In the midst of abundant sporting events over Easter Term, the 9th of June saw what some may consider the most vicious tournament of them all: the annual Charity Dodgeball Match, as traditionally organised by the Charities Committee.
In the lead up to the match, the film ‘Dodgeball’ was screened by the MCR in the Chapel, with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller laying down the rules of the game. On the day of the anticipated competition, the five D’s of dodgeball clearly manifested upon the courts – plenty of semi-successful Dodging, Ducking, Dipping, Diving and Dodging could be sighted.
Seven teams were pitted against each other. Amongst the flurry of balls flung in nearly every possible direction, Adam Howes notably displayed strength and frighteningly mathematical precision. Cormac Frazer did not lack in intensity nor competitive zeal. Alex Blakoe recovered from a particularly unfortunate blow with impressive swiftness. As one of the last ones standing, Tamara Bud braved through the barrage of balls that were catapulted at her.
All in all, the afternoon was great fun, and a charitable success. Congratulations to Team Gibbs for securing first place during the finals! Here are some of the teams who competed…
On Thursday evening, our Director of Music, and talented organist, Roger Muttitt, delivered a recital in the Chapel inspired by two themes: Variations and Shakespeare. It was an exquisite selection of pieces, and they were all delivered masterfully.
Roger’s first piece would be familiar to everyone who is a fan of the BBC’s The Apprentice. Sergei Prokofiev’s Dance of the Nights from his ballet Romeo and Juliet usually accompanies the start of each episode, and tonight, Roger himself transcribed the orchestral arrangement for the college’s organ. A slow, haunting and steady section is situated between by the famous thundering chords which accompany those dreaded words “You’re fired”!
Roger Muttitt became Director of Music in October 2015 and is also Head of Music at Durham School
William Shakespeare died 400 years ago, and it was very fitting that Roger selected music inspired by the bard for tonight’s recital. His other theme, Variations, was also an excellent opportunity to showcase works inspired by a common theme. His next selection was Jan Pieter Sweelinck’s Variations on ‘Mein junges Leben hat ein End’, which was written in the Sixteenth Century, in a similar style to Byrd and Gibbons, who wrote music with which Shakespeare would have been familiar. The Dutch song has a very soft, subtle melody, and as the Variations progress, it evolves into a rich, quick and powerful work that tested our Director’s dexterity and athleticism!
The Belgian composer Flor Peeters wrote Variations on an Original Theme some three centuries later, and it shares a similar structure and style, with a gentle, subtle introduction, followed by a rousing finale. This Twentieth Century piece had a richer texture, almost evoking a black-and-white film score, but it was delivered with skill and poise, with a particular highlight being the rapid fast movement.
British composer William Walton wrote the Henry V Suite, and Roger chose the Passacaglia entitled Death of Falstaff. Sir John Falstaff is a Knight who fell out of favour with the King (“The King has killed his heart”). Walton’s music begins slowly, with a sombre, powerful slow section reminiscent of a funeral march. The organ – being the King of all instruments – is capable of evoking joy and sorrow equally, and Roger’s juxtaposition of the moving Walton in between the happier Peeters and Bach meant that the audience was presented with a complete array of emotions.
The recital concluded with J. S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. An organ piece by a Baroque master was a fantastic finale to the programme. The passacaglia began like the Walton passacaglia, with a slow, sombre, gradual beginning, before evolving into the powerful and uplifting fugue. Roger interpreted Bach’s music beautifully, and as the organ grew louder and stronger, every note was played to perfection, and the audience duly gave our Director of Music a hearty round of applause as he drew the recital to a rousing end.
St. Chad’s College currently has a vacancy for an Organ Scholarship, and an Organ recital is usually delivered every term in the Chapel. On Monday, the College choir will combine with the rest of Durham University’s college choirs to sing Evensong in the Cathedral, before departing upon a tour to Amsterdam.
Tuesday 7th June may well have been the hottest day of the century for Durham, but that did not stop the Chad’s sportsmen and sportswomen from going down to Maiden Castle and performing fantastically.
With sunscreen and hats abundant, Chadsians prepared themselves to battle it out for their individual trophies as well as for the Festival of Sport title. Whilst we had a wide range of results, it was overwhelmingly clear that we excelled in determination and spirit.
We had excellent success in a huge variety of sports – special mentions must go to the Mixed Lacrosse team, who swept away the opposition and secured the trophy under the leadership of captain, Alex Lavelle. Emily Sambrook-Smith displayed her prowess in yet another field when she took gold in the women’s 100m. Other congratulations are in order to Women’s Football A and Mixed Hockey A for snatching silver medals in their tournaments, Women’s Rugby for coming third, and Women’s Football B for making it to the Shield Finals. This in particular was an amazing showing considering that many of the players had never played before!
