Selwyn bell-ringers rang a half-muffled peal of Cambridge Surprise Major to commemorate the College alumni who died in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts. It took 2 hours 47 minutes, and involved about 5,000 different bell changes. One of the ringers said afterwards that the peal was never in danger of “firing out”, ringers’ parlance for a poorly-struck peal. Pictured outside the Parish Church in Trumpington are the ringers (left to right): Rod Lebon, Nigel Gale, Robin Heppenstall (who conducted), Camilla Haggett, Paul Seaman, Nicholas Haggett, Mark Norris and Vivian Nutton. We congratulate them on their marathon effort.

Selwyn College is deeply saddened by the death today of Professor William Brock at the age of 98. Born in May 1916, he became a Fellow of the College in 1947 – and remained a much-respected part of College life for the next 67 years. We express our condolences to Professor Brock’s family and friends, and to all who knew him at Selwyn during his long and greatly-distinguished career.

Women in German Studies (WIGS) is an annual meeting and acts as a professional network to support female Germanists throughout their careers. The WIGS conference was held at Selwyn this year, and hosted by the College’s Fellow in German, Dr Charlotte Woodford.

There was an afternoon workshop for early career researchers, providing a valuable opportunity to share expertise on public engagement and the use of social media (tweeting on #wigs2014); and sixteen speakers gave presentations on the latest research in German studies, on topics ranging from medieval pilgrimages to hip-hop. Ina Linge from Cambridge was awarded first prize in a new competition for the best postgraduate essay.

The College was saddened to hear of the death of Dr Tony Hillier, a Selwyn Fellow in Physiology from 1971 to 1998. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, coming to Selwyn to study for his PhD. After a brief spell at Trinity as Research Fellow, he returned here for the rest of his academic career. In later life Tony Hillier became known as a metal sculptor, and he was interviewed for an article about his work: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2007/08/07/tony_hillier_feature.shtml

Tony Hillier 1942-2014. Our condolences to his family and friends.

Selwyn’s acts of Remembrance this year include:

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  Sunday, November 9^th, at 10am: the morning Communion service starting half an hour later than usual to enable it to lead into the traditional Two Minute Silence at 11am.
  


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  Later in the day, the choir’s performance of Duruflé’s Requiem during a Choral Eucharist beginning at 6pm. The names recorded on the College War Memorials are read aloud during this service.
  


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  On Tuesday, November 11^th, the Silence is also kept at 11am in Chapel.
  

Our photograph, by Andrew Flather, was taken in November 2014 in the Selwyn College Chapel.

 

There was a large attendance in Selwyn’s Chapel on Sunday for a recital of the poetry of Wilfred Owen, preceded and followed by choral music for Remembrance performed by our choir. The picture below shows Peter Owen, Wilfred’s nephew, who was the College’s guest of honour for the event.

The poetry was read by alumnus Roger Williams (matriculated 1958) and accompanied by images and music from the First World War. You can read more about Owen at http://www.wilfredowen.org.uk/home/. Our photograph shows some of the early arrivals in Chapel as they were waiting for the Choir to take their places.

This was the first of a series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War. Next Sunday (November 9th) the choir will perform Duruflé’s Requiem at a Choral Eucharist from 6pm.

Selwyn’s sports teams have had some early success as their 2014-15 campaigns get underway. The men’s rugby team defeated Robinson College 24-5 this week, and our footballers beat Trinity Hall 1-0. The photograph below shows Selwyn rugby players in action against the College Old Boys earlier in October.

Also pictured at the Old Boys/Old Girls Sports Day are some of our netball players.

You can keep in touch with all College sport on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SelwynSport?fref=ts

On Remembrance Sunday, 9 November, a band of Selwyn bell ringers will attempt to ring a half-muffled peal in memory of all Selwyn alumni who died in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts. The attempt, which will be made on the 8 bells of the Parish Church of St Mary & St Michael, Trumpington, is being coordinated by Robin Heppenstall, Tower Captain at All Saints, Gainsborough. It involves ringing about 5,000 different bell changes, without any interruption or significant mistakes of deviation or hesitation, and taking about 3 hours of continuous concentration to complete. The bell clappers will be muffled on one side in the traditional manner of ringing for remembrance.

The eight members of Selwyn who will be taking part are

Nigel Gale (m 1989)

Camilla Haggett (m 1995)

Nick Haggett (m 1990)

Robin Heppenstall (m 1956)

Rod Lebon (m 1968)

Mark Norris (m 1983)

Vivian Nutton (Hon Fellow, m 1962)

Paul Seaman. (m 1982)

 

Ringing is expected to begin at 2:15 pm and, if all goes well, should finish around 4:45 to 5 pm. Interested listeners will be welcome in or outside the church. It will be followed, at 6 pm, by a choral Requiem Mass in the College Chapel.

Our pictures show the Selwyn Choir at their annual apple-picking session in the garden of Mary Sweet. Mary is the widow of John Sweet, former Chaplain, Fellow and Vice Master of the College; and she regularly attends Choral Evensong in Chapel. As well as apples, the Choir members picked quinces and raked the lawn; but they do seem to have needed a head for heights.

 

Congratulations to Dr Janet O’Sullivan and Peter Fox on the 20th anniversary of their becoming Fellows of Selwyn College. Dr O’Sullivan is Director of Studies for Law and was recently appointed Dean, while Mr Fox is a former University Librarian and currently a member of the College Council.