CLARE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2010 EDITION 26 EDITION The truth about water supply CLARE NEWS I Alumni News Alumni News I CLARE NEWS

RISING TALENT A Day In My Life: Nick Way (1974) on historic houses Edward Young:

credit: Chatsworth House Trust photo by Gary Rogers Political Advisor he Historic Houses Association (HHA) The public coffers are bare, but will work, but it’s a very good effort. We will is based in London, but my wife and I improvements in regulation do tell our organisations’ total membership of T live in Charlbury in Oxfordshire. So my not carry a cost and could help four million what we are doing and ask day usually starts, after making cups of tea a great deal them to lobby their MPs too. and helping to motivate our two school age Nick Way, Back to the office to catch up. Our children in the direction of the bathroom, Director General of the Tourism and Promotions Officer is helping with a 7.25am train to London. The train VisitBritain find castles with battlements in journey is a good way to catch up with press Historic Houses Association the north of England to be the backdrop for reports on what is going on in historic pictures of sportsmen and women – part of houses and for dealing with the dozens of the promotion of Britain to the wider world e-mails that we all seem to get these days. supports us with their expertise and we in the run up to 2012. Our Director of Policy The majority of Britain’s historic houses also have close links with professional is advising a historic house owner who has and gardens are privately or charitably advisers in public affairs, education, security, had her request for a brown tourist sign owned. Of the 1,500 houses across the UK tax, finance and the law. refused, even though there is one for a pub which are members of the HHA, 500 open to A priority is to get across to the new down the road. the public, welcoming 14 million visitors a government the economic, educational, In the evening I accompany the HHA’s year. Many more open occasionally for cultural and social benefits of heritage. So elected President, Edward Harley, to a charities or societies or offer educational an HHA meeting with the new Minister for l Chatsworth House regional meeting of members, at Rycote dward Young (2001, Mellon Fellow) facilities. They are important economic Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose, is a Park in Oxfordshire. We hold these events is already making his mark in British contributors; Chatsworth, for example, is the great opportunity – his constituency is proposals to tackle such problems; we and houses and gardens and wish to see them all over the UK, and usually in historic E Politics. biggest employer in its constituency. Weston-super-Mare and he already knows the National Trust have prepared just that conserved. The HHA also contributes. We are houses. They are a great way to meet After graduating from Clare, Edward However, historic houses are difficult and about tourism and the effect of red tape together. The follow up will be as important surrounded in the studio by paintings in the members and report on our work. Some won a Mellon Fellowship to Yale costly to maintain. Even with £140 million on small businesses. Representative as the meeting itself. course of restoration, including a Leonardo members need advice on reducing energy University, where he studied for the spent by their owners on maintenance each organisations like ours also talk regularly I am the administrator for the Heritage Da Vinci, – but I daren’t touch! use, others on how to secure their homes MA program in International Relations year, the backlog of repairs has risen by 50% with the Opposition. Our briefing of Jeremy Conservation Trust, which was created to The HHA is an active supporter of the against theft. It could be anything, and if we and won the IR Academic Excellence over the last six years, to £390 million by Hunt and Ed Vaizey, now Ministers, before support the restoration of works of art and Heritage Alliance, bringing together 81 do not know the answer, we will find out! Award. While at Yale, Edward was 2009. Our job is to ensure that the HHA the election was time well spent. Now we also to support educational initiatives and heritage organisations, from the Vintage The high spot, apart from a tour of the selected as a member of the Brady- gives owners and managers the technical must remember to keep in touch with the research related to the contents of historic Motorcycle Club to the Architectural house of course, is a Conservation Award, a Johnson Grand Strategy Program, in advice, lobbying support and networking new Labour opposition. buildings. Its trustees are meeting today, Heritage Fund. In the afternoon I meet bursary supported by the Friends of the which a small class of students are opportunities they need to conserve these The public coffers are bare, but over a sandwich lunch in the studio of the the other Alliance Board members, led by HHA and given to a local skilled craftsman, taught to apply their understanding of places for the future. improvements in regulation do not carry Chief Restorer of the National Gallery. We Loyd Grossman, to decide how to make sure Dean Rochester, who restored the brickwork history to the policy problems of the There are eight expert staff in our office, a cost and could help a great deal. For agree what support the trust can give for that heritage’s voice, all too often Cinderella at the early Tudor Dorney Court. The bursary present day. which is opposite the Queen’s back garden example, the fees charged annually for the restoration of works of art in historic at the cultural ball, is heard by the Treasury is particularly valuable as an endorsement On his return to Britain in 2007, he and well placed for Westminster, where we licences for events make it hard for houses open to the public, over the next in the Spending Review. Following the and Dean is eloquent in his thanks. worked as an Assistant Private meet politicians, civil servants and others in Knebworth House, which pioneered rock six months. The trust’s founding fund is meeting, the Alliance produces an excellent This is my home patch, so I am back home Secretary and Speechwriter to David the “heritage world”. Unlike the National festivals and hosted Robbie Williams’ record enhanced by donations from individuals submission to Jeremy Hunt, the Culture in Charlbury just in time to catch up with Cameron. Since the election, he has Trust, we are federal, which means that the breaking concerts, to compete with an all and the regional branches of the 30,000 Secretary, and Loyd writes a cracking article the day’s events there. No day is the same, been appointed by Baroness Warsi, the businesses of our member houses are much round venue such as the Milton Keynes strong Friends of the HHA – members of for the London Evening Standard, knowing so tomorrow will be a fresh start... Chairman of the Conservative Party, as bigger than us. But the National Trust Bowl. John Penrose is keen to see specific the public who enjoy visiting historic the politicians will read it. Who knows if it www.hha.org.uk her Political Advisor. This new role gives him key responsibility within credit: Edwards The Sun/Arthur the Conservative Party – as well as drafting speeches, articles and A MOMENT IN TIME campaign literature, Edward provides strategic and political advice on the A group of Clare students have formed the direction of the party. He works closely Clare Growers Association and started their with David Cameron’s team on political own allotment at the Colony. issues and campaigns. Their efforts drew the attention ofThe Sun, Not content with politics alone, which published an article about them in earlier this year, Edward published his March. first book,Choose Your Weapons – a Here they are punting with Peter Seabrook, history of eleven Foreign Secretaries The Sun’s gardening correspondent and a co-written with Douglas Hurd. Edward former presenter on the BBC’s Gardener’s is currently working with Lord Hurd on World. a life of Disraeli for publication in 2012.

