College bulletin: 21 October
We promise that we have not been at all distracted this week by the resignations of the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister, today’s 5am release of Taylor Swift’s new album, or the arrival of the fire service in College to rescue a trapped swan.
If you have any news, events or photographs that you’d like us to consider including, do email us.
College news
Trapped cygnet avoids swan song after firefighter rescue
A swan got into a flap when it nestled into a narrow drainpipe on the side of The Old Library at St John’s College and promptly got itself stuck.
Read the full story and watch the rescue film
A telling life: an interview with Vona Groarke, Writer in Residence
Professor Ashoka Mody gives the Hinsley Memorial Lecture 2022
UK offshore carbons storage deployment and research needs to scale up, says report
The UK will need to step up research and deployment of new offshore carbon storage wells if it is to achieve the capacity required to deliver its net zero emissions plans, according to a working group of Cambridge researchers led by Professor Andy Woods, Fellow of St John’s.
Professor Woods appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday to talk about the research.
Listen to the BBC programme, which starts just after 2 hours, 52 minutes, on BBC iPlayer
Have your say in crucial city travel surveys
Greater Cambridge Partnership has launched its 2022 Making Connections Consultation on proposals covering cheaper and faster city bus services, safer cycling and congestion charges.
The survey invites everyone living in Greater Cambridge and the travel-to-work area to have their say on the proposals, ‘a once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to change how local people travel. It puts forward ways to transform the bus network and create a Sustainable Travel Zone.
The consultation runs until midday on 23 December 2022.
Access the Making Connections consultation
This consultation is separate to the College’s Big Commuter Survey, which is part of a project with Cambridgeshire County Council, and was mentioned in last week’s Bulletin.
Staff and academics are asked to respond to this online survey, which is anonymous, by 28 October for the chance to win a £200 Amazon voucher.
College plays role in supporting new musical opportunities
St John’s College is hosting a non-auditioned contemporary choir for students across the University run by the new Centre for Music Performance (CMP).
UniVox, which now meets in the Palmerston Room in the Fisher Building every Wednesday evening during term, covers songs from many genres including pop, soul, rock, musical theatre. Led by piano-vocalist Carrie Rawlings (Vocally Bespoke/The Collaboration Choir), all singers are welcomed. The idea behind it is all about feeling good, belting out well-known tunes and having a lot of fun. Places are limited so must be booked.
The CMP aims to help students make music part of their life at university whatever they are studying. The centre’s launch festival is running across the city from today until Sunday 23 October and includes a performance by Cambridge University Brass Ensemble (CUBE) from halfway up the Chapel roof tomorrow, between 1.30-1.45pm.
See What’s On below for more details and visit the CMP homepage to find out more.
‘Birdgirl’ Mya in conversation at literary festival
Mya-Rose Craig, a second-year undergraduate student at St John’s, will be appearing at the Winter Cambridge Literary Festival on Saturday 19 November to discuss her memoir, Birdgirl, and passion for the natural world.
Mya, who is a British-Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist and diversity campaigner, is studying Human, Social and Political Sciences.
She will be in conversation at the event, which is taking place in the Palmerston Room in the Fisher Building at St John’s from 2-3pm on 19 November, with fellow birder and nature writer Helen Mcdonald.
Full-price tickets for the festival, which runs from 17-20 November, are £12; concession tickets are available to under 25s, the unwaged ‘and those feeling the pinch’.
Book reveals home life of Lady Margaret Beaufort
A new book based on records held in the College Archives provides fresh insight into the domestic life of the Foundress of St John’s.
The Household Accounts of Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509) is edited by Susan Powell, Emeritus Professor at the University of Salford, who spent a sabbatical term at St John’s in 2009 and has made repeat return visits to the Archives to study medieval documents for the book, which is published by Oxford University Press.
Photo-call for charity calendar
Photographs of College are now invited for the third annual St John’s charity calendar, in aid of the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Images of scenes that are suited to a given month, such as photos of the May Ball, and snow in winter, are particularly welcome.
