College bulletin: 11 February
After a tireless campaign which lasted several days, I’m pleased to announce that midweek roast dinners will return to the Buttery on Wednesday! I’d like to thank you all for your support during this difficult time and to congratulate my fellow campaigners who wrote feedback cards and also grumbled to anyone who would listen. Our next campaign will be for a College swimming pool.
College news
Up and coming creative writers invited to apply for Harper-Wood Award 2022-2023
St John’s College, Cambridge is offering emerging authors and poets the chance to turn to the next page of their career with the launch of this year’s Harper-Wood Creative Writing and Travel Award for English Poetry and Literature.
Covid-19 updates
There are currently 22 cases of Covid-19 in College. Everyone is asked to remember that face coverings are currently still required in communal spaces such as the Buttery.
Other news
Recycle your old clothes to help Médecins Sans Frontières
Do you have some clothes you no longer need? Médecins Sans Frontières, a medical humanitarian organisation, is looking for your help in the form of clothes donations to raise money. Donation points are available in the JCR (Dirac Room), and anything that you can spare would be hugely appreciated.
The box will be there until 12 March.
What’s on
Chapel
Choral services continue as listed on the website.
Student communion – Sunday 13 February, 8.30am
Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.
Organ recital – Sunday 13 February, 6pm
Former Organ Scholar Joseph Wicks returns to St John’s for this week’s Organ Recital in Chapel, which will on this occasion include works by Elgar, Franck, and Whitlock.
Open to all, admission free.
Evensong sermon series: Doctors and the Divine – Sunday 13 February, 6.30pm
Every Sunday this term a Fellow of the College is speaking at Evensong about whether their academic subject in any way connects to the human search for God. This Sunday’s preacher is Professor Tim Bayliss-Smith, Emeritus Professor of Pacific Geography.
Open to all, admission free.
Morning prayer – weekdays, 8.30am
Said in the Ante-Chapel every weekday morning, lasting about 15 minutes.
‘What the Hell’ – Tuesday 15 February, 8pm
An online discussion group for postgraduate students with the Chaplain, tackling the sorts of question which might begin ‘What the hell…?’ Come armed with your tough question, and perhaps a drink of some kind in hand.
Zoom link Meeting ID: 744 718 5288. Passcode: Ki2a6B.
Compline by Candlelight – Tuesday 15 February, 10pm
Sung by St John’s Voices, this is a gentle and centuries-old way to end the day, lasting about half an hour. Port and hot chocolate will be served afterwards.
A Lent Meditation – Saturday 12 March, 6pm
A service of readings, poetry and music will take place for Lent and Passiontide. All Fellows, staff and students are warmly invited to attend this poignant and reflective service, and to bring up to three guests.
No charge is made for services but tickets are issued to cater for anticipated high demand and to endeavour to give members of the College and their guests priority. Please note the service is not suitable for babies and toddlers.
The deadline for applying for tickets is Monday 21 February.
Follow the Facebook page, SJC Chaplain, for updates; and Andrew is on TikTok @thedetoxpriest.
The Chapel is always keen to hear from more volunteers to read in services or assist in other ways (e.g. carrying a processional candle at Sunday Evensong). Please contact Andrew if you’d like to be involved.
Other events
Live lunchtime meditation – 1.15-1.30pm Monday to Friday (online)
Spend 15 mindful minutes relaxing or meditating with the University’s mindfulness practitioner, Dr Elizabeth English, in these weekday sessions, free to students and staff.
Casual badminton session – Friday 11 February, 5pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
Weekly two-hour sessions for players of all abilities. Rackets and shuttlecocks are available at Cripps Porters’ Lodge upon request.
Open to all College members. Admission free, no booking required.
Screening of two episodes of The DNA Detective – Sunday 13 February, 10am-1pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
A viewing party of the television series The DNA Detective which follows Prof Eske Willerslev, a Fellow of St John's, through his career's biggest crisis and achievements. The series aims to communicate 'the adventure of science' by inviting the viewers into the wild ride from an idea to a groundbreaking study – with all the complicated questions about ethics, politics, finance, competition and personal ambition that unfolds in the process.
The event will showcase Episode 4: Science and Money, and Episode 6: Battle of the Bones, and will be followed by a Q&A with director Linus Dahomé Mørk and Prof Eske Willerslev and a wine reception.
Open to all College members, plus up to two guests per member.
Note: this is the rescheduled event from Sunday 30 January. Those who have already signed up will be on the attendance list. Otherwise, you can request attendance using the original registration form.
Cambridge Philosophical Society lecture – Monday 14 February, 6.30-7.30pm
Babbage Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site.
Professor Duncan McFarlane, Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department, head of the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory within the Institute of Manufacturing, and a Fellow of St John’s, will be giving the society’s second lecture of 2022, Should we automate?
Valentine’s Super Hall – Monday 14 February, 6.45pm
Doors open at 6.45pm, sit down at 7.30pm.
Open to all students, guests permitted.