Edward worked as an Assistant Private Secretary and Speechwriter to David Cameron

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In every issue of Clare News, we ask SIX QUESTIONS: JON LANE ON WATER one of our alumni credit: Wateraid/Marco Betti six questions about People don’t like talking about sanitation. Toilets ONE are embarrassing and, at least in Britain, that their work. How did you come to do work in water embarrassment manifests itself as puerile humour. and sanitation for developing countries? The most intimate personal habits tend to be beset After graduating in engineering, I worked with taboos and conventions, and within any given Jon Lane (1976) is for a firm of consulting engineers in London. I nagged them to post me to their smallest society different people can approach them very the Executive Director and remotest office in Zambia, where I met differently my future wife who worked in public health Jon Lane (1976) of the Water Supply as a volunteer through VSO. This was the and Sanitation turning point for me: I decided to shift the focus of my career and follow her example squatting slab and an enclosure for privacy, criticised over the decades, the UN system Collaborative Council. to apply my professional skills to help poor but people’s motivation to use it is complex. does retain a strong ethos of collective people in developing countries. My colleagues and I believe that the key service to humanity. The UN also continues I identified water as the most relevant is to approach the subject in terms of to receive great respect in certain parts aspect of civil engineering, so I specialised behaviour change not of technology. If of the world as a valued development The Council was in water and was soon lucky to get a job people become convinced that improved collaborator. On the other hand I perceive a created by the UN with WaterAid in Nepal (this sort of step was sanitation is beneficial to them, they will significant problem of its unaccountable much easier then than it is nowadays). raise it up their priority list and do managerial system that favours increasingly as an international I worked for WaterAid for 12 years in something about it themselves – then the cumbersome bureaucracies, because it various posts overseas and in UK, until we government and other agencies must be lacks the checks and balances that push coordinating body to decided to move to Malawi for my wife’s ready to help as needed. Our overall aim is the other way in the commercial and enhance collaboration work in 2000 and I became a consultant. to transform sanitation from a neglected non-governmental sectors. Efficient After our daughters left to attend minor aspect of development to a vibrant management and leadership then becomes in the water supply universities in UK, we felt we could be more area of everyday human economic activity. a matter of personal conscience for the flexible so I took on this post at WSSCC. leaders rather than institutional culture. and sanitation sector. Many respond to that responsibility well, FOUR although of course others do not. TWO What is the Water Supply and Sanitation A colleague of mine suggested that Jon was formerly What are the major concerns that your Collaborative Council? people should work for the UN either at work addresses? WSSCC is a slightly unusual entity. It is a the start of their careers when they are the Director of RedR Out of 6 billion people, almost 1 billion membership organisation for senior people fresh and idealistic or at the end when do not have clean water to drink and a concerned with water and sanitation in they are tired and value security, but not in (Register of Engineers staggering 2.6 billion do not have even developing countries. It has about 4,000 mid-career. I have plenty of colleagues who basic sanitation. Even after all these years members supported by a central group of belie that theory and work extremely hard; for Disaster Relief) dealing with this on a daily basis, I still find 25 staff. Its work encompasses professional admittedly WSSCC’s operational and of WaterAid. these numbers both surprising and shaming networking and knowledge sharing, policy independence is a big help to us in to our humanity. Water and sanitation advocacy about the subject, and a financing being able to do this. I do get frustrated contribute to health, to the environment, mechanism called the Global Sanitation sometimes by the slow speed of to social and economic development. Fund. It started in 1990 but legally it does decision-making in the UN as a whole, but Married with two In the early part of my career I worked not exist, so it is hosted within the ultimately none of us are forced to work daughters, his mainly on community-level programmes, multilateral system: initially at the World there and if we don’t like it we can leave. then gradually used that experience as a Health Organization, now in the UN itself. permanent home is in basis to shift my focus to global-level policy We aim to make the most of our and strategy work – it is important in this non-existence by behaving as a SIX the UK, but he and his work never to lose sight of the basic (how often do you see somebody using a non-governmental organisation when that What do you do when you are not at problem that we are trying to address. THREE toilet in a film or TV show?) Toilets are is appropriate, and as a part of the UN when work? wife are currently Water supply is fun and fairly simple, and Why is sanitation so important and yet so embarrassing and, at least in Britain, that that is. Naturally our members are strong My wife and I have invested some time and based in Malawi while everybody likes to be involved in it. The difficult? embarrassment manifests itself as puerile characters who have their own priorities energy to create a company in Malawi that main concern is to persuade governments Lots of organisations say they work in water humour. for WSSCC’s work and image. We are also started in farming and has diversified into he is working in and other agencies to concentrate on and sanitation but they dedicate the vast The most intimate personal habits tend to keen to contribute to collective global seed production. It is based in a remote serving those people who lack it, as majority of their time and money to water be beset with taboos and conventions, and leadership on our particular subject. rural area, where it is the largest employer. Geneva. opposed to those who can afford to pay and almost none to sanitation. Yet the within any given society different people Altogether I find it intellectually and We are now proud to produce about 3% for it. numbers without sanitation are far larger can approach them very differently. managerially stimulating. of the seed for the whole country. So my Water resources management is than those without water. Call me perverse, Politicians and the media tend to avoid spare time from work is spent there becoming increasingly complex and but to me that is a sure indication that sanitation – I don’t often encounter directing the company. Our proximity to, important as the human race increases its sanitation is the more important subject. politicians who want to have their photos FIVE and collaboration with, some of the collective pressure on the world’s resources. It’s difficult because people don’t like taken opening a public toilet instead of, say, What do you think of working in the UN? world’s poorest people is the perfect Personally I do some work on that, but talking about it. Everybody defecates a water supply. After many years in the non-governmental antidote to my work base in the nowadays work almost exclusively on and pees every day, and yet in almost all The technology of basic sanitation is quite sector, I found it quite intriguing to be a quintessentially sterile international sanitation. societies it is not polite to acknowledge this simple, starting from a simple pit with a global public servant. Much battered and environment of Geneva.

