CAN DURHAM BE A BRAND?By Saatchi & Saatchi

‘YOU DO NOT KNOW THE FACTS OF LIFE’A fresher’s memoir of 1952 St Mary’s

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THE NEWCHANCELLOR

Durham First – the magazine for alumni and friends of Durham University

Sir Thomas Allen has presence. He is a big man, six foot one, barrel-chested, powerful. He is huge in the world of opera. Hailed on hisdebut as ‘surely the best British lyric baritone singing in opera since the war’, he has dominated opera houses and concert halls all over the world. And the voice is as extraordinary as you would imagine. It is a resonant and compelling mix of patrician power, the rich Italiancadences of librettos and the County Durham accent of his boyhood.

The New Chancellor Get to know Mozart’s own Don Juan

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‘It’s a mystery to a very great degree,’ he says of his voice. ‘It comes

from a combination of sinuses and cavitiesand everything else about the way thebody’s made up. The fact of being tall is no disadvantage, as was being reasonablyathletic, at one stage in my life at least. They were all assets that one could callupon towards creating a singing life.’

He calls it a natural voice, one that has nothad to be manufactured nor needs to beconstantly kept in shape, and there arerecordings from his youth in which it isrecognisably the same. Perhaps this is why it does not seem to be a contrivance thatexists outside himself but one that emergesfrom deep within; perhaps this accounts for its emotional power.

Thomas Boaz Allen was born at SeahamHarbour in County Durham in 1944, a childof what he has called these ‘tight-knit,unbeautiful communities’. Inspired by his father’s love of music, he learned firstthe piano and then graduated on to thechurch organ.

‘I was passionate about the organ, the powerof the thing,’ he says. ‘I used to practise itlike mad. It was like the Phantom of theOpera, the man sitting at this machine,creating this amazing sound.’

The way he tells it there is a sense that thepower the instrument generated could holdits own among the heavy industries of theNorth East, that it could compete with thepitheads, steelworks and shipyards whosepresence inspired the other boys at thegrammar school in Ryhope. Yet he dismissesas ‘too poetic’ the notion that his voiceeventually usurped the power and place of the organ.

He knew himself that he would never makeit as an organist, but the potential of hisvoice was recognised early on by his physicsteacher, Dennis Weatherley, who taught him singing in the lunch hour, and then by Durham’s Professor Arthur Hutchings, who, in one of the seminal moments of Sir Thomas’s life, was the first person torecognise his talent beyond his school andcommunity. He was 18, in the last year of

grammar school and dressed in the maroon and gold of his prefect’s uniform, when he took the bus into Durham and walked upto the Music Department on Palace Green.The meeting had been arranged by hisheadmaster in order to find out what to do with him, as ‘he had never beforeencountered a problem such as myself’. He chose to sing some of The Messiah andSchumann’s The Two Grenadiers, and it wasProfessor Hutchings who then arranged hisinterview at the Royal College of Music. ‘I was on my way,’ Sir Thomas says of this moment.

It was at the Royal College that hediscovered the emotional and artisticconfidence to go with the power of his voice,and, although he had never contemplatedbecoming an opera singer (he imagined hewould be a recitalist), his tutor joined theWelsh National Opera, took Sir Thomaswith him and the parts began to come tohim. A residency at the Royal Opera Housefollowed and by his mid-thirties he wasa freelance soloist in demand around the world.

The roles that have defined his careerinclude Billy Budd, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin,Ulisse and Beckmesser, but it is perhaps asthe seductive, enigmatic, murderous DonGiovanni – Mozart’s own Don Juan – thathe found his signature role.

‘You have to dig deep, deep, deep insideyou for all the resources that you have toplay this role,’ he says. ‘You have to find outwhat you have in there and then drag it outand display it and just be as unpredictable,as dangerous, as fascinating and asinteresting as possible.

‘What is funny is that it is amazing that nomatter how deeply involved some peopleare in production for opera houses or intheatre, they still sometimes forget that the character you are portraying is not whoyou are. People often said about me that I wasn’t like Don Giovanni. Of course Iwasn’t. He was a monster that I plucked out of the universe.’

And in person he is not the least monstrous,but charming, personable and, above all,approachable. For a big man, he does nothide his big emotions, and he could not be more proud of being made Chancellorof Durham University.