Well done to all the other teams for their amazing efforts in that blazing heat, the level of fortitude displayed by every competitor is exactly what Chad’s is all about. Congratulations to Collingwood, who took the trophy once again this year, and thanks to all at Team Durham and St Giles Studios for organising such a successful event.
Somewhere along the coach ride from Durham to Tynemouth Longsands, I heard my friend Poppy remarking that a fellow second-year, Nathan, looked like a typical British dad dressed for a day at the beach: Hawaiian shorts, Christmas socks, with Scotch eggs and pork pies in hand. He couldn’t have sounded more like a typical British child, incessantly nagging Polly, the ever patient social sec, with the age-old question of ‘are we there yet?’. We all felt his impatience though, so when the coach finally did arrive, we nodded along to the warnings that the coach would leave at 3:45pm sharp and descended upon the welcoming swathes of sand with the fervour of those too long enclosed in the Durham Bubble.
The morning quickly passed with digging, paddling and exploring. In the early afternoon barefooted students swarmed the town’s fish and chip shops, the smell of salty frying fish deliciously mingling with briny sea breezes. A luxurious laziness settled over us all as the day warmed and people either took up casual games of rounders or football, dipped into the water or contented themselves with watching. The time for departure came around all too soon. We packed up and left as quickly as we came, already longing for next year. Naturally, it was a group of fourth years who only just made it back to the coach as the driver revved the engine. As a foreigner, I could not have been more delighted than to be part of this perennial British ritual. Most entertaining of all was seeing the number of pasty white bodies shining incandescently in the year’s first mild sun – evidence of a long rainy winter just past, and of many more summer days to come.
On a sunny bank holiday, Monday 30th May, Durham geared up for the third annual Pride in the city’s history, and Durham colleges were eager to be involved. To get into the spirit of the day, as well as to learn some of the history of the Pride movement, Chadsians attended a screening of the 2014 film “Pride” on the Saturday before the big day, where popcorn and pizza were served in the Chapel and the film shown on the big screen. Those who attended all had good things to say about the film and there has already been talk of another such event. On the day itself, a group of Chad’s students gathered for the morning parade, where rainbow face paint was applied and the brand new Chad’s banner, created by Adam Robinson and a few helpers, was proudly flown. The parade was a great success, with almost double the number of supporters this year than in 2015, and even the Chad’s goat came along!
In the afternoon, some Chadsians went to the Main Stage to watch a variety of special guest musicians, including Basshunter and the Cheeky Girls, while others attended the first ever Pole with Pride competition, featuring Chad’s own Izzy Niner, which bowled us all over with the high standard of performances. In the evening, an afterparty at Loveshack was also a great success. This year it was amazing to see far more Chadsians attending Pride than in recent years, and also to finally have a Chad’s banner to confirm the fact that Chad’s really is a proud college. I am really looking forward to attending both next year’s Durham Pride and a brand new programme of college Pride events throughout the year.
The first Research Forum of Easter Term on 12 May saw a very good turnout, with members from all three common rooms present.
The evening began with a talk by Jiahao Guo (Department of Modern Languages), who presented on English translations of Chinese literature. Exploring how Chinese idioms in Mo Yan’s works have been lost in the English translation, Jiahao demonstrated how these omissions result in less-rounded characters. Moreover, the translator had embellished the critique of the Chinese political system when compared to Yan’s original texts. Jiahao’s findings suggest that the focus of Yan’s translator was not actually to transmit Chinese culture to an English-speaking audience. Instead, the translations seem to be carefully tailored to the expectations of the intended Western audience. This opens the question of whether the translations are Chinese literature in English, or whether the texts are, in fact, English literature.
Afterwards, Samuel Lindan (Department of Classics) gave his talk on the architectural studies and designs of Italian polymath Leon Battista Alberti, particularly his seminal work De re aedificatoria, finished in 1452 and published in 1485. This work established Alberti’s theory of architecture, and its influence on later Renaissance architects is difficult to over-estimate. Through a visual analysis of a sample of Alberti’s architectural designs, Samuel showed the audience that although Alberti clearly drew heavily on inspiration from the classics, he nevertheless had a keen sense of incorporating contemporary architecture into his works.
This Research Forum was followed by a wine reception, which gave members of the audience a chance to ask the speakers any lingering questions. It was such a success that we plan to continue in future.
