College bulletin: 29 April
Welcome back to College and to the Bulletin! Exam term, I mean Easter term, has started with a bang with graduands and their families being welcomed to College for the first in-person graduations with guests permitted at Senate House. Lawnmowers are already falling silent when exams are taking place - St John’s students will sit a whopping 3268 exams before the famous May Ball rolls back around for the first time in three years. The Covid Helpdesk continues to run and Fellows, students and staff should continue to report cases of Covid to College via the online reporting forms.
As ever, do feel free to read every word of the Bulletin as worthwhile procrastination during revision/research/work – you’ll be rewarded for your effort with some wildlife footage.
College news
First female choristers welcomed as members of The Choir of St John’s
The Choir of St John’s has made history by admitting girls and women for the first time – making it the only Oxbridge choir to have both male and female members among the children and the students.
Three girls and one woman joined the internationally renowned choir as full members this week.
European grants awarded to academics supporting world’s transition to a carbon-free society
Two St John’s Fellows have won funding from the European Research Council to invest in their pioneering work in the field of green energy.
Professor Erwin Reisner is one of nine Cambridge academics to have been awarded Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC), which are made to leading researchers who are established in their field and have a recognised track record of achievements.
Dr Laura Torrente Murciano has recently been named as one of five Cambridge researchers to win Consolidator Grants from the ERC. These are designed to support excellent researchers in ground-breaking and ambitious projects with the potential to transform their research fields.
Tributes paid to ‘shining light’ of College community
An ‘intellectually brilliant’ postgraduate student at St John’s has died aged 35.
Jonathan Gilmour was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive muscle-weakening and wasting condition, when he was seven. He used a wheelchair from the age of 13.
Jonathan came to St John’s as an undergraduate in 2005, graduating with a First in Theology and Religious Studies before taking an outstanding MPhil and progressing, in 2009, to a PhD on the theological and religious language in Joseph B. Soloveitchik's discussion of the possibility of Jewish-Christian dialogue.
Read the College tributes to Jonathan
Boys are more demanding than girls before they are born – according to scientists
Finding out the sex of a baby during pregnancy could lead to better life chances, a new Cambridge study has discovered.
Male baby pregnancies are more likely to result in complications, possibly because they grow faster in the womb and require more nutrients and oxygen than supplied by the mother through the placenta. Now scientists have discovered the sex of a fetus can affect how well the placenta functions, says Dr Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, a Fellow of St John’s.
BBC to record two St John’s College Chapel services
Two Chapel services will be recorded by the BBC next week.
On Wednesday May 4, Evensong will take place at the earlier time of 4pm and it will be livestreamed on BBC Radio 3 – please be seated in Chapel by 3.45pm if you wish to be in the congregation during the live broadcast.
On Thursday May 5, a service of music and words celebrating of the life and works of the priest and poet George Herbert will be recorded in the Chapel, please be seated by 4.45pm if you wish to be in the congregation during the recording. This service will be broadcast on Sunday 8 May at 8.10am on BBC Radio 4.
Nobel prize-winner Sir Roger Penrose delivers talk at St John’s
The inaugural Penrose Lecture was given by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Roger Penrose, alumnus and Honorary Fellow of St John’s College.
A sold-out audience of Fellows, students and staff gathered for the first talk in this new biennial lecture series at the College on 9 March 2022.
Watch a recording of the lecture
Festival of poetry returns to St John’s College this spring
Poetry is springing back to life after a two-year hiatus at St John’s College with the launch of a free festival featuring prize-winning poets from Britain, Ireland and around the world.
Poetry Spring has been organised by poets Sasha Dugdale, St John’s writer-in-residence, and Dr Mina Gorji, a Fellow at Pembroke College, and will be a day of discussions, readings and workshop on Saturday 30 April.
Full story and booking details
Protection of refugee animals is vital to support livelihoods and health
Animals play a central role in many peoples’ lives, and the lifting of veterinary regulations to allow them to be moved to safety during the current humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is unprecedented.
St John's PhD student Dorien Braam argues for this approach to be replicated across other refugee contexts.
Lack of transparency over cost of conservation projects hampers ability to prioritise funds to protect nature
A new study has found that costs of conservation projects are rarely reported, making it difficult for others to make decisions on the most cost-effective interventions at a time when funding for biodiversity conservation is severely limited.
Thomas White, from the University’s Department of Zoology, carried out the study as part of his PhD at St John’s College.
Other news
Competition launches to design a silk scarf
The Johnian Society Committee is commissioning the design and production of a silk scarf that will be available to buy from Churchill Gowns.
