for St Edmund Hall please turn to pp6-7.

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HALL NEWS: FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Professor Keith Gull became Principal of St Edmund Hall in 2009. He is a microbiologist who combines the role of head of College with running a group at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.

“The College is ever-changing and over the past few years, it’s changed dramatically.

Structures are changing and people are changing.

But, we’re changing to remain the same.

Our core values are still there.”

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Why did you want to take on the role of Principal?

I never did; it would never have crossed my mind that I would do a job like this! A very good head-hunter phoned me and I came down and spoke to people, and slowly I became intrigued by the job.

I’ve always run departments or faculties as well as doing science so it’s never frightened me to lead things. But I was only interested in doing it if the College was happy that I would maintain a laboratory, and they were. I still teach medical students and have an active research lab and that’s been a good balance to have.

How do you balance the two roles?

Not in any structural way; I just fit things in. My day starts with Farming Today on Radio 4 at 5.45am and goes on usually until late evening with events in College.

I am very lucky in having a small group of very talented senior people in the lab, and I manage to get up to the lab a couple of times a week.

What were your impressions of Teddy Hall before you became Principal?

I think as I came to know it, the thing that interested me was that Teddy Hall had huge potential if it could start to believe in itself more and the role it wanted to play.

It has a very interesting history, of course, which marks it out as different from certain more ‘traditional’ colleges.

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Keith joining graduates and their families for lunch after undergraduate Degree Day 2013

At the New York Alumni Weekend in April: (left to right) Keith with Chris and Natasha Ashton, Justus O’Brien and Simon Costa (Senior & Finance Bursar). Image by John Calabrese

Once you started your role, did anything surprise you?

The first thing that surprised me was how big the College actually was in student numbers and how small in physical size. It was also a surprise how unrepresentative it was of the graduate population in the University – in terms of the balance between graduates and undergraduates.

This has now changed and our MCR is flourishing.

decisions have a financial element or restraint.That’s a bad place to be for an organisation. It’s a central weakness that has a pernicious effect on many other things. However, we’re addressing that and we’re also addressing the thought process that it might somehow limit our ambition. The Campaign for the Hall that we are initiating will balance raising funds for our present students and activities with increasing the endowment.

We’re seeing an increasing number of students from China in the College, and that mirrors the University. I think in twenty years’ time, we will look at China in the same way that we think of North America now – as a place where huge numbers of alumni live and work. I don’t mean just Chinese students; I mean students of all nationalities who come to the Hall will almost certainly find employment within China.

Has the Hall changed much while you’ve been here?

The College is ever-changing and over the past few years, it’s changed dramatically.

Structures are changing and people are changing. But, we’re changing to remain the same. Our core values are still there.

We’ve had some Fellows retire recently, and it’s nice to see new young Fellows starting, and making a success of, their careers. I’d like to encourage more alumni to come back and see for themselves.

They’re always welcome to come back for dinner and it’s very easy to book in [see page 27 for more details].

What do you like most about the role of Principal?

Meeting people is by far and away the most pleasurable part of the job. The talented individuals I’ve met have been astonishing and it’s been a huge privilege – from visitors to the College, to alumni, to students, and staff and so on. It’s meeting people and the feeling that, at times, you can help some of them and make a difference.

“The place is nothing without the people: the students, the Fellows and the staff. Those are the great strengths – the quality of the people.”

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement to date as Principal?

Listening to the students and hiring a fantastic new chef!

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the College today?

The place is nothing without the people: the students, the Fellows and the staff.

Those are the great strengths – the quality of the people.

In terms of weaknesses, we are desperately short of a significant endowment, such that many, too many,

And your least favourite aspect of the job?

The desperately glacial rate of decisionmaking in Oxford in general, and the incoherence of some of the organisational structures!

What are your priorities for the future?

To leave the College more confident, better prepared, and better resourced.

How would you describe Teddy Hall in three words?

Dynamic, distinctive and distinguished.

What sort of work beyond Oxford does your role as Principal involve?

Since taking up the post I’ve been regularly visiting our strong alumni base in North America, Japan and Hong Kong, but over the last three years it’s also become clear that we needed to make connections with mainland China. The work of our Economics Fellows, John Knight and Linda Yueh, has given us a way in and we’ve built on that. I’ve been to China twice in the last year.

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HALL NEWS: DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL An update from Laura Palmer, Director of Development Confucius suggested that, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step.” Our journey on the campaign trail started a little over a year ago when we began to plan a five-year fundraising campaign with an ambitious goal to raise £25m.

The Campaign focuses on support for student bursaries, scholarships and extra-curricular cultural, sporting and artistic activities. We are also raising funds for capital projects such as muchneeded work to our historic site, and increasing and enhancing our student accommodation. Our over-arching aim is to protect our coveted tutorial system and the Hall’s future by increasing our endowment.

in communicating with alumni, and allows alumni to update their own details on the database.

We are still in the quiet phase of the Campaign, having worked hard to get our database updated and essential staff in place. We are now recruiting Campaign volunteers and seeking leadership gifts for our main priorities.

Our team now includes two new senior development officers: Gail Williams who is based in the Oxford office and Christine Sachs in New York. This means that we have dramatically increased our activity and are now able to get out and meet even more alumni to spread the news about the Campaign.

LEADING THE WAY Teddy Hall is a special place. Those of us fortunate to have been a part of this College know that the Hall makes a huge difference in people’s lives, and for many of us it has been the defining influence. St Edmund Hall has a long and proud history and has never been afraid to change with the times, to develop and grow.

It is crucial that we come together now and work together to address the challenges that the Hall faces.

With your help we can shape the College’s future and build a healthy endowment capable of protecting what we all value: a unique educational experience that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

In November we successfully moved to a new database, DARS (Development and Alumni Relations System). This allows us to collaborate with the central University

Last year we were delighted that Gareth Roberts (1971, Geology) agreed to chair the Campaign, and since that time we have been building a Campaign Cabinet comprised of dedicated volunteers.

Focus on Fellowships

endow the Richard Gozney Fellowship in Law and the William R Miller Fellowship in Economics, both of which were matchfunded by the University Teaching Fund.

Over the coming year we will be reaching out to Aularians as volunteers for the Campaign as well as to support various projects.

We are currently focusing on endowing a Fellowship in Modern Languages/ Russian, a second Fellowship in Law and an Earth Sciences Fellowship; all may be eligible for matched funding from the University. A donor may, however, choose to support any Fellowship at the Hall by contributing to the John Kelly Fellowship Fund. Each and every gift takes us closer to our goal of raising £10m for endowed Fellowships.

For regular monthly updates, log in to Aularian Connect www.aularians.com

Preserving the tutorial system is high on our list of priorities for this Campaign.

When we endow a Fellowship, we not only ensure that we protect this valuable form of teaching, but we also increase the Hall’s overall endowment and protect its future.

Early in the Campaign we received generous support from Aularians to

Floreat Aula!

Ensuring that students in need have the financial support they require will always be a priority.

In the next year we will be asking for support for the Bursary Challenge Fund (see p3).

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THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS In 2015, the MCR will celebrate its 50th anniversary. To mark this milestone, and to celebrate the achievements of members from the last 50 years, we have set up the MCR 50th Anniversary Scholarship Fund, to help graduate students. We are also busy planning events to mark the occasion including: • save the date for a day of academic workshops and talks for and by the MCR on 27 June 2015, followed by a celebration dinner in the Wolfson Hall; • a special edition of The Aularian newsletter with stories and highlights from 50 years of the MCR;

• £5,000 provides one student with an anniversary scholarship towards their fees for a year • £125,000 endows one anniversary scholarship in perpetuity

• a fundraising drive to raise £1.3m for graduate scholarships through the MCR 50th Anniversary Scholarship Fund.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES Sport, drama and art continue to be a major part of the student experience at the Hall. One way in which we support our students in their extra-curricular activities is through Masterclass Awards.

Pola competing with dance partner Christoph Weis (Jesus College) in May at the A-team Dancesport Varsity match. Image by Elizabeth Nyikos.

We are now in the ninth year of the Masterclass scheme – supporting students with advanced training in extra-curricular activities in which they excel, facilitating further growth and achievement for both individuals and the Hall clubs of which they are a part.

So far this year, awards have been made to over 30 individual students, representing many areas of Hall life including singing lessons for members of the Choir, creative writing, photography and various sports including rugby and swimming.

“Dancing has always been an important part of my life and I am really grateful to have the opportunity to develop my non-academic passion through the support of the Masterclass Fund.

This year I was selected for the Oxford University Dancesport team, which competes in Latin and ballroom dance at six university circuit competitions each year, including the annual Varsity match against Cambridge. Thanks to the Masterclass funding I am able to afford private coaching to prepare me for these competitions.”

Pola Orlowska (2013, Economics & Management)

CAPITAL PROJECTS HISTORIC SITE We have many projects planned over the next five years including work on the Old Dining Hall, Chapel and Old Library. The most imminent project will be works in summer 2015 on the Front Quad. This includes updating the gas supply to the North Range, which heats the Old Dining Hall, and replacing unsightly manhole covers with stone paving.

