2022 Winter Message from the Master
Snow came to Cambridge last week and stayed for seven days, unprecedented for December in recent memory. The surface of the River Cam also froze, much to the chagrin of the local swans and the hardiest of rowers.
The snow started falling on a Sunday night, just after we had inducted a new William Pitt Fellow, Tim Passingham of Cambridge MC. As memorable as these events are, the weather added a faintly fantastical touch to proceedings.
While most of our undergraduates had already gone down, our postgraduates were still around, and a six-foot snowman appeared on the Bowling Green along with some snow ducks (which I think had been intended initially to be martlets). During the summer, I had broken my ankle while walking in the Highlands, so I was very impressed and relieved by the effort our Porters put in after the snow fell to make the pathways navigable, work which was supplemented by the Gardeners' team the following day.
Just over a week earlier, we had been able – now for the third year running – to mark the end of Michaelmas Term with fireworks on the patio of the Bowling Green, followed by mince pies for everyone and members of the choir leading a rousing singalong in Chapel.
New year, new faces
The term started with excitement and anticipation as a new cohort of students arrived. With Covid protocols relaxed, Freshers' Week activities returned in all their glory, with both the Junior Parlour and the Graduate Parlour working their socks off to help ease the new students in.
Three new Research Fellows joined us this year, as well as two Fellows.
Dr Connie Bloomfield-Gadêlha is the Drapers' Company Research Fellow. Her research focuses on receptions of Graeco-Roman antiquity in the popular oral poetries of Latin America.
Dr Tom Chaffey is the Maudslay-Butler Research Fellow, and his research lies at the intersection of nonlinear control theory, electrical circuit theory and convex optimisation.
Dr Zenon Toprakcioglu holds the Ron Thompson Research Fellowship for research into Alzheimer’s Disease.
Dr Lorenzo di Michele is an Assistant Professor in Biotechnology in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Dr Flavia Mancini is an MRC Career Development Award Fellow in the Department of Engineering.
We have also welcomed six new post-doctoral associates to the College community.
Physical changes
Over the summer, 4 Mill Lane (which some of you may remember as the Board of Graduate Studies) was handed over for use by the College. International Programmes used it to host this summer's Pembroke Summer Programme, in person for the first time since 2019.
We are still discussing how best to use the space, but it has already been a boon for teaching, social gatherings and meetings. I am particularly excited to see the Recital Room up and running and about to be used for performances.
A couple of weeks ago, the scaffolding came down from what will be the new main entrance to the Mill Lane site, and the new gatehouse is being steadily revealed. In February, we anticipate that the former Emmanuel United Reformed Church will be handed over to the College, and will be used for lectures and performances from the spring of 2023 onwards. Meanwhile, the foundations of the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Court are all in, and construction has started on the buildings themselves.
At this point, I should mention the Dolby Gift Match, the window for which will close on 31 December. The Dolby family has kindly agreed to match all gifts made in support of the Mill Lane project that are pledged before that date. I know you will recently have received a separate email about this, but if you are contemplating making a gift in support of The Time and The Place Campaign, if you can make it before the end of the year, it will have double the impact. If you need more time, no matter, we are aiming to raise £85 million in total to minimise to zero any borrowing we might otherwise have to do to fund the project.
Events return
A gradual easing of staff shortages in the Catering Team has meant that the bar has been able to reopen for four nights a week, and from January, the number of Formal Halls will rise from three to four each week.
To make up for the lack of reunion year gatherings in 2020 and 2021, the College welcomed back no fewer than fifteen years of alumni for their dinners, being the years ending in 0, 1 and 2 from 1970 onwards. Many younger alumni also returned to celebrate the graduations they had missed in person.
We are almost back in sync. Foundress' Feasts will restart next year, along with events for 1973, 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013. We also look forward to welcoming back the 2014 matriculations to celebrate their MAs.
2023 should also see a resumption of alumni events overseas and in other parts of the UK. I plan to travel to both the East and West Coasts of the USA before June and to Singapore and Australia thereafter, so the Development team will liaise with local representatives about hosting events there, once my itinerary is clearer.
This November also saw the welcome return of the first Pembroke Soirée since March 2020. Hosted at the British Academy, Professor Maria Abreu, Professor Simon Peyton-Jones and Dr Surer Mohamed spoke respectively on the concept of "Levelling Up", the changes in how computer science is taught in school and urban reconstruction in Mogadishu. A number of PhD students displayed posters and chatted about their work, while two undergraduates performed folk music in the intervals.
We also held our first-ever All Souls’ Service, at which staff, students, alumni and the relatives of alumni who have recently died could mark the passing of their friends and loved ones. Relatives travelled from as far away as Morecambe, while others joined the service via a live stream from overseas. We hope that they found some comfort in this service and that it is a commemoration that will become an established part of the College calendar.