Be sure to turn up for the next Research Forum, on 2 June at 6pm in the Williams Library. Lan Dong will present on the influence of music on English child choristers’ lives, while Sam Fearn’s talk will explore how discoveries in physics can sometimes drive mathematical research. All are welcome.
Over the May bank holiday weekend our men’s first crew were busy taking York Spring Regatta by storm. The occasion marked the maiden voyage of our new four, Anna Roots, donated in memory of the late Chadsian who went on to row at the Commonwealth Games.
Racing started with a dramatic first round against John Snow College Boat Club, ending in their sudden disqualification after they veered across the river forcing our crew to perform an emergency stop.
The second round was facing St Mary’s College Boat Club where our crew cruised to an easy victory, ahead too many lengths to count, placing the Chad’s crew into the final against Grey College Boat Club.
Having had a flawless day thus far, GCBC were going to be tough opposition. The Chad’s boat had a great start and settled into an early rhythm to slowly pull away from the Grey crew, sitting comfortably three-quarters of a length ahead for the first 800 metres. However upon reaching the final bridge GCBC began pulling back, prompting a sprint for the finish. Neither of the crews could tell who had won upon crossing the finish line, but Chads were elated after it was announced they won by just over a foot.
Congratulations to (left to right) Jake Greenwood, James Channer, Lorna Howie (cox), Nick Crook, Alastair Breeze.
The crew finally won some well-deserved points along with tankards to drink their victory from, all in the maiden regatta for our new boat.
After such an amazing start to the SCCBC regatta season and a strong freshers squad this year, the club is ready for what we are hoping will be one of our strongest years yet.
We look forward to seeing Anna cruise to many more victories in the coming years.
Benedict O’Donovan, second year St Chad’s economics undergraduate, and managing director of DART (Durham Applied Robotics & Technologies), was runner up in the final of this year’s Durham University Business School ‘Dragons’ Den’ competition.
Benedict and his co-directors (also Durham students) impressed the panel of business industry judges with their pitch and their concept.
DART is developing ‘Dionysus’, a mobile robotic bartender system which will mix and serve drinks and cocktails “through an intuitive touchscreen interface” from a standard bar menu or crafted from scratch”. Bar staff input will not be necessary as customers will be able to “pay at the point of service through the inbuilt card or cash reader.” The drink is then made before their eyes.”
Benedict and the DART team is currently building the prototype of Dionysus, making sure that the final product lives up to its potential.
About coming second in the Dragons’ Den final Benedict said: “We were very happy with the way it turned out; although we didn’t win, the feedback we received couldn’t have been any more positive.”
The other five finalists’ products were either web or app-based concepts. DART was the only team in this year’s final developing a physical engineered solution.
Chadsians past and present fill the nave of Durham Cathedral
The nave of Durham’s majestic Cathedral was packed with the members and friends of St. Chad’s College on Sunday night. Chadsians past and present came from around the world to celebrate the formal installation of Dr. Margaret Masson as the College’s tenth Principal. It was an incredibly poignant and moving service, heralding the beginning of a new chapter in the College’s history.
Dr. Masson was appointed in March, and is the first woman in the College’s 112 year history to become Principal. She selected the hymns, readings and music to be used in this special service. The College Choir were in superb voice, accompanying all of the hymns, and began the service with a subtle and gentle Introit from John Rutter (God be in my Head), and closing the Service with a rousing rendition of Parry’s mighty Coronation anthem I Was Glad (a setting of Psalm 122).
Talented trumpeter, and first year Economics student, Tom Rickard accompanied postgraduate Millie Lawrence with a moving recital of Handel’s Eternal Source of Light Divine; and former JCR Vice-President Jordan Smith (a Chad’s student from 2012 – 2015) returned to his spiritual home to play his saxophone.
Former JCR Vice-President Jordan Smith returned to play his saxophone
He chose to perform Vienna by Billy Joel, and introduced his piece by saying how it reflects upon our new Principal, and the College community as a whole. He said that Dr. Masson always finds the time to support Chad’s students in whatever they are doing, and that she embodied the Chad’s spirit of community, respect and looking out for one another.
These sentiments were echoed by the sermon (which can be read here). Delivered by the Baroness Sherlock (an Honorary Fellow of the College, and a close personal friend of Dr. Masson), she spoke about how our new Principal would “step up and lead a community of learning”.
Baroness Maeve Sherlock emphasised the importance of the College community
The theme of community – which all Chadsians hold dear – ran throughout the sermon. Lady Sherlock emphasised the way Dr. Masson will play a key role in helping all of its members flourish, develop, care for the wider world and become better citizens. Her sermon epitomised the very ethos and vision of the College, and it was incredibly powerful.