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credit: Chris Close, courtesy of Macmillan Publishers UPDATES Former fellow helps shape UPDATES One to watch Triple win for Award-winning poet Helen MacNamara Anthony Miles (1963) was awarded (1995) has been Britain’s economic policy third prize in the 2010 Times Literary showcased in Sci-Fi author Supplement Poetry Competition for his Management Today’s Martin Weale (1974, Former Fellow) has After the poem, The Rose Bush. 2010 ‘35 women been named as an external member of the announcement, China Miéville (1991) has won The TLS Poetry competition has been under 35’ list, Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of the Chancellor the 2009 Arthur C. Clarke Award running since 1986 and has jump-started which featured England. George Osbourne for his novel The City & The City, the career of many of the UK’s most 35 women who will The committee meets for two and a half said, “I’m delighted making him the first author to prestigious poets. shape the future. days every month to decide the official Dr Weale has This year’s competition was judged by Helen win the award on three separate This is the tenth l interest rate in the UK, along with agreed to join the Alan Jenkins, Poetry Editor of the TLS, and MacNamara (1995) occasions. anniversary of the list, monitoring and directing other aspects Monetary Policy The Arthur C. Clarke Award Alice Quinn, Executive Director of the which since its debut in 2001 has featured of the government's monetary policy Committee. His is the most prestigious award Poetry Society of America and a former women such as Stella McCartney and framework. experience of for Science Fiction in Britain, Poetry Editor for the New Yorker. Martha Lane Fox. For the past fifteen years, Martin has been economic presented annually for the best When she took up the role of Principal the Director of the National Institute of forecasting and sci-fi novel of the year. The Rose Bush Private Secretary for the then Secretary Economic and Social Research, Britain's data analysis The City & The City was chosen of State, Tessa Jowell in 2005, Helen was longest established independent economic derived from 15 from a short-list of six books, which I had pruned back the rangy rose bush one of the youngest women ever to research institute. He is an expert in the years as Director of the National Institute included Far North, a novel by I thought somewhat early be promoted to Deputy Director level at analysis of interest rates, money supply, for Economic and Social Research will be another Clare alumnus, Marcel (and how I love pruning: rational, the Department for Culture, Media and government budgets and exchange rates, extremely valuable to the Committee.” Theroux (1986). decisive, real) Sport. and a prolific commentator on the UK Martin joins fellow Clare alumnus Andrew China previously won the award but then worried I’d overdone it – The DCMS is responsible for diverse economy. Sentance (1977) on the committee of nine. in 2001 with his novel Perdido that nude twiggy Y – activities from overseeing the Street Station and in 2005 with but now months later it’s arching again organisation of the Olympics to funding Iron Council. towards the sky, English Heritage. Kraken, China’s most recent leaves open-palmed, stem stubborn with Helen is currently the Head of Policy Orchestra takes Cambridge opera on tour novel, follows a squid-worshiping sour determined spirit, and Planning for the DCMS, and since cult in London whose first act is to each tight little spearhead bud slick 2009 has been a trustee of Target Ovarian steal a pickled giant squid from the flushed as it starts to unpeel, Cancer, a charity working to help Natural History Museum. the first dark burgundy bloom defiant, women who have been diagnosed with It was released in May to luxuriant, surly. the disease. rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Unique reference book One of this year’s most esoteric titles will be published on Honorary degree for mathematician 30 October 2010 by Creel Press, an Sir Andrew Wiles (1974, Honorary l Dominic Jermey (1986) imprint owned by Fellow) was awarded an honorary Timothy Benn (1957) Doctorate of Science from the University Ambassador to UAE and his wife Christina. of Cambridge at this year's honorary Dominic Jermey (1986) has been Images of Angling, degree ceremony, presided over by the appointed Ambassador to the United Three Centuries of Chancellor of the University, HRH The , hardly sounds Arab Emirates. Prior to the appointment, British Angling Prints Duke of Edinburgh. like a best seller, but the author, Dominic was MD of Sectors Group, UK Sir Andrew is best known for solving David Beazley, the honorary librarian Trade and Investment, a government Aurora Orchestra, founded in 2005 by Nick General Manager), John Reid (1998, Fermat’s Last Theorem. of the Flyfisher’s Club, has long been agency that works with UK-based Collon (2001) and Robin Ticciati (2001), will Principal Piano), Jane Mitchell (2000, This theorem, among the most aware that sporting prints are widely businesses to ensure success in join English Touring Opera this Autumn to Principal Flute), Thomas Barber (2001, famous in the history of mathematics, collected. international markets, and encourages perform Promised End, a new opera by Principal Oboe) and Jamie Campbell (2002, was first conjectured by Pierre de Fermat Until now there has been no definitive overseas business interest in the UK. Alexander Goehr, a former professor of Principal Second Violin). in 1637, but eluded proof for three and a reference on which collectors could rely Dominic also previously held the music at Trinity Hall. The tour includes a visit Promised End is the orchestra’s largest half centuries until Sir Andrew solved it for comprehensive information about position of the Director of Trade and to Cambridge and a week at the Royal operatic venture to date. It will be in 1995. fishing prints. Investment and the Deputy British Opera House. performed at Cambridge Arts Theatre on The proof earned him the Fermat Containing reproductions of 356 Ambassador to Spain. This year, Aurora’s fifth year of operation, 3 and 6 November, and at the Linbury Prize, the Wolf Prize, and the Royal prints, the volume is not merely a He has held a number of overseas posts has been a momentous one, including a Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, on 9, 11, Medal of the Royal Society, among reference but a unique pictorial and focussing on conflict resolution issues BBC Proms concert debut and a shortlisting 14 and 16 October. other accolades. cultural history of three centuries of including working in East Timor as the UK for the RPS Ensemble Award. It will tour the UK in October and Sir Andrew is the James S. McDonnell angling. representative in the UN Transitional Aurora retains close ties to Clare. Alumni November. Distinguished University Professor www.imagesofangling.com Administration. include: Nick Collon (Principal Conductor www.englishtouringopera.org.uk of Mathematics at Princeton and Artistic Director), John Harte (1998, www.auroraorchestra.com l Sir Andrew Wiles (1974) University.