The Society is looking for a design which captures the spirit of the St John's community and welcomes submissions from students, Fellows and staff. The scarf will be a square of 90cm by 90cm. Designs can be submitted as drawings or paintings but they should be to scale or larger so that the resolution will be clear enough when they are converted to a digital format for printing. If you are able to design the artwork digitally, please use one of these formats: .tif; .psd (Photoshop) minimum 300 dpi; or .ai (Illustrator).
Please send your designs to Zip Jila, Honorary Secretary of The Johnian Society, by 30 May. The creator of the selected design will win two scarves.
College golf competition tees off
Fellows and staff are invited to take part in this year’s golf competition, the President’s cup, being held at Ely Golf Club on Tuesday 14 June.
This social golf event is a Stableford competition, which means the player with the highest point total is the winner, and is open to all Fellows and staff.
Email Porter Mark Nelligan for full details or pop into one of the Porters’ Lodges for a chat.
Last summer’s golf competition was played at Bar Hill and Chef Tim Robinson was victorious. Some of last year’s golfers are pictured below, along with Tim receiving his trophy from the College President, Professor Steve Edgley.
Photos courtesy of Keith Pearson.
Visiting the Old Library
The Upper Library will be open for members of the College community and their guests every Wednesday afternoon 2-4pm during Full Term. Entry is via E staircase Second Court only (please note: there is no access from the Working Library). A selection of interesting items from the collections will be on display and a member of staff will be available to answer questions.
(It is not possible to admit College members and their guests to visit the Old Library on a drop-in basis via the Working Library this term, as work is being carried out in the Lower Library to improve the environmental conditions for the storage of rare books.)
The Reading Room is open Monday to Friday for the consultation of Special Collections by appointment. Booking requests and enquiries may be directed to Special Collections.
Library visitors in their element as exhibitions return
Visitors snapped up all 125 tickets to view ‘Weigh me the fire’: The Elements of an Old Library exhibition held in the College’s Old Library on 9 April as part of the Cambridge Festival.
The exhibition was the first public exhibition since autumn 2019. Visit the online version of the exhibition on the College website.
Writer-in-residence supports Ukrainian fundraiser at Royal Court
A translation by St John’s College writer-in-residence Sasha Dugdale of the play Bad Roads by the acclaimed Ukrainian playwright Natalya Vorozhbit was performed at an In Solidarity Ukrainian fundraiser at the Royal Court in London on Friday 1 April.
Sasha’s translation of the play from Russian was first performed at the theatre in 2017 and tells of the brutal effects of war. The event, which also included readings of personal accounts of the war in Ukraine from 10 members of Kyiv’s Theatre of Playwrights, marked the first major UK presentation of Ukrainian plays since Russia’s invasion began in February.
The event was livestreamed on The Guardian website with donations in aid of Unicef UK’s fundraising appeal for children in Ukraine. Ticket revenue went to supporting Ukrainian artists involved in the event.
Sasha is organising a Poetry Spring festival at St John’s on Saturday 30 April. See College news, above, to find out more.
Johnian magazine is out now
The spring issue of Johnian magazine is now available digitally and in print.
The edition can be read online or copies can be picked up from the Forecourt Porters’ Lodge.
May Ball posters go on sale
The May Ball Committee is currently taking orders for this year's May Ball poster (professionally printed at A2) at £5 each.
You can buy posters using this form. The closing date for orders and payment is Monday 9 May at midday.
If you have any questions, please email.
TerraCycle scheme ends - but keep up the good work
The TerraCycle crisp packet recycling scheme has now closed. Please do continue to recycle crisp packets via any soft plastic recycling collection near you, for example in Sainsbury’s and Co-op branches. Thank you for your many offerings over the course of this scheme –a lot of plastic has been kept out of landfill.
St John’s features in new BBC documentary series
Scenes from St John’s starring young actors from the College school appear in a new BBC Two documentary series exploring Britain’s creative history, Art That Made Us.
The eight weekly programmes, which are currently being aired on Thursdays at 9pm, include the final episode on Harry Potter, filmed at St John's and featuring children from St John's College School performing extracts from JK Rowling’s books.
All eight episodes can also be viewed on BBC iPlayer. Episode 8, entitled Brilliant Isles, features St John’s from 43 minutes, 28 seconds in.
Watch the series on BBC iPlayer
Asthma and hayfever – know your pollen triggers
The Health and Wellbeing team have issued some advice about how to minimise the impact of hay fever, particularly for people who have asthma.
It includes carrying inhalers at all times and taking preventative action with antihistamines before symptoms arrive.
Further advice can be found online.
Eastertide Evensong released
The College Choir released a new album on Easter Sunday. Eastertide Evensong is the second live Evensong album released by the Choir following the success of Ash Wednesday. The recording is structured in a traditional Evensong format, including anthems, psalms, canticles, prayers, bible readings and organ music.
