ST EDMUND HALL UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ISSUE 23. 2016
AULARIAN THE
WOMEN INSPIRE ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
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INTERVIEW WITH AL MURRAY
THE GALLERY PROJECT
RENOVATION OF THE FRONT QUAD
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BELOW: Entries for last year’s Hall Photography Competition. Photos by Taariq Ismail (top), Theo Silkstone Carter (middle), Marie Wong (bottom).
If you have any comments or suggestions regarding The Aularian, please contact Sally Smith.
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TELEPHONE
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sally.smith@seh.ox.ac.uk
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CHIEF EDITORS Professor David Priestland, Fellow & Tutor in History & Sally Smith, Head of Development & Alumni Relations Office CONTRIBUTORS Paigan Aspinall, Chris Atkinson, Alice Bloch, Tony Brignull, Emma Brockes, Tom Clucas, Pip Coore, Lawrence Cummings, Allison Daley, Michael Dee, Tom Dyer, Sam Griffiths, Keith Gull,
Claire Hooper, Josh Mahir, Rhys Owens, David Priestland, Mike Sheil, Sally Smith, Jayne Taylor, Kate Townsend, Chris Watson, Emily Winkler DESIGN Victoria Mackintosh
THE AULARIAN
CONTENTS 04
04-05 From the Principal: 3000 Women and More! 06
Update from the Development & Alumni Relations Office
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Interview with Professor David Priestland: New Chief Editor
08-09 Dr Michael Dee: Changing Times 10-11 Interview with Al Murray
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12-13 The Gallery 2016 14-15 Interview with Jarvis Doctorow 16
Celebrating 3000 Women
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St Edmund Hall Association: President’s Report
18-19 Dr Emily Winkler: A Journey through the Medieval Past
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Events
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Dr Allison Daley: Ecology at the Dawn of Animal Life
22-23 Mike Sheil: Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace 24
News from the JCR
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From the MCR President
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Music at the Hall
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Writing at the Hall
28-29 Sporting News 30
Renovation of the Front Quad
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Refurbishment of Norham Gardens
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FROM THE PRINCIPAL:
3000 Women and more!
“We want to use this year’s milestone to celebrate the achievements of Hall women and to ask whether we are doing enough to support the education, careers and networking of all students.” What lies behind the Hall’s 3000 women logo? The primary aim of this celebration is to acknowledge that this year the 3000th female student matriculated at the Hall. For many alumni the year group photographs in the Hall Magazine (which can be viewed online at www. copydata-ebooks.co.uk/St_Edmund_ Hall/archive.htm) reflect the all-male matriculands in their years at the Hall until 1978. That year the first female student joined the Hall with the first women undergraduates matriculating in 1979. Today, over a third of our alumni and almost half of our current students are women. We want to use this year’s milestone to celebrate the achievements of Hall women and to ask whether we are doing enough to support the education, careers and networking of all students. Being an academic scientist allows me to see first-hand how much effort has gone into developing institutional change to support the careers of women scientists. Things are improving, but not fast enough. Too many talented women do not continue their careers past the postdoctoral years and become independent 04
lecturers and professors. Celebrating the achievements of 3000 Hall women also allows us to reflect on our present support in all contexts. What events have been held so far? Undergraduate and graduate students organised a Women's Formal Hall at the start of the year with a number of alumnae as guests, including Faith Wainwright MBE FREng (1980, Engineering) who happened to be in Hall that day as she was being officially sworn in as an Honorary Fellow. We have also elected The Hon Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth (1984, BCL) to an Honorary Fellowship this year and many more women will no doubt follow as they reach the top of their fields. We have mounted an exhibition of portraits of inspirational women connected to St Edmund Hall in the main Wolfson dining hall. We invited nominations from Fellows, students, staff and alumni: twenty women, including alumnae and staff, were chosen by a committee of alumni, staff and current students - not only for
their professional accolades, but also because of impressive achievements in their personal/professional lives. The photographs are stunning and an accompanying brochure is circulated with this publication. The exhibition will remain open all year. Inspirational alumnae, such as Alice Hart-Davis (1982, Modern History), have contributed directly by speaking at events such as our ‘Teddy Talks’ in London and others such as Kay Langdale (1984, DPhil English) have developed an ongoing initiative whereby entrepreneurial women come to the Hall to speak with students. Student-led events have emerged: first, a 'Big Sister' scheme, which will pair an MCR graduate student with a 3rd or 4th year JCR undergraduate to act as mentor and, secondly, Hall-focussed Springboard for Women evenings from the Careers Service are planned for Trinity term and beyond.
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Launch of the Women Inspire Exhibition
Undergraduates at the Women's Formal Hall (photo by Emily Winn)
Proposed New Accommodation at Norham Gardens
What are some of the current challenges facing the Hall in terms of supporting students?
year and I ask all Aularians to support this endeavour at any level. Surety of good accommodation is one of the best ways of supporting future students.
engagement with our ambitious plans for change at the Hall.
Financial issues are omnipresent! Students from the UK and abroad find fees and living expenses a major burden. We are building our support schemes – from hardship funds to undergraduate bursaries and graduate scholarships and thanks must go to those alumni who have donated to such schemes and recognise the impact such funds have. We must increase these since what can be done from the Hall’s small endowment income is inadequate in comparison with other colleges. Good accommodation is critical for our students. Oxford is now the most expensive place to live in the UK outside central London and the quality of accommodation available to students has declined. Our students are at a serious disadvantage in comparison to those of most other colleges that offer accommodation throughout all years. We can only offer accommodation to students in their first and third years (and many do four year courses) and for some graduate students for only the first year. Also, many of our rooms now need upgrading and refurbishing. We have set these improvements to accommodation as discrete targets over the years ahead. What is the Hall doing to alleviate some of these problems and what can Aularians do? Last year, with support from a munificent legacy and from alumni giving, we bought a large house adjacent to our existing Norham Gardens site. We now need to raise £3.5m to undertake the redevelopment and refurbishment of the whole site. This project is supported by two pledges totalling over £1m and we have raised further matching funds of close to £1m. Completing this target will be a key fundraising aim for the coming
How important are legacies and the Floreat Aula Legacy Society in terms of the long-term financial strength of the Hall? Legacies are critical and transformational. The recent legacy from William Asbrey (1949, Jurisprudence) together with alumni giving facilitated the purchase of the Norham Gardens house. It was the largest legacy ever left to the Hall. However, other legacies of smaller value this year are also transformational in allowing us to initiate new bursaries and scholarships and provide support in perpetuity for drama, music and sport by building the endowment. Families of old members have been pleased to allow naming in recognition of this legacy support. However, many Aularians realise that the Hall’s need is now, and so have responded positively to approaches that are often described as ‘giving forward’ – supporting a project, a Fellowship, bursary or scholarship on an annual basis now and gaining pleasure at the connection this gives with the Hall. Their legacy then secures that support in perpetuity on their death.
“Legacies are critical and transformational. The recent legacy from William Asbrey together with alumni giving facilitated the purchase of the Norham Gardens house. It was the largest legacy ever left to the Hall.”
We would like to see all Aularians recognise the Hall in their will and a small group of alumni are working with us to plan a campaign to achieve this. Aularians can decide to tell the Hall of this legacy gift or not. However, we welcome all who have made a legacy pledge as members of the Floreat Aula Legacy Society and are pleased to host them with a guest at a biennial gathering with talks, tours and a dinner. Finally let me take this opportunity to thank all Aularians for their support; be it via financial giving, advocacy or 05
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Update from the Development & Alumni Relations Office This past year has seen challenges and successes for the Development & Alumni Relations Office (DARO), which co-ordinates all outreach to Aularians, parents and Friends of the Hall. The Hall has been without a Director of Development since February 2015, but DARO has been led by the Principal and me with great effort and support from Judith Beresford (1981, English Language & Literature), who stepped in as Development Consultant to help with strategic direction and the re-organisation of the office. We will be recruiting for a new Director in the coming months and they will lead the major giving fundraising strategy with the Principal, and the support of the team. I will continue to lead the office with direct support to the Principal and new Director. Our involvement with key alumni volunteers has grown over the past year. This is essential for us when planning and developing projects within the Hall. We thank those alumni who continue to give us financial advice, marketing expertise and networking opportunities. The generosity of Aularians reaching out to current students to offer careers advice has been overwhelming and we look forward to developing this further in the next academic year. Many old members have also made connections with recent graduates who have moved to new cities such as New York and Hong Kong, making such a difference to the lives of these young people as they leave the College. In order to continue to broaden and deepen our engagement with alumni, we organised 25 events here in Oxford and around the world, attended by over 2,000 people. That’s over a quarter of our total number of alumni, so we thank you for your support wherever you are,
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and for keeping the spirit of the Hall as vibrant as ever! We have also travelled a great deal to engage with Aularians and thank them for their support. The East and West Coasts of the US, Hong Kong and China saw Hall events and we visited many alumni individually to share our plans for the future, and will continue to do so. After a successful alumni lunch in Edinburgh, the Principal will be hosting a series of regional lunches around the UK, including Bath and Manchester. Please look out for these as new annual events. Finally and very significantly, we raised £4.2m in the last financial year, with generous support for the Annual Fund through the telethon, ongoing gifts and legacies. In particular, two very notable gifts: a legacy from William Asbrey (1949, Jurisprudence) and a very significant donation from another Aularian, have enabled us to extend our property portfolio in Norham Gardens. This will directly benefit our student accommodation, and we are enormously grateful for these and all other gifts to the Hall.