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n 4 September 2010, Clare alumni, Fellows, students and staff came together to celebrate Tim Brown’s 31 years as the College’s ODirector of Music. Tim has been the driving force behind music at Clare since 1979, when he took over the position from John Rutter (Director of Music 1975–79), and has propelled Clare Choir to international acclaim. Graham Ross (2003) succeeds Tim as the Director of Music. Graham studied Music at Clare and at the Royal College of Music. Graham is co-founder and Principal Conductor of The Dmitri Ensemble, with whom he has recorded three discs, to wide critical acclaim. He is one of today's youngest published composers, and has had works performed throughout the UK and beyond. Graham is passionately committed to music education and credit: Jonathan Barker credit: outreach projects, and Clare looks forward l Graham Ross (2003) to welcoming him into the Fellowship. credit: Michaelcredit: Derringer 8 www.clarealumni.com Autumn / Winter 2010 Autumn / Winter 2010 www.clarealumni.com 9 CLARE NEWS I Alumni News Alumni News I CLARE NEWS UPDATES Memories of World War II

Stephen Wicken (2000, Mellon Fellow) is a PhD student at Brown University. His dissertation is entitled ‘Rejoining France: Occupation, Liberation and Identity on the French Atlantic Coast, 1944-1945’ and concerns the Atlantic communes of Lorient, Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle and Royan that remained occupied by German forces until May 1945, each trapped in a pocket