STUDENT ACCOMMODATION Norham St Edmund (NSE) Refurbishment plans at 26 Norham Gardens are progressing well. Having received a £400k grant from the Conference of Colleges, we are currently

seeking the major portion of funding to refurbish 15 student rooms and 9 garden flats. The work is due to commence in summer 2015.

• Donors who give £25,000 may name a room within the main building • Donors who give £50,000 may name a garden flat Redeveloping Isis The Isis Guest House currently provides accommodation for 43 students in a conjoined series of Victorian houses on the Iffley Road. Planned development of this site would see it transformed, giving around 80 new student rooms focussed

around a small quad. Communal space would be an integral part of the development, encouraging the Hall’s traditional community feel amongst residents.The feasibility study for this project has been completed. We are now in the design phase and will seek further support should the plans progress.

The Campaign for St Edmund Hall is still picking up speed and we look forward to seeing many of you over the next year or so as we continue to build momentum and support for the Hall. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to help.

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HALL NEWS: VISITORS TO THE HALL

Grandfather Lewis?

Film crews descended on Teddy Hall again this April, to use the Front Quad and Old Library as settings for the new series of detective drama Lewis.

Look out for the Hall, masquerading as St Sebastian’s College, on ITV in the autumn in the second of the series, ‘The Lions of Nemea’.

Kevin Whately, who plays DI Robbie Lewis, chatted to students, staff and Fellows in between filming. He explained that his grandfather had studied at the Hall and recalled dressing up in his “garish” old Teddy Hall rowing blazer and cap when he was a child.

Pictured left: Kevin Whately (DI Robbie Lewis) and Laurence Fox (DS James Hathaway)

Inspector Morse creator, author Colin Dexter, was also spotted in the Front Quad making his traditional cameo appearance (he has appeared in every episode of Inspector Morse and Lewis to date).

ARTWEEKS 2014

We were delighted once again to host a stunning exhibition of items from over 35 artists linked to the Hall, including current students, alumni, Fellows and staff. This exhibition was held for one week in May and saw over 300 visitors come to the Hall. It was part of an annual county-wide celebration of all things artistic organised by Oxfordshire Artweeks.

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THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

HALL NEWS: SPORT

Hall’s World Champion: Kristof Willerton

Kristof, a third year biochemist and exceptionally talented gymnast, whom many readers will remember from a previous issue of The Aularian, became the first British man ever to win the world tumbling title at the 29th FIG Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Bulgaria last November. Kristof also helped Great Britain win the bronze medal – their first team medal in ten years.

“The achievement of actually winning what I have spent years battling in the gym towards feels completely unreal and still a bit of a dream,” said Kristof. “It has however made me feel more determined now to get back to training to try and achieve even more of my goals.”

In 2013, Kristof became the first male tumbler to win the senior British championships four times in a row – a particularly impressive achievement considering he was still aged only 19.

With a bronze medal from the 2013 World Games in Colombia already under his belt, in April 2014 he went on to claim the gold medal and thereby become Senior European Champion at the Tumbling European Championships in Portugal, despite carrying an injury.

His next targets are September’s British Championships and then this year’s World Championships in November in Florida.

“The achievement of actually winning what I have spent years battling in the gym towards feels completely unreal and still a bit of a dream.”

Hall Blues Teddy Hall continues to excel at sport, with The Tab Oxford (a tabloid-style student news website) naming St Edmund Hall as “Oxford’s sportiest college for 2012/13”, after analysing the Blues numbers.

In 2013, the Hall had 17 Full and 10 Half Blues (15 men and 11 women), competing in an impressive range of 18 different sports from boxing to basketball.

Notable individual achievements included Kennan Lee (2009, Physics) winning Half Blues in both pistol and trampolining.

Luddington Prizes were awarded (for achieving a Full Blue and a First) to Oscar Vallance (rugby and Geography) and James Holder (swimming and Biochemistry).

Our Cuppers-winning lacrosse team

The Hall’s karting team took second place in Cuppers this year, their highest ever finish.

“Oxford’s sportiest college for 2012/13”

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HALL NEWS: SPORT

RUGBY The men’s rugby team had another strong season, winning both their leagues and reaching the Cuppers final after a quarter-final 35-0 victory over Keble and a 27-22 win against St Catz in the semi-final. Unfortunately, the final was lost – by the narrowest of margins in a dramatic extra-time finish – to a combined St Anne’s/ St John’s side (‘The Saints’).

The team gave a battling performance supported by the usual vocal crowd and led 7-0 at half-time, thanks to an Oscar Vallance try. ‘The Saints’ responded with a second-half try but then winger Alastair Adams-Cairns rounded off a fine move to dive over in the corner to add to the Hall’s lead.

With the referee having signalled the last play of the game, the Hall had one hand on the trophy, but ‘The Saints’ piled on the pressure and eventually forced their way over the line. Their centre held his nerve to kick the conversion for a final score of 12-14.

OTHER SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS • Women’s netball – won Cuppers • Men’s football 1st team won the JCR Premier league (unbeaten) and reached the quarter-finals of Cuppers • Men’s football 2nd team won the JCR Reserves 2nd Division • Women’s football – reached the semi-finals of Cuppers • Men’s rugby 7s – won the Plate competition • Swimming (mixed) – 4th place in Cuppers • Women’s hockey (combined with Keble) – won the 1st Division • Men’s hockey (combined with Pembroke) – won the 1st Division 10

“Alex, loving the Hall and playing in the rugby team, 36 years after me!” comments Steve Vivian (1977, Geography), pictured here with his son Alex (wearing his Fordham University rugby shirt) who studied Management as a Visiting Student in Michaelmas 2013.

The women’s combined Hall/ Keble hockey team looked like they were being soundly beaten by a Queen’s/ St Hilda’s side in the Cuppers final, with a depressing 0-3 score line at half-time.

However, they mounted a remarkable fight-back in the second half to level the scores and provide a nail-biting finish.

Five rounds of penalties still could not separate the teams but the Hall/ Keble team eventually lost on sudden death penalties, despite the best efforts of the Hall’s Blues keeper, Lucy Stuchfield.

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

THE FRIENDS OF THE BOAT CLUB

The women’s 1st boat training in Sabaudia, Italy I am glad to report that the Boat Club is in good shape. In spite of the appalling weather, with the Thames in flood from October to March, our crews have managed to train, mainly on land but also using facilities at Coate Water by special arrangement with Swindon Rowing Club.

Our prospective first eights, men and women, have now returned from training camps in Mantova and Sabaudia respectively. A week of hard training has set up both crews for a strong Summer Eights challenge. The Women start third, and the Men twelfth in their first divisions.

Thanks to a 150th anniversary gift from the College, the Boat House has now been refurbished with much appreciation from those who use it.

2014 also saw delivery of a new eight for the men, provided by the Friends: a magnificent, state of the art racing

Aularian Golfing Society (AGS) Almost 50 AGS members enjoyed an active 2013 season and look forward to welcoming additional Aularians to join them for the 2014 season.

As ever, the Society is most grateful to Brian Amor, Gerald Barber, Michael Archer, David Ashworth and Mike Simmie who host fixtures at their respective home clubs.

machine from the world-famous Italian boat builder Filippi. It was named ‘The Worthington’ recognising Stuart Worthington, a Steward of the Boat Club and long-time benefactor.

THE FRIENDS FUND

with what we have achieved, and equally happy to have been able to give something back to the Boat Club, which gave so much to so many of us.

Richard Fishlock (1957, Economics) Chairman of the Friends of SEHBC Management Committee

The Friends Fund stands at around £300,000. Over the next four years we aim to raise £200k of our overall target with the Development and Alumni Relations Office within the Campaign for St Edmund Hall.

The Friends have funded training camps, coaching costs, and new equipment since 1990. I am very proud of what we have achieved, and would like to thank all those who have supported us over the years. This year I shall retire as Chairman of the Management Committee, happy

The official naming ceremony for ‘The Worthington’

MONTH

FIXTURE

VENUE

RESULT

March

Match v St John’s (Cantab)

Royal Mid-Surrey

Close, but came second again!

March

OU Alumni Tournament

Frilford Heath

April

Spring Meeting

The Berkshire

4th out of 18 colleges Atkinson Trophy: Jerry Gray

May

Match v Fitzwilliam

Berkhamsted

June

Summer Meeting

Richmond

August

A.G.M.

Studley Wood

September

Match v Corpus

Huntercombe

Aularian Jigger: David Ashworth Back to winning ways!

October

Match v Catz, Pembroke and Worcester

Southfields

…but not for long!

David McCammon individual winner but Hall came second Richmond Trophy: Sandy Macpherson

AGS would be delighted to welcome new members. So, if you would like to join one of the Hall’s more active societies, please contact the President, Chris Atkinson. T: +44 (0)1280 814523 E: chrisatkinson565@btinternet.com 11

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HALL COMMUNITY: JCR

News from the JCR President, Seb Siersted (2012, Biochemistry) As ever, Teddy Hall’s students have successfully demonstrated why this is such a special and vibrant college.

Numerous and wide-reaching achievements in music, sport and drama continue to be infused with that hard-todefine ‘Teddy Hall Spirit’. Even though that ‘Spirit’ is hard to define, it is clearly still ever-present on the side lines of big fixtures, in the sun as people relax in the graveyard or down the bar on any evening of the week.

