College bulletin: 13 May
From Royal Society Fellowships to BBC Radio 4 broadcasts and student awards – you’ve conspired to give us a very busy afternoon indeed in the Communications office.
College news
Two St John’s scientists among the new Fellows announced by The Royal Society
A scientist who identified the origins of common childhood brain tumours and a biologist whose research focuses on the early stages of pregnancy have both been selected as Fellows of The Royal Society.
Professor Richard Gilbertson FMedSci FRS and Professor Graham Burton FMedSci FRS are among nine University of Cambridge researchers selected for their ‘exceptional contributions to science’.
'Treasured' College members honoured by students at awards ceremony
A Fellow and a Library Assistant from St John’s College have both won awards from Cambridge University students for 'going the extra mile' to provide exceptional support that helps them ‘realise their dreams’.
Chapel services take to the airwaves
Love took my hand, a service from St John’s College Chapel celebrating the life and works of the priest and poet George Herbert, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday.
Led by the Dean of Chapel, the Revd Dr Mark Oakley, the service was recorded for the Sunday Worship programme.
Yesterday’s Choral Evensong in Chapel was live-streamed on Facebook by Classic FM. Music was performed by the College Choir and featured works by Radcliffe, Kelly, Elgar and Vierne.
Watch the recording of the broadcast on Facebook
Fellow explores history of the internet on Radio 4
Professor Helen McCarthy, Professor of Modern and Contemporary British History and a Fellow of St John’s, joins Trainspotting actor Robert Carlyle in episode four of What Really Happened in the Nineties to look at the history of the internet, ‘from Utopian ideal to every parent’s nightmare’.
Listen to the episode on BBC Sounds
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta discusses government review on podcast
The Fellow of St John’s delivered an independent, global government review The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review last year.
Professor Dasgupta’s landmark report explores the relationship between biodiversity and economics and outlines the need for an overhaul of the way nature is valued within the prevailing economic frameworks. An wide-ranging podcast interview with Professor Dasgupta now features on eco-nnect is now available to listen to.
Other news
1+1 = two top sports prizes for mathematician
St John’s student Connor Bennett was honoured with two prizes for his significant contribution to College sport at this year’s Annual General Athletics Club Colours Dinner (known as the Colours Dinner).
The Colours Dinner is usually held every year – bar global pandemics - and recognises exceptional achievements and good character in the sports men and women of St John’s.
For the first time in the history of the awards, they were both won by one person; Connor Bennett, a fourth year mathematician and former captain of the College’s hockey team, who was presented with both the Bob Fuller trophy and the Jim Williams trophy.
Keith Ellis, the College’s Head Groundsman, said Connor was ‘devoted’ to the hockey club and praised him for encouraging people of all abilities to have-a-go at the field sport.
Keith selected him as the winner of the Jim Williams Trophy, named after a former Head Groundsman, and Connor’s peers named him as the winner of the Bob Fuller award, named after a former Head Porter.
Photo credit: Nordin Ćatić.
St John’s sports teams reach finals and semi-finals
Sports teams of St John’s have been on a winning streak this year, with the College men’s rugby team, The Redboys, victorious in the Cuppers final on Saturday – their 12th Cuppers win since 2005.
The squad put seven tries past rivals Fitzwilliam/Sidney in the match to make the final score 45-5.
The St John’s ladies netball team had a successful run through to the Ladies Netball Cuppers final on Sunday when they were beaten by just one goal by Jesus in a tight final, leaving the overall score 8-7.
More nail-biting games lay ahead this Sunday 15 May when St John’s SBR Football Team play CAA at 10.30am at Comberton Village College in the MCR Cup semi-final, and St John’s hockey players face Jesus in the Mixed Hockey Cuppers semi-final at Wilberforce Road Sports Ground at 11am.
A win would see the SBR Football Team play in their first Cuppers final. The hockey team have recently won League 1 so are hoping to follow it up with success in the Cuppers. If they win, they will compete in the final on the same day.
Read the men’s Rugby Cuppers final report and Ladies Netball Cuppers report in Varsity
Visit the Upper Library
The Upper Library is now open for members of the College community and their guests every Wednesday 2-4pm during Full Term. Entry is via E staircase, Second Court only (no access from the Working Library). Interesting items from the collections will be on display and a member of staff will be available to answer questions.
(Note: drop-in visits are not available to the Upper Library via the Working Library this term, as work is being carried out in the Lower Library to improve environmental conditions for storing rare books.)
The Reading Room is open Monday to Friday for the consultation of Special Collections by appointment. Direct booking requests and enquiries to Special Collections.
Expression of interest for Climate Change Festival 2022
Proposals are invited for the third Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival, taking place from 14-16 October 2022, focused on the theme of ‘Climate Accessibility’.
Organisers are keen to hear suggestions from friends, partners and members of the University of Cambridge community – including local groups, institutions, schools, students, academics and others.
The programme will be hybrid and online and in-person events will be considered. Please email any queries to Dr Antoinette Nestor and cc info@zero.cam.ac.uk
Find out more and submit your Expression of Interest form by 30 May 2022
Join The Big Plastic Count next week
Take part in the national Big Plastic Count, which runs from 16-22 May, and log your plastic for one week to help push for bold action to tackle the UK’s plastic crisis.