l Julian Huppert with surrounded by French and Allied forces. Stephen hopes to bring their experiences into the history of WWII France. He writes: Another Clare LibDem In the General Election, Julian Huppert (Fellow) was elected as Cambridge’s new On the morning of 10th May 2010, I am after the liberation of Paris. Liberal Democrat MP, succeeding Clare standing among a modest crowd at the As the rest of France began the process of fellow and alumnus David Howarth Commonwealth cemetery at Guidel in reconstruction, hundreds of thousands of (1978). Julian has been a Fellow at Clare southern Brittany. French civilians remained trapped under since 2009, and is a Research Councils UK Under persistent drizzle, we huddle some of the worst conditions of occupation Academic Fellow in Computational together beneath umbrellas to hear recited witnessed in wartime France. Among the Biology. l The liberation of the names of Commonwealth soldiers and 9,000 trapped in the Lorient pocket were Guidel in 1945 Elsewhere in the country, three Clare airmen who died trying to liberate this area 1,200 Guidelois. alumni were re-elected to parliament: during the Second World War. As the name of a Polish airman rings out Geoffrey Robinson (1959) retained In 1945, Guidel, a small Breton town, was across the cemetery, my mind turns to what the French government, to research my Yves Pezennec is talking himself hoarse Coventry North-West for Labour, Peter just a few miles from the line of Europe’s I am doing here, in an American suit and a dissertation. The central themes of my answering questions from local collège Lilley (1962) won Hitchin & Harpenden for forgotten Western Front. Clare tie. My grandfather too was a Polish On today’s evidence, however, dissertation are exactly those that arise students. His passion for the retelling of the Conservatives, and Tim Loughton In the summer and autumn of 1944, as airman who escaped from Poland in 1939 to during today’s commemorations: the local history is such that he subsequently (1983) was returned for the Conservatives the collective memory of Allied forces poured into Normandy and become a flight engineer in the RAF. He later Guidel’s darkest times is as harshness of life in the pockets; the passions gives an impromptu talk about the war in in Worthing East & Shoreham. through northern France, German forces on settled near Cambridge, where I was born, alive as ever, even as the actors of liberation; and the processes, legal, Guidel to an auditorium full of primary the Atlantic coast cut off by the Allied and it was he who spurred my fascination political and cultural, of rebuilding school students, and his croaky enthusiasm advance retreated to the naval fortifications with history through endless visits to the themselves fade away communities and rejoining France. is contagious. of Hitler’s Atlantic wall. Imperial War Museum at Duxford. After a wreath is placed at the memorial 150 children listen with attention that They congregated at the heavily fortified (He also set in train my fascination with in the cemetery, we move on to a less seems engaged rather than enforced. The submarine bases of southern Brittany at the university – one of my earliest memories MA in International Relations with sombre ceremony in the church square, children are invited to ask questions to the Lorient and Saint-Nazaire. Further south, from a family walk is the view from Trinity concentrations in international history and complete with military band and children small group of surviving members of the they holed up in the submarine base at Lane of exactly the segment of Old Court the study of genocide and war crimes. waiving miniature flags – again those of 19th Dragoons, who helped to liberate La Rochelle, and at the twin fortresses at the that I would live in nearly twenty years later.) By the time I started my PhD in History at Commonwealth countries as well as Guidel, and a sea of hands shoot up. mouth of the river Gironde at Royan. I returned to Clare to read Social an d Brown University in 2006, however, I was la tricolore. My guide and host, Yves One boy asks Colonel Mahéas, who joined These four pockets, along with another at Political Sciences in 2000, concentrating completely absorbed by the topic of Pezennec, is an energetic member of the the resistance movement straight from Dunkerque, would remain occupied and on politics. wartime France. local historical and cultural