College bulletin: 6 May

The badgers and foxes in last week’s Bulletin proved to be our most popular news item of the week, today we have some insect themed content below to keep people buzzing.

In other news, don’t forget that if you are interested in the natural world, we have a biodiversity day in College tomorrow. All the details are in the What’s On guide.

College news

Students highlight ‘exceptional’ academic support from St John’s duo in annual awards

A member of Library staff and an academic from St John’s College have been recognised for their outstanding teaching and support in awards run by Cambridge University students.

Rebecca Le Marchand, Library Assistant, and Dr Jodi Gardner, a Fellow of St John’s, have both been shortlisted in this year’s Student-Led Teaching Awards.

Full story

Other news

Love took my hand Herbert service to air on BBC Radio 4

A service of music and words from St John’s College Chapel celebrating the life and works of the priest and poet George Herbert will be broadcast during this week’s Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4.

The service, which was led by the Dean of Chapel, the Revd Dr Mark Oakley, was recorded in the Chapel yesterday (Thursday) and looks at Herbert’s works in the context of the Easter season.

Listen to the broadcast on Radio 4 at 8.10am on Sunday 8 May and via the BBC Sounds app, or the service will be available online shortly after broadcast.

You can also listen back to the Service of Evensong sung on Wednesday and broadcast live by BBC Radio 3.

See the order of service.

Submit your photographs for The Eagle

The Development Office is seeking photographs to feature in the 2022 edition of The Eagle, the College’s annual record. Students, staff and Fellows are invited to submit photos from all aspects of College life but particularly of the grounds and active shots of people enjoying the collegiate environment.

See examples of the kinds of images used previously.

Images need to be high resolution (preferably 1MB+) and please include any relevant credits and permission from those featured in the photos.

Please email your photos to Ellie Collingwood, Alumni Relations Officer.

Calling all writers, artists and poets

Submissions are now open for entries in the St John’s Poetry Pamphlet 2022, the student-created publication that has been showcasing the work of College poets since 2017.

All Johnians are invited to send in original work for consideration for this fifth issue of the publication. Entries can be poems; prose poems; creative translations; foreign-language poems; poetic analysis and artwork.

Submissions close at midnight on 1 June 2022. View submission guidelines on the website, where you can also see past issues, and email your submissions and queries.

The Redboys in Cuppers Final

The Rugby Cuppers Final will see the St John’s College Rugby team, The Redboys, go up against Fitz-Sidney tomorrow.

The last game of the academic year and 2020+1-2022 season will take place at the CURUFC on Grange Road (CB3 9BN) at 4.45pm for 5pm.

It is billed as the last chance for a few senior Redboys to taste Cuppers victory – so is one not to miss.

St John’s fans are asked to wear red in support of the team. Good luck to The Redboys!

Lunch in the Lodge

The Master and Mr Mark Hancock welcomed current members of the JCR and SBR to the Master’s Lodge for lunch.

Committee members who finished their positions this academic year were also invited. The Senior Tutor, Domestic Bursar and Tutor for Postgraduates, also attended.

JCR and SBR students in the Master's Lodge

Student help adds up at workshop

Seven mathematics offer-holders came to St John’s for the first in-person STEP workshop to take place since the pandemic began.

Four student trainers helped the attendees, plus three more sixth-formers who joined the sessions remotely, to prepare for their STEP exams this summer. STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) is an additional mathematics examination, taken at the end of Year 13, which forms part of conditional offers to applicants for mathematics and some related degrees at Cambridge and some other universities.

The exam is designed to test candidates on questions that are similar in style to undergraduate mathematics. Although demanding, it gives prospective candidates a chance to engage with interesting and challenging mathematics.

Booking the gazebo on the Paddock

The Bookings Office team is pleased to see the gazebo on the Paddock being used but wishes to remind College members to please book it in advance via the online booking system.  The gazebo is now being booked for Supervisions and meetings, so if you have not booked it please be aware you may be asked to leave when those that have reserved it arrive.

Physio back in College

Physiotherapist Luke Bowman will be in College on Thursdays from 12 May. There are three appointments each Thursday afternoon, bookable via The Health Centre Moodle, and he offers a discounted fee of £25 for students.