‘There have been some major things in mylife over the last 40 years,’ he says. ‘It’s ajourney that leads from the coast of CountyDurham to one opera house or another, to a small company, a bigger company, to an international company, to severalinternational companies, and along the wayI have had honours of one sort of another,but this has overwhelmed me. Sincelearning I was to be Chancellor, it isextraordinary the pictures that have beenrunning through my mind, rememberingthe visits we made to Durham as a family,rowing on the river and staring up at theCathedral, trying not to go over the weir.Becoming Chancellor may be the mostthrilling thing I have ever experienced. And one of the beauties of this is that I don’t know what’s involved. Every day is going to be a lovely surprise for me.’

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Welcoming a new Chancellor is a once in a decade event so we are thrilled to bring you the first feature-lengthinterview with Sir Thomas Allen,Durham’s new Chancellor. Which is justhow it should be. As an alumnus oralumna of the University, you are themost important constituency we have,one of the ultimate owners of theUniversity’s identity so it is only rightthat you should be the first to hear Sir Tom’s Durham story.

We are calling this issue the ‘Alumni Edition’because in the end it is your view of theUniversity that matters. If our alumni are notour advocates and ambassadors, then no oneelse will be. And this is why it is with you thatwe are first raising the question you will haveseen on the cover: Can Durham be a brand?

It’s a provocative question I know, but we are fortunate to be able to ask it of alumnusRobert Senior, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi andFallon. And it is one we are going to have toexplore over the next few years as the highereducation sector becomes more competitive,both nationally and internationally. Our alumnicommunity is central to this discussion andwe hope the article creates a lively debate onour Facebook or LinkedIn pages (or you canemail me your views at the address below).

We explore the University’s identity in otherways too, with evocative stories from our pastand potential highlights of our future. Inparticular, I hope you will enjoy the photo-story about Ushaw College. It is a parallelsymbol of the University itself: an ancient,scholarly, religious community, with its culturaland physical expression in the form of itslibrary, manuscript collections, treasures andarchitecture, captured just at the moment itis given a significant new intellectual purpose,one that emerges organically from its richinheritance. Just like Durham itself.

I hope you enjoy the provocative, evocativeAlumni Edition of Durham First.

Astrid Alvarez – Editordurham.editor@durham.ac.uk

Tim McInnis has taken on a newleadership role focusing exclusively on principal gifts. He will be workingwith the Vice-Chancellor and otherUniversity champions to secureindividual gifts of at least £1m thatwill transform Durham’s academiccapacity and global reputation.

Tim’s new title is Director, Office forPrincipal Gifts. In Tim’s three yeartenure as Director of Developmentand Alumni Relations (DARO)Durham’s philanthropic fundingincreased by 65 per cent.Tim has handed over the reins ofDARO to Interim Director Laura

Cantopher from the philanthropicconsultancy GG+A (Grenzebach Glierand Associates). Laura has previouslyserved as Head of CampaignManagement at King’s CollegeLondon and has held roles at RoyalHolloway and the Wellesley CollegeAlumnae Association in the USA.

FromtheEditor

New Leadership Roles in the Development and Alumni Relations Office

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Q:Why has the University chosen SirThomas Allen as the new Chancellor?

A: Most of us thought it would be impossibleto fill Bill Bryson’s remarkable shoes – hispersonal commitment and Chancellorshiphave been inspirational for all of us whohave had the good fortune to meet or workwith him, and his performance has beenwatched in awe by many other universities.His successor, Sir Thomas Allen, follows inthe same Durham tradition of internationallyrenowned cultural figures – a true successorto Dame Margot Fonteyn, Sir Peter Ustinovand Bill himself. Durham is his spiritualhome – he was brought up in the localmining community of Seaham Harbour and it was a Professor of Music at theUniversity who recognised his early talentand set him on his way to the Royal Collegeof Music in London. He has returned toDurham many times during his extraordinarycareer, most recently to give a recital tocelebrate our 175th anniversary, and he isVice-President of Durham University ChoralSociety. Beyond this, Sir Thomas has thekind of presence one might expect fromsomeone who has held audiences

spellbound in the major opera houses ofthe world, while at the same time he is alsoone of the warmest people one could hopeto meet. The University could have no morefitting a Chancellor.

Q:Do you see the role of alumni changingwith the introduction of the new tuitionfees?