Aularians around the World Shantanu Nagpal (1991, PPE) moved to Sri Lanka in 2012 and with help from DARO, set about tracking down local Aularians. He hosted a few of them at his home last summer and they vowed to come back with more Aularians (yes there are more than 3!) for the next gathering. Hopefully this is the beginning of a much awaited Aularian awakening not only in Sri Lanka, but also the subcontinent. In the picture are Shantanu Nagpal, Shaheeda Barrie (2004, BCL) and Amrah Wahab (1996, PPE). These gatherings are very much appreciated and if you would like to organise a reunion, then DARO are always happy to help. Floreat Aula!
We hope you enjoy this latest edition of The Aularian, as well as a copy of the Women Inspire exhibition brochure. We have also included a list of alumni with whom we have lost contact – please do encourage your friends to get back in touch with the Hall! Sally Smith Head of DARO sally.smith@seh.ox.ac.uk
Jobs: find and post jobs within the alumni community Network: access the knowledge and expertise of fellow Oxonians Support: share your advice, insights and experience Events: search for interesting events in Oxford and a wider area
For instructions on how to join please visit: www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/ oxford-alumni-community
THE AULARIAN
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID PRIESTLAND: NEW CHIEF EDITOR “In my view alumni should play a central part in any educational institution, and that should not just be financial but also intellectual and social”
What most attracted you about being editor of The Aularian, and what do you think the benefits of such a publication are for the Hall? When I meet old members they are always very interested in what is happening in the Hall, and ever since the College started publishing The Aularian, it has always struck me as an extremely well-produced publication that provides information in a readable and attractive way. So it’s great to be involved in a magazine publicising the Hall’s activities, and it has also given me the opportunity to learn more about colleagues’ research. Research is a critical part of the Hall’s activities. Why do you think it’s important for The Aularian to highlight academics’ research? My experience is that former students want to know about Fellows’ research, and until recently we weren’t that good at telling people what we were doing. More generally, I believe that academics should be publicising their research more. Of course, academics have to spend a great deal of time communicating with fellow academics – progress in research comes about because we respond to the criticism of other researchers. However, academics also have a responsibility to
communicate with the broader public. That is the case both in the sciences, and in the social sciences and humanities – the sort of research I do – which can contribute to a better understanding of how people think and how societies work. As Professor of Modern History at the Hall, what are your specific research interests? I began my career as a historian of the USSR, and wrote my first book on Stalinist politics and the Terror of 1936-8. I then expanded my focus and wrote a history of global communism for a more general readership – The Red Flag. I still work on the history of communism, but I have now become interested in the market revolution in post-communist countries – and indeed elsewhere – and why pro-market policies have rooted themselves in some political cultures more than others. My last book was a general book-length essay, again for a broader readership, on the rise of market cultures in world history – Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A New History of Power – and I am now working on the rise of markets since the 1970s.
The Aularian readership is primarily alumni. What is the value of this connection for the Hall as a whole? In my view alumni should play a central part in any educational institution, and that should not just be financial but also intellectual and social. I know that current students very much value the talks given in the Hall by alumni and the discussions they have with them. It creates a bond between generations which can make an invaluable contribution to their broader education. What would you like to focus on during your tenure as Editor, and are there any changes you would like to see? My interest will be in encouraging some of the younger researchers in the Hall to write about their fascinating research – one of the main improvements in College since I arrived has been the presence of many more postdoctoral and research fellows. As to changes, I think The Aularian achieves an excellent balance between the various activities of the Hall, so I don’t really have any major proposals. But of course, we serve our readers, so will be taking account of any suggestions that may come from them.
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“My research centres on the rise of Western civilisation, and particularly the long trajectory of Egyptian history. �
CHANGING TIMES DR MICHAEL DEE Dr Michael Dee is the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, and is a chronologist who specialises in radiocarbon dating. His current research examines the potential coincidence of the so-called 4.2ka climatic event and the collapse of the Old Kingdom (Pyramid Age) of Egypt. After his initial studies in his native New Zealand, Dr Dee worked for a period in the City of London before returning to academia to study for his DPhil at Oxford. Paradoxical as it may seem, the past remains much more accessible than the future. Remnants from past epochs, both physical and abstract, are ubiquitous in the world around us.
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Indeed, with the future ever-concealed and the past slowly fading from view, it is often said that humanity is backing into the future. If this analogy holds, then my research examines the furthest reaches of this view: the first strands of civilisation, and how they intertwined to form the world of today. It is not widely appreciated that the foundations of civilisation were laid thousands of years before the Golden Ages of Greece and Rome. Key innovations, such as the invention of writing, mathematics, the emergence of religion, the rise of the first cities, and the formation of national identities, all have their roots in Africa and Asia in the millennia preceding Classical
Antiquity. Moreover, it is these deepest of foundations that still define and dictate the nature of the world we live in today. In order to understand the very earliest historical periods, it is essential to be able to place events accurately in time. The problem is year-on-year historical records only extend back to around 800 BC. Prior to this, the textual evidence is fragmentary and disjointed, and archaeologists are compelled to make use of other sources of chronological information, such as the layering of material in the ground, and the evolution of cultural styles. For some years now, I have been trying to assist with this endeavour by employing new scientific dating techniques. The best method we
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The Abydos King-List have of this kind is radiocarbon dating. It enables us to calculate the time that has elapsed since a piece of organic material was part of a living plant or animal. Fortunately, many artefacts are made from organic materials, such as wooden beams, papyrus documents and linen textiles. Using the radiocarbon method, we are able to date these items and hence determine when specific cultural phases occurred. My research centres on the rise of Western civilisation, and particularly the long trajectory of Egyptian history. The timeline of Egypt is unrivalled in the ancient world for its longevity and completeness. A list of Egyptian kings and queens can be compiled that stretches back to around 3000 BC. In so saying, the lineage is beset with gaps, ambiguities and approximations. For example, the Pyramids of Giza, conventionally placed around 2500 BC, cannot be truly fixed in time without calling upon scientific analysis, as they predate the most reliable sections of the chronology. In order to address issues like this, my colleagues and I analysed radiocarbon results obtained on Egyptian samples with a mathematical approach called Bayesian modelling. For the most part, the scientific dates we produced were in line with the expectations of Egyptologists. My next goal was to extend the Egyptian chronology back to the very formation of the early political state. The foundation of Egypt, in the 4th millennium BC, was a seminal moment in world history. Although preceded by city-states in Mesopotamia, Egypt was the first territorial state – that is to say, the first polity defined by its geographical borders. In this sense, it may be regarded as the prototype for all modern countries.
At the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory The process of political integration took place many centuries before the earliest written records, but a wealth of organic material survives from this time, including basketry, linen, and hair. We analysed such items, and were able to produce the first scientific model of how and when Egypt was formed. Along similar lines, I have also been dating evidence for a major drought around the time of the collapse of the first Egyptian state. The results of this study should allow me to assess whether climate forcing played a role in the political crisis. My research has latterly acquired a new emphasis, centred on the prospect of advancing radiocarbon dating to the level of annual resolution. At the moment, for events around 5000 years ago, even the most sophisticated radiocarbon-based approaches can only produce estimates that are accurate to within about 50 years. Interactions in human societies do not take place at such coarse resolution. Indeed, information of this quality would be unthinkable in modern history, rendering the two World Wars indistinguishable in time, Robespierre potentially before Rousseau. My intention is to use recently discovered spikes in the past concentration of radiocarbon, caused by rare solar events, as singleyear markers. In this way, it may be possible to situate the chronologies of many early societies exactly in time. Only by achieving this goal will it ever be possible to scrutinise the formative periods of civilisation properly, and develop a detailed picture of our most ancient social and political heritage.
“My intention is to use recently discovered spikes in the past concentration of radiocarbon, caused by rare solar events, as single-year markers. In this way, it may be possible to situate the chronologies of many early societies exactly in time.�
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INTERVIEW WITH AL MURRAY (1987, MODERN HISTORY) Al Murray was interviewed by journalist Alice Bloch (2015, DPhil Social Policy).
Al is one of the UK’s most successful and recognisable comics. With his persona, The Pub Landlord, Al has played sell-out shows across the world and has created numerous hit television shows, including Al Murray’s Happy Hour (ITV) and Time Gentlemen Please (Sky One). Outside his Pub Landlord act, Al continues to host the topical Radio 5 programme 7 Day Saturday and has hosted several documentaries about the Second World War, allowing him to explore his passion for military history. He is also an author, having published Book of British Common Sense and Think Yourself British, amongst others. Al has won the Perrier Award, after a record four nominations, and the Olivier Award for his sell-out West End shows. In the run-up to the 2015 General Election, he entered the political fray, founding the Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP) and standing in the hotly contested seat of South Thanet against the incumbent Conservative MP, as well as Nigel Farage from UKIP. Teddy Hall is known for its ability to nurture students’ talents, but Al Murray was barely through the gate when, arriving at the Hall in 1987 to study History, he was fast-tracked into a career in comedy. On his first day, after lugging his drum kit to the music room, he found Richard Herring and fellow Aularian Stewart Lee working on a sketch show. 10
“I asked them all about it,” Al remembers, “and that’s the moment where I discovered there was a comedy scene that was totally accessible.” He’s not looked back. Most famous for his alterego The Pub Landlord, he’s been filling arenas for over twenty years and has the awards to prove it.
When it came to picking a place to call home as an undergraduate, Al knew where he wanted to go. “My father went to Teddy Hall, and his father,” he explains, so it “seemed to make sense.” But also important was the Hall’s taste for life beyond books alone. “I liked the cut of the place’s jib to be honest… It was still very, very rugby oriented when I got there,
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“If you’re at Oxford, you know you’re privileged, but you are somewhere where the opportunities are simply spectacular, and you should drink deep, and you shouldn’t worry about anything else but that. Make the most of it, to be honest.” but the fact that a college had an outlook other than academic really appealed to me.” Al remembers his first gig at the University as being with the Oxford Comedy Revue Workshop, where one could perform every two weeks, but only with new material. After forming a sketch group, Al and a few friends took to the stage. It’s no surprise to hear that it went rather well. “There’s nothing more likely to encourage you to do more comedy,” he says, “than it going well the first couple of times around!”