association. school, if war is hard, and only a few of the contested until Hitler’s death and the end of In 2004 I crossed the Atlantic as Clare’s Four years later, I am in France, funded We crowd into the town’s civic centre for a assembled adults chuckle at his sincere the war in Europe in May 1945, nine months Mellon Fellow at Yale, where I studied for an by a Bourse Chateaubriand fellowship from commemorative lunch. naivety. When Colonel Mahéas tells us of l The devastation of Guidel spending his first night in German-free after bombing in 1945 Guidel sleeping in a café, word trickles down excitedly from the back of the auditorium that the café was owned by another boy’s family. Colonel Mahéas finishes his recollection with an appeal to the assembled children: “We leave you these recollections and the A Night at the Museum memory of Guidel’s troubled moments in 1945: do not forget them, do not forget us Jim Bennett (1966), Director of the Oxford and never forget those who sacrificed their University Museum of the History of lives for their ideal of .” Science, opened the museum on the Of course I hope that my own work will evening of 8 July 2010 for a private contribute in some small way towards the viewing for the Oxford Clare Alumni endurance of these stories. Group. On today’s evidence, however, the Please email David Livesley (1975) at collective memory of Guidel’s darkest [email protected] for more times is as alive as ever, even as the information about events in Oxford. actors themselves fade away.

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UPDATES Foundations for the future Record-breaking success

The College has been the beneficiary of Over the past ten years alone, the College the Bill Skelton Bursaries, which have helped The 2010 Telephone Campaign was members’ bequests for over 700 years. has received over £4million from legacy 11 undergraduates who otherwise would Clare’s most successful to date, raising Samuel Blythe, Master from 1678 to 1713 donations. This generosity has helped both not have been able to meet the costs of a over £260,000 to provide vacation and and the namesake of Clare’s Legacy Society, to shape the physical landscape of Clare and university education, have been possible year-abroad study grants to Clare bequeathed £6,000 when he died. to enhance academic opportunities. without the legacy of Bill Skelton, Chaplain undergraduates and to support the The Blythe Fund is now worth over The continuing upkeep of the fabric of of Clare from 1952 to 1959. Campaign for Music. £10million and makes up about 20% of the Old Court would not be possible without Currently, the Samuel Blythe Society has Over 900 alumni were phoned by the College’s endowment. the bequest of Paul Mellon (1929) nor would 247 members (including those who are 15 undergraduates who participated in anonymous) and between them, they have the campaign. pledged £10million to Clare. Why I have remembered Clare By planning for their own future, the Vicky Larmour (1992) writes: than happy to give any help that I can to Samuel Blythe Society members have When I first wrote my will, I knew that secure those same benefits for future provided crucial support for the foundations I wanted to leave a proportion of my students. of the College’s future. estate to charity, and Clare was an By leaving a percentage of my estate If you have already remembered the obvious choice. rather than a fixed amount, I don't have College in your will, we hope that you I very much enjoyed my time at Clare any worries that my support for Clare will will let us know so that we can thank you and benefited greatly from everything cause any problems for my dependents appropriately. the College had to offer; in these times in the future, even if my estate ends up If you would like to discuss any aspect of uncertainty regarding the funding of being quite small. of legacy giving or if you would like to higher education, combined with the And of course if I make my fortune receive Foundations, the College’s ever increasing cost to students of and my estate ends up being large, the legacy newsletter, please contact Sarah supporting themselves through three or College which laid the foundations of my Harmer, Deputy Development Director four years of a degree course, I am more success is welcome to share in that! at [email protected] or at l The student callers take a break from 01223 333218. fundraising