A: Yes and no. Durham has always had themost loyal alumni, who have supported theUniversity, its colleges and students in allsorts of ways. And we have always aimed to provide a distinctive and roundededucation for the most able students of greatest potential, whatever theirbackground. This however is becomingharder and harder with the loss ofgovernment funding. (Not many realise thatas little as one per cent of our teachingincome in 2014 will come from the UKGovernment.) In order for Durham tocontinue the educational traditions fromwhich we have all benefited in our careersand lives (I too am an alumnus – BScBotany, Grey, 1973-76), it will beincreasingly important for alumni to giveback in whatever ways they can so that

future students can benefit in the sameways as we have. It could be helping to provide those ‘extras’ of college life, or offering mentorship and guidance, orserving on development boards, or makingcontacts and helping us raise funds forscholarships and bursaries, or even makinga legacy gift. The help alumni give tomaintain and develop their alma mater andits future generations of students is onlygoing to become more and more essential.

Q:Now Durham is officially third in theUK’s Sunday Times league table, what’snext for the University?

A: Second and then first, of course! Seriouslythough, as a small university with its heartin a small and beautiful city, it is actuallyrather difficult for us to compete with some of the behemoths of UK and worldeducation. What we must do is simplymaintain our special, arguably unique,nature – the Durham Difference – andcontinue to strive for excellence ineverything we do.

Professor Chris HigginsVice-Chancellor and Warden

Vice-Chancellor’s Questions

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FEATURES REGULARSTHE ALUMNI EDITION02 The new Chancellor Sir Thomas Allen

06 Can Durham be a brand? Insights from Robert Senior,CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi

08 Nick MohammedA profile of the up-and-coming comedian

10 What are the colleges for?Glorified halls of residence or something more?

11 First Person An alumna in East Jerusalem

12 When will the dam burst? Preventing disaster in the Himalayas

14 Bill’s Best Bits Highlights from Bill Bryson’s Congregationspeeches 2005-11

16 A fresher’s memoirof 1952 St Mary’sBy Elizabeth Boyd

18 Mr Cameron, take note Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, the doyenneof volunteering

20 The new life of the Houseof Ushaw The seminary on the hill

04 VCQs Questions to the Vice-Chancellor

04 From the EditorWelcome to the Alumni Edition of Durham First

24 Research Durham Durham research headlining the news

25 Experience Durham Student achievement in sport, music and the arts

26 News in BriefAlumni and University news

Back Cover – Alumni Events Calendar

EDITORAstrid AlvarezAlumni Relations Manager

MANAGING EDITORDavid Williams

DEPUTY EDITORVictoria RidleyAlumni Relations Officer

IMAGESSussie Ahlburg (Sir Thomas Allen – cover)Andrew Heptinstall(Robert Senior, Dame Elisabeth Hoodless,Sir Thomas Allen – inside front cover)Simon Veit-Wilson (Dave Petley)Vanessa Whyte (Nick Mohammed)Alex Ramsey (Ushaw College)CARTOONRosie Brooks

DESIGNCrombie www.crombiecreative.com

PRINTElanders www.elanders.com

CONTACT USAlumni enquiries/Letters to the EditorAlumni Relations TeamDurham University, University OfficeOld Elvet, Durham DH1 3HPT: +44 (0) 191 334 6305F: +44 (0) 191 334 6073E: alumni.office@durham.ac.uk durham.editor@durham.ac.ukW: www.durham.ac.uk/alumni www.dunelm.org.uk© Durham University 2011

Opinions expressed are those of individual writers. Requests for reproducing material should be made to the Alumni Relations Office, where permission will usually be given.

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‘We live in a world of brands: politiciansare brands, football clubs are brands. Andbrands are not created by the originators;they are created by people talking to otherpeople. That is just the reality of the worldwe live in, so there is very little point indenial. If I were to throw the names ofthree universities at you, you would have a view of them, based on osmosis. Ratherthan avoid this reality and hang on fordear life to yesterday, go with that force,be clear what the brand is, and, withoutfalling victim to marketing mumbo-jumbo,work with the positive forces of the brand.This does not demand an advertisingcampaign, it just demands a sense of selfand a clarity of purpose. Otherwise youraudience won’t know who you are and youwill get beaten by lesser institutions.’

Robert Senior (BA Politics and History,Castle, 1984-87), has a CV that gives himthe authority to say this. Not only is heCEO of Saatchi & Saatchi for Europe, theMiddle East and Africa, and of the Saatchi& Saatchi Fallon Group, he is alsoChairman of the Saatchi & SaatchiWorldwide Creative Board. He was one

of the four founders of Fallon UK, and hasworked with the likes of P&G, Sony, Skoda,Nike and Cadbury.