“When it came to picking a place to call home as an undergraduate, Al knew where he wanted to go. ” His big break came when working with Harry Hill in the early 1990s, leading to the somewhat accidental birth of The Pub Landlord in 1994. For a gig of theirs in Edinburgh, Al had said that he’d act as a kind of compere, holding the show together – but on opening night, he still hadn’t figured out quite what to do. Then the brainwave came. Al suggested that they say the compere was a no-show and that the barman had offered to fill in. The rest is history. “The next day I asked him to cut my hair off – it was funnier with no hair! He had clippers you see! – and then we went on a big tour and by the end of the tour I had an act, a fully formed act, all completely worked out.” With a laugh, Al describes the Landlord as simply “a giant shining idiot”. It’s clear he bears no resemblance to Reg, the Buttery barman from Al’s undergraduate days: a man who was “great with the students” and “part of the colour of the College.”
process rather than just pooh-poohs it.” But it was also, he says, a great chance for satire. Al got 318 votes, but of course that wasn’t the point. Reflecting on his satirical journey, the lessons learned about politics are plentiful, but perhaps most surprising is that his sympathy for politicians grew. “I know everyone says they’re lining their pockets and we can’t trust them and they’re lying to us…but no one’s compelled to be a politician. And then when they do become one, everyone hates them, and everyone waits for them to make a mistake and everyone treats them by the standards of the lowest of their number”. So would he do it again? “Never say never!,” he says, but admits it’s unlikely. So what advice would Al give to Hall students, almost thirty years on from his own matriculation? “The thing about Teddy Hall is it’s somewhere where you can drink deep,” he ponders, using terms of which the Landlord would surely be proud. “If you’re at Oxford, you know you’re privileged, but you are somewhere where the opportunities are simply spectacular, and you should drink deep, and you shouldn’t worry about anything else but that. Make the most of it, to be honest”.
Al in his Matriculation Photograph
Al’s comic construction may well be an “idiot”, but in 2015 he did something rather clever: in the general election, he stood against UKIP leader Nigel Farage for the seat of South Thanet. It was partly a response to earlier comments from comedian Russell Brand, encouraging people not to vote. By contrast, Al wanted to “do something where a comedian engages with the democratic 11
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Amelia Gabaldoni (2015, English) - ‘24th December- Northern Line’
THE GALLERY In 2015, a committee of six undergraduate students put together a publication containing a selection of student art and literature. The collection is the first of its kind in College and builds on the work by Professor Lucy Newlyn in encouraging creative literary endeavour at the Hall, and is designed to be a wider-reaching, annual version of isolated publications such as the Book of Ballads – published in Michaelmas 2014 – and the work that has been circulating at the weekly Hall Writers’ Workshops. The final Gallery is a condensation of a plethora of high-quality submissions, a testament to the quality of Hall creativity, and its creators are both pleased and excited about the final product. The student committee responsible consisted of Tabitha Hayward (2014, English), Alice Jaffe (2013, English), Eleanor Minney (2013, Fine Art), Mariette Moor (2013, Fine Art), Jack Moran (2012, English) and Courtney Watts (2014 Visiting Student, English).
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The Gallery represents the culmination of creative endeavour by St Edmund Hall students, and this year’s edition promises to be just as fruitful, professional and artistic as the last. The book is formed of poems, sketches, paintings, play-extracts, photography and other creative pursuits by current Teddy Hall students. Though we do provide a theme for the publication, submissions need not stick to it, allowing members of the student body to display their talent, be they part-time poets or full-time artists. With the help of the Amalgamated Clubs fund and alumni giving via the Principal and DARO, we were able to create an amazing book last year with the guiding hand of Jack Moran, and this year’s Trinity publication will strive to maintain this high standard, under the leadership of Alice Jaffe (2013, English).
“We wanted to break down any barriers which may have prevented anyone from contributing and produce a collection of artistic content from all areas of the student body, regardless of experience ”
This year’s edition of The Gallery is entitled 'Draft'. Though there was much debate as to the theme of the 2016 edition, we wanted it to represent something both cohesive and different. As those of you who were lucky enough to get a copy of the 2015 edition would have seen, both the quantity and quality of students’ artistic expression is truly astounding, in all areas of creativity. We wanted to break down any barriers which may have prevented anyone from contributing and produce a collection of artistic content from all areas of the student body, regardless of experience. The Gallery endeavours to be an open, representative and safe area for students to share their work. As such, 'Draft' alludes to the complete openness to all students regardless of their past involvement in the arts. At the same time, we are pushing an abstract concept through our theme. Look, for example, at Tracy Emin’s My Bed, the poetry of the Beat Generation, or Kubla Khan by Coleridge. All these works were met with a mixture of bemusement and critical praise. What may, in one person’s eyes, appear to be a draft, an incomplete fragment, can be art of the highest calibre and meaningfulness in another’s. Under the creative direction of Maya Gulieva, we have tried to reflect the concept of ‘Draft’ in the structure and design of the book itself.
the texts and art alongside the authors of each piece. Under the watchful eyes of Milly Chan, Tabitha Hayward, Margaret Chung, Tammy Newton and Millie Lean we have formed something truly fantastic. The 2016 edition has now reached its final stages and is ready to be printed. The book will be launched at an event in Trinity term 2016, which promises to be a fun-filled evening, with both musical and poetic performances, and an exhibition of the work featured within the magazine. Suffice to say we are all extremely excited and hope that as many people as possible will be involved. All those who are interested in attending our events, or who would like a copy of the finished publication are more than welcome to email joshkun.mahir@seh. ox.ac.uk or alice.jaffe@seh.ox.ac. uk. We are convinced that Teddy Hall has always had a great deal of hidden talent and through this year’s edition of The Gallery, we hope to show to all students, current, former and future, how fantastically creative a college we are. By nurturing and publishing work by all students, regardless of subject, we hope to show this once again, and to use this collection as a pedestal for celebrating all the creativity the Hall has to offer. Josh Mahir (2014, Modern History)
The submissions were amazing, and as we hoped, far more people than last year sent in work. From this stage the committee have been working to format
Margaret Chung - Preparation
2016 Gallery Committee 13
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INTERVIEW WITH WITH JARVIS DOCTOROW (1948, MODERN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS)
Jarvis Doctorow and Emma Brockes reading the draft of Jarvis’s autobiography titled ‘Jarvis, Really?’
Jarvis Doctorow came up to the Hall in 1948 to study Modern Languages and is now an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall. He is an active philanthropist who has provided generous support to the College, for graduate scholarships as well as the Jarvis Doctorow Research Fellowship in the Politics and International Relations of the Middle East. Jarvis also made possible the building of the Doctorow Lecture Theatre – which has become a very well-used college facility. His family recently donated a pastel of Jarvis by his late wife, on display in the Hall. Jarvis was interviewed by Emma Brockes (1994, English), a British author and journalist living in New York and a regular contributor to The Guardian and The New York Times. When Jarvis Doctorow was 18 years old, he went to see a doctor. It was 1943 and, like a lot of boys in his Brooklyn neighbourhood, he wanted to join the army and go fight the Nazis.
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First, however, he had to pass his medical and Doctorow had a problem: a punctured ear drum on one side that would automatically disqualify him from service. He also had chutzpah, and so, says Doctorow, after the doctor looked in his good ear, “I did a 360 degree turn so he could look at it again. And he said, 'really?' And I said, 'really.' He said, 'OK.'” This year, the veteran, retired businessman and alumnus of Teddy Hall will turn 91 and from his assisted living facility in Westchester, just outside of New York, he looks back on an extraordinary life. While still serving in the army in Paris he met Catherine, his first wife, and after a
spell back in Brooklyn, the couple moved to Oxford and Teddy Hall, where three quarters of a century later, the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Foundation funds a research fellowship in Middle Eastern politics among other initiatives. “My life,” says Doctorow, “has been one terrific piece of luck after another,” but students of the highly successful will identify other causes. Hard work and ability, of course, but beyond that something less tangible, a certain lightness of touch that has given Doctorow a competitive edge all his life. He has the incalculable advantage of being fun to be around.
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It was the example set by his parents that gave Doctorow the idea that he could go out into the world and enjoy it. He was the youngest of four children and in his early years, divided his time between the family's summer home in Brooklyn and a winter home in Florida, an arrangement necessitating two schools, two sets of friends, effectively two lives and an early lesson in the benefits of flexibility. “Adapt or crash,” says Doctorow, an attitude reinforced by being the youngest in the family. “My brothers and sisters were always telling me, Jackie do this, Jackie do that. Accommodating new circumstances became a little easier to me, because I got used to it.”