The formal installation process was led by Professor Jonathan Blackie, the Chairman of the Governing Body. He asked Dr. Masson to “affirm the mission of St. Chad’s College” and to “accept the commission to… lead the College community”.
Professor Blackie formally installs Dr. Masson as Principal
Once this was completed, representatives from the JCR, MCR, SCR, alumni, College staff, the Cathedral and the wider University all officially welcomed Dr. Masson to her post, followed by the entire congregation with an enormously loud acclamation of “Margaret, we welcome you!”
Dr. Masson accepts the call to “lead a community of learning”
The poet Anne Stevenson read her work An Even Shorter History of Nearly Everything (for Bill Bryson) which was inspired by the Cathedral and the surrounding area; and Durham University’s African Drumming Society welcomed Dr. Masson to her post with an uplifting rendition of Kembo Alleluia by Ngoma Vuma Uropa.
Following closing prayers and hymns, Dr. Masson led the procession out of Durham Cathedral to the soaring chords of Widor’s Toccata, brilliantly played by College Organist Dr. Peter Swift. The official celebration may have concluded, but the congregation descended upon St. Chad’s College’s Cassidy Quad and the specially built marquee to continue the celebration with refreshments. This informal party was a fantastic opportunity for old Chadsians to catch-up with their contemporaries and for the current generation of Chadsians to meet their predecessors.
Chadsians continued the festivities in the Cassidy Quad
The evening was a great success, and a brilliant way to formally welcome Dr. Masson to the post of Principal. Everyone wishes Dr. Margaret Masson the best of luck for the future.
“Margaret, we welcome you!”
Photography courtesy of Ruthie Brooks (Second year, English and Education) and Poppy Kelham (Third year, Anthropology)
The postgraduate research forums of Epiphany Term were well attended, and as always, the presentations generated exciting discussions.
Fuel of the Past and Teaching Phonics
The first research forum of Epiphany Term was held in January. A great success, it featured Indra Werthmann (Department of Archaeology) and Man ‘Abby’ Liu (Department of Education).
Indra presented on the material (and delicious) discoveries of Anglo-Saxon food consumption and how food was not only important as a source of energy, but also had cultural implications as an integral part of social activities. Abby told us about the use of phonics in teaching English as a second language, drawing on her wealth of experience as an English teacher in rural China.
Diasporic Rilke
February’s research forum saw Megumi Chou (Department of English) present on German poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the sense of homelessness in his literature. Megumi’s talk sparked an inspiring debate about diasporas and belonging in the twentieth-century nation-state.
Sarah Lovell (Department of English) was also scheduled to speak at this forum about Friedrich Nietzsche and how his works can be disentangled from the later appropriation by extreme-right movements. Unfortunately, Sarah fell ill and could not present but we hope to reschedule her talk for Easter Term.
Kosovan Networks and Mythic Jihadism
The third and final research forum of term was held in March with Chris Diming (Department of Anthropology) and Owen Stenner-Matthews (School of Government and International Affairs) speaking.
Chris showcased his deep knowledge of political networks in Pristina, reflecting a year’s fieldwork in the capital of Kosovo. Owen presented his research into jihadist discourse, questioning what is myth and what is fact in the ‘globalist’ agenda of jihadist groups in the Middle East.
What Research Forums Are
The postgraduate research forums take place once a month during term time, offering an exciting opportunity for postgraduate students in St Chad’s College to present their current research. The research forums also enable presenters to engage with a non-specialist audience and receive feedback on their work.
Usually, topics of different disciplines are juxtaposed to create an interdisciplinary space for collegiate academic debate, which often brings in unforeseen parallels between related fields of study. Research forums typically feature two 20-minute presentations, each followed by ten minutes for questions. All members of College are welcome to hear their fellow collegians talk and ask questions. Refreshments are usually provided.
In Easter Term, we look forward to two research forums (12 May and 2 June). We will also have an event where Master’s students can present their dissertation topics (6 June). Additionally, we will have an event where a number of undergraduate finalists will present their research (13 June).
Afterwards, Samuel Lindan (Department of Classics) gave his talk on the architectural studies and designs of Italian polymath Leon Battista Alberti, particularly his seminal work De re aedificatoria, finished in 1452 and published in 1485. This work established Alberti’s theory of architecture, and its influence on later Renaissance architects is difficult to over-estimate. Through a visual analysis of a sample of Alberti’s architectural designs, Samuel showed the audience that although Alberti clearly drew heavily on inspiration from the classics, he nevertheless had a keen sense of incorporating contemporary architecture into his works.
The crew finally won some well-deserved points along with tankards to drink their victory from, all in the maiden regatta for our new boat.