Photographers whose work is featured in the calendar will receive a free copy. Submit your entries by emailing Annabel Poon – with the photos attached or via a link – before 11.59pm on Wednesday 26 October. Resolution should be 2500 x 3500 or higher and a minimum of 300dpi. If possible, please crop photos to an A4 aspect ratio.
Free cooking apples
The Master has put a basket of cooking apples in the Buttery, free to good homes – first come, first served. Happy baking!
What’s on
Chapel
Student communion – Sunday 23 October, 8.30am
Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.
Sung Eucharist – Sunday 23 October, 10.30am
Open to all, admission free.
Organ recital – Sunday 23 October, 6pm
Alex Robson, Herbert Howells Organ Scholar at St John’s, will be performing works by Bach, Summers and Jackson.
Open to all, admission free.
Sunday Evensong – Sunday 23 October, 6.30pm
The preacher this evening is our own Chaplain, the Rev’d Andrew Hammond. The Choristers are away this week, for half term, so the lower voices of the Choir are joined by the girl choristers of Truro Cathedral.
Open to all, admission free.
Morning prayer – weekdays, 8.30am
Taking place in Ante-Chapel every weekday morning, lasting about 15 minutes.
Evensong – daily, 6.30pm
Open to all, admission free.
Festal Evensong – Friday 28 October, 6.30pm
St Simon & St Jude, Apostles.
Open to all, admission free.
Advent Carol Services – Saturday 26 November, 6pm, and Sunday 27 November, 3pm
Organ music will be played by George Herbert, Assistant Organist, and Alex Robson, Herbert Howells Organ Scholar. Full programme to be confirmed.
The Sunday service will be broadcast live by BBC Radio 3.
Open to College members and up to two guests. Admission free, booking required. Deadline for applications is Monday 31 October.
Further details and registration
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
ADC Theatre presents 8 Hotels – Friday 21 October & Saturday 22 October, 7pm
Corpus Playroom, 10 St Edward’s Passage.
Directed by Hetty Opayinka and starring Emma Kentridge, both undergraduates at St John’s, the play follows the behind-the-scenes dynamics of a groundbreaking tour of Othello that starred African-American Paul Robeson opposite a white woman, Uta Hagen, in Jim Crow-era America, across eight different locations. Tensions are not just personal but also political in this context and revenge takes sinister forms.
Open to all, tickets £9-£11. Purchase tickets
Cambridge University Centre for Music Performance launch festival – Friday to Sunday 21-23 October
Various locations, including St John’s College Chapel roof.
Cambridge University Brass Ensemble (CUBE) will be playing their trumpets halfway up the Chapel roof this weekend to celebrate the launch of the new Cambridge University Centre for Music Performance (CMP).
Catch CUBE playing on the roof, overlooking First Court and St John’s Street, from 1.30-1.45pm tomorrow.
The CMP launch festival features a range of musical events across the city – from cabaret and immersive sound performances, to a showcase of Victorian songs and music; Rent composer Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobigraphical musical tick, tick… BOOM!, and plenty more.
See the CMP homepage for full details.
Live lunchtime meditation – Monday to Thursday, 1.15-1.30pm
Via Zoom.
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.
Careers Service fairs – Monday 24 October, Tuesday 25 October, Thursday 27 October, and throughout the term
The Careers Service is holding 13 Career Fairs this term, online and in-person, to help with applications and preparation. You’ll be able to speak with employers directly or go to their group talks and ask questions. There are careers panels, discussions and employer-led skills sessions.
This week there is a Virtual Graduate Schemes & Internships Fair (24 Oct), a Graduate Schemes & Internships Fair (25 Oct), and an Economics Fair (27 Oct).
Registration for each opens a week in advance at 9am. Further details and to register
To see the full range of support available, including CV and interview aids, visit the Careers Service website.