“Being Jewish, I felt that it was appropriate for me to get into the army,” he says. “I had to fight back. Adolf Hitler was the target!” Florida was a winter retreat made necessary by his mother's health, but the family's moral home was Brooklyn - “723 Eastern Parkway; I don't believe I remember that!” - where his father was a successful insurance salesman and his mother ran a children's holiday camp owned by the family up in the Catskill Mountains. She was adamant all her children should go to college, an ambition temporarily disrupted by the Second World War. Doctorow had an interest in serving his country that went beyond patriotism. “Being Jewish, I felt that it was appropriate for me to get into the army,” he says. “I had to fight back. Adolf Hitler was the target!” He had a thoroughly good war. After being injured in Italy, he was assigned to the American Forces Radio Network in France and made his way up the country 15 miles behind the front line, boosting troop morale with music and programming that sounded like home. “It was wonderful. I had a fabulous life. At each location, I had a choice of pretty ladies.” In Paris, the music stopped and he met Catherine, the formidable French woman who would transform his life and who, after informing him, “my husband will be a fully educated individual!”, made it clear she was invested in making that happen. Doctorow knew a good deal when he saw it. They were married for 20 years and raised three children together, before her tragically early death from cancer. At the end of the war, the newlyweds had
to return to the US from Europe and with no money, Doctorow served as the ship's cleaner to pay for their passage home. His parents, thrilled to have him back and to meet their new daughter-in-law, also made it clear to their son that the war was over and it was time to grow up. “It was a combination of we're happy to see you, but please don't do the things that you were able to do when you were in France. Now you're home.” He wasn't home for long. Catherine Doctorow had found a job at the Maison Française in Oxford and after moving to the city, she secured an interview for her husband at Teddy Hall. It was A. B. Emden who interviewed him and looking back, he is surprised he wasn't more awed. There weren't many Americans at Oxford at the time and, after winning a place at the college, Doctorow assumed he would feel out of place. As it turned out, “I was welcomed, I fitted in very comfortably, I had none of the anticipated problems that I was sure I was going to have.” This was, he says, “the very beginning” of what he sees as his vast good fortune, the foundations of a professional life that would culminate in Doctorow setting up the philanthropic Foundation which over the years, has disbursed millions both to Teddy Hall and to Harvard, where Doctorow studied for an MBA after leaving Oxford. His first job out of college was as a management consultant. “I was able to convince some rather foolish people that my education was worthy of my being a consultant.” Plus ça change. After that, he managed to acquire a small greetings card business, which together with his brilliant business partner he transformed into a juggernaut and ultimately sold at great profit, but not before investing in a seven storey HQ on upper Broadway in New York. Columbia University would eventually buy this building for, as Doctorow puts it, “a giant bundle of money, and I put that money into the Foundation.”
“If you have an opportunity to struggle, struggle like hell!” he says. “And beat it. Because you will beat it, as long as you struggle.” keep getting bigger. How am I going to find a way to get $80,000 tomorrow, to do something? Where am I going to get $80,000 from suddenly? And you have to find a way. I don't remember the details, but I found $79,500, and then I had to convince the person to accept it. Being able to convince someone like that led to being more convincing. Which also made it easier as time went on, after I lost my first wife, to find a new wife. I had to convince a new lady.” (Doctorow did this twice more; he has been married and made a widower three times.) It is nearly time for lunch, a prospect Doctorow anticipates with joy. “Every day I sit down at the table with three lovely ladies, all of whom laugh at my jokes. What could be better than that?” Life is good. “The only thing I've got to complain about is that I ain't got nothing to complain about.” And if he could revisit his 18 year old self, what would he say to him? “If you have an opportunity to struggle, struggle like hell!” he says. “And beat it. Because you will beat it, as long as you struggle. And the few times that you don't beat it, you'll back up, realise what mistake you made and the next time you won't make the same mistakes. And struggle again.”
He had always assumed he would be an academic of some sort. Looking back, the joy of being in business was this: “suddenly realising that I didn't know how to do something, and having to learn how to do it. It was this constant need to learn, as we kept growing, that was very challenging.” Surely this wore off once he became successful? “No, because the challenges 15
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In October 2015, the 3000th female student joined the St Edmund Hall community, and officially became a member of the University at the matriculation ceremony on 17 October. The dynamics of the Hall have changed considerably since the first female student joined in 1978, with the College's first women undergraduates matriculating in 1979. Today, over a third of our alumni and Fellows, and almost half of our current students, are women. To mark this milestone, St Edmund Hall is recognising the achievements and influence of our alumnae with a number of events and initiatives throughout the 2015-16 academic year, led by the Development & Alumni Relations Office, alumni volunteers and current students. We are also delighted to announce the election this year of the College's first female Honorary Fellows: Faith Wainwright, MBE FREng (1980, Engineering) and the Hon Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth (1984, BCL). The ‘Women Inspire’ Exhibition Over the summer, we invited nominations of inspirational women with a connection to St Edmund Hall, who would be represented in a series of portrait 16
photographs. Twenty women, including alumnae and staff, were chosen by a committee of alumni, staff and current students - not only for their professional accolades, but also because of impressive achievements in their personal lives. These portraits were unveiled in Hilary term and will be exhibited in the Wolfson Hall for the rest of the year. We are delighted to include a copy of the exhibition brochure. We would like to give special thanks to Dr Dianne Gull, who led this project and co-ordinated the women and photographer. Events During Michaelmas Term 2015, Alice Hart-Davis (1982, Modern History) became the first female speaker in our series of alumni 'Teddy Talks'. She spoke on the topic of “The Beauty Industry: more than just Lipstick and Lycra”. Kay Langdale (1984, DPhil English) has also organised a series of talks for current students by entrepreneurial women, including Cecile Reinaud, Managing Director and Founder of Séraphine.
Current Students We have also spent the year discussing issues related to female students – including women’s sports, welfare and career opportunities – to try and determine ways in which the Hall can support them better. A committee, made up of current undergraduates and postgraduates, is developing on these initiatives. One example is the 'Big Sister' scheme, which will run on similar lines to the College families system but pair up an MCR student with a 3rd or 4th year JCR (undergraduate) member to act as a mentor. We hope this will help women at the Hall receive advice in all kinds of areas, including further study and job applications. Throughout the year there will be special 'Big Sister' events for participants to meet up with all the 'Sisters' of the Hall. Kate Townsend Alumni Relations Officer
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ST EDMUND HALL ASSOCIATION:
President's Report “The SEHA also assists with judging the Masterclass Fund, an inspirational showcase for the multifarious non-academic talents of the student population”
I completed my second year as President of the St Edmund Hall Association in January, and presided over my second AGM and London Dinner. The attendance at the Dinner was the third highest on record, and I paid tribute to the Aularian Family Finch (father the late Francis Finch and son Richard) who between them have helped the Hall to organise over half of the 75 London Dinners – this being our 75th London Dinner – and next year will be Richard’s 25th. I again addressed the Hall’s matriculands in October 2015 - the Association seeks to catch ‘em early and catch ‘em young – to introduce them to the Association and the Aularian community. This is an incredibly diverse – and increasingly numerous – community of undergraduates and graduates from a vast range of nationalities. We have embarked upon a project, led by SEHA Executive Committee member Stuart Hopper (1987, Jurisprudence) to explore ways of making the Association more relevant to the needs of an increasingly international and tech-savvy alumni community; all ideas welcome!!! The Association continues to support the Hall in material ways; funds released (by the increasing digitisation of the Hall Magazine) from the Association’s subsidy of the Magazine’s distribution costs have been ‘diverted’ to fund the Hall Archivist’s post for the next three years. We continue also to support the costs of the production of the Magazine. We make an annual grant to the Hall via the Principal, to be used as he sees fit, for a variety of student purposes. We awarded the third Aularian Prize to Kirsten Pontalti (2011, DPhil International Development). Her truly inspirational account of her work in rural Rwanda, supporting disadvantaged young Rwandans into continuing education and paid employment, very quickly attracted an overwhelming
majority of the votes cast. This prize is awarded for an exceptional enterprise or voluntary commitment which falls outside of established College or University pursuits. The SEHA also assists with judging the Masterclass Fund, an inspirational showcase for the multifarious nonacademic talents of the student population. Latest awards ranged from surfing in the Norwegian islands north of the Arctic Circle (an Aularian, during the Q&A session at the Masterclass Showcase merely asked “Why?”), through to classical piano, harp and cello, ballroom dancing and pistol shooting!
Kirsten Pontalti, winner of the Aularian Prize, with some of her students
A major item on the agenda remains, of course, fundraising. Led by the Principal, recent changes in the Development & Alumni Relations Office have enabled a new focus on project-driven fundraising as a permanent integral part of the Hall’s agenda. This is headed up by DARO and supported by the Development Committee, on which a number of the members of your Committee, along with many fellow Aularians, serve with me. As the fundraising becomes increasingly project-driven, the Hall needs input and expertise from Aularians with knowledge and experience in a number of project disciplines, and DARO will welcome all offers of help with open arms! Your Association is in good heart and in a strong financial position. The project, mentioned above, led by Stuart Hopper, will ensure that the SEHA remains both relevant and invaluable to the Hall and to Aularians the world over. We look to the future with confidence. Floreat Aula! Lawrence Cummings (1971, Modern Languages)
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“I am a historian of stories: I want to know how and why people in the Middle Ages told stories to each other about their own past. ”
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MEDIEVAL PAST ONE HISTORIAN’S QUEST AND QUESTIONS Emily Winkler completed her initial studies at Dartmouth College in the United States, before completing her DPhil at Oxford. During her time at the University, she has designed and team-taught a new course, ‘Writing and Thinking in History’, which encourages students to think about writing and its historical meaning. She took up her current role as the John Cowdrey Junior Research Fellow in Modern History in September 2015. My journey through the past as a medievalist has taken me not only through time, but also through space — and across an ocean.
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I am an intellectual historian with a wide range of interests in cultural, political and literary approaches to the medieval past. Three key fields of enquiry inspire me in my work daily, and they are the fonts from which all of my research and teaching spring. First and foremost, I am a historian of stories: I want to know how and why people in the Middle Ages told stories to each other about their own past. History is only as real as the words which record and create it – I am a lifelong student of words, and the historical meaning of language.
Second, I research medieval political thought, but not primarily through the laws, diplomatic documents and treatises which outline political theories and ideals. Rather, my interest is in accessing the relationship between political theory and political practice as it is expressed in medieval narratives. How do historians in the Middle Ages represent the political events of their past? What insights about these writers’ hopes, desires and fears can we glean from their accounts of what did happen – and of what they wish had happened?