The JCR has been buzzing with activity as usual. Our welfare team continue to run regular ‘Anti-5th Week Blues’ programmes each term, which have included mountains of free food, themed breakfasts and dinners, as well as the brilliant performances of our pianists during meal times.

About SEB Why did you want to take on the JCR President’s role?

It was sometime in mid-Michaelmas of my Fresher year that I realised I was part of a very special College and community. Teddy Hall has a unique environment that transcends the generations and has always encouraged adventurous, ambitious and dynamic students to flourish.

One of the greatest aspects of the Hall is that students seem able to do so much more than simply achieve academically, something not always found at other colleges. In simple terms I wanted to be JCR President in order to help this unique environment that exists within the Hall to flourish.

What challenges have you faced so far?

There are more meetings than you can imagine, and it is often the issues which you never anticipated that become intense items of discussion. The Hall is undergoing a big period of transition by modernising and improving both its facilities and inner workings. As with all large organisations this poses practical and bureaucratic headaches. I’m pleased to be able to work with College to get the long-term plans in place to ensure the Hall continues to succeed.

What’s the best part of the job?

For me, it’s improving the small things that really make a difference to students, such as increasing the funding given to our top athletes, the Student Challenge Fund or how fourthyear undergraduates affiliate to the JCR.

Lunchtime concerts in the ODH continue to be popular, while this year’s ‘Teddy Hall’s Got Talent’ saw a huge range of performances, from large group singing by sports teams to brilliant soloists. Whilst the quality varied, one thing that was shared by all acts was a real enthusiasm!

SPORT Once again sport has – as is clear from the pictures and reports above – been at the heart of the Hall and we have had success across the board. The men’s football team won the JCR Premier League and, unbeaten in over a year, only narrowly lost to Exeter in the Cuppers quarter-final. In hockey our men’s and women’s teams both won their respective first divisions. Then, in a new addition to our sporting prowess our karting team came second in Cuppers, our highest ever finish.

The rugby team won both leagues and made it to the Cuppers final again. We

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THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

This year’s JCR summer photo

‘Trinity Artwork’ – photo by Rachael Cross (2011, Biomedical Sciences), one of the winners of last year’s Hall Photography Competition

Brazilian-themed bears at the Hall Ball

The Neoclassical Ensemble performing at a lunchtime concert

unfortunately came out just the wrong side of one of the most dramatic finales the competition has ever seen, but are determined to claim back the trophy next year.

CHARITIES In the last couple of terms, the JCR has given £4,475 to support six different charitable causes, plus Oxford University RAG (which chooses four charities to support annually).

A team of three students took part in RAG’s Jailbreak, getting as far as the Orkneys. In Michaelmas all the St Edmund Hall medics were involved in the Tingewick pantomime (run by the Oxford medical school students’ charity), which supported the Oxford Homeless Medical Fund and the Against Malaria Foundation.

Excitingly, two of our current fourth years are part of the ‘Tingewick Firm’, responsible for this year’s fundraising efforts, which have a target of £25,000.

BALL

JCR BUSINESS

The Hall was given a Brazilian carnival makeover for this year’s much-anticipated ‘Road to Rio’ themed ball. All 650 tickets were sold in less than a month!

Headliners the Artful Dodger and The Other Tribe entertained in the Wolfson, while there was also a wide range of other music, comedy, fairground games, salsa dancing lessons and mini golf on offer.

A new sub-committee of the Development Committee has been created, giving JCR representation for the first time. This will enable students to give feedback on important issues concerning the future of the College as well as allowing the main Committee to call the JCR president to represent student opinions at meetings.

“The JCR has been buzzing with activity as usual.”

We have also now successfully implemented the Challenge Fund: a new award, of up to £2,500, given to academically excellent members of the JCR who are progressing into the MCR for further study at the Hall. It is hoped that this initiative will help ensure that we keep hold of our best and brightest students taking up DPhils and Masters.

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HALL COMMUNITY: MCR

“If there has been a flavour in the MCR this year, it has certainly been baked goods.”

News from the MCR President, Charlotte Cooper (2011, DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages) This academic year got off to a good start for the MCR, and the new committee worked hard to welcome the 125 new graduate students in traditional Teddy Hall style.

Over the course of Freshers’ Week, the usual events – a drinks reception and buffet dinner at Norham, a potluck dinner and a pizza party – were added to with a themed pub crawl evening, and historical tours of the College. Sadly, the Great British weather forced us to postpone the planned afternoon of pirate punting, a slight change to the normal programme petitioned for by our Treasurer, Joseph Feyertag.

After last year’s MCR Committee’s work to get student representation on Academic Committee, the first order of business this year was to create a dedicated committee position to take on this responsibility, and to take over the organisation of the termly Graduate Seminars from the stewarding team. It is hoped that a programme of annual academic events will eventually gradually be added to this remit. Ambroise Joffrin was elected as the man for the job, and he has spent time working closely with the Tutor for Graduates on implementing such a programme, as well as organising bi-termly French conversation evenings over wine and cheese.

Alongside this development, four new Pontigny Scholarships have been created.

The award holders will be expected to encourage joint common room academic 14

ventures, and I am looking forward to seeing what activities develop for graduate students at Teddy Hall as a result.

Over the course of the year, the stewarding and welfare teams continued to provide a whole host of different activities. The traditional termly wine tasting, which we are lucky enough to be able to hold in the Old Library, sold out within just a couple of minutes in Michaelmas, prompting the Stewards (Harry Clifford, Kristy Evers, and Dean James) to add a termly whisky tasting to the term card.

The popular Friday cake morning was given a competitive makeover by Gareth Evans and Rachel Paterson, and reinvented as the Teddy Hall MCR Bake Off. The pattern of someone volunteering to bake on Friday mornings remained the same, only at the end of each term, teddy-themed bakeware was offered as a prize to the baker whose prowess was esteemed most deserving by our judge, former JCR President Margery Infield.

In fact, if there has been a flavour in the MCR this year, it has certainly been baked goods, with the (now traditional) cake and cocktails party in Hilary Term and the termly welfare afternoon tea continuing to be amongst our most popular events.

Things have been improving up at NSE, as this year’s NSE Rep, James Illingworth, made it his mission to give the common room a more “common-roomy feel”.

This was partly achieved by the arrival of the much-anticipated pool table, which VP David Severson worked tirelessly to procure.

The MCR’s own football team continued to do well in the league during Michaelmas, winning two games and drawing one. Although sadly the poor weather in Hilary meant the team was only able to play three of the six planned games, preventing the team from promotion, these games were all victories for Teddy Hall. The MCR also continues to feature strongly in the Boat Club, with both this year’s captains being members of the MCR. Throughout the year, I have been delighted with how well the Committee has worked together. More than one member of our team has been new to the Hall this year, and we’ve also had the benefit of the advice of more seasoned Aularians – including former President, David Springer, who was invaluable as our IT Officer this year. It’s truly been a pleasure to work with such a dedicated and flexible group of people, who have helped make my job a whole lot easier too!

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Wine-tasting evening in the Old Library

Congratulations to Kentaro Ikeda

(2007, MSc Educational Studies), pictured here on his graduation day on 8 March, with his mother, Principal Keith Gull and Dean of Degrees Christopher Phelps.

Kentaro was brutally attacked in July 2008 in Oxford, and left fighting for his life.

After a lengthy period of rehabilitation, he showed remarkable spirit to complete his Masters degree after six years. Kentaro said,

The MCR teddy, who was recently abducted by Christ Church students and taken to Paris, before being safely returned with a framed souvenir photo!

“I would like to thank everyone who helped me, particularly the College staff and Professor David Phillips who were so kind to wait and to support me as I re-worked my dissertation. Thanks also to the people living in Oxford who were so concerned about me.”

Image by Ginny Fox

MCR ANNIVERSARY PLANS 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Middle Common Room (MCR). The Development and Alumni Relations Office together with the MCR are planning a whole host of events to celebrate this important anniversary. There will be a seminar weekend and past presidents’ dinner on 27 June 2015 (see p7 for more information). There will also be a special edition of The Aularian newsletter, so if you have a special story about your time as a postgraduate at the Hall please contact Gail Williams.

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HALL COMMUNITY: MCR

Interview: Eden Cottee-Jones Eden (2007, Geography) studied at Teddy Hall as an undergraduate, stayed on for his MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management and is now completing his DPhil thesis on bird conservation in Assam, India. He tells us here about a side project to track down the Moluccan Woodcock on a remote Indonesian island.

“At one point we had to jump off a long-tail boat, and swim back to a logging camp.

The whole place was infested with salt-water crocodiles.”

Why this project?

It was born out of a long-standing desire to do something novel in the bird world.

I’ve been a bird-watcher since I was ten.

Wallacea is a region in Indonesia between New Guinea and Borneo: thousands of islands that are very interesting because 16

there’s a real mix of Australian and Asian birds. There’s a book, The Birds of Wallacea, which describes the Moluccan Woodcock. It says it’s a little-known species, presumed to inhabit montane forest, but nothing is known about its vocalisations or really anything else. I saw this and decided to find it!

