Brasenose Womens 1974 Network:
We had a terrific party for the Brasenose Womens 1974 Network at a pub within Kings Cross Station on 28 January. Although men are certainly not excluded it was an was an honour to be the only man present amongst about 45 women. I spoke about diversity and why it was close to my heart and I was followed by Margarita de Fraja a recent Modern Languages graduate who spoke about diversity portraiture within College amongst other things. The event was organised excellently by Jane Johnson and Amanda Holland.
A welcome silver gift:
I am delighted to record that to mark the occasion of his 55th birthday and twentieth year as a fellow of Brasenose, Prof Chris McKenna has made a gift of silver to the Senior Common Room. These two silver decanter labels – one for Claret and the other for Madeira – were both made in 1809 by the London silversmith Elizabeth Morley and are of a very similar style. There is a wonderful parallelism in this name to the college’s 1515 benefactor, Elizabeth Morley.
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has several similar decanter labels that were fashioned and hallmarked by her. It is great to add a female silversmith to our silver collection in Brasenose.
Holocaust Memorial Day:
The Chapel service on 27 January was related to Holocaust Memorial Day which was on the following day. The sermon entitled “Stand Together” was given by Dr Ed Kessler the Founder Director of the Woolf Institute in Cambridge which specialises in interfaith matters. His powerful sermon can be found on their website
https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/blog/stand-together-holocaust-memorial-day-2020
The choir sang beautifully a haunting Yiddish song which had been written in the Vilna ghetto.
Miscellany:
We are very lucky to have a group of dedicated and distinguished journalists and public relations consultants who are willing to help us with media issues. We hold regular meetings with them in London. We look at scenarios based on possible media approaches.
This term we welcome Prof Todd Davies as the Stanford Fellow and Prof David Kirch as a Visiting Fellow.
I have been reading The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, a History Fellow at Worcester College