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Third, I study the reception of the ancient past – biblical and classical – in the Middle Ages. In what ways were elements of ancient stories important to medieval writers, and how did these writers rethink these stories to make meaningful points to their readers or listeners? I reject what I have come to call ‘the tyranny of the definite article’: I am interested not in ‘the’ classical past, but in those aspects which were important to medieval writers – and I ask why they were important, in what ways, and at what times. My long-term goal is to encourage medieval scholarship to take a more precise and accurate view of how medieval writers of history read, thought about and used the past. I am engaged in a number of exciting research projects, both independent and collaborative. I am currently completing work on a book about royal responsibility in medieval invasion narratives. In the book, I argue that Anglo-Norman historians in twelfth-century England accorded a higher degree of causal and moral responsibility to kings than do their eleventh-century sources. A distinctive view of kingship emerged in the twelfth century, which crowded out explanations for victory and defeat that stressed collective sin or providential will. These findings are significant because they show that writers of history from a land twice conquered in the eleventh century came to value a king’s character and actions more than his origin and dynasty.
“I am a historian because history offers the widest intellectual expanse for asking the greatest range of questions with real answers. ” I am co-editing two volumes of collected essays. Discovering William of Malmesbury, a collection of papers about one of the most prolific and welleducated historians of the twelfth century, will be published with Boydell & Brewer this year. In the second volume, Rewriting History in the Central Middle Ages, contemporary scholars from around the world compare historical writing from all regions of medieval Europe in the period 900-1200. In general, earlier historians (c. 400-900) tended to copy grand universal histories; and later historians (c. 12001500) tended to write continuations of
existing histories. In this book project, itself a truly international endeavour, my collaborators and I are beginning to discover a fascinating trend of recreating national histories in this period. The imagination appears to have lived a full life in central medieval Europe.
perpetual and universal elements of human experience. My research seeks to overturn assumptions about past peoples and to discover more about those elusive human qualities of thought and imagination.
I am particularly excited about a major international conference I am organising, entitled ‘The Normans in the South: Mediterranean Meetings in the Central Middle Ages’, which will take place at St Edmund Hall in Summer 2017. By some accounts, 1017 marked the advent of the Norman presence in Italy and Sicily, inaugurating a new era of invasion, interaction and integration in the Mediterranean. Whether or not the medievalists who gather at the Hall in 2017 decide that the millennial anniversary is significant, the moment offers an ideal opportunity for a scholarly community to explore the story of the south of Europe about a thousand years ago. To what extent did the Normans establish a cross-cultural empire? What can we learn by comparing the impact of the Norman presence in different parts of Europe? What insights emerge from comparing local histories of Italy and Sicily with broader historical ideas about transformation, empire and exchange? The conference will bring together established, early-career and postgraduate scholars for a joint investigation of the many meetings of cultural, political and religious ideas in the Mediterranean in the central Middle Ages.
“My research seeks to overturn assumptions about past peoples and to discover more about those elusive human qualities of thought and imagination. ”
In conversation with other Aularians – whether in the SCR lunch room, over dinner at High Table, or at alumni events in London – one question which frequently arises is why I chose to become a historian, and a historian of the Middle Ages in particular. I am a historian because history offers the widest intellectual expanse for asking the greatest range of questions with real answers. In the study of history, nothing is a priori ruled out as evidence. Historians can ask questions of writing, objects, biological remains, ruins, thoughts (as far as we can get at them), language, scientific discovery, events, intentions, ideas. The Middle Ages offer the ideal realm in which to explore the human experience. The era is a prime historical laboratory for such an investigation: because the spirit of the age is so different from today – the experience of power, the pervasiveness of faith, the quality of the imagination – we have a plethora of cultural variables through which to investigate the
The Hall is delighted to tell you that in 2015, we reached our fundraising target of £175,000 to permanently endow the John Cowdrey Junior Research Fellowship in Modern History at the Hall. This total was reached by the combined donations from 40 Aularians. This is a magnificent achievement and will ensure the support of a series of young historians in Oxford over the years to come. Moreover, their association with the Hall is a huge benefit to the post-holder, our students and the Hall’s academic reputation. It honours Reverend John Cowdrey who did so much for the Hall and his students. We are immensely grateful for your support and look forward to keeping you updated on the success of this Fellowship. 19
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EVENTS Over the past year Aularians have attended over 25 alumni and student events worldwide, in locations such as Oxford, London, Edinburgh and New York. Leading up to the Oxford Alumni Weekend in Washington DC the Principal visited alumni and held drinks receptions and dinners in San Francisco and Los Angeles before hosting a dinner and tour in Washington DC with Congressman the Honorable Jim Himes (1988, Latin American Studies). In 2016/2017 we plan to offer alumni and friends even more opportunities to network, get together and hear of developments at the Hall. The inaugural Edinburgh Lunch in October 2015 was a great success and has led to the Principal adding two additional regional events to the calendar this year in Bath and Manchester before returning to Edinburgh in October 2016. To book an event or to share photos of an event you have hosted, please contact our Alumni Relations Officer, Kate Townsend at kate.townsend@seh.ox.ac.uk or +44 (0)1865 289180.
Tour of The Capitol in Washington DC with Congressman Himes
1976 40th Anniversary Dinner
Freshers' Parents' Dinner
Inaugural Edinburgh Lunch
Teddy Talks VI with Alice Hart-Davis (1982, Modern History)
75th St Edmund Hall Association London Dinner
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ECOLOGY AT THE DAWN OF ANIMAL LIFE Allison Daley is a Junior Research Fellow at the Hall, Department Lecturer in Animal Diversity at the Department of Zoology and Research Fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. She studied at Queen’s University, Canada, before continuing her education at the University of Western Ontario and Uppsala University. All animal life on the Earth today is the result of 540 million years of evolution, with the earliest animal communities appearing during a major radiation called the ‘Cambrian Explosion’. The fossil record of this event shows us that the oceans underwent a major change from a relatively simple microbial world to one that is full of complex and diverse animals, all in about 20 million years – geologically speaking, the blink of an eye. This explosive radiation of animals has fascinated palaeontologists for over 100 years, since the discovery of sites such as the Burgess Shale in Canada. What is spectacular about the fossils found here is that they preserve soft parts as well as hard parts, so we see eyes, skin, and even internal organs such as the digestive system, muscles and brains. These exquisite fossils provide a highly detailed and complete look at the anatomy of the oldest known animals. The animals of the Cambrian Explosion looked very different from animals alive today, but close examination of their anatomy allows us to relate even the strangest of these fossils to modern animal groups. One of the most bizarre groups of Cambrian animals is called the ‘anomalocaridids’, which have a segmented body with wide swim flaps, and a head with a pair of eyes on stalks, limbs with sharp claws, and circular platelike jaws with spiny teeth. There are over 20 different species of anomalocaridids, and they are found in nearly all Cambrian Explosion fossil localities, including the Burgess Shale in Canada, the Chengjiang Biota in China, and several sites in Australia, the USA, and Europe. Phylogenetic analyses use details of the
anatomy to generate a tree of life showing the relationships between Cambrian and modern animals, and this approach has revealed that the anomalocaridids are the distant ancestors of modern arthropods, the animal phylum that today includes lobsters, insects, spiders and centipedes. Not only can we use the amazing fossils of the Cambrian Explosion to examine their relationships to modern animals, but we can also reconstruct their ecological interactions. A diverse range of niches is being explored in Cambrian ecosystems, including stationary animals attached to the sea floor, burrowers living in the sediment, and mobile animals crawling over the sea floor or swimming in the water column. We can build up the food webs of these ancient animal communities, where we see the full range of feeding modes being utilised, including deposit, suspension and filter-feeders, scavengers, and predators. Anomalocaridids, the ancient arthropods mentioned earlier, have long been interpreted as the apex predators of the Cambrian seas, owing to their large body size, sharp pointy teeth, and robust head limbs. The first anomalocaridid ever described was Anomalocaris from the Burgess Shale, and it has often been referred to as the great white shark or T. rex of the Cambrian seas, a ferocious predator that dominated the marine environment. It was up to 50cm in length, while most other animals had a body size of only 5-10cm. However, recent research has overturned the paradigm that all anomalocaridids were apex predators, revealing instead that this group of animals actually employed a range of feeding habits. Several
new anomalocaridid taxa have been discovered with unexpected anatomical features indicating that some were more generalised middle-tier predators and deposit feeders, while others were actually filter feeding. My research has shown that several species of anomalocaridids were co-existing in the Burgess Shale, and the intense competition for prey items between them would have generated an evolutionary pressure for some of these taxa to move away from apex predation to explore other feeding modes. An extreme case of this was described last year for an anomalocaridid called Aegirocassis benmoulae from the Fezouata Biota of Morocco, which is Ordovician in age and so is younger than the Cambrian Burgess Shale. We showed that this animal was a filter-feeder, with its head limbs specialised for extracting plankton from the water column, rather than for grabbing prey items. With a body size over 2m in length, Aegirocassis was by far the largest anomalocaridid, and indeed one of the largest arthropods, that ever lived. It has coupled gigantism of body size with a filter-feeding ecology, similar to modern whales today. The ecology of the Cambrian Explosion was clearly as diverse as the organisms themselves, and was remarkably complex even during the dawn of animal evolution. These findings are the result of ongoing efforts to discover new Cambrian localities, collect new specimens, and develop new research techniques to study these remarkable fossils. Ultimately, this approach helps us understand the driving processes of major evolutionary events such as the Cambrian Explosion. 21
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The Iron Harvest - Unexploded shells uncovered by ploughing near Munich Trench Cemetery awaiting collection by the Bomb Squad.