Drop-in dissertation support group – Monday 24 October, 2pm
Via Zoom.
Weekly online group run during term time 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 for the Zoom link or if you have any questions.
Maths for Everyone lecture series: Exponential Growth – Monday 24 October, 5.30pm
Boys Smith Room, Fisher Building.
St John’s Fellow Professor Nick Manton presents the third in a series of eight lectures aiming to broaden and deepen your understanding of what maths can do and how it works, through stimulating examples from a wide range of areas. This lecture looks at exponential functions, Euler’s constant e, complex exponentials, trigonometric functions, and eiπ = −1.
It will help if you have some familiarity with A-Level maths topics.
Open to all College members. Admission free, booking not required.
Meet the College’s new Writer in Residence – Monday 24 October, 6pm
Merton Hall Cottage, St John’s College.
Interested in creative writing? Not sure how to go about it and who might help? Head along to meet Vona Groarke, our new Writer in Residence at St John’s.
No need to be studying English, students of all subjects with an interest in writing fiction or poetry are welcome. ‘Wine, cake and encouragement’ will be served.
Merton Hall Cottage is the white cottage ‘shaped like a bread loaf’ behind the School of Pythagoras and Art Room. Visitors may enter through the white garden door.
Can’t make this event? Email Vona for an appointment.
Paleography for beginners – Tuesday 25 October, 3pm
Weekly online sessions for anyone interested in reading handwriting from c1500-c1700, 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.
View Old Library collections – Wednesday 26 October, 2-4pm
Old Library.
Come and explore the College's historic 17th century Library; highlights from the collections will be on display including medieval manuscripts, pioneering photography and books that changed the world.
Open to all College members and their guests, admission free. Entry is via E staircase, Second Court.
Philosophy lecture: Science, Method, and Knowledge – Wednesday 26 October, 5.30pm
Online.
St John’s Fellow Professor Alexander Bird gives his Inaugural Lecture as the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy, questioning whether science tell us the truth and whether it gives us knowledge. Philosophers marshal general arguments to tell us that science does succeed in these respects or that it must fail; Professor Bird explains why he rejects such arguments.
Open to all. Zoom link
Pre-Dinner Lecture, All The Things I Do Not Know and Refuse to Learn: when is ignorance rationally impermissible? – Wednesday 26 October, 6.15pm
Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
Presented by St John’s Fellow Dr Jessie Munton, the lecture will last for 20-30 minutes, followed by questions from the audience. Drinks will be served afterwards in the Central Hall.
Open to Fellows and affiliates.
UniVox rehearsals – Wednesdays during term, 5.15-6.30pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
UniVox is a non-auditioned contemporary choir for students across the University run by the new Centre for Music Performance (CMP) and hosted by St John’s.
Places are limited so must be booked via the UniVox page of the CMP website.
St John's College Music Society (SJCMS) lunchtime recital – Thursday 27 October, 1.15pm
Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
With Daniel Liu on piano, and Extreme Duo on piano and violin.
Open to all, admission free, booking is not required.
Every Wrong Direction by Dan Burt: Cambridge Launch – Friday 28 October, 6pm
The Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
Dan Burt, poet, author and Honorary Fellow of St John’s, will be holding a reception to mark the launch of his new book, Every Wrong Direction: An Emigré's Memoir.
Hosting the reading and conversation will be St John’s Fellow Professor John Kerrigan. The event will feature readings and discussion, and audience members will have the opportunity to ask their own questions. A drinks reception will follow in the Central Hall where books will be available to purchase.
Open to all, admission free.
Further details and to register
Tour of the Fitzwilliam Museum – Saturday 29 October, 2pm
Fitzwilliam Museum.
With Professor Patrick Boyde, Fellow of St John’s. Meet at the museum’s public entrance.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests. Admission free, booking not required.
Julia Hwang and friends in concert – Sunday 30 October, 8pm
Old Divinity School.
