St C Atharine's M Agazine 20 20 ST CATHARINE's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 2020
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2020 ST CATHARINE’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE, CATHARINE’S ST St Catharine’s Magazine 2020 ST CATHARINE’S MAGAZINE 2020 St Catharine’s College, Cambridge CB2 1RL Published by the St Catharine’s College Society. Porters’ Lodge/switchboard: 01223 338 300 © 2020 The St Catharine’s College Society and The Master Fax: 01223 338 340 and Fellows of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. College website: www.caths.cam.ac.uk Society website: www.caths.cam.ac.uk/society – Printed in England by Langham Press some details are only accessible to registered members (www.langhampress.co.uk) on (see www.caths.cam.ac.uk/society/register) elemental-chlorine-free paper from Branch activities: www.caths.cam.ac.uk/society/branches sustainable forests. TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial .................................................................................4 Coaching for CUWBC .................................................... 64 2019 Matriculands .......................................................... 66 College Report New Postgraduate Students 2019 ............................. 68 From the Master .................................................................6 College Prizes ................................................................... 69 The Fellowship.................................................................... 7 Other College Awards ....................................................70 New Fellows ........................................................................9 College Scholarships ......................................................70 Retirements and Farewells ............................................11 University Scholarships and Prizes .............................71 Dr Philip Oliver ................................................................. 12 PhDs approved, 2019–20 ...............................................72 The Rev’d Dr Glen Tilburn Cavaliero ........................ 15 The Rev’d Canon Hugh Douglas Searle ...................18 Society Report Senior Tutors’ Reports ....................................................20 President’s Report ...........................................................74 Admissions Tutors’ Report ............................................22 Society Committee 2020–21 ........................................75 Bursar’s Report .................................................................24 2020 Society Reunion.....................................................76 Operations Director’s Report ......................................25 Society Awards .................................................................77 Our Recovery from COVID–19 .....................................26 Catz40 Events in London ..............................................78 Responding to COVID–19 – the Role of BioRISC ...27 Branch Reports .................................................................79 Development Director’s Report .................................28 Honours and Awards ......................................................82 CatzConnect ......................................................................30 Notices................................................................................ 84 Library Report ...................................................................30 News of Members ...........................................................95 Catz40 ..................................................................................32 St Catharine’s Guild .......................................................104 Chapel and Chaplaincy Report...................................33 Commemoration Sermon 2019 ..................................34 Articles Choir Report ......................................................................35 The Pestilent Past in Cambridge ............................. 106 Great War Armistice Memorial Service ....................37 The Lockdown Experience .........................................108 Kellaway Concerts ...........................................................38 A Star at a Dim Time .................................................... 109 Staff News ..........................................................................39 A Post-graduate at Cambridge, 1955–6 ..................113 JCR Report ......................................................................... 40 Soccer in the Sixties ...................................................... 118 MCR Report........................................................................43 My First Year as an Engineering Student ...............120 Seminars .............................................................................45 A 550th Anniversary for the College: 2 November Legacies of Enslavement ............................................. 46 2020 ............................................................................... 122 May Ball 2020 ................................................................... 48 St Catharine in Lisbon .................................................. 123 Societies ............................................................................. 49 St Catharine’s Around the World .............................. 125 Sports Clubs ......................................................................55 Meanest Endow’d Colledge in Either of the Kitten Club .........................................................................59 Universitys ...................................................................126 Blues and Colours 2019–20.......................................... 60 A Stroll in the Park? .........................................................61 Notes and Dates .............................................................128 Dancesport ........................................................................63 The cover shows the sky-writing heart which appeared over College on the day of the postponed graduation ceremony. Picture: Cambridge Diaries / Martin Bond. 3 ST CATHARINE’S MAGAZINE 2020 EDITORIAL The year 2019–20 started normally enough and the production of the 2019 edition of the Magazine went very smoothly during Michaelmas Term. Also during that term, as you will read in these pages, the College and the Society launched various activities to celebrate Catz40 – the 40th anniversary of the admission to St Catharine’s of the first female undergraduates in 1979–80. Possibly we should have used Roman numerals – CatzXL? Lent Term was also fairly normal until, as the end of term approached, it became clear that the COVID–19 pandemic and the associated lockdown would lead to a far from normal Easter Term. College closed almost completely; only those students who could not get home were allowed to remain. A bare minimum of staff were on the premises; others worked from home or were furloughed. Throughout Cambridge, Departments and Laboratories were closed. More details of how the College coped appear in the Master’s Preface and in the various reports in the College section (Bursar, Senior Tutors, Operations Director and, not least, Admissions); interestingly the Library, though ‘closed’ was busier than ever. There is also an article on how the University handled the plagues of the past. Some sports had taken place in Michaelmas and Lent, so there are Sports Reports as usual. However, some, like cricket, were a write off (though Varsity cricket and golf matches did eventually take place under strict social distancing conditions resulting in some Catz Blues). Assessment was a challenge and only finalists were graded; students of all other years were ‘allowed to proceed.’ This has meant that there are only final year students in the list of awarded scholarships for 2020. And so to a graduation like never before. Nobody in Cambridge to celebrate. The Music Society devised a ‘leaving song’ to the tune of the Londonderry Air. Each person sang along to a backing track and recorded their efforts which were then edited together to produce a ‘leaving chorus.’ As you will read, there were some graduation surprises for the leavers, not least the sky-writing heart above College pictured on the cover of this Magazine. And the May Ball which never happened has its report – indeed a better report than that for some years when it did happen. Finally, we come to the admissions round for 2020. The Report from the Admissions Tutors makes interesting reading. No wonder they use the subtitle ‘U-turn if you want to.’ Sadly, during the year we lost three well-known and well-loved personalities from the Fellowship: Philip Oliver and Glen Cavaliero were in College for lunch almost daily, and Hugh Searle was a frequent visitor until his move to Scotland after his retirement as Secretary of the St Catharine’s College Society. Glen and Hugh died within 24 hours of each other. Obituaries are in the College Report. Over the summer, any surplus Magazines from the previous year are distributed around College rooms for the delectation of those attending conferences. There were, of course, no conferences in 2020, so the 2019 surplus will all go for recycling. Altogether it has been interesting trying to put together a Magazine working almost entirely from home. I am very grateful again to all contributors and to others who continue to help every year – to Chris Thorne for handling (with inexhaustible persistence and patience) all the student contributions and to Christopher Catling for some substantial editing. Tony Watts and my long-suffering wife Pauline also assist with copy-editing and proof-reading, and Hamish Symington handles the layout.