FIELDS OF BATTLE, LANDS OF PEACE Mike Sheil (1965, Geography) is a renowned photographer who has created a diverse and impressive portfolio of work over a career spanning 45 years. He has dealt with sensitive subjects such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and in 2002 won a World Press Photo Award for his work on child trafficking in West Africa. He has worked in the worlds of film and business, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society as well as a member of the British Commission for Military History. His project on the battlefields of the First World War has toured the world, drawing in millions of visitors. The exhibition will be available to view between 1 June - 3 July 2016 in Guildhall Yard, London. I have spent the last eight years creating the commemorative First World War exhibition Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace 14-18. This is a photographic exhibition designed to be shown outdoors so that it is accessible to all. In 2014, it was seen by over 4 million people when it was hosted by the French Senat in Les Jardins du Luxembourg and in London where it was opened by the Duke of Kent in St James's Park. The Turkish government commissioned a special exhibition, which opened in 22
Istanbul on 20 April to mark the Gallipoli anniversary, and the City of London have commissioned a further exhibition to mark the Somme in June 2016. What was the inspiration that led you to create this exhibition? I was looking for something to do in my declining years which was less strenuous than bumbling about in copper mines in 35oC temperatures. In 2005, I thought of the forthcoming World War I centenary and thought it might make a subject for
a book. I knew nothing about the subject so I went to see a military historian who worked near my home. I was unaware of quite how significant my choice was as I subsequently discovered that Professor Richard Holmes had written numerous books and was a well-known lecturer and TV presenter. Richard was a lovely man who changed my career: aided by generous glasses of 'good red infuriator' we developed the concept of photographing the battlefields as they are today and presenting them
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Knightsbridge - The cemetery, which is named from a communication trench, was begun at the outset of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and contains 548 First World War burials, 141 of them unidentified.
“I was looking for something to do in my declining years which was less strenuous than bumbling about in copper mines in 35oC temperatures. ” as outdoor photographic exhibitions. Our view was that holding the exhibition inside a museum or art gallery limited public access, so we wanted it outside where it could be viewed by as many people as possible. This was a lousy business decision as we cannot charge admission and are dependent upon sponsorship, but the vision was right, as last year when the exhibition was shown in Paris and London for a total of eight months it was viewed by over 4 million people. We decided that a century after the war had ended we needed to look at these battlefields in a different light – a century ago these 'battle-scapes' were places of horror and death, but time and nature have healed the scars of war so we wanted to create an exhibition whose message was about reconciliation. Sadly Richard died several years ago, but the exhibitions which I am now creating are very much his legacy. Last year I mounted an exhibition in Istanbul which was hosted by the Turkish government to mark the Gallipoli centenary which fitted in perfectly our philosophy of the exhibition bringing former combatants together. In July through September I am mounting a collaborative Belfast Dublin exhibition which seeks to show that the First World War was a common
Lochnagar Crater was created by a mine dug under the German lines and packed with 60,000 lb of high explosive, and its detonation marked the beginning of the attack on 1 July.
history shared by Irish men from both communities. Which of the photographs do you find most evocative? It is the shot of the London Irish Rifles 'Loos' football. My father had served with them in WWII so I knew of the story about how they attacked the enemy lines, kicking a football as they went. I was amazed to find that they still had that football, and even more amazed when they allowed me to take it back to its 'home ground' at Loos. I shot it at the same time of day as their attack and got very emotional as the dawn light created the scene. I managed to see my way into creating the shot with the sounds of 'Killaloo', their regimental march belting out on my car stereo. The local farmer stopped to see what was happening and after telling me he thought I was deranged asked me to go and stay at his farm. So for me this shot has many layers, and not the least is the thought of the men who went into action, kicking the ball whilst being sprayed with bullets. Naivety, stupidity, courage? After 100 years who knows? But for me this fading piece of leather tells an amazing story and I would like to think that my image reflects some of that extraordinary generation of men. Has photography always been central to your career?
so I never really did manage to find the Geography School as there were no decent pubs adjacent and I left with twothirds of a Pass Degree. My career really started whilst working in Northern Ireland during the 'Troubles' and since then I have spent a pretty marvellous life being paid to work in over 60 countries for a wide range of editorial, corporate and industrial clients. Where and when is the City of Londoncommissioned exhibition? Will this be the same collection of photographs as previous exhibitions? This will open on 1 June 2016: it will be in the courtyard of the City of London Guildhall and is scheduled to be there until 3 July 2016 after the centenary of the first day of the Somme on 1 July. The pictures will be a new set, largely based on the Somme but with some additional ones to mark the other massive battle of 1916, namely Verdun. I am delighted to say that 'Hall-power' is part of the project as it has transpired that Mark Field (1984, Jurisprudence) is the MP for the City of London and Westminster and he is providing much appreciated support. For more information please visit www.fieldsofbattle1418.org
Ahem! You surely do know how to embarrass a chap! My time at the Hall was where I began my career as a photographer working for both 'Cherwell' and 'Isis' which taught me the basic skills: I have spent the subsequent 45 years trying to learn some more. Sadly those skills did not include a sense of direction 23
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NEWS FROM THE JCR TEDDY ETC This year has seen the re-establishment of an old Teddy Hall society. Teddy Etc has been reinvented to form a discussion group which is open to all and is designed to allow students to talk freely about topical issues ranging from sexism to race and class. The establishment of the group has been led by Alice Jaffe (2013, English) and Rhiannon Thompson (2014, Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics), with support from both the JCR and MCR presidents and welfare officers. Initial prospects for the society look very promising with 113 members of the JCR and MCR joining on social media and many attended a launch event at the end of Hilary term. The popularity of the group reflects the positive changes occurring within the JCR surrounding equal opportunities for all students.
JCR CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUSU CAMPAIGNS Teddy Hall is being well represented this year in the Oxford University Student Union’s campaign – It Happens Here. Three JCR members, Josh Rampton (2014, History and Politics), Rhiannon Thompson (2014, Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics) and Dabin Kwon (2014, Physics and Philosophy), are all involved in the campaign which focuses on raising awareness of sexual abuse and violence happening in Oxford. The campaign also works to improve education and advocates policy changes to support survivors of sexual abuse and violence.
The campaign has found real support across the JCR, with many students appearing in photo-shoots distributed on social media to raise awareness.
2015 DUNN SCHOOL ART PRIZE WINNERS Congratulations to Eleanor Minney and Mariette Moor, who were both jointly awarded the 2015 Dunn School Art Prize. Both students are in their third year at St Edmund Hall, studying Fine Art. The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology Art Award is open to all undergraduates and postgraduates at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. Students are invited to submit proposals for a sitespecific work that will be displayed at the Dunn School on South Parks Road. Entries should be inspired by research at the Dunn School or by the School’s architecture.
Mariette Moor’s prize-winning entry
GROWING JCR COMMITTEE Hilary term has seen the JCR committee welcome two new officers, the Disabilities Officer and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Officer. Oliver Shasha (2015, Geography) was elected into the Disabilities Officer position at the end of Hilary term, with the role of BME Officer due to be filled in Trinity term. We hope these additions will improve the JCR’s ability to respond to student need and ensure everyone enjoys their time at Teddy Hall.
Tom Dyer (2014, Biochemistry) JCR President
TEDDY HALL BALL 2016 On Saturday 23 April, we escorted our guests through the medieval grounds of the College to the magical world of the Knights of the Round Table for an evening of festivity, banquets and dance as we celebrated a night at Camelot, the court of King Arthur. The night was complete with knights in battle, full-sized suits of armour, hog roast and a sword in the stone ice sculpture. Additionally, this year saw the return of the incredibly popular (not so medieval) roller disco, along with comedy acts, and a DJ set from Eton Messy! I hope that everyone who came down had a truly magical evening! The Committee and I would like to say a special thank you to Guillaume Lefevre, the Ball President from 2014, and the rest of the 2014 Committee for all of their help towards making this year’s Ball so great! Teddy Hall Ball
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Paigan Aspinall (2013, Biochemistry) Teddy Hall Ball President 2016
THE AULARIAN
FROM THE MCR PRESIDENT BY PIP COORE (2014, DPHIL LAW)
The day you become a member of the Teddy Hall Middle Common Room (MCR) is the day your life changes forever. Not only can you escape from the pearl-grey Oxford sky to the cosy MCR for a friendly chat and a warm cup of coffee, you become a member of a community of like-minded individuals all of whom have a thirst for knowledge and strive to reach their individual potential. The international nature of the MCR community continues to be one of its greatest strengths, with representatives from 51 different nationalities. As we said goodbye to summer, the new committee welcomed the 137 new graduate students in traditional Teddy Hall style. The committee worked hard to deliver what was a jam-packed Pre-Freshers’ and Freshers’ Week, which included pub nights, a pizza party and a BBQ at Norham Gardens (NSE). Freshers’ Week culminated in the Graduate Freshers’ Dinner in the Wolfson Hall, at which all new students were formally accepted into the College. This academic year coincides with the 3000th woman to matriculate at the Hall. In celebrating this milestone, the MCR, in conjunction with the JCR, have held several events such as the celebratory Women’s Formal Hall and the launch of the ‘Big Sister Campaign’, which is similar to the College families system but pairs a current MCR female student with a 3rd or 4th year JCR female student to act as mentor. Another event was the commissioning and display of portraits of 20 women to be exhibited in the Wolfson Hall, which included portraits of several MCR women, namely Pallavi Aiyar (1996, History), Sarah Asplin (1982, BCL), and Julie McCann (former MCR Butler 1995 – 2015). I was fortunate to attend the 31st Annual New York Dinner on 20 November 2015 with the Principal, Professor Keith Gull and Dr Dianne Gull. I spoke about these recent events and gave guests a snapshot of what life is like at the Hall today. I had the privilege of meeting Aularians from the US and further afield and enjoyed hearing the many stories of why the Hall is so special to them.