Andrew Nethsingha says of the project: “I’ve been involved in making music for around 10,000 Evensongs in my lifetime so far! This service from 2018 sticks in my mind as being particularly special. There was a great frisson and sense of occasion - having hundreds of thousands listening live on the radio will have helped! Evensong provides a timeless framework for music of many periods - here we include a wonderful variety from the 16th century to the present day.”
You can stream or purchase the new album here, and the booklet is available to read here.
What’s on
Chapel
Student communion – Sunday 1 May, 8.30am
Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.
Commemoration of Benefactors Service – Sunday 1 May, 10.30am
At this special service we remember with gratitude all those who have given generously to the life of the College over the years, from its earliest days to much more recent endeavours – especially our substantial access projects.
This year’s address, entitled ‘Benefaction for beneficiaries: for better, for worse’, will be given by Loretta Minghella OBE, Master of Clare College.
Open to all, admission free.
Organ recital – Sunday 1 May, 6pm
Our first organ recital of Easter Term will be taken by concert organist Katelyn Emerson. She will be performing works by Tournemire, Laurin, Brahms, and Bairstow.
Open to all, admission free.
A full programme for the term will be available shortly here.
Sunday Evensong Sermon series: No Shame in a Tutu – Sunday 1 May, 6.30pm
We have invited our preachers at Evensong this term to explore some of the areas about which Archbishop Desmond Tutu was passionate, and to which he made a significant contribution.
The preacher this evening is The Rt. Hon. Lord Boateng. His sermon is entitled ‘Dancing to Freedom’s Song: Christ, Desmond Tutu and the Global Struggle for Liberation’.
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
Evensong broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 – Wednesday 4 May, 4pm
Choral Evensong from St John’s College Chapel will be broadcast live this coming Wednesday, with music performed by the College Choir that includes works by Hadley, Clucas, Howells, and Weir.
Please note the earlier start time of 4pm. If you wish to attend in person, we ask that you are seated by 3.45pm.
You can listen to the service online here and via the BBC Sounds app, or you can tune in on 90-93 FM.
‘Sunday Worship’ recorded for BBC Radio 4 – Thursday 5 May, 5pm
A service of ‘Sunday Worship’ is to be recorded in St John’s College Chapel this coming Thursday. The recording will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 8:10am on Sunday 8th May. If you wish to attend in person, we ask that you are seated by 4.45pm.
You can listen to the service online here and via the BBC Sounds app, or you can tune in on 92-95 FM or 103-105 FM (local variations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, MW and LW frequencies also available).
Festal Evensong for St John the Evangelist – Friday 6 May, 6pm
Festal evensong for the feast of St John ante Portam Latinam (the feast of St John before the Latin gate).
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
Rugby Union Cuppers 2022 Semi Final: Redboys vs Churchill – Saturday 30 April, 1pm
CURUFC, Grange Road.
Come and support the College’s team. Open to all, admission free.
Poetry Spring – Saturday 30 April, from 1.50pm
Old Divinity School and Fellows’ Garden (weather permitting).
Free poetry festival organised by Sasha Dugdale, St John’s Writer-in-Residence, and Dr Mina Gorji, a Fellow at Pembroke College, supported by St John’s College and the Faculty of English Judith E Wilson Fund.
The event features discussions, readings and workshops with poets from across Britain, Ireland and the world.
All events are free but places are limited and must be booked. The Pavilion Poets, who are among the poets taking part, are pictured below (from left: Anita Pati, Denise Saul and Jemma Borg).
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.
Palaeography for beginners – Tuesday 3 May, 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.
Pre-Dinner Lecture Series talk – ‘Make Glass Great Again’ – Tuesday 3 May, 6.15pm
Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
Dr Lauren McHugh presents an introduction in to the fields of glass science and hybrid materials: how their disordered, glassy forms are produced and the properties of hybrid glasses and how they might be used to design the next generation of functional materials.
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: 873 1778 3589. Passcode: 554092.
Open to Fellows, affiliates and postgraduate students. Admission free.
Biodiversity Day – Saturday 7 May, 10am-2pm
College paddock and gardens.
Help to search and record the wildlife using the College gardens. Turn up at any time to get involved or join in the scheduled activities, including pond dipping, bird watching and wildlife walks.
Open to all College members, family and friends.
Dirac Lecture 2022 - The Entropy of Hawking Radiation – Monday 23 May, 2.30pm
Wolfson Room, MR2, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
A lecture from 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.
And finally
House-shares are common in Cambridge but generally the cohabitants aren’t foxes and badgers.
Don’t miss the latest wildlife footage captured in the gardens of St John’s by Dr Joana Meier, Bateson Research Fellow.
