College bulletin: 1 December
’Tis the season of Bridgemas and undergraduate admissions in Cambridge. As the current cohort of St John’s students begin to head home for Christmas, the next generation is currently being interviewed – 1,150 interviews will take place over the next 10 days with 110 academics meeting more than 800 candidates.
This week marked the end of Movember, LMBC smashed the £500 fundraising target the male rowers set themselves for growing facial hair for charity – congratulations! It is also the final College Bulletin of 2023, I’m sure you will all be counting down the days until Lent Term begins and your favourite newsletter is back.
College news
Why reading nursery rhymes and singing to babies may help them to learn language
Parents should speak to their babies using sing-song speech, like nursery rhymes, as soon as possible, say researchers led by St John’s neuroscientist Professor Usha Goswami.
Academic wins French science prize for ‘outstanding’ work in stem cell research
A Fellow from St John’s has been awarded a prestigious prize worth €20,000 by the French Academy of Sciences for his pioneering research into stem cells and disease. Professor Benjamin Simons has been presented with the 2023 Charles-Léopold Mayer Prize, which is given to researchers who have performed outstanding work in the biological sciences.
Prizes awarded to St John’s students for achieving outstanding results
Eleven current and recently graduated students from St John's College have been awarded prizes for their excellent work and results across the University of Cambridge.
BBC to broadcast Advent Carol Service
The Chapel’s Advent Carol Service, which was recorded by the BBC last weekend, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Advent Sunday, 3 December, at 3pm. The programme will be available to hear on BBC Sounds shortly after broadcast.
Docuseries to share student stories
Annissa La Touche, current co-president of the JCR, is making a docuseries called Cam Uncut, giving Cambridge students the chance to share their stories on topics such as race, class and culture. The Geography undergraduate is a creative director of the documentary project, working with two friends from Gonville & Caius.
College Swish finds new homes for 116kg of unwanted clothes
Hundreds of items of clothes were donated and swapped at the second St John’s College ‘swish’ event.
Organised by the College’s Sustainability Forum, led by Professor Jane Heal, and supported by the SBR, the event also raised £124 for Cambridge City Foodbank.
Swish events, also called clothes swaps, are organised to help keep textiles out of landfill. The premise is simple – items are all donated and attendees can take away as many pieces that they wish, for free.
As 27kg of CO2 emissions are saved for every kilogram swapped, the event at St John’s added up to three tonnes of CO2 saved.
Livestream of The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley’s installation as Dean of Southwark
Several buses full of people from St John’s will travel to London on Sunday to attend the service marking the installation of The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley’s as Dean of Southwark.
If you are unable to attend in person, the service will be livestreamed from 3pm.
University card access updates required
Everyone needs to refresh the College door access control settings on their University cards to continue to be able to use the card reader access points on-site.
Members can update their cards by placing them on the card reader available in Forecourt Porters' Lodge or at the till point in the Buttery.
The indicator light on the pad will flash green>amber>green when the update is complete. No further action is required.
What’s on
Chapel
Christmas concert – Friday 1 December, 6.30pm: SOLD OUT
Mozart’s Requiem – Saturday 2 December, 7.30pm
St John’s Voices is joined by professional orchestra the London Mozart Players in a performance of Mozart’s ever-popular Requiem, alongside his motet Ave Verum Corpus and his exciting solo cantata Exsultate Jubilate. Soloists are drawn from the Choir.
Open to all, tickets from £5-£25, all seating is unreserved. Buy tickets
Epiphany Carol Services – Saturday 21 January & Sunday 22 January 2024, 6pm
A candlelit service of readings and music for the season. Music by Dove, Joubert, Kirbye, McGlade, Marsh, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Sweelinck, Tallis, Tavener and Victoria.
Seating in Chapel for the Epiphany services is ticketed and you are encouraged to apply by Monday 8 January.
Admission free, however priority will be given to College members. Apply for tickets
For all other regular services, see the Chapel webpage.
The Chapel team is always keen to hear from more volunteers to read in services or assist in other ways: please contact Andrew.
Other events
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) – Friday 1 December to Saturday 2 December, 7pm
Corpus Playroom.
St John’s students Jules Coyle and Blossom Durr star in the ADC production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), an uproarious comedy that aims to perform every single Shakespeare play in just 97 minutes. Buy tickets
St John’s College Picturehouse: Love Actually – Sunday 3 December, 7.15pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
A screening of the Christmas classic Love Actually: the characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in mourning.
All Picturehouse films are shown using a cinema grade DCP projector and the venue is wheelchair-accessible with space for up to 10 wheelchair users. Seating is padded. Open to all students (ID is required), staff and Fellows, tickets £4. Buy tickets
Ghost stories – Wednesday 6 December, 8.30pm
Combination Room.
With Prof Patrick Boyde, Fellow of St John’s. Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free, no sign up required.
What’s On in the coming weeks
Staff photography exhibition – Monday 11 December to Wednesday 10 January
Library Exhibition Area.
An exhibition of all the submissions to the 2023 staff photography competition.
Full details and how to enter (staff intranet)
Short Book Club for postgraduates, English Faculty and College staff – Tuesday 12 December, 5.45pm
Merton Hall Cottage (behind the School of Pythagoras).
Join Vona Groarke, St John’s Writer-in-Residence, to discuss this month’s short book, Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach. Newcomers welcome. If you are interested in attending, email Vona.
Short Book Club for postgraduates, English Faculty and College staff – Monday 22 January, 5.45pm
Merton Hall Cottage (behind the School of Pythagoras).
Join Vona Groarke, St John’s Writer-in-Residence, to discuss January’s book, Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky, published in 2015. It's a chipper little romance set in post-nuclear accident Chernobyl and is, in fact, much funnier and life-affirming than you’d expect. In a novel about families, risk, resilience and what it means to love a home, Baba Dunja is an unforgettable character – irrepressible, sharp-tongued, loyal and wise.
Newcomers welcome. If you are interested in attending, email Vona.
And finally
One of the best ways to mark Christmas is by celebrating it with your friends in College, this week more than 700 of you did just that and dined at one of the hugely popular Festive Halls. Merry Bridgemas!