In the first of this term’s concerts by alumnae marking the 40th anniversary of the admission of women to St John’s, alumna Julia Hwang returns to St John’s with a programme of music for violin, clarinet (Lloyd Van't Hoff) and piano (James Drinkwater) including works by Poulenc, Beach, Bartok and Khatchaturian.
Open to all, admission free. Register for tickets
Tour of Chapel – Wednesday 2 November, 2pm
Meet in the Ante-Chapel.
With an introduction by The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley followed by a 95-minute tour with Stephen Stokes, Chapel Clerk.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests. Admission free, booking not required.
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective concert – Wednesday 2 November, 8pm
Old Divinity School.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the admission of women to St John’s, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective performs romantic music for strings and piano by Fanny Mendelssohn, Gabriel Fauré, and Florence Price. The programme also features the premiere of a new celebratory commission by alumna Lara Weaver, composed for another alumna, cellist Laura Van Der Heijden.
Open to all, admission free. Register for tickets
Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture 2022 – Friday 4 November, 5pm
Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA.
The 16th Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture, Black Holes, Thermodynamics and Information Loss, will be given by Professor Robert Wald, professor of Physics at the University of Chicago.
Admission is free but booking is required via the Faculty of Mathematics Events page.
Jonathan Gilmour memorial service – Saturday 5 November, 12pm
St John’s College Chapel.
A memorial service is being held for postgraduate student Jonathan Gilmour, who died in April.
All welcome to attend. Please register in advance to assist with planning seating and refreshments.
Full details and registration form
SBR’s Postgraduate Research Symposium – Saturday 12 November
Palmerston Room and Fisher Building Foyer.
Details to be confirmed.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests. Admission free, booking not required.
Postgraduates Dine with Fellows – Wednesday 16 November, 7.30pm
Hall.
Open to College postgraduates. Free of charge, limited places, register via Upay after 20 October.
Dramatisation from the Divine Comedy – Wednesday 16 & Thursday 17 November, 7.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
Fellow Professor Patrick Boyde presents Dante’s Virgil: the Tragedy of a more-than-Father, a semi-staging of scenes from Dante’s epic 14th-century poem, the Divine Comedy.
In Italian with subtitles, images and music.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme.
Admission free, booking recommended.
Book for Wednesday 16 November performance or Thursday 17 November performance
Mya-Rose Craig, ‘Birdgirl’, at Cambridge Literary Festival – Saturday 19 November, 2-3pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
Mya-Rose Craig, author of Birdgirl and second-year BA student at St John’s, will be appearing at the Winter Festival in conversation with fellow birder and nature writer Helen Mcdonald.
Full-price tickets are £12; concs tickets are available to under 25s, the unwaged ‘and those feeling the pinch’.
Ghost walk – Thursday 24 November, 5.45pm
Meet in the Third Court Cloister by the Bridge of Sighs.
With Fellow Dr Mark Nicholls.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests. Admission free, booking not required.
Precarious lives: inequalities in health through the lens of the film maker – Wednesday 30 November, 1.15pm for 1.45pm start
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
Director Ken Loach is due to appear at this rare afternoon workshop and screening of his acclaimed 2019 film Sorry We Missed You.
St John’s Reading Group on Health Inequalities has organised the event, which comes at a time of deep concern about the impact of rising poverty on child health and development, in association with the University’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH).
Free of charge. Donations will be collected at the event for Cambridge City Foodbank and Cambridge Aid.
Book your place via the CRASSH events page
Ghost stories – Wednesday 7 December, 8.45pm
Combination Room.
With Professor Patrick Boyde.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, visiting Fellows and their guests. Admission free, booking not required.
And finally…
A group of 45 students, predominantly postgraduate members of St John’s, processed to the Senate House this morning to receive their degrees.
Led by Steve Poppitt, Head Porter, the group celebrated their achievements in Hall with their families and members of the Fellowship.
Visit the College’s social media channels for further photographs.