Society, the Old Etonian Association and the Oxford Expeditions Council, we set out to Indonesia in the summer.

Finding the Moluccan Woodcock The woodcock was believed to be a highland bird. Together with John Mittermeier, who did the same Masters course as me at Teddy Hall, we decided to try and get to the top of the island of Obi and see if the woodcock was there.

No one had been above 1000 metres on the island before and it’s 1600m tall.

With funding from Teddy Hall, the National Geographic Society, Royal Geographic

We still had goals to get to the top of the island and do a proper assessment of the woodcock’s conservation status and also to take the first ever photos of it.

We had two months to find the woodcock, and on the second night we went up to the swamp by the edge of the town we were staying in and we found it!

Brilliant!

The highlands It turns out there was a reason why no one had been above 1000m before. It’s really, really hard! We had a team of five local guys as porters and three girls from

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Eden climbing to the summit of the island of Obi

The ‘Death Adder’

Eden with John Mittermeier

the University of Indonesia who were collaborating with us.

Downhill skiing On the way down from the highlands, you ‘ski’ instead of walking because the mud’s so slippery. The first time we were going down, I skied into a small tree and a log fell down and hit me straight on the head.

black chicken-like bird with red bill, red eyes and red legs, flightless and almost mythical because it’s so hard to see.

It’s found on an island further north but when we were on Obi, everyone kept saying there was this large black chicken which was really thin and really hard to see. As it’s flightless we were thinking that if it’s on this island, it’s probably a new species because it can’t fly between the two.

Although 1600m is not that high, the relief is extraordinarily steep. It’s also rainforest, and the soil is very loose and muddy so your feet are constantly slipping from underneath you.

We were carrying a lot of weight – a lot of technical equipment along with our camping stuff, so it was a real slog getting up there. And it rained. We had two weeks to get to the top, and it rained thirteen out of fourteen days! Most of those days it wasn’t just rain; it was torrential downpours all day.

The summit With only three days of food left, John and I made a push for the summit and left the others at base camp to do mist netting. It was raining all the way there.

The skin was falling off my feet because I’d been walking in wet boots for so long.

We just climbed and climbed and got into a cloud forest at about 1300m at nightfall and put our hammocks up and slept.

The next day, for the first time in the highlands, we woke up and it was sunny!

The pygmy parrot That day we kept hearing a bird call that neither of us recognised, but it wasn’t until we got to the summit that this tiny bird flew onto a branch in front of me. It was an awesome pygmy parrot, and had never been seen on Obi before. It’s meant to be in New Guinea! It’s probably a new sub-species, or potentially full species, of pygmy parrot.

When I got up I was a bit confused and there wasn’t much of a trail to follow so I got lost, but eventually met John coming back to find me. However, while I was lying around dazed, he’d flushed out a woodcock in a river valley – that was the only time either of us ever saw one in the daytime.

The ‘Death Adder’ We’d seen two of these snakes on the way up. They were our main health and safety concern because there’s no antidote and no way to get to hospital!

We were going down to another gorge when I ran into a tree. I looked down at my foot on one side of the tree and there was a huge snake coiled round on the other side! I screamed and jumped down off a little cliff-face. We’ve shown people photos we took of this snake, which is what the locals call a death adder, and apparently it’s an undescribed pygmy python.

The Invisible Rail After the highlands we went back down to the swamp forest and spent two weeks living in a bamboo hut on stilts, going out each day knee-deep in water, so again the feet were dying, trying to find a bird which is almost impossible to see!

The Invisible Rail (or Drummer Rail) was discovered by Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s contemporary. It’s a large

John and I split up to cover a wider area.

One day, he saw three and got sound recordings of them. I was terrified that I’d come all this way and was going to miss it. The next day, I saw its beak. Then there was a slight noise and the beak froze and it just disappeared. So that was all I got!

Swimming with crocodiles We ended up travelling all over the island: by boat, by motorbike and walking through swamp forests. At one point we had to jump off a long-tail boat, and swim back to a logging camp. The whole place was infested with salt-water crocodiles.

The boat’s captain told me someone had tried to do this a couple of years ago and died. We had some interesting travel experiences!

Research findings In our two-month trip we discovered fourteen species that had never been seen on the island before which increases the number of birds known on Obi by 10%, plus a few reptiles as well. We wrote three peer-reviewed papers, summarising our results. Two were published in December 2013 while a third will be published this September.

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HALL COMMUNITY: GOODBYES

Interview: Sharon Achinstein We sadly say goodbye this summer to Sharon Achinstein, Professor in Renaissance Literature and Tutor in English, who is leaving the Hall after twelve years to become Sir William Osler Professor of English at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

What were your first impressions of Oxford?

What I loved about it was firstly that an ancient university is so modern. The buildings may be very old, but it’s all very usable. It was wonderful to feel that the antiquity of the place isn’t a stumbling block to lively conversation and good fellowship.

The other thing that surprised me was that a college feels like a small republic, and it was as if I’d become part of the government of a small city state. It was a big change to come from a departmental to a collegiate environment. Here, people have their fingers in all sorts of pies. There’s a lot of time taken up with democratic processes and governance.

But it also means that as a Fellow you can have a lot of input in various aspects of students’ experiences, that of their families and the old members, and contribute more widely to the history of the place.

Have things changed much at the Hall while you’ve been here?

There’s been a huge change in the emphasis on postgraduate education, with the rise in numbers, and also recognition of the importance of international students.

Have you noticed differences in the attitudes of undergraduates since the increased tuition fees?

I think the big difference is that students are more reluctant to continue into postgraduate study because of the financial burden. They are also more willing to take on extra-curricular activities at the expense of their academic study 18

because they feel they’ve got to build their CV because the hiring climate is very different.

You’ve been Tutor for Graduates for the last three years. What has that entailed?

There are a set of things to do, such as admissions and following postgraduates through their careers here and managing the college advising system.

Teddy Hall started out as undergraduatefocussed and it can be a challenge to convince everyone in College that time is well spent on graduate students. In many ways postgrads need as much from College as undergraduates, especially because so many come from abroad and many can feel quite isolated, especially during the writing-up phase of their work.

What have been your highlights here?

I really loved being in a three-woman team teaching English along with Professor Newlyn and Dr Nuttall. I loved being the Library Fellow. Also being Tutor for Graduates – I really enjoyed undertaking with the MCR a focussed series of analyses of the international student population (67% of the Hall’s postgraduates) and what we were doing to support them.

Who have you most enjoyed meeting during your time in Oxford?

I curated an exhibition called ‘Citizen Milton’ for the Bodleian Library and Philip Pullman came in to be one of the speakers. I liked him a great deal.

He’s a very conscientious, humane and politically-engaged writer who takes the history of literature seriously.

Is there anything in particular you’re going to miss about being here?

I’ll certainly miss the students: not just really excellent, interesting and creative students but they enjoy being challenged.

It’s a very different sort of student than those I will encounter and have encountered in the USA. In the USA, your tutor is your grader, whereas here I’m more like a coach.

What favourite memories will you take away with you?

I’ve loved the summer Parents’ Garden Party. I’ve had a number of parents who need reassurance that it’s okay that their children are reading English. That’s been very poignant for me. English may not have a very obvious career path but it’s so clear from outcomes that it is really worth doing – even if our students jump around for three or four years after they graduate (which most English graduates do!), they do settle into really interesting careers.

What direction will your research take over the next few years?

I will be continuing with my work on John Milton. I’m currently looking at a project on the history of marriage, divorce and sexuality in relation to the origins of secular society.

How would you describe Teddy Hall in 3 words?

Confident, iconoclastic and welcoming.

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Interview: Sue Heath We also bid farewell and wish a happy retirement to Sue Heath, Housekeeper at Isis, after a remarkable 35 years of service to Teddy Hall.

Sue Heath (centre) with colleagues Elaine (who is also Sue’s daughter) and Maria at the Isis. Between them, the trio have worked an astonishing 106 years at the Hall.

What different jobs have you done at the Hall?

I started in 1978 as a scout on Besse 1. I had a funny little run-in with Martin Slater [former Economics Fellow, now an Emeritus Fellow] – who was in one of my student’s rooms. I went along to greet all the new students and I said to him, “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you look a bit old to be a student.” He replied, “I’m not; I’m a don,” and he still remembers that after 35 years!

I worked in the Queen’s Lane part of College for eight years and then in 1986 they bought the Isis, which was at that stage a hotel. We had to start from scratch, just two scouts: no cleaning staff and rubbish everywhere.

I became Housekeeper fifteen years ago, when the William R Miller Building was just being built.

How long did it take to turn the Isis into student accommodation?

We came down in September and the students arrived in October. It wasn’t long to turn it around.

Then we had a massive flood – the main sewer pipe blew and everything was covered in muck. I’ve had to do some awful jobs really! We tried to clean it off and then the warden had the bright idea to get the insurance people in – after we’d cleaned it....

And then, one summer [when the Isis is a B & B] I had a phone call about 11pm telling me that the whole ceiling had fallen down in the lounge.

We had to take all the crockery off and wash it, get rid of the lumps of plaster, dust and hoover, and then re-lay all the tables for breakfast. You’d never have known the next morning – apart from the hole in the ceiling!

What’s the best thing about working here?