If you are a member of staff and wish to make an appointment with Luke, please contact the College Nurses at the Health and Wellbeing Centre.  

Email address allocation and management

The University’s Information Services Committee is continuing to review its policy on the allocation and management of email addresses. Including emails that end in @cam.ac.uk and @joh.cam.ac.uk and departmental subdomains.

A survey was conducted earlier this year on the principles of the new policy and it has been decided that it will be developed during the academic year 2022-23. It is now expected that any changes that arise will come into effect in the academic year 2023-24. Further updates will be shared in due course but it is expected that any changes will be relevant to current and retired University and College staff, Fellows, and associates.

What’s on

Chapel

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.

Student communion – Sunday 8 May, 8.30am

Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.

Organ recital – Sunday 8 May, 6pm

Former St John’s College Organ Scholar Edward Picton-Turbervill will be performing works by Bach, Cauchefer-Choplin, Duruflé and himself.

Open to all, admission free.

A full programme for the term is available here.

Sunday Evensong Sermon series: No Shame in a Tutu – Sunday 8 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 Revd Dr James Walters, Chaplain of the London School of Economics. He will be addressing the issue of interfaith understanding.

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 – Monday 9 May, 6.30pm

Sung by St John’s Voices and Pembroke College Chapel Choir.

Open to all, admission free.

Compline by Candlelight – Tuesday 10 May, 10pm

Come and find a little sanctuary for half an hour. Port will be served afterwards (not hot chocolate this time, but it will be back).

Open to all, admission free.

Choral Evensong live-streamed with Classic FM – Thursday 12 May, 6.30pm

Evensong this Thursday will be video live-streamed with Classic FM via Facebook Live. The service will feature works by Radcliffe, Kelly, Elgar and Vierne.

If you wish to attend in person, please be seated by 6.15pm.

Open to all, admission free.

Memorial service for Prof Roger Griffin – Saturday 14 May, 12pm

A memorial service for Professor Roger Francis Griffin, BA, PhD, ScD, Fellow of St John’s College and Emeritus Professor of Observational Astronomy.

Open to all. More details.

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.

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

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.

Full details

Rugby Cuppers Final: The Redboys vs Fitz-Sidney – 4.45pm for 5pm

CURUFC, Grange Road, Cambridge CB3 9BN.

St John’s College Rugby team, The Redboys, face Fitz-Sidney in the last game of the season.

More details on The Redboys’ Facebook page

Second Lads’ Advice annual dinner – Saturday 7 May, 5.30pm

Fundraising dinner by the peer support community, Lads’ Advice, to raise money for the charity PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.

Roy Sloane, Deputy Head Porter at Trinity College and former Black Watch Soldier, will bagpipe guests from the Great Gate to Eagle Gate for a drinks reception with entertainment from Cambridge University drumming band Os Surdinhos, led by St John's student Eve Machin. Guests will then attend Evensong followed by a three-course meal with wine and coffee in Hall.

Special guests include Robin Horsfall SAS (Op Nimrod), Brigadier Alex Macintosh, Superintendent Keith Fraser (Chair of the Youth Justice Board) and Major Andrew Fox (lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, mental health advocate, star of The Paras: Men of War). 

Open to members of the Lads’ Advice Facebook group. For tickets and queries contact postgraduate organiser Gav Topley (limited tickets remaining) or donate to his fundraising page.

Meet at the Great Gate.

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.

Full details

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.

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

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…

College opens new Air bee ‘n bee

The first guests have flown-in to St John’s to stay at the College’s new boutique collection of bee hotels.

Funded by The St John’s College Climate Crisis Award, the insect hotels will be home to mason bee cocoons to improve biodiversity at College.

A group of 16 hotels have now been installed around the main College site and in the gardens of College properties. Postgraduate students Filip Bošković and Campbell Stuart Matthews, along with a colleague from Girton College, Djordje Ogrizovic, secured the funding for their project. The initiative will be supported in the long term by the College’s Beekeeping Society.

We hope they enjoy their house-swarming party.

Photo by Paul Everest.

Bee entering bee hotel