Reflections on the past year by master, Roger Mosey.

October

We begin the freshers’ suppers, now in their 11th year — and a feature for every incoming group of first-years, even at the height of the pandemic. In 2020 we moved from the Master’s Lodge to the Hall, but they still got their food. The menus started by being themed as Mexican, Italian and Indian in rotation, but enthusiasm for Mexican seemed to wane. There’s a finite amount of chili con carne that a master and his students can eat. But what cuisine could replace it? Our brilliant head chef Zsolt and his deputy Ferenc are Hungarian so — guess what — they suggested we introduce Hungarian night. It has been a big success. There has been a certain amount of adaptation: goulash is really a soup, but we serve it here as more of a beef stew. However, the chicken paprikash has gone down a storm along with authentic noodles. Best of all is dessert: an apple strudel, which I think Hungary is allowed to claim as part of the former Austro-Hungarian empire. Zsolt and Ferenc each make them somewhat differently — I can tell who’s cooking on which night — but the strudels score 10/10 with the freshers each time.

December

Christmas Day and another recent Selwyn tradition: drinks in the Lodge for students and academics who are in Cambridge over the holidays, along with some of my family and friends. We never have fewer than a dozen people turn up, and often around 20; and it always seems special being together on Christmas morning. In the first couple of these events in 2013 and 2014 we were joined by a PhD student called Milan. He was from Bosnia Herzegovina, and he brought the gift of a book about his home country. Later, meeting some of his family at graduation I learned more about his story — which, when he was a child, entailed grabbing some possessions and fleeing from their home because, as Bosnian Serbs, they feared they would be killed by government soldiers. It was a reminder that horrifying events in modern Europe, with atrocities by all sides in the Balkans, predate the current crisis in Ukraine. Milan started work in the UK when he finished his degree, and a couple of years ago he became a British citizen. In the recent election, he was a voter in the UK for the first time. Milan’s story is an example of how Cambridge changes lives, and makes this country better.

February

Cambridge United Football Club offered free tickets to Selwyn students for one of their home matches, as part of their attempts to build stronger links between the club and the university. A total of 35 people took up the offer, some of them going to a professional football match for the first time. I discovered that the tickets were for the standing area of the ground, so I’ll confess that I managed to arrange a seat in the stands for me and my fellowship colleague Daniel Beauregard because I am at a stage in life when the romance of the terraces has lost its allure. It was, in truth, not a great game. United lost to relegation rivals Cheltenham Town. But they’re a lovely club, and as a result of our contact with them the college is now entering into a partnership with their charitable arm the Cambridge United Foundation — which will provide volunteering opportunities for students and a way of bringing town and gown closer together. The lack of connection between the university and the rest of the city is troubling, so our aim is that we and other colleges can start putting things right. 

June

The sadness of losing YoYo was softened by knowing how much she was loved in the college community. She was rehomed from a basset pack in Hertfordshire, and she swapped sleeping outside in a wooden-floored pen with 20 other dogs for sofas and cushions (which she came to see as essential) at Selwyn. When our alumnus Hugh Laurie met YoYo a few years back he said to her “well, you landed on your feet when you came here”. He was right. But I was very lucky to have her too.