The company – the laughs we’ve had over the years, particularly at times like Christmas, singing carols in the bar and having staff discos in the JCR Party Room.

“There was a goat tethered outside the JCR once. I don’t know where they’d got it from.”

How have things changed over the last 30 odd years?

I think when they let girls into the College it changed a lot. When it was just boys, they played a lot of jokes, on us as well as each other – and they loved things like water fights. We played tricks on them, too. We used to change all their LP covers round, put different records in, and tie their tea cups to their dressing gowns – just silly things!

Nowadays it’s not as relaxed – with all the health and safety and risk assessments.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever found in College?

There was a goat tethered outside the JCR once. I don’t know where they’d got it from but the students had pinched it.

There used to be a tree in the Front Quad and students would tie bikes and things in it, at Christmas especially.

Then there was a coffin with a skeleton in it on a corridor in Emden once – that was obviously a medic!

What memories stand out from your time working here?

There might be a couple of things I can’t say!

What I will say is that when it was just boys-only, I knocked on the door of a student’s room in Besse one day. He answered, “Yeah, come,” and was standing behind the door. When I looked down the crack of the door, he was stood there without a stitch on! They weren’t embarrassed then though – he didn’t flinch.

Do you have any photos or memories from your time at Isis?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

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HALL COMMUNITY: ST EDMUND HALL ASSOCIATION

Interview: Lawrence Cummings Lawrence (1971, Modern Languages) became President of the St Edmund Hall Association (SEHA) in January 2014.

What are you hoping to achieve?

I want to encourage involvement – e.g. attending SEHA events and serving on the SEHA Committee – especially in the younger element and amongst women.

The Association’s always been regarded as a bit of an old boys’ club and that’s wrong. It is tricky. I’ve been there and I know exactly how it is when you’re busy building a career and maybe starting a family. But, being on the Committee isn’t onerous: it’s two meetings a year, and we have vacancies for the younger decades, especially from 2005 onwards.

Why did you want to take on the SEHA presidency?

I’ve actually been on the committee for 25 years. I wanted to try and put something back, because the Hall gave me a lot.

I was asked to be President once before some time ago and I didn’t quite think the time was right because my family was still quite young, whereas now I have a bit more time.

What has the role involved so far?

I’ve become quite involved in the fundraising Campaign. Gareth Roberts, who is the Chairman of the Campaign, was the first guy I met when I came to the Hall in 1971. I like to tell the story of how he taught me to write a cheque because I’d never written one in my life and he’d actually only ever written two! I was from a grammar school in Hull while he went to a comprehensive in Bradford, so we were kindred spirits.

I was also involved in the interviewing for the Major Gifts Officer. I’m on a number of committees in an ex-officio capacity – such as the Development Committee and for the Masterclass Awards.

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How was this year’s London Dinner?

It’s always a very convivial occasion and always good to hear Keith talk in his inimitable North Yorkshire tones about what’s happening at the Hall.

It remains the largest London Dinner of any Oxford college. The highest number we’ve had in recent years was for the Millennium Dinner, when Roy Jenkins (then Chancellor of Oxford) spoke. He turned up expecting a turnout similar to Balliol, where they got around 40, and was confronted by 200 people!

Is there a particular aspect of the fundraising Campaign that particularly interests you?

Student support, because of my background. We were a very fortunate generation. Those of us with workingclass parents were on a full grant so everything was paid for.

What did you like most about studying here?

I lived in Kelly, which was one year old and the height of luxury compared to the Front Quad and Besse. The beauty was that it was still a very intimate site, very geographically contained, but without ever becoming overpoweringly so. You always had the possibility of retiring to your room and locking the door if you needed to – unless somebody climbed in through your window, which happened to me when I lived on Kelly 3!

“The Association’s always been regarded as a bit of an old boys’ club and that’s wrong.”

What was your finest moment at Teddy Hall?

Winning rugby Cuppers in 1973 - we beat Christ Church in the final, having been behind.

Another of our great moments was when the Hall won soccer Cuppers in 1975 and I organised the cheering section. The headline in the Oxford Mail after we’d beaten St John’s in the final was ‘Singing in the Rain’ and the first line of the report noted that the singing was better than the football!

What was your most embarrassing moment?

My grandmother died and she had this huge fur coat which I decided I would wear. It was an extremely bad sartorial choice and looked ridiculous! One of the porters, a guy called Philip who was a famous Welshman with a great big beard, was ribbing me about it and he put his hand on my shoulder and the sleeve fell off. That was a bit mortifying!

Apart from the inclusion of women, do you think the College has changed much since you studied here?

No, I think that the footprint is more or less the same. I think that the spirit is undoubtedly the same. The Hall always had a huge amount of soul and it’s kept it.

“We were a very fortunate generation.

Those of us with working-class parents were on a full grant so everything was paid for.”

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

EVENTS

EVENTS Over the past year Aularians have attended over 25 events in Oxford, London and across the world.

Highlights included an Oxford win at the Varsity Match at Twickenham, the 29th New York Dinner and our third Teddy Talks Networking Breakfast with guest speaker Sir Keir Starmer KCB QC.

10th, 20th & 30th Anniversary Dinner in September 2013

In 2014/15 we plan to offer Aularians many more opportunities to get together. We are looking for Year Group Leaders to encourage Economics Fellow Linda Yueh taking part in a communication among our alumni and debate at the inaugural Asia Weekend in Hong to help us promote our events. It’s a Kong great way to reconnect with your year group! If you would be interested in taking on this role or would like more information please do get in contact.

Carols in the Quad

Teddy Talks III with guest speaker Sir Keir Starmer KCB QC

To book an event, or to share photos of an event you’ve hosted yourself, please contact our Alumni Relations Officer, Kate Townsend.

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Varsity Match

40th Anniversary guests in March 2014

50th Anniversary Dinner in September 2013

Freshers’ Parents’ Dinner

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HALL COMMUNITY: SCR

VISITING FELLOWS The Principal has revived Visiting Fellowships at the Hall in the last couple of years, offering distinguished academics the opportunity to enrich the Hall community, by joining us for anything between a term and a year.

Interview: Robin Feuer Miller Robin is a Professor at Brandeis University, and a specialist in nineteenth-century Russian and European novels with a particular interest in Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Dickens. She spent last September to May as a Visiting Fellow at St Edmund Hall.

Robin Miller with husband Chris at the Museum of Natural History How did your Visiting Fellowship come about?

I am a great admirer of Andrew Kahn [SEH Professor of Russian Literature] and his work, and it was he who urged me to come to Teddy Hall for the year. When this all came to pass, he didn’t yet know he was going to be on sabbatical in Paris, which was an irony for sure.

But it has been truly an outstanding experience because I’m just starting work on a new project and to do it in these surroundings is beyond wonderful.

Did anything surprise you about college life?

I think what surprised me was the feeling of genuine warmth here. From day one, I felt like I belonged somewhere. That’s really precious and it really helps you work.

What has your Fellowship involved?

I was asked if I wanted to teach but I said that as it was my sabbatical year I would rather just be here working. But I have had productive interactions with some of the graduate students at Teddy Hall as well as with faculty here and throughout the University at large. I am so very struck by the friendliness I have encountered.

Mainly I’m spending my days doing my own work, and coming to College for lunch and occasionally for dinner. I had 22

read about this blending of the scholarly and the intellectual social life but had never really experienced it. Each time I show up at Teddy Hall I meet new people or renew conversation with a previous colleague (or both). After such encounters one is primed to get back to work, so I find myself ready to go back into my nest (in my case, the peaceful garden study at the back of our house here).

Your husband Chris, a biochemist, has been at Lincoln College as the Newton Abraham Professor for the year. Do you think there are differences between Lincoln and Teddy Hall?

Well, the food here is absolutely head and shoulders above any other college. It’s really striking. One thing that’s so special I think is the smallness and intimacy of many of the dinners at Teddy Hall.

Can you tell me more about your current project: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and the Small of This World?

It’s been an encouraging year of affirmation: to come here as a Visiting Fellow and also in the United States, I received a Guggenheim Award to support my work here. There hadn’t been one in Russian literature for a while, and it gave me a strong signal that maybe this new project wasn’t crazy or at least that it had a kind of general appeal which is part of my aim.

I’m primarily looking at things like animals, children and minor characters. I think by focussing on some of these ‘small’ things we might revise some of our standard thoughts about Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

For those who aren’t in the field of Russian literature, it’s interesting to know that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky lived at the same time. They read each other’s work with a keen eye; they had a number of mutual friends; they worked with the same famous editor and publisher. But they never met. One thing that I hope to experiment with a little bit at the end of this book is the notion of a dialogue going back and forth between them.

If you were to recommend a first Russian novel for someone to try, which would you suggest?

War and Peace. It’s a huge novel, over 1000 pages long but every single time I teach it, the students are sad that it’s over and they feel it was too short.

If the person were not particularly a reader but wanted to read something absolutely jewel-like and perfect, I would suggest Turgenev’s Fathers and Children.

That’s short but deeply interesting and beautifully written.

How would you describe Teddy Hall in three words?

Engaged, challenging and delicious!