Relics relive Fun for the whole family The 2010 Family Day was a great success. Mays 1970 Children were entertained by the puppeteer and the bouncy castle, while parents and grandparents had some time Tom Kelly (1967) writes: to catch up with old friends in a relaxed The current Boat Club, and the new atmosphere. boatman Anton Wright, laid on a The seventy parents and children in splendid Clare Relics’ Regatta on 17 attendance enjoyed a picnic on the lawns April. of Lerner Court and although the day Despite volcanic clouds preventing wasn’t as sunny as had been hoped, the travel of some from overseas, 8 crews ice cream was still in high demand! with participants from each of the past Next year’s Family Day will take place 5 decades took to the water. on 26 June 2011 so please save the date. One had a wooden boat and blades circa 1970s, but most tried out the fancy new plastic boats and cleaver blades. Racing was limited to short rows upstream in Long Reach with health and safety of older crews in mind. But would anyone on the bank have l Above: the second night guessed that some of these lean, fit of the Bumps in1970 crews had not been in a racing eight for and (right) taking part 40 years? in the Clare Relics’ Regatta 2010 Unseasonably hot and sunny weather encouraged some crews to take a scenic trip all the way to Baitsbite Lock and recorded in the booklet, “To the Mays back. 1970”, produced by Tom Kelly. A sociable dinner in College for Copies can be obtained from him at crews and partners capped a colourful [email protected] . reminder of past glories and skills on A longer account and photos of the the River Cam. event are on the Clare Boat Club The racing successes of forty years website. ago were celebrated in particular, and www.clareboatclub.org.uk/alumni.php

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UPDATES Remembering Robin £5m brain research grant

Research efforts led by Professor Matthews (1927-2010) Lorraine Tyler (Fellow) to understand the effects of ageing on the brain have Robin Matthews, Emeritus Professor of been given a major boost with the Political Economy and Master of Clare announcement of a new £5m grant College from 1975 to 1993, has died at from the Biotechnology and Biological the age of 83. Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). As Master of Clare for eighteen years, The funding has been awarded to a Robin Matthews was a strong supporter of team from public health, clinical co-education, and an enthusiastic champion neurosciences and psychology at the of student rights and student opinion. , as well as He presided over the successful scientists from the MRC Cognition fund-raising campaign to build a new and Brain Sciences Unit who aim to undergraduate library and the expansion of understand how brain ageing in student accommodation at Clare’s ‘Colony’. healthy people affects abilities like Professor Matthews was recognised as language and memory. one of the leading economists of his Professor Tyler said, “Understanding generation. the complexities of how ageing Among his many public appointments, affects the brain will be crucial for older he served as Chair of the Social Science people to be able to live fulfilled lives Research Council, Chairman of the academic and contribute fully to society. panel of consultants set up by the Bank of “We hope that this research will not l Professor Robin Matthews only add to this understanding, but l Part of a major 10-year rejuvenation of the grounds at the Colony England. He was also one of the only academics to have held two of the most Professor Matthews was appointed CBE in will also have an important impact on senior chairs in economics in Britain – the 1975 and elected a fellow of the British how we view the ageing process, as Drummond Chair at Oxford University and Academy in 1968. one of change, rather than inevitable An update on the College Gardens the Chair of Political Economy at Cambridge He died in Cambridge on 19 June 2010, deterioration.” University, succeeding Brian Reddaway. three days after his 83rd birthday. The plantings around the new Lerner Court are now becoming established and Clare leaps up Baxter Tables look splendid, with a Sophora japonica tree casting dappled light on the central lawn. The Viburnums plicatum and Royal Society recognises Clare Fellow bodnantense, Clematis armandii and grasses Stipa tenuissima and Deschampsia caespitosa Professor Nicky Clayton (Fellow) has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in against the buildings are flourishing around recognition of her major empirical contributions to the study of animal cognition the edge of the Court (right). through her work with birds. The overall theme reflects the replanting The Royal Society said, “She has pioneered which has been undertaken in recent years new procedures for the experimental study throughout Memorial Court. of memory, planning and social cognition If you are visiting the Fellows’ Garden in in animals, all attributes that have been late summer, you should look for the claimed to be uniquely human, and secluded corner where the banana trees, this work has been a tour de force purple castor oil plants and other vibrant in expanding our appreciation of plants make bold displays of leaf form and animal intelligence and its leaf colour (left). relationship to human memory The former Scent Garden has been Clare has jumped to sixth place in the l Plantings at the edge of Lerner Court and cognition. Her research redesigned as a 'Victorian Sub-Tropical Baxter Tables this year, after being has resulted in a re-evaluation Garden', which derives from the Arts and The next programme will be to create a seventeenth at the end of last year. of the cognitive capacities of Crafts movement. graded path, suitable for disabled access, to In humanities subjects, Clare is second, animals, particularly birds, which At the Colony, Volker Heine (Fellow) has the main entrance of the newly refurbished and in the sciences twelfth. led her to develop a theory that championed the work programme, and the Castle End. The first year undergraduates intelligence evolved independently area above Etheldreda now looks delightful The opportunity will be taken to have outperformed the second and in the apes and the corvids.” as a floral woodland glade, carpeted with re-landscape the main lawn into both a third-years, which bodes well for future mauves, reds and purple, and punctuated large and a small oval, giving a village results. Clare’s strongest subjects were by splashes of white and yellow (above). green feel to the vista from the entrance, Economics, English, History, Law and This is part of a major 10-year enhanced by plantings of spring bulbs. Mathematics. rejuvenation of the grounds at the Colony. The Gardens’ Committee is active in The Baxter Tables are used internally It follows decades of neglect, and supporting schemes to maintain Clare’s by the University to rank College incorporates what were once the separate horticultural traditions yet allowing the exam performance for each subject l The former Scent Garden redesigned gardens of College ‘landladies’ in the houses gardens to grow in both a metaphorical and year. as a Victorian Sub-Tropical Garden on Chesterton Lane. and literal sense.

