St John's College Alumni eNewsletter - August 2024

Dear Friends,

College during Long Vacation looks very peaceful from the air - and is from ground level too. It's not too quiet, however, as the quads have been buzzing with Inspire Summer Schools and we have welcomed this year's Visiting Scholars to College.

However, a little quiet is very welcome after such a busy and productive Trinity Term! Our students have continued to work incredibly hard, but have made time to succeed in a range of sports too. Our staff have also worked hard to support the College, and you can read a little about what the Works Team have been up to below. 

And, there have of course been many events! It has been wonderful to have so many opportunities to meet more of you, and I look forward to this continuing after summer. 

All best wishes,

Sue

Professor Dame Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome
President

Snapshot of College Life Trinity 2024

College Works

Throughout the term the Works team have been working to preserve and improve our beautiful College. The team recently went on a stained glass restoration course. The results look very impressive!

Glen, Painter and Decorator at St John's, described the day:

‘This course not only offered us new skills which will greatly benefit the College, but I think some of us might take it up as a hobby. It was very satisfying to restore these badly smashed/damaged stained glass windows – and completely start from scratch and make them new again. We are currently making a new workshop in the yard so we can tackle some of the lead windows around College.’

Sports

The annual Sports Dinner was held earlier this term to celebrate the College’s successes in sport, both in terms of victories and increasing participation. The dinner gave us the chance to thank the groundsman, Ian Madden, who attended along with his partner Tara, as well as all those members of College, such as from the Bursary and the Works Department, who make our sporting activity possible.

Honorary Fellow Musa Okwonga (1998, Jurisprudence) gave a very funny but also moving speech reflecting on the significance of his own time playing sport as an SJC student, and we were also fortunate to be joined by Musa’s fellow podcaster Ian Wright, and Ian’s wife Nancy Hallam Wright. Ian has long been a champion of women’s football and he enjoyed his discussion over dinner with members of the Women’s team.

Honorary Fellows

St John's is incredibly lucky to have so many high distinguished Honorary Fellows, representing a very wide variety of achievements and experiences. 

This term, I was delighted to welcome back to College two of our three new Honorary Fellows, Caroline Plumb OBE(1996, EEM) and Nadia Motraghi KC (1997, Jurisprudence). Honorary Fellowship is the most prestigious means by which the College recognises the distinction of alumni and other members of St John's and we can all look forward to seeing Caroline and Nadia in Oxford more often and to their ongoing contribution to the life of our community. Congratulations to them both on their election.

Cats

I was hoping to sign off for the summer with a picture of all three of our cats, Case, Baylie and Laud, together, but they are so independent now that is is very hard to catch them all in the same place! I hope that many of you who have visted us over the past few months have had a chance to say hello to them as they explore College.