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Interview: Jeffrey Almond Jeffrey’s career has spanned both academia and industry, including roles as Professor of Microbiology at the University of Reading and Vice President and Head of Research for Sanofi Pasteur, the biggest vaccine company in the world. little bit different from a career academic.

So I hope that my perspectives have brought something to the discussions that we’ve had among the Fellows and Junior Fellows in the Hall.

I’m sure I will feel an allegiance to the College well into my future, and I hope I can be of some assistance in things like fundraising and try and give a little back to the College for the year it’s given me.

How did you come to be a Visiting Fellow at the Hall?

There was an early retirement opportunity for me at Sanofi Pasteur. I didn’t really want to retire, and they didn’t want me to go, but the offer was such that it was crazy to turn it down and they also offered me an opportunity to ‘transition’ into retirement. So I thought easing myself back into academia by doing a sabbatical in a university would be perfect, so I wrote to Matthew Freeman and Keith Gull at the Dunn School of Pathology.

On top of that Keith suggested the possibility of a Visiting Fellowship at the Hall which I thought would be the icing on the cake, as it were. I was very fortunate and very honoured; the Fellowship gives an extra dimension to life in Oxford.

How have you been involved with Teddy Hall?

My work inside the Hall has been rather modest, but I have really enjoyed the academic interaction, meeting people over lunch and dinner and learning about College life, history and ambience. The spirit of the College is really nice and it’s tremendously enriching that one can sit down and one day talk to an historian, the next day a mathematician, and then a lawyer and a physicist.

Having lived in France and been in industry for fifteen years, I guess I’m a

“The spirit of the College is really nice and it’s tremendously enriching that one can sit down and one day talk to an historian, the next day a mathematician, and then a lawyer and a physicist.”

What have you tried to achieve during your time as a Visiting Fellow?

I’ve felt that my real contribution has been to look at enterprise creation on behalf of the University – so I’ve worked a bit with Isis, trying to help them assess the value of some of their patent portfolios and discussing how they can better encourage enterprise from Oxford science.

At the Dunn School, I’ve done some teaching. I think it’s particularly important for young medical students to know how good science gets translated by industry into products that improve people’s lives.

That sort of industrial perspective that I’ve brought into both the College and the Department seems to have been appreciated, so I’ve enjoyed doing that.

How easy have you found it to move between academia and industry and back again?

Difficult but really exciting. I realised after I’d done it once that I had a slightly different outlook on the way research should be conducted and suddenly my views seemed to be valued from a different perspective. When I moved out of academia and took the job in France at Sanofi, fifteen years ago, it was a very steep learning curve and at first I did get a bit of hostility, for example from the works trade union. In the end I had a wonderful time and through bringing a strong academic perspective, I hope I changed the way they thought about their science and how to get from a scientific idea to a product. It was a mutually very beneficial period.

How would you describe your research to non-specialists?

My research is simply trying to understand infectious agents better and to explore ways to produce improved and new vaccines. I research that at the level of literature not at the laboratory level these days, and that’s what I like to talk to people about, and try to synergise on.

How would you describe Teddy Hall in three words?

Chaleureux (the French word for warm and welcoming), stimulating and enjoyable.

As the experience of our current Visiting Fellows suggests, we welcome distinguished visitors who would enjoy the opportunity to join and enhance the Hall community, whether through a period of research or in other ways. If you have further thoughts on our Visiting Fellows scheme, or would like to suggest someone for nomination, please contact The Aularian chief editor, Dr Wes Williams.

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EMAIL WES.WILLIAMS@SEH.OX.AC.UK

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AULARIANS ABROAD

Edmund’s Cope Two trains from London St Pancras and a short walk will bring you to within inches (through glass) of a thirteenth-century silk chasuble worn by our own Edmund when he was Archbishop of Canterbury (1234 to 1240).

St Edmund’s cope in Provins Museum (www.provins.net)

Virtually exiled to France after disagreements with the young King Henry III, Edmund was welcomed there by King Louis IX (‘Saint Louis’). Sadly, however, continuing on his way to Rome to make representations to Pope Gregory IX, Edmund died at the Priory of Soisy near Provins. Today Provins, 50 miles southeast of Paris, is one of the best preserved medieval cities in France.

My coming across the St Edmund cope in Provins Museum was entirely accidental.

My beloved wife Carol writes romantic historical novels (or ‘entertainments’ as she prefers to call them, a Pulitzer Prize not expected). Research for the fourteenth had suggested the trip to the enchanting walled city of Provins, famous in the middle ages as one of the four Champagne fair towns and now a World Heritage Site.

archaeological and hysterical [sic] collections.” I had made it to the highest floor – which I had dismissed in a cold Protestant way as being full of dusty Catholic statues, etc, and was limping down the creaky stairs when Carol whispered “I wonder if the ‘Edmond’ upstairs was your Edmund….”

Up again, slowly, and there it was in the glass case. Unprepossessing and greeny grey but a veritable chasuble that had hung from the shoulders of Archbishop Edmund – a cope that was already 500 years old at the time of the Revolution and which must have been overlooked by numerous bloodthirsty and destructive atheists as the guillotines hissed down.

It is a fact universally acknowledged that a husband’s triple heart bypass in July and his bad right knee do not excuse him from climbing about a hilly French town to take research pictures for his wife only two months later. (Well, the cash for our long-booked Eurostar tickets was not reclaimable. And Carol is from Yorkshire.)

Provins also honoured Saint Edmund with a chapel and a window in the nearby church of Saint Quiriace which dominates the Provins skyline. From bottom to top the panels show Edmund (‘St Edme’ or ‘Edmond’ in France) inspired by God to become a priest; Edmund reproaching King Henry III; the exiled Edmund being greeted by Saint Louis; and Edmund dying at Soisy near Provins. His body lies in a tomb in the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny.

Fast forward to Provins Museum, which the website claims, “presents

Aularians have always been taught to think for themselves and, in an age

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of box-ticking indoctrination by some educational institutions, we should admire Saint Edmund who is still teaching us, after 750 years, not to be afraid to speak truth to power.

John Mabbett (1967, English) • EDMUND RICH, born Abingdon, Berkshire c. 1175 • Died 16 November 1240 in Soisy, France, near Provins • Body entombed at the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny • Priest, academic at the Sorbonne and Oxford • Prebendary canon at Salisbury Cathedral during its construction • Archbishop of Canterbury 1234 -1240 • Canonised as Saint Edmund 1246

Please contact us if you have any travel stories that you would like to contribute to a future Hall publication.

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EMAIL LAURA.PALMER@SEH.OX.AC.UK

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

MUSIC

Interview: Justin Stead

Justin (1971, Botany) has been heavily involved in supporting recent musical initiatives at the Hall. He was instrumental in helping to fund the Chapel Choir tour to France in September 2013, where he sang with the choir in Roujan and Lyon and also at a mass in the great Abbey of Pontigny, the final resting place of St Edmund of Abingdon.

Justin speaks here to Jonathan Cockerill (2010, History), former Choral Scholar.

Justin singing with the choir in Pontigny Abbey Was there much musical activity when you were at the Hall?

Not really, at least nothing I got involved with. There was a Music Society but I’m not sure what it got up to. I did sing occasionally in the Chapel.

How did you get into singing? What other musical activities do you pursue in your spare time?

I sang a lot at school but without tuition. I picked it up again in my thirties and have been singing in various choirs ever since.

I played the clarinet at school but didn’t continue with it. I am now an enthusiastic adult learner of the piano which I try to play every day.

What was it like singing with the choir tour last summer?

I embarked on the trip with no idea how it might work out. The plan was to spend a week with 20+ students I had never met before at an unknown venue singing music, much of which I hadn’t sung before. In the end it all worked out extremely well and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The choir taking a break during their tour in France to taste some of the local wines The choristers were incredibly grateful for your financial support. Without it, many of us could not have gone. Why did you decide to support the choir in this manner?

I’ve got to a stage in life when I can consider making donations like this.

When I heard that the Hall had recruited a Director of Music, Chris Watson, it seemed obvious that I would offer some financial support to that initiative. When I made the offer to Chris, his priority was funding for the tour.

It’s fantastic that the Hall now has a Director of Music, and a very good one.

I wish there had been more going on when I was an undergraduate. It’s nice to support something which was not available to me. I would have loved to go on a choir tour to France when I was an undergraduate!

What was your favourite moment of the choir tour?

If I had to pick one moment it would be singing in the Abbey at Pontigny.

But what I enjoyed most was the routine of the singing days at Maison Verte: a leisurely start to the day (a run and breakfast); sing; lunch; swim and sunbathe; sing; drinks and dinner.

A perfect set up for me!

MUSIC UPDATE The choir will return to Pontigny on 1-5 September this year, for a fiveday residence, once again with the support of Justin Stead and Paddy Carpenter (father of Lucie, a current undergraduate studying French & Russian).

Lunchtime concerts, organised by the Teddy Hall Music Society, continue four times a term (please see www.seh.ox.ac.uk for dates) and plans are afoot for a new termly evening chamber concert – all are welcome.

A new chamber organ has been commissioned for the Chapel, ideal for increasing our range of seventeeth-century music in keeping with the age of the building. We hope that it will offer more solo opportunities for choral scholars and encourage instrumentalists to play in the Chapel.