Pip and the new MCR punt
Pip with Andrew Banks (1976, PPE) and the Principal at the 31st Annual New York Dinner
Michaelmas term was brought to a close with traditional carols in the Chapel, mince pies, mulled wine and plenty of cheer as guests at the annual black-tie MCR Christmas Dinner sang the Teddy Bears’ Picnic while standing on their chairs. The stewarding team have worked tirelessly to deliver fun-filled term cards which have featured some new events, including a weekly pub quiz, welfare board game evenings and a weekly MCR dinner in the Wolfson Hall. It is no surprise that exchange dinners remain a highlight of each term, particularly as we enjoy showing off Teddy Hall’s amazing food, which, thanks to our chef John McGeever and his staff, has prompted much envy from other colleges. For the first time since its inception, ‘Teddy Hall’s Got Talent’ was a joint MCR and JCR event, with three of the four prizes going to MCR members.
flag on the 1 and 29 February to mark LGBT History Month. The popular weekly yoga and zumba classes and the ‘Fifth-Week-Blues’ massage event give students the opportunity to unwind during the busy term. The termly NSE Graduate Seminars, hosted by Professor David Priestland, provide an excellent opportunity for our graduate community to present their research in an informal setting. This academic year saw the launch of the MCR 50th Anniversary Grant, which, so far, has supported 12 MCR students to fund extra academic expenses. At present, termly donations raised from the MCR student body are in excess of £1000. To date, the MCR Charity Fund has donated to Age UK, Type 1 International, Alzheimer’s Society, Good Night Out Campaign, Prostate Cancer UK, British Heart Foundation and Oxford Hands-On Science. This year has seen the establishment of a Sports Representative who has been busy keeping abreast of the many sporting talents of the MCR community. A special mention goes to our very own George Mckirdy (2015, MSc Education), who rowed in the Dark Blues Boat (bow), and Graham Baird (2011, DPhil Mathematics), who rowed in the Lightweight Dark Blues Boat (6 seat) against Cambridge.
Our graduate accommodation at NSE is ‘home’ for the majority of our MCR community. Sunday brunch in the NSE Common Room is always a sociable occasion and a chance for the graduate community to catch up on the week’s activities. After the mysterious disappearance of the MCR punt, we purchased a new one, which will be named ‘Mrs Brown’, who was the muchloved MCR Butler for over 25 years. After making its maiden voyage down the River Cherwell, punting will once again be a popular pastime for our students in the warmer months. The Welfare Officers appointed an ancillary Women’s and Men’s Officers to assist them in representing and promoting the wellbeing of the MCR community. This academic year marked the inauguration of several welfare initiatives including the Peer Support programme and the flying of the rainbow
Alongside academic work and sporting endeavours, Trinity Term will be another eventful term with the Teddy Hall Ball, the annual Garden Party, Trinity Dinner and the election of the new MCR committee. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current committee for their dedication and hard work. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as MCR President - I have loved every minute of it!
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MUSIC AT THE HALL As the end of Hilary Term approaches I’m in the process of finalising the details for this year’s choir tour to France, which will be the biggest event I’ve organised since I arrived at Teddy Hall three and a half years ago. In July the chapel choir will be travelling to Pontigny Abbey for our third visit to St Edmund’s shrine. However, this time we will be joined by singers from St Edmund’s College Ware, St Edmund’s School Canterbury and St Edmund’s College Cambridge, all four choirs coming together for a performance of the Fauré Requiem in the Abbey on Saturday 9 July and an ecumenical Evensong on Sunday 10th, in celebration of our joint connection with St Edmund. We are very much hoping that alumni of all four institutions will join us, and are planning on organising a series of tours and lectures about the Abbey (which was founded in 1114 and is one of the finest Cistercian churches in the world) and St Edmund, whose shrine sits above the High Altar. Pontigny also has the advantage of being a mere ten minute drive from the town of Chablis, so all in all I am hoping that this will be an event to which people will want to come! Staying with the Chapel Choir for a moment, it only seems like yesterday that we came back from our last tour, a wonderful week’s music making in and around Krakow in Poland. We sang in three churches in Krakow, including the architecturally brilliant Kosciol Arca Pana (a church with symbolic importance for Krakow, built by its congregation during the Communist rule as a symbol of religious defiance) and travelled to the mountain town of Zakopane for our final concert. We also visited Auschwitz, a
Choir trip to Poland 26
place which I think many of us would not choose to visit again but are all extremely grateful to have had the chance to see. Matthew Carter (2014, English), one of the choral scholars, wrote afterwards "the choir was guided around the two camps (Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz 2: Birkenau) fully aware of the weight of the past horrors still very much present at the site. It was a sobering and thought-provoking trip as we walked through the very gas chambers so many deceived innocents were killed in, and were confronted by the mountains of glasses, shoes, trunks and even human hair that formed just a fraction of what the Nazis had collected from their prisoners. Many of the choir were grateful for the exposure to this horrific event, as it prompted discussion, debate and a greater awareness of the burden of our past afterwards. We left with the George Santanaya quotation inscribed at the beginning of the museum firmly in our thoughts: 'Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it'. As before, we are extremely grateful to Justin Stead (1971, Forestry) for his generosity in supporting the tour in 2015 and previous years, and also to Amalgamated Clubs. The Old Dining Hall was out of action for most of Michaelmas term, initially because of the renovations to the Front Quad (now finished and looking lovely) and then because of an unfortunate ceiling incident, so we have not had as many lunchtime concerts as last year.
We were very sad to bid farewell to Keyron Hickman-Lewis (2011, Earth Sciences) last summer, who has been a wonderful supporter of music in the Hall and an excellent performer, both as a soloist and with his Neoclassical Ensemble. We wish him well in his continued studies in France, and I’m delighted that he has expressed the desire to make the occasional triumphant return as a guest artist. We are lucky, however, to have several fine musicians amongst the Freshers. So far this term Rachel Carver (2015, History) (harp) has played her first lunchtime recital, and Johanna von Keitzell (2015, Modern Languages) (violin) joined the chapel choir to accompany a Purcell Verse Anthem, alongside a cellist and our lovely new chamber organ. In addition, we have now had two coaching days with members of the Instruments of Time and Truth, Oxford’s new professional baroque ensemble, with the participation of student players from all over the university, including SEH students Eve Smith (2012, Biochemistry) (cello) and Johanna von Kietzell plus Alexis Chevalier (2014, Maths & Philosophy) and Viraj Alimchandani (2015, Physics) (harpsichord). There will be more of these coaching days next year, and in addition SEH alumnus Alyn Shipton (1972, English) and I are organising a day of jazz coaching at the start of Michaelmas, culminating in an evening gig. Don’t miss it! Chris Watson, Director of Music
Keyron Hickman-Lewis (2011, Earth Sciences) playing at a lunchtime concert
THE AULARIAN
WRITING AT THE HALL THE HALL WRITERS’ DIRECTORY The Hall Writers' Directory launched in 2013 with the dual aims of celebrating the achievements of writers who studied at St Edmund Hall, and providing an inspiring resource for young people who want to follow in their footsteps. Founded and edited by Professor Lucy Newlyn, A.C. Cooper Fellow, Professor of English Language and Literature and Tutor in English, the first stage of the Directory contained profiles for over 100 Aularians who read English at the Hall and have since gone on to achieve great things as writers in fields including poetry, journalism, broadcasting, comedy, fiction, screenwriting, directing, academia, and many more. It was always the aim to make the Hall Writers' Directory as inclusive as possible, and since last summer we have been expanding its membership to include profiles for Aularians from other disciplines. Over the summer, we contacted those who had read Modern Languages at the Hall, and have since
been steadily adding profiles to the Directory. This work is now in the final stages, and we plan to send out further calls for profiles on a subject-by-subject basis. In the meantime, anyone affiliated to the Hall who is keen to get ahead with submitting a profile can do so at any point by sending a short biography (around 300 words) and an image for the profile to hallwritersdirectory@seh.ox.ac. uk. Any updates to existing profiles can also be emailed to the same address. Whether or not you are a writer, please take a moment to browse through the Hall Writers' Directory (link below), which offers a fantastic resource, and a testament to the great diversity of talent at the Hall. Floreat Aula! Dr Tom Clucas (2006, English) www.seh.ox.ac.uk/about-college/hallwriters-directory
WRITER IN RESIDENCE Many thanks to all of the alumni who have generously donated so far to this new position at the Hall. We will be in touch in the next few months to let you know how
we plan to fill this post and continue the legacy of writing at the Hall. For further information, please contact sally.smith@seh.ox.ac.uk.
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LUCY’S RETIREMENT To celebrate Lucy Newlyn’s retirement, and to express our gratitude and admiration, we will be holding a lunch and afternoon of poetry for her at the end of Trinity term on Saturday 25 June. Invitations have been sent to all Lucy's former students. After a buffet lunch in the Jarvis Doctorow Hall, Lucy and guests will be invited to read poems from the Romantic period on which Lucy is an internationally acclaimed authority, and from their own work. This, at any rate, is the plan, but when a large number of English Literature graduates get together the day may assume a life of its own characterised by unrestrained jollity and poetic licence. Bring it on. Tony Brignull (2002, English) If you are interested in attending this event please email kate.townsend@seh.ox.ac.uk
VENUE HIRE AT ST EDMUND HALL St Edmund Hall offers a range of meeting spaces within its main site in the heart of Oxford. If you are looking to hire a venue, contact our Conference Manager Sue McCarthy to discuss your requirements.