£25.60. Tickets available on Upay. Booking closes at 2pm the day before the event. Ticket numbers are limited and nearly sold out at time of writing.
Palaeography for beginners – Tuesday 15 February, 3pm
Weekly online sessions for anyone interested in reading handwriting from c.1500-c.1750, using documents from the College’s institutional archives. Sessions are informal and aimed at beginners, or those with a little experience who wish to practise their skills. Photographs of the documents will be emailed out in advance.
Open to all College members, admission free.
To register or make further enquiries, contact the archivist, Dr Lynsey Darby.
Linacre Lecture 2022 – Tuesday 15 February, 5.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
This year’s Linacre Lecture is entitled Folding Protein: Nature's Origami and will be given by Professor Sheena Radford OBE, Astbury Professor of Biophysics and Royal Society Professor at the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds, and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
Registration for the lecture closed on Wednesday 9 February.
St John's College Music Society (SJCMS) lunchtime recital – Thursday 17 February, 1.15pm
Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
With Victor Wang, piano.
Open to all, booking is not required.
Drop-in dissertation support group – Thursday 17 February, 2pm
Weekly online group run by the Library, offering a structured study space, support and encouragement for any undergraduate student who is taking on a dissertation next academic year.
Email Rebecca if you have any questions.
Comus, John Milton’s Masque (1634) – Thursday 17 February, 7.30pm
Old Divinity School Theatre.
A dramatic reading, with live music, images, and projected text, Professor Boyde’s team of actor-readers will be joined by singers Scarlett Clemmow and Tiffany Charnley. Written when Milton was just 26, Comus is full of wit, energy and some of his finest poetry. Son of Bacchus and the sorceress Circe, Comus uses deception, drugs and violence to assail the virtue of The Lady. Find out if he succeeds...
Milton's words will be projected and accompanied by paintings and live music from the period. The performance will last about 70 minutes.
Open to all. Admission free. Booking not required.
Pink Ents – Saturday 19 February, 9pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
A stash sale where all profits go to the Pink Week charity. Details to be confirmed. Email Lingquan if you have any questions about Pink Week events.
Rainbow Super Hall – Tuesday 22 February, 6.45pm
In conjunction with the SJC LGBTQ+ community. Doors open at 6.45pm, sit down at 7.30pm.
Open to all students, guests permitted.
£25.60. Tickets available on Upay. Booking closes at 2pm the day before the event. Ticket numbers are limited and nearly sold out at time of writing.
China Research Seminar Series talk by Professor Philip Clart – Thursday 24 February, 2pm
Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity.
As part of the Series, Professor Philip Clart is giving a talk on The Fraught Marriage of Lin Ying and Han Xiangzi: Death and Immortality, Women and Men in Qing-Period Popular Literature. Professor Clart is Professor of Chinese Culture and History at Leipzig University and a Beaufort Visiting Fellow at St John’s.
Open to all, admission free, no booking required.
Harper-Wood Literary Reading: Madeleine Pulman-Jones – Thursday 3 March, 5.15pm
Wordsworth Room.
Madeleine Pulman-Jones (pictured below), current Harper-Wood Award holder at St John’s College, will read from some of her recent work. Her poems have appeared in publications including PN Review, Poetry Birmingham and Adroit Journal, where she was a finalist for the 2020 Adroit Prize for Poetry judged by Jericho Brown. Drinks will be available.
Open to all. Admission free.
Memorial Service for Dr Peter Linehan – Saturday 5 March, 12pm
College Chapel.
A Memorial Service for Dr Peter Anthony Linehan, MA, PhD, FBA, Fellow and former Dean of St John’s College, who died on 9 July 2020, aged 76, will be held in St John’s College Chapel on Saturday 5 March 2022 at 12 noon.
For tickets, please apply online, by phone on 01223 339363 or in writing to The Chapel Clerk, St John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, by Friday 18 February.
International Women’s Day celebration event and Hall – Tuesday 8 March, times tbc
Join St John’s Feminist Society to celebrate International Women’s Day in collaboration with Cambridge University Women in Business, starting with speakers and performances in the Palmerston room.
Open to all. Hall tickets available on UPay. No booking is required for the events earlier on in the day.
Aquila concert for International Women’s Day – Tuesday 8 March, 6pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
Head over to the Old Divinity School for a selection of songs performed by Aquila, the St John’s College all-female vocal group. All welcome, admission free, no booking required.
Newell Classical Event talk The Black Sappho – Thursday 10 March, 7.15pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
A talk by Professor Emily Greenwood on The Black Sappho, a recurrent presence in the work of African American women writers, using the figure of the Sappho to examine intersections of gender, sexuality, and race in the modern reception of Sappho. Emily is Professor of Classics at Princeton University and a Cambridge alumna.
Open to all, admission free, no booking required. Can also be attended via Zoom.
And finally
As exclusive stories go, this is a bit of a niche one but we are reliably informed that under the green tarpaulin the new wooden roof trusses of the Community Hub have been installed.
Do tune into the live link if you want to see the big reveal for yourselves when the contractors return next week.