The JCR meanwhile have active new Arts & Culture Reps who are busy organising informal Jam Cafés and open mic nights.

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HALL FOOD

Interview: John McGeever Chef John McGeever has reinvigorated the Hall’s menus since his arrival in 2011, bringing with him a wealth of experience from cooking at the highest level in hotels and restaurants that have been starred in international guides. He is also an Honorary Vice President of The Master Chefs of Great Britain.

French. All the calls were French: all the orders and replies. I was shocked and had to learn French very fast! It was very standard in kitchens in those days.

They were all British but when it came to service time they spoke in French, which was madness!

After four years I moved to the Albany Hotel in Glasgow, and did my degree in catering part-time for seven years. Then I moved to London and later worked abroad, travelling a lot.

What challenges did you face when you started working at the Hall?

My first day’s work was actually the St Edmund’s Feast. We did plated food for the first time ever for a banquet at the Hall that night. Before, it all came on big platters – silver service with vegetable dishes on the table. It was very 1970s, so I had to change that as soon as possible.

Then I had to buy some nice china – the china was terrible!

The kitchen had been run by the same chef for forty years and he’d let it go to his way of working. When I came here there were several freezers full of food, which I disposed of! There were also four large sinks for defrosting food, which have now gone. That’s now a pastry kitchen.

I came in with my background in hotels and restaurants – a mentality of five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants around the world – so I’m used to doing things to a high standard.

How did you become a chef?

My grandmother was a chef all her life, cooking for the shipyards in Clydebank, and my dad was a baker, so cooking was more or less the family business. As soon as I could leave school at fourteen, I went to work as a junior chef in the four-star Royal Stuart Hotel in Glasgow.

The first morning was spent just chatting about the football or your girlfriend but, once lunchtime started, it changed to 26

When I came back to England, I got my first star at Congham Hall in Norfolk, aged twenty-eight. It was quite a shock to find you’ve got a star at that age, so it was a bit of a surprise.

What are the most popular dishes on the Hall menu?

People always love anything to do with pasta: meatballs, mince, lasagne.

We do a Teddy Burger: that’s a nice home-made burger with Swiss cheese, onions, tomatoes. That goes down well; the kids want food they recognise.

But we do things that are off the wall sometimes, for formal dinners, which they always enjoy. They love puddings, especially if I do mini puddings with three on a plate. It’s all about theatre!

“It’s not about awards though; it’s about happy customers. A student’s mother rang me up and said thank you very much. That’s lovely. ” What’s your favourite dish on the menu here?

I love a good lasagne. A really well-made lasagne is nice because it’s fresh meat, vegetables, pasta, cheese – things that I enjoy together. Either that, or a nice ham sandwich is sometimes lovely.

What’s the most bizarre request you’ve ever had in the suggestions book?

Somebody once asked for clam chowder – for breakfast!

Do we have an ethical food policy?

We do. I buy free range and fair trade whenever I can, and we try to buy locally as much as possible.

What are your least favourite foods?

I don’t like snails – I think they’re just a waste of time. I’m not big on some shellfish because they’re pretty risky things and sea urchins disgust me intensely!

Once in Singapore someone served me snake that had been killed at the table and then stir-fried and I had to eat some of it as a guest at a banquet. Then in Bogotá, the head chef of one hotel did an office breakfast and had this vine leaf filled with some sort of meat, with grubs inside it that were still alive. I declined that breakfast and had a cup of coffee instead!

What meal would you choose as your last request?

It would have to be seared foie gras with roasted peaches and five spice, and then sea bass with seared scallops. Dessert would be passion fruit soufflé with vanilla sauce.

How does that fit in with the ethical food policy you mentioned earlier?

Foie gras is something that I just love, and the one I use is from Spain where the ducks are free range and not force-fed.

How many stars have you had (so far) in your career?

Just the one, at Congham Hall – that was enough. We got a Michelin and Egon Ronay star at the same time and three AA rosettes.

It’s not about awards though; it’s about happy customers. A student’s mother rang me up and said thank you very much. That’s lovely, and that’s what counts for me now. If people are happy, saying thank you, that’s enough for me – that, and being paid on time!

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

One of John’s Favourite Recipes TEDDY BROWNIES Makes about 20 brownies Ingredients 450g plain chocolate (70% cocoa), coarsely chopped 280g butter 5 free-range eggs 250g brown sugar 1 to 2 tablespoons rum (optional) 450g plain flour 150g chopped pecans 4 stem ginger knobs, chopped small

Pupils from Perins School, Hampshire, sample a Hall lunch while visiting the College

Instructions Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a 30 x 20cm brownie tin (approx. 4-5cm deep) with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter together and set aside to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs and sugar together (with whisk or electric mixer) for around five minutes, until thick. Whisk in the chocolate and butter mixture and then the rum. Fold in the flour, then the pecans and ginger. Stir just to incorporate the ingredients.

Pour into the brownie tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. They should be mostly cooked while still leaving a slightly gooey trace on a knife when inserted into the centre. Leave to cool slightly, then cut into small squares. Brush with rum and serve.

Why not bring a friend or organise a group to come back to the Hall and enjoy our excellent food?

Aularians are entitled to dine in College once a term from five years after the date they went down, and can each bring one guest.

The dress code is jacket and tie or equivalent.

Accommodation may also be available in single or twin rooms, on a bed and breakfast basis.

Formal Hall is a three-course meal with wine every Tuesday or Friday during term-time in the Wolfson, and costs £18 or £25 for High Table. Alternatively, join us on a Wednesday for SCR Guest Night (£38) in the Old Dining Hall, which includes a four-course meal, informal dessert in the Senior Common Room and wines.

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TELEPHONE +44 (0)1865 279007

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EMAIL BURSARY@SEH.OX.AC.UK

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HALL NEWS: WRITING

Geddes Lecture and Prizes 2014 BBC TV and Radio 4 presenter Evan Davis gave this year’s Geddes Lecture (which is available online at www.youtube. com/StEdmundHall) and awarded the Philip Geddes and Clive Taylor journalism Prizes.

Celia Haddon (journalist and author), Christopher Wilson (Geddes Trustee), Gruffudd Owen, Keith Gull, Lauren Collee, Peter Cardwell (Geddes judge, and former Prize winner), Nick Mutch, Graham Mather (Chair of Geddes Trustees), Evan Davis.

The prizes this year had something of an antipodean feel: the Geddes prize was awarded to Nick Mutch, a New Zealander studying History at Christ Church, and the SEH prize given to Lauren Collee (2012, English & French), an Australian student here at the Hall. The Clive Taylor Prize in Sports Journalism was awarded to Gruffudd Owen, a Linguist at Jesus.

The prize was judged by Graham Mather, Chair of the Geddes Trustees, Peter Cardwell (Ulster TV), Prof John Kelly (St John’s) and Wes Williams (Fellow in French, SEH).

The judges were agreed that the standard of the shortlisted candidates was very high. Nick Mutch, the winner ‘by a country mile’, submitted a number of impressive interviews with figures such as Jeremy Paxman, Noam Chomsky, Alan Moore and Rowan Williams, as well as a finely judged feature on living through the Christchurch earthquake, which had been taken up by the national press.

Continuing the Antipodean theme, Lauren Collee proposes to explore an insular and little-known Australian artistic community which perpetuates the legacy of its onetime member, Spike Milligan.

In 2015, there will be an additional prize for foreign affairs student journalism, named in memory of Ronnie Payne.

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Harry Hodges (2010, Geography) won in 2013

Samira Ahmed (1986, English) won the Geddes Prize in 1989

“The Geddes Prize has had a huge impact on my career. I am now the leader writer at the Daily Express and it was actually Chris Wilson, who I met at last year’s Geddes dinner and is one of the trustees of the Prize, who first put me in touch with the editor here and helped me get some work experience. Six months later I was very grateful to be offered a full-time job on a national newspaper.

“Winning was like a vote of confidence when I was yet to cross the threshold to being a paid, professional journalist. The three months that the prize funded to really explore Australia and New Zealand and their complex identity gave me an in-depth knowledge and a grounding in how to research and interview that still serves me today.”

“I also received some very kind words from the judges, especially from David Priestland and Peter Cardwell, that helped to convince me I was on the right track when I (very occasionally) felt like abandoning hopes of Fleet Street.”

If you are interested in supporting the Geddes Prize and other related initiatives, please contact The Aularian chief editor Dr Wes Williams.

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EMAIL WES.WILLIAMS@SEH.OX.AC.UK

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

Teddy Times The Hall’s newest student publication was set up in Hilary Term by two first-years Naomi Polonsky (French & Russian) and Katherine Cowles (French & English).

The newspaper’s logo, drawn by Khushna SulamanButt (2013, Fine Art)

• 2 issues per term • Distributed by email with some print copies in the JCR • Over 25 contributors to the first two issues, from all different years.

Hall Writers’ Forum The Hall Writers’ Forum was launched online in 2013 with a view to fostering dialogue, collaboration, and creative writing.

Its members include current and former students, as well as academic and non-academic staff, and associates from outside the College who have been nominated by Forum members. Activities include lively cross-disciplinary discussion and debate, exchange and commentary on writing in various media, and ‘challenges’ to write on a given theme or use a certain form. Most sections of the Forum are open to public view, but there is one reserved area where work can be submitted and discussed in privacy.