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susan.mccarthy@seh.ox.ac.uk
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SPORTING NEWS ACADEMIC ATHLETES Six Teddy Hall finalists were awarded the Luddington Prize last year, for outstanding academic and sporting achievement. The recipients of the award not only achieved a first class degree in their respective subject but also a Blue in their respective sport: Xander Alari-Williams (2012) – Mathematics, Swimming Simon Chelley (2012) – History & Economics, Karate James Heywood (2011) – Engineering Science, Athletics Thomas Hobkinson (2011) – Engineering Science, Football Conor Husbands (2010) – Physics, Boxing Nicholas Pattinson (2011) – Engineering Science, Lacrosse We are very grateful to Richard Luddington (1978, History) who set up and has supported this award – himself the holder of a first class degree in History and Blues in rugby, hockey and cricket – to celebrate those students who achieve a First and a Blue. There have been 20 Luddington Prize winners since 2008.
WOMEN’S RUGBY VARSITY 2015
The Varsity Match between the Oxford and Cambridge women’s rugby union sides was held at Twickenham Stadium for the first time on 10 December 2015, on the same day as the men’s fixture. Leading out her team as captain on this historic occasion was St Edmund Hall’s Carly Bliss (2006, DPhil in Medicine), playing at scrum half, and she was joined by the Hall’s Sophie Behan (2014,
Xander Alari-Williams, Luddington Prize Winner
Engineering) at loose-head prop. Oxford battled hard but were defeated 52-0 by a very strong Cambridge side. “I am just hugely grateful to have had this opportunity and extremely proud to have been part of such a committed team,” said Carly. “It was fantastic to have our match alongside the men’s Varsity Match at Twickenham, which I believe is its
rightful place. This is yet another step forwards for women’s sport.” It is particularly apt that Carly and Sophie made history in the year in which we are celebrating the many and varied achievements of our women students, past and present.
Oxford’s women on the attack, watched by 40 Aularians from a box. If you are interested in supporting the men and women in the next Varsity Match on 8 December 2016, please contact kate.townsend@seh.ox.ac.uk 28
THE AULARIAN
THE FRIENDS OF ST EDMUND HALL BOAT CLUB I am happy to report that rowing at the Hall is as strong as ever with two sets of blades awarded in Torpids, two university oarsmen racing against Cambridge and the promise of another successful summer Eights campaign. The SEH crews continue to train hard and take full advantage of their top quality equipment and high class coaching. Torpids saw the men’s first eight move up three places on the river, narrowly missing out on blades after the first day of racing saw Pembroke bumped out just before they were caught by the Hall. Both the M2 and M3 were awarded blades, scything up the divisions and taking the total number of bumps for the men’s boats to 12 for the week. The women’s boat club fared slightly less well. With an interrupted lead up to the regatta due to illness, changes in personnel and other commitments, the women’s first eight fell seven places over the week of Torpids. The crew, however, are far from disheartened and are redoubling their training for Eights week, determined to put in a good showing in the regatta. For the first time in many years, two members of the men’s boat club raced against Cambridge for the University, one in the heavyweight squad and one in the lightweight squad. George McKirdy (2015, MSc Education) sat at bow in the Oxford Blue Boat in this year's Boat Race, putting in an impressive performance in some of the roughest water conditions in recent times with the bow pair bearing the brunt of the choppy water. Graham Baird (2011, DPhil Mathematics), former SEHBC Captain, raced in the Lightweight Blue Boat against Cambridge on the Henley stretch just before Easter. As with the heavyweights, Oxford came up against a very well drilled Cambridge crew and lost by a few lengths. The Friends of the Boat Club continue to ensure that our crews have the very best equipment and coaching in order to keep SEHBC competitive. In learning how to cope with the demands of highperformance sport whilst also excelling academically, students learn invaluable lessons outside the classroom that will stand them in good stead in later life, long after they have hung up their oars. The Friends exist to facilitate that learning process, helping to create well-rounded students and to ensure that the rowing is as enjoyable as possible. Winning is enjoyable and with the right equipment and coaching, winning is made all the
Torpids M2 after winning Blades more likely. The men’s first eight are currently ninth on the river. There is every chance that this year may see them move back into the top half of the first division, within striking distance of the headship. However, rowing is not a cheap sport and the Friends estimate that £50,000 per year is required for coaching, training camps and equipment in order to maintain the standard of support for rowing at the Hall. The vast majority of these funds come from the generosity of former Aularian rowers, enriching the life of the current students. The Friends management committee, which
consists of current and former members of the Boat Club, meets in Oxford on a termly basis. We are always looking for enthusiastic new members. If you would like to learn more about the Friends of the Boat Club and how you can get involved, please feel free to email me at sam. griffiths2@gmail.com. Sam Griffiths (1999, Metallurgy and the Science of Materials) Chair FoSEHBC
AULARIAN GOLFING SOCIETY - REPORT ON 2015 SEASON
Almost 50 AGS members enjoyed an active 2015 season and look forward to welcoming additional Aularians to join them in 2016. For the record: MONTH
FIXTURE
VENUE
RESULT
March
OU Alumni Comp
Frilford Heath
Top ten finish
Match v St John’s (Cantab)
Royal Mid-Surrey
Placed 2nd again!
April
Spring Meeting
The Berkshire
May
Match v Fitzwilliam
Berkhamsted
June
Match v Corpus
Huntercombe
August
A.G.M.
Studley Wood
September
Autumn Meeting
Richmond
Winner Atkinson Trophy: Mike Simmie The much younger side won! A welcome return to winning ways Winner - Aularian Jigger: Chris Atkinson Richmond Trophy retained by Michael Archer
October
Match v Catz, Pemb & Worc
Studley Wood
Convincing Hall victory!
November
Finale Meeting
Denham
A grand finale to a grand season!
As ever, the Society is most grateful to Brian Amor, Gerald Barber, Michael Archer and David Ashworth who hosted fixtures at their respective home clubs. The Hon Sec would also like to record the Society’s thanks to the official AGS recorder, Guy Warner, for his invaluable expertise on the calculator. A WARM WELCOME AWAITS NEW MEMBERS The 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: Chris Atkinson - Tel: 01280 814523 or e-mail chrisatkinson565@btinternet.com 29
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RENOVATION OF THE FRONT QUAD
Work on the College’s iconic Front Quad started at the end of July this year, in order to replace and upgrade electric and IT cabling and the gas main. The uneven flagstones are now also a thing of the past, with cleaved York stone used for the pathways and matching cobbles for the edging. Although the work was expected to take until December, it was successfully completed well ahead of schedule, in mid-October. Jayne Taylor, the Hall’s Domestic Bursar, managed the project and said, “I’m delighted with how well the contractors and College staff worked with each other. And, even though there was the occasional surprise along the way – such as a gas pipe that had deteriorated more than we expected and which it proved timely to replace alongside the other work. “I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding throughout the project and especially Kevin Ward and the Estates Team for their hard work and commitment in getting the project completed so quickly,” Jayne added. “I would also like to thank Hilsden, OG Masonry and Hayshams — the construction company, stone masons and electrical contractors who worked with us to complete the project."
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“Now more than ever, it really is true that the Hall has the prettiest quad in Oxford!”
THE AULARIAN
REFURBISHMENT OF NORHAM GARDENS
26 Norham Gardens
The Front Quad
Accommodation continues to be one of the greatest problems facing students in Oxford.
Architect’s vision for the refurbished accommodation
A recent study found that Oxford is now the most expensive region outside London in terms of housing, and the situation is only likely to get worse. Moreover, as London has increased in cost, young professionals often increasingly now live in Oxford and commute. These issues restrict availability of traditional student housing.
complete refurbishment of both houses in an integrated plan. Included in the plan are all the communal areas and the rebuilding of blocks of single-bedroom flats in the gardens for students with partners and families. Located close to University Parks, this site has the potential to be transformed into a great space in which to live and study.
Improving the quality and availability of Hall accommodation is therefore a very effective form of support for our students, offering them a safe and comfortable living environment plus important cost savings at a time when inexpensive and decent private housing in Oxford is increasingly difficult to find. Our most recent accommodation development, the William R. Miller building on Dawson Street, has been a huge success, providing modern en-suite rooms and good communal spaces. We now wish to replicate this elsewhere.
The full cost of this redevelopment and refurbishment plan is £3.5m. We are seeking major donations and have already made good progress towards this target.
The Hall owns three large properties in Norham Gardens, numbers 17, 19 and 26, housing graduates and undergraduates. In 2015, facilitated by alumni giving, we were able to purchase 24 Norham Gardens. We now need to carry out a full renovation of 24 and 26 Norham Gardens. This would provide
We are extremely grateful to the Aularians who have generously pledged £1.5m to this refurbishment as matched funding for further alumni giving. This means that each new donation, however large or small, to this project will be doubled. As well as support from individuals, we are also encouraging group support from Aularian year groups and friendship groups. We will recognise individuals and groups by naming individual student rooms and flats as part of this refurbishment.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
If you would like any further information, please contact Kate Townsend, Alumni Relations Officer.
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EMAIL KATE.TOWNSEND@SEH.OX.AC.UK
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TELEPHONE +44 (0) 1865 289180
2016 JUNE
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
SATURDAY 25 BATH LUNCH
SATURDAY 17 10TH, 20TH & 30TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER
SATURDAY 1 EDINBURGH LUNCH
FRIDAY 18 NEW YORK DINNER
THURSDAY 1 CAROLS IN THE QUAD
SATURDAY 24 50TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER
THURSDAY 8
FRIDAY 21 PARENTS’ DINNER
VARSITY MATCH
SATURDAY 29 MANCHESTER LUNCH
2017 JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
TUESDAY 17 SEHA LONDON DINNER
FRIDAY 17 FRESHERS’ PARENTS’ DINNER
SATURDAY 25 40TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER
FRIDAY 31 FLOREAT AULA LEGACY SOCIETY WEEKEND
Development & Alumni Relations Office St Edmund Hall Queen’s Lane Oxford OX1 4AR www.seh.ox.ac.uk T. +44 (0) 1865 279055
aularianconnect@seh.ox.ac.uk