Download your free digital pack
What’s on
Chapel
Memorial service for Professor Roger Griffin – Saturday 14 May, 12 noon
A memorial service for Professor Roger Francis Griffin, BA, PhD, ScD, Fellow of St John’s College and Emeritus Professor of Observational Astronomy. After the service, refreshments will be served in Hall.
Open to all. More details.
Student communion – Sunday 15 May, 8.30am
Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.
Sung Eucharist – Sunday 15 May, 10.30am
Sung Eucharist with Confirmation – come along to support members of the College and the College School who are making this commitment. The Rt Revd Dr Dagmar Winter, Bishop of Huntingdon, will be the confirming Bishop.
A full programme for the term is available here.
Tea and cake in the Chaplain’s garden – Sunday 15 May, 3pm
Merton Cottage, Queens’ Road (access from the road or from Scholars’ Garden).
Open to all.
Organ recital – Sunday 15 May, 6pm
Dr David Hill, Musical Director of The Bach Choir and former Director of Music at St John’s College, will be performing works by Langlais, Buxtehude, Brahms and Franck.
Open to all, admission free.
A full programme for the term is available here.
Sunday Evensong Sermon series: No Shame in a Tutu – Sunday 15 May, 6.30pm
Preachers at Evensong this term have been invited to explore some of the areas about which Archbishop Desmond Tutu was passionate, and to which he made a significant contribution. The preacher this Sunday will be The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley, Dean. The title will be ‘Humour’.
Morning prayer – weekdays, 8.30am
Taking place in Ante-Chapel every weekday morning, lasting about 15 minutes.
Evensong – daily, 6.30pm
Evensong – Monday 16 May, 6.30pm
Sung by St John’s Voices.
Compline by Candlelight – Tuesday 17 May, 10pm
Come and find a little sanctuary for half an hour. Port and hot chocolate will be served afterwards.
Open to all, admission free.
Cantata Evensong – Saturday 21 May, 6.30pm
The College Choir will join College baroque ensemble St John’s Sinfonia for a Cantata Evensong. The services offer the experience of hearing the music of Bach and other baroque composers performed in a liturgical context. They usually take place on a termly basis. The service is expected to last until around 7.50pm.
Open to all, admission free.
Choral services continue as listed on the website.
- Follow the Facebook page, SJC Chaplain, for Chapel service 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: please contact Andrew.
Other events
Master’s Concert Series: Bach’s Musical Offering – Saturday 14 May, 8.45pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
A performance by Florilegium, with Ashley Solomon on baroque flute, Bojan Čičić on baroque violin, Reiko Ichise on viola da gamba and Julian Perkinson on harpsichord.
Open to all College members, family and friends. Booking not required.
MCR Cup semi-final – Sunday 15 May, 10.30am
3G football pitch, Comberton Village College.
The SBR Football Team face CAA in this MCR Cup semi-final match.
Mixed Hockey Cuppers semi-finals and final – Sunday 15 May, 11am
Pitch 2, Wilberforce Road Sports Ground.
St John’s play Jesus College in the Mixed Hockey Cuppers semi-finals. The winners will go through to the final, which is being played the same day.
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.
Pre-Dinner Lecture Series talk – 'The Politics of Shipwreck in Elizabethan England: Secretary Cecil and the Business of the Nation’ – Tuesday 17 May, 6.15pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
Presented by Professor David Cressy, the current Burghley Visiting Fellow, the talk centres on a controversial shipwreck in 1565 whose claimants included the rulers and merchants of three countries. It fell to Cecil to appreciate the dangers this incident posed to the vulnerable Elizabethan regime.
The lecture will last for about 20-30 minutes and will be followed by questions from the audience and then drinks. Also available on Zoom. Meeting ID: 896 4889 6829. Passcode: 038587.
Open to Fellows, affiliates and postgraduate students. Admission free.
Dirac Lecture 2022 – The Entropy of Hawking Radiation – Monday 23 May, 2.30pm
Wolfson Room, MR2, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
A lecture by Professor Juan Maldacena, Institute for Advanced Studies, on how black holes are fascinating space-time configurations predicted by general relativity. When quantum mechanics is taken into account, black holes are found to emit thermal radiation, called ‘Hawking radiation’. Recently an interesting area formula for the quantum entropy of black holes was derived. This also leads to a surprising new way to compute the entropy of Hawking radiation. This result indicates that the black hole formation and evaporation is consistent with standard quantum mechanical laws.
Open to all, admission free.
Fellows and Staff Golf Competition – Tuesday, 14 June, 8.30am
Ely Golf Club.
All Fellows and staff are invited to join in this social golf event for the President’s Cup. It is a Stableford competition, which means the player with the highest point total is the winner.
Email Porter Mark Nelligan for full details or pop into one of the Porters’ Lodges for a chat.
And finally…
Our annual visitors have finally arrived at their summer residence in New Court – around a month later than usual.
House martins return from their African wintering grounds to the same nesting sites in the UK and ours are clearly keen to rear their young in the most illustrious postcode in Cambridge.
Males and females help to build the nest but they can reuse their old ones which saves them around 10 days of work.
The small colony of birds live in the eaves of The Eagle Gate in New Court and usually depart with their young in October, around the time that students return for Michaelmas Term.
House martins have recently joined the red list of globally threatened birds.
Photo credit: Paul Everest