But surely, you might say, with its colleges,departments and institutes, let alone itsworld-leading experts, the University is a more complex and multi-facetedorganisation than any corporate entity?

He swats this one away as well. ‘Durham isone of the most straightforward and simpleorganisations in the world of brands that I can think of,’ he says. ‘Think about theBBC, which I worked with for 13 years:radio, TV, different channels appealing todifferent age groups and different socio-economic groups at different times of the day, at different niche states, plus theonline space, and all the regional output.Yet they are all behind the one brand. This makes Durham look monotone.’

And he has the charisma to say all this too.He makes his living sitting in front ofexecutive teams and telling them thingsthey aren’t used to hearing, and to do thatyou need a formidable presence. This iswhat the advertising bible Campaign says

about him: ‘If Senior has any shortcomings,lack of self-belief certainly isn’t one of them.He’s an account man by trade but thathasn’t stopped him taking on thechairmanship of the Saatchi & Saatchiworldwide creative board. And just toreinforce his big-cheese status, he’s takento driving to work in his newly acquiredAston Martin DB9. He remains one of the bravest, most inspirational and mostdetermined chiefs around.’

Lord Philip Gould, Blair and Brown’spollster (of which more later), called him a man with ‘enormous enthusiasm,completely infectious enthusiasm anddetermination’. And Senior himself sees his unique selling proposition as being his ‘fearless candour’.

So self-belief, enthusiasm, candour – butalso considerable charm. And there isnothing bombastic about his view of what a university can be, or his love for Durham.Indeed, he has been acting as a volunteerconsultant to the University’s executive.

‘A university is about passing on the stockof human knowledge and preparing

CanDurhambe a brand?

Robert Senior doesn’t even pretend togive this question any thought. ‘Like itor not, Durham University is a brand;almost everything is a brand,’ he says.

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people for the adventure that is life,’ hesays. ‘With a clear sense of this purpose,you can shine a white light through thecurrent prism of doom and gloom. A lack of purpose will throw you into thequestion of whether a university educationrepresents good value for money. And the fiscal equation is the wrong equation.

‘But Durham has more to it than thegeneric property of higher education, and I am not talking about its researchcredentials. Of course these are world-classand critical, but in the grander narrative of being an undergraduate there it is onlypart of the story. Durham takes a lot ofpride in giving people the time to exploreother aspects of university life. As one ofthe executive put it to me: “We do bothhemispheres of the brain.” That is a lovelyencapsulation of what makes Durham sucha characterful, textured experience.’

So you try a different tack. If the Universityisn’t that complex in itself, how about theproduct? Surely a transformative, three orfour-year, intensive, personal, intellectual,social and sometimes spiritual journey istoo big to brand simply? After all, it defines

forever who we are, who our friends areand what we will become.

‘Nah,’ he says. ‘Look at Disney. It is a veryconsistent, marketing-orientated brandthat has always been experiential. A greatDisney experience should be with youforever. Yes, a degree is three years long, but it is still an experiential, transformativeexperience. The more complex a thing is, the greater the need for a commonpurpose or strategy.’

The Durham–Disney comparison mightstun some, but then the University is ingood company: he told Gordon Brownmore or less the same thing. It was Seniorwho came up with the famous line Not flash,just Gordon. He coined it when workingwith Lord Gould and Lord Mandelson,Douglas Alexander MP and AlastairCampbell on the Prime Minister’s abortedsnap-election campaign of September 2007.

‘He is the most magnificent technocrat,’Senior says of Brown. ‘You won’t findanyone who cares for this country morethan he does, nor anyone who is less ableto communicate it than he is. He is

fascinated by detail and not terriblyinterested in a grander, simpler narrative.Deep down I felt he was in excruciatingdenial that he was a brand or that anypolitician could be. On a purist level, hethought that it was a serious position to behead of government and lead a countrythrough good and bad, so how dare Idiminish this to some marketing puffery.To which my response was: “That’s all veryinteresting Gordon, but here is the reality –if people don’t know what you stand for,they won’t vote for you, that is the relevanceof branding. I am not disagreeing with theimportance of being Prime Minister, but, if it is a position you covet, the modernlandscape requires you to be televisual in a manner that is simple and succinctand memorable.”’

Just like Durham, that’s his implication.And he puts it even more strongly. ‘Thecurrent changes in funding require you to redefine who you are and what is in itfor the student,’ he says. ‘Durham has the opportunity to attain iconic status.’