In its first eighteen months, the Forum has developed into a strong community of more than 320 members; and the number of posts has more than tripled since January, standing at a current total of 7,600. It now has a Facebook page, which enables us to publicise events and activities; and since April it has also had a Facebook group, “Friends of the Hall

Why did you decide to set up this new Hall publication?

We thought it would be good to have a light-hearted student-run publication at Teddy Hall which would boost college spirit and comment on life at the Hall in an amusing way.

Has it been going well so far?

It’s sometimes a bit challenging to get people to meet deadlines because everyone has so much going on, but generally it’s been a great deal of fun and we’ve been very pleased by all the support and positive feedback.

Writers’ Forum”, which enables nonAularians to be included in some of its projects.

This year, Hall writers have responded eagerly to the challenge to write carols, elegies, manifestos, ballads, than-bauks, and riddles. Some outstanding work has emerged, not just from individuals but also in pairs and groups. The community has commemorated the deaths of three public figures, Seamus Heaney, Nelson Mandela, and Pete Seeger; and has also set up a thread of poems and songs in memory of Dr Jim Naughton (Fellow in Czech who died suddenly in February this year). The Forum has publicised and supported a number of events and regular activities: a weekly writing workshop, poetry readings, and several events in the Old Dining Hall.

We celebrated National Poetry Day on 3rd October with an open mic session; Armistice Day on November 11th with an hour of poetry and music on the theme of war; and the arrival of summer with a whole evening of ballads and folksongs on 16th May. The enlivening influence of music has been felt on the Forum ever since Valentine’s Day, when Shirley Collins, ‘First Lady of Folk’, registered as a member. To mark the occasion, we

What have been your favourite articles to date?

We’ve had a couple of very funny bop reviews and the last issue even included a College marriage proposal! Also one of our contributors (who’s a fine artist) took a famous but controversial work of art – in this case Tracey Emin’s ‘Bed’ – and wrote a short analytic extract on it and then asked various people in College for their reactions. The responses were very amusing, if a bit uncultured at times, and it was a nice way of including lots of people.

wrote a collaborative ballad in Shirley’s honour; and we also started a ‘love songs’ thread: this has proved immensely popular, generating numerous other ‘themed’ threads for music and poetry.

Shirley was guest of honour at our ‘Folk Revival Evening’ in May, when she gave an inspiring talk about her experience as a singer and collector of traditional folk music. (We also heard wonderful performances from Dave Arthur, Stuart Estell, Stewart Lee, Alyn Shipton and some extremely talented undergraduates.) The occasion gave us the opportunity to launch the Hall Writers’ first book, Ballads & Divers Verses, which we hope will be the first of many such collections.

The ballad tradition is clearly going strong at Teddy Hall. We are currently writing a collaborative version of ‘Who Killed Cock Robin’ to protest against Natural England’s proposals to legalise the destruction of robins’ nests. As one Hall writer puts it, Folkeat Aula.

Lucy Newlyn (Fellow and Tutor in English)

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HALL NEWS: DRAMA

Act for Change

Photographs: Forum theatre training by Cardboard Citizens at the Core, Corby.

Images by Kate Dyer.

Born at Teddy Hall, Act for Change is a student initiative that uses drama, film and international partnerships as a way to spark social change.

As reported in last year’s Aularian, in 2013 a team of SEH students worked with La Liberté actors in Cameroon to raise awareness about maternal health and women’s rights. This year the team, led by Project Coordinator Roxana Willis (2012, DPhil in Law), are preparing an ambitious project called Act for Change in India: Healing Minds.

“Ideas, wisdom, and guidance from College members about ways to enhance the project would be invaluable.”

Act for Change in India aims to encourage open discussion about mental health research in India in order to support ongoing efforts to de-stigmatise mental illness and improve access to suitable healthcare. The student actors will work in partnership with actors and mental health researchers in India, visiting a selection of mental healthcare initiatives and public venues during September 2014.

Interactive forum theatre will be used as a method to encourage public discussion on stigma-related issues around mental health. This grassroots discussion will form the basis for a staged play, which will be performed for policymakers in Delhi. The Vice Chancellor of the 30

University of Oxford is also provisionally scheduled to attend one of the drama performances in Delhi during his forthcoming visit to India.

Footage from these activities will be woven into an interactive film that will be shown throughout India through a longer-term engagement programme.

Qualitative information unearthed by Act for Change in India will eventually be fed back into the research domain.

Three SEH students form part of the Act for Change in India team. This includes Roxana Willis, the Project Coordinator, and undergraduates Thomas Bailey (2011, English & French) and Emma D’Arcy (2011, Fine Art) who are coordinating the drama side of the project alongside selected actors from the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

The three Hall students are receiving support from the College’s Amalgamated Clubs fund to pay for their flights and some other travel expenses. Roxana also successfully applied for a Hall Masterclass award, which will help to fund advanced forum theatre facilitator training with Radha Ramaswamy who is the Director of the Centre for Community Dialogue, the project’s partner acting group in India.

Act for Change in India also involves a number of other notable partnerships including the George Institute for Global Health and the Public Health Foundation

of India. In addition to these established partnerships, the leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, and producers of his esteemed Satyamev Jayate show, are considering a concept note to work with the Act for Change team.

Ideas, wisdom, and guidance from College members about ways to enhance the project would be invaluable. Although the team have submitted an application for a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Award, information about other funding opportunities would be a great help. The team also hopes that the project may be of interest to commissioning editors, in order to produce a documentary for broadcasting purposes.

Roxana Willis (2012, DPhil in Law)

For further information about the project, or to offer any advice, please contact the Project Coordinator:

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EMAIL ROXANA.WILLIS@LAW.OX.AC.UK

THE AULARIAN – THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF ST EDMUND HALL

DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE

Telethon 2013 Over two weeks last September, seventeen Teddy Hall students spoke to over 1,000 alumni about life at the College today and the Hall’s current fundraising needs. The team raised more than £220,000 for the Annual Fund, which is an outstanding amount.

Telephone campaigns are just one of the ways in which we raise money for this fund, which has an annual target of around £350,000.

Its aims include providing more financial support for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and enabling urgent building

and maintenance work to be undertaken. We are very grateful to all alumni who spoke to one of the callers and helped to support students at the College today.

Sally Smith (Deputy Director of Development)

DARO STAFF

Sally Smith has been at the Hall since September 2011 and is our Deputy Director of Development. Sally runs the Regular Giving programme which includes the annual telethon and direct mail, and she also works on bursaries, scholarships and legacies.

Gail Williams joined the team in April 2014. Gail brings to the Hall over 12 years’ fundraising experience, in both the UK and Ireland.

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TELEPHONE +44 (0)1865 279041

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TELEPHONE +44 (0)1865 613740

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EMAIL SALLY.SMITH@SEH.OX.AC.UK

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EMAIL GAIL.WILLIAMS@SEH.OX.AC.UK

Christine Sachs joined the DARO team in February 2014, and is based in the United States. Christine, whom many of you may know from her six years at Americans for Oxford, has extensive experience as a fundraiser and is working hard to reach out to Aularians in North America.

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EMAIL CHRISTINESACHS.SEH@GMAIL.COM

Don’t forget to re-register for Aularian Connect!

Kate Townsend joined the team in December 2013 and is responsible for our events programme including gaudies, parents’ dinners and Teddy Talks, to name a few. She also works on alumni publications and will be producing the Aularian quarterly e-newsletter.

Philippa Machin started at the Hall in August 2013 as Research and Development Administrator. Philippa conducts research for the Campaign, works on events and provides database and administrative support for the office.

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TELEPHONE +44 (0)1865 289180

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TELEPHONE +44 (0)1865 279055

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EMAIL KATE.TOWNSEND@SEH.OX.AC.UK

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EMAIL PHILIPPA.MACHIN@SEH.OX.AC.UK

Log in to www.aularians.com to book for events, view guest lists and connect with old friends. You will need your University alumni card number to register for the first time (please contact kate.townsend@seh.ox.ac. uk if you have misplaced your card).

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EVENTS

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If you would like any further information, please contact Kate Townsend, Alumni Relations Officer.

2014

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EMAIL KATE.TOWNSEND@SEH.OX.AC.UK

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TELEPHONE +44 (0) 1865 289180

2015

SEPT

NOV

JAN

APR

SATURDAY 20

FRIDAY 21

TUESDAY 20 20

THURSDAY 16

10th, 20th & 30th Anniversary Dinner

New York Dinner

SEHA London Dinner

1965 50th Anniversary Dinner

SATURDAY 27

DEC

MAR

1964 50th Anniversary Dinner

THURSDAY 4

FRIDAY 275

Carols in the Quad

Floreat Aula Society Dinner

OCT SATURDAY 25 Careers Day

THURSDAY 11 Varsity Match

SATURDAY 28 1975 40th Anniversary Dinner

Development and Alumni Relations Office St Edmund Hall Queen’s Lane Oxford OX1 4AR aularianconnect@seh.ox.ac.uk T. +44 (0) 1865 279055

JUN SATURDAY 275 MCR Weekend