14 www.clarealumni.com Autumn / Winter 2010 Autumn / Winter 2010 www.clarealumni.com 15 EDITION 26

CLARE IN FOCUS FORTHCOMING EVENTS Riccardo’s retirement Riccardo Chieppa retires in All events will take place at Clare, unless December after 29 years as stated Clare’s Catering Manager. Generations of Clare Wednesday 3 November students have appreciated Clare City Dinner, Deloitte. 6.30pm. Julian Riccardo’s delicious food Huppert (Fellow), MP for Cambridge. By invitation only. and his sense of humour. David Hartley (1956, Fellow) Wednesday 10 November paid tribute to Riccardo’s San Francisco Dinner, Presidio Golf Club, 6pm. time at Clare at the 2010 Alumni Day. Thursday 11 November Santa Monica Dinner, Il Fornaio, 6.30pm.

Wednesday 15 December Alumnus of the Year 2010 Alumni Council, 6pm. The Master presents the 2010 Alumnus of the Year Friday 8 January Award to John Thompson Benefactors’ Concert and Dinner, 6pm. (1959). By invitation only.

Friday 18 February Clare Distinguished Lecture in Economics and Public Policy: Adair Lord Turner, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, 5.30pm.

Saturday 19 February Parents’ Day (Family and Friends Programme).

Friday 25 March The long road Ian Whiskerd Reunion Dinner for alumni who matriculated (2005) spent 11 weeks in 1958 and 1959, 7pm. walking the 1,700 miles from Canterbury to Saturday 26 March Gibralter to raise money for MA Congregation and lunch for eligible alumni who matriculated in 2004. Street Child of Sierra Leone, a charity for homeless For further information please contact the children. He, along with Development Office on +44 (0)1223 333218 his two walking or [email protected] companions, raised over £2,000. Have a look at the Clare News archive and read www.walktoafrica.co.uk this online at www.clarealumni.com/clarenews.

Bell Ringer Gordon Wright (Fellow) CONTACT US rings the bell for Clare’s The Editor, Clare News, 2010 Graduation. At the Clare College, Trinity Lane, age of 92 Dr Wright is the Cambridge, CB2 1TL College’s oldest Fellow. t. +44 (0)1223 333218 e. [email protected]. ac.uk w. www.clarealumni.com www.facebook.com/clarealumni www.twitter.com/clarealumni

Editor: Sarah Harmer Design: John Dilley and Johnny Langridge 16 www.clarealumni.com Front page photo: Wateraid/John Spaull