Foreword

Foreword

In 2003 Lucy Newlyn instituted some Remembrance Day Commemorations at which people were invited to play some music, sing or read a poem or piece of prose - anything suitable for the occasion. Some of these were original pieces, but most were treasures dug out of memories of things heard. Some of those attending just came to listen. These occasions were well attended and very moving. I remember one where it had been planned to retire to the bar afterwards, but those attending had been so moved that the bar seemed crudely inappropriate.

Having experienced these, many felt the call for more events, but of a less lugubrious nature; and so they became interspersed with readings etc. on more varied topics, some quite frivolous, so that it seemed appropriate to accompany them with nibbles and drinks, in some quarters known as Lucy’s Bistros. There was clearly an interest in self-expression, but it seemed inconsiderate to confine it largely to current members of the Hall, (many of the younger of whom found it daunting to stand up and read even someone else’s work), and to such few occasions. So in 2013 the Forum was founded, by Lucy Newlyn and Stuart Estell, which allowed exchange of productions, and a wide range of discussions on contemporary issues, to take place without the elaborate arrangements of an EVENT. It was also hoped that undergraduate members would feel less inhibited about taking part - a hope which has only recently started to be fulfilled to a really satisfying extent.

It has been a great resource for its members (comprising both present and one-time members of the Hall) with a flow of poems - good, bad and indifferent: it provides an unthreatening context - prose of all sorts, (including on many contemporary issues), music, and vigorous discussions on all. The exchange of works and views has been very fruitful not just ‘artistically’ but in building relations between people of very different ages (one often has to guess at the age of one’ s interlocutor) and careers.

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I am delighted to be a member of a college whose members can produce such an enlightened contribution to education in a broad, rich but perhaps not very modern sense of the word.

It has been a great success, and I would recommend any member of the Hall, present or past, to dip their toes in the water.

Justin Gosling

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