Visiting speakers
Personally, a highlight of the term was being able to welcome Greg Doran, Artistic Director Emeritus of the RSC, to talk to the students about his career and his love of Shakespeare. He spoke with such verve about his passion for theatre that he captivated his audience, who peppered him with a series of fascinating questions.
We were also lucky enough to welcome obesity expert Professor Giles Yeo as the Cooks' Company Lecturer and Professor Roberto Antonelli, President of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, who delivered the Keith Sykes Italian Lecture on Dante and Pasolini.
I've also been impressed by the speakers whom the students themselves have brought to the College this term, including the theologian Dr Robert Beckford, Wes Streeting MP (Shadow Health Secretary), Sir Vince Cable (former leader of the Liberal Democrats) and journalist Amelia Gentleman who helped expose the Windrush scandal.
I'd also pay tribute to the skills of our student speakers. After a remarkable inaugural Horowitz Speaking Prize in May, organised by the “Pembroke Prattlers” (successors to the old Pembroke Debating Society), this year's Riley Declamation Prize in November was another closely contested affair, which Emily Quin won. You can read her thought-provoking essay here.
Industry and mentoring
Our Corporate Partnership Programme team hosted a very successful William Pitt Seminar, chaired by Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Cambridge Zero, with Greg Jackson (1991), CEO of Octopus Energy, Professor Anil Madhavapeddy (2015), Pembroke Fellow and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits and Dr David Cope, former Director of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, asking 'Who is in Charge?'.
Pembroke has welcomed two new partnerships and two new Pitt Fellows (Mr Passingham, and Taavi Davies of Fund Executives). It’s really exciting for Pembroke that the corporate partnership team is so successful, even as it is on the verge of being able to occupy some prime real estate on the Mill Lane site – a true asset for the programme.
Also under the programme’s auspices, the College has set up and launched the Leadership, Enterprise and Adventure at Pembroke (LEAP) Programme. Funded in its development stage by a generous alumnus, it is a visionary new initiative to help Pembroke students develop their career skills through special sessions, mentoring, internships and other opportunities. The launch event featured Eban Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd, and playwright Rihanna Ilube (2012) who spoke to a large student contingent about their career after graduating. If you would like to know more about this, do contact the Programme’s manager, Hannah Wilson.
This will run alongside the Life Beyond Pembroke events organised by the Development team. Sarah Richey oversaw the first-ever speed networking event, where eight alumni took questions from nearly 30 students. She is also working with the College's BME Officer on the second BME careers event, which will take place in Lent Term.
Mentoring and career advice are also the key to the Pembroke Online Community. We will be shifting platforms early in the new year. Our current provider, Fabrik, has been bought by Graduway, which is one of the world's leading networking and community platforms. The Development team is currently undertaking testing to make the transition as seamless as possible and will be in touch with more information in due course.
Extra-curricular activities
On the river, our W1 crew finished the Fairbairns in 2nd, while our Men's alumni 4+ were the 2nd fastest alumni boat. The two top novice men's boats both won their divisions. This month marks the 40th anniversary of Boatman Kevin Bowles joining the College.
In rugby, PhD student Emilia Bushrod (2020) has been named as Captain of the women's Blues team for the Varsity Match in March. Pirton (Pembroke and Girton) RFC have made it through to the second round of Cuppers, as have PCAFC and Newbroke (Newnham and Pembroke) WFC. I'm also pleased to report that the Captain of the men's Blues football team is also a Pembroke Student, Matthew Hawthorn (2020).
Music has as ever been a highlight this term.
The College Musician Joseph Middleton organised another excellent Pembroke Festival of Voice, which included performances by alto Kitty Whitely and soprano Carolyn Sampson. Pembroke College Music Society continued to put on tremendous weekly concerts.
The choirs remain a source of College pride. They have released two albums this year, most recently, 'A Pembroke Christmas', and if you are looking for a festive listen, I wholeheartedly recommend it. In September, you may also have seen Director of Music Anna Lapwood in the news. She stopped to play the organ at London Bridge tube station, and spontaneously one of the security guards, Marcella De Gale, who had been trained as an opera singer, accompanied her. Four million social media views later, the video of the event has “gone viral”. Recently Anna took the choir to London to perform, and they stopped off to sing carols with Marcella at London Bridge.
A thank you
Finally, I would also like to say a special “thank you” to Colin Wilcockson. For many years he has been editor of the Member News in the Martlet. Colin celebrated his 90th birthday this year and understandably has felt this is a suitable time to step back from the role. (I have, in fact, many happy memories of being supervised by Colin for medieval literature, when I was a student here.) Please continue to email or send your news in.
I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a happy 2023.
(Lord) Chris Smith
Master