Wesley’s memorial service
On 12 November our chapel was packed for the memorial service of Wesley Akum-Ojong. There were beautiful poetry readings, and speeches from Prof Katerina Tertytchnaya, John Akum-Ojong and Taona Makunganya as well as myself. I said “Wesley was a great student, wise before his years, a budding Prime Minister, a true Brasenose man. He made a real impact on the Brasenose he was a cherished part of for only a year. He will live on in the memories of those who were lucky enough to have taught him”. We were joined by many members of Wesley’s family. He is greatly missed in our community.
The new organ
An organ is a truly wonderful instrument and we now have a terrific modern organ. This was inducted at the Platnauer Concert on Friday of week 3 by Polina Sosnina our Director of Music. Playing with her for one piece was Margo Smith. She and her husband very generously paid for the organ. We are incredibly grateful to them. It also provided a wonderful opportunity to meet the Belgians behind the construction of the organ.
Celebrating 50 years of women
On 3 November Bishop Rose Hudson Wilkins, the Bishop of Dover, gave a sermon at the service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first undergraduate women to be admitted to the College. She spoke on All Saints Day and weaved this into the sermon so as to relate the passage that all are called to be saints. It was a spirited sermon punctuated with laughter. We look forward to the launch of her book, The Girl from Montego Bay.
Thanks to Sara Jones for penning this account of the lunch to celebrate the 50th year of the admission of women undergraduates which I could not attend as I was clearly not one of that select band:
“Among the many events being held to mark the arrival of women in college half a century ago was a lunch just for us, the originals on Saturday 26 October. Sadly in the end only 6 of us could attend. As well as me, Sara Jones, there were Ros Arnold, Katy Child, Anne Edwards, Amanda Kelly and Nancy Thorpe. We had a short wallow in nostalgia but spent most of the lunch catching up on our present lives, and, thanks to Anne being a fellow at the College, finding out about life at BNC 50 years on. Tempting though it might have been to fall into the ‘In our day you had to scrape the ice off the inside of your window/ do two essays a week written by hand!’ and so on, we were all actually more interested in hearing that now students not only have better living conditions but are also much better supported in both academic and pastoral ways than in 1974. We were very grateful to the college for hosting the lunch and look forward to the other events in the coming year”.
Traherne 350
Between 20 and 25 October there was a week of events to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the important poet and spiritual writer Thonmas Traherne who was an alumnus of ours. Bishop David Thomson gave a wonderful sermon about him on 20 October and we held an exhibition about him in our Library. The next day there was a well attended Creative Translation workshop in the Amersi Room.
William Golding and other Brasenose authors
The College was treated to an exhibition from the archives about William Golding and other Brasenose authors. This was to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of “Lord of the Flies”. It included William Golding’s Nobel Prize certificate and medal. Although I could not attend it myself, I am told that it was fascinating collection, including Michael Palin’s copy of the director’s script for “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, plus Terry Gilliam's storyboard drawings, correspondence concerning ‘the naughty bits’, the accounts for the film and other material. The exhibition also displayed the first pages of a number of membership books for different clubs (Pater Society, Ingoldsby Essay Society, and Crocodile Club). On the first page of each book were the hand written rules which were most amusing (and in most cases would not be allowed now!)
Prof Ian Shipsey
We all mourn the untimely death of Prof Ian Shipsey, Henry Moseley Centenary Professor of Experimental Physics and Head of Oxford Physics who died last month. He was the husband of Prof Daniella Bortoletto one of our Senior Kurti Fellows. He was a wonderful man who dined frequently at Brasenose and loved the College. He leaves an outstanding legacy in terms of scientific research. We send our condolences to Daniella and the wider family.