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The Unofficial Biography> Dubbed ‘Adland’s golden boy’ and ‘the hottest

name in Adland’ by The Independent.

> Joined an ad agency on graduating fromDurham, but noticing that when his first bossgot himself into a tricky situation he wouldalways refer back to when he worked with P&G,Senior thought this a ‘good trick’, so got a newjob working on the P&G account for five years.

> Founded Fallon London in 1998 with fourother partners. Together they grew the businessto a 190-person strong, multi award-winningagency that won Campaign magazine’s Agencyof the Year in 2006 and 2007.

> A qualified ski instructor and fitness fanaticwith two gym memberships, has been known to invite clients to use his chauffeur-drivenlimousine while he walks ahead.

> Board member of the English National BalletSchool; a recent failure at culinary night school.

> Was speechless for the first time in his lifeupon meeting his all-time hero Mick Jagger.

Nick Mohammed: a profile ofthe up-and-coming comedianHis work gets inside your head, sets the world askew

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In one sketch, he has the three Apollo 11astronauts meet up to reminisce when BuzzAldrin reveals that it was only during themoonshot itself that he realised the earth was a sphere. There is his Durham-studentcreation: Cordelia Beatrice Jasmine de-Beatrice Beatrice Dot-co-dot-uk Grimes, whowas known as Bayeux at school – after thetapestry – but who prefers to be called Bunny.And then there is his edit of an episode of thecookery show Ready Steady Cook, in which aseries of speed-ups, slow-mo’s and loop-backsreveal the aggression behind the bonhomieand the sinister beneath the banal. At onepoint, an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech is laid over the top of host Ainsley Harriott’s invitation to theaudience to vote on the best meal, and for afew seconds you see the absurd chasm inhuman nature between our noble aspirationsand the inane actuality.

You might not have seen Nick Mohammed’swork (all of the above is available on hisYouTube channel), but, if you watch British TV,the chances are you will have seen him – insomething. He was a colleague in the MartinClunes version of Reggie Perrin on BBC One,sat next to The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird onironic Channel 4 panel-show The King is Deadand performed in the BBC comedy tribute Pete and Dud: the Lost Sketches. And anykids you know will know him too, from CBBC’sSorry, I’ve Got No Head.

He is then the definition of up-and-coming, a couple of years or so away from getting hisown show. But beyond being the latest thing,what’s fascinating about Nick Mohammed(MSci Geophysics, St Aidan’s, 2000-03) is thatit didn’t ever seem to occur to him to becomea comedian. He was a musician at school(Allerton Grange High School in Leeds), wherehe was known for impersonating teachers, andthen he rejected a place at the University ofCambridge to come and study at Durham. Hegot a first from Durham, started a PhD atCambridge and had a job lined up at an oilcompany before the desire to be a comediansurfaced. The other unusual thing about himis that he is also a magician, performing inchurch halls by the time he was ten, and apart-time professional by the time he got touniversity, where he would perform routines atthe Durham balls in exchange for a free ticket.

But he didn’t do comedy at Durham, until,right at the end, when the Durham Reviewasked him to compère their comedy set in hisfinal year.

‘That was I suppose my first comedy gig,’ hesays. ‘I did a little bit of stand-up at the startof it, but I ended up doing magic for most of it.It was like a complete one-off, because I neverdid comedy. My magic routines were quitelight-hearted, but they were definitely notfunny.’ He laughs at the idea. ‘It wasn’t acomedy magic act at all. It was magic, and ifit happened to have the odd joke in it then so did a lot of those kinds of acts at the time.The patter was light-hearted.’

But something was going on inside his head. It was as if the idea of being a comedian wasbubbling away in his unconscious, just waitingto find a fissure that could take it to thesurface. The impersonating of teachers, themagic, the talent for music, the intelligence,the surreal takeon the world wereall there, and thecrack came whenhe left Durham todo his PhD. Heauditioned forthe CambridgeFootlights Review,got in, then askedhis PhD supervisor for the time off to go to theEdinburgh Festival with that year’s show. Hewas just setting off when the realisation hit him.

‘It was very sort of clichéd and romantic,’ hesays. ‘But I remember just looking back at thelaboratories and thinking: “I know I’m notcoming back.” Not because I thought that thecomedy was going to take off, but just becauseI knew that the PhD wasn’t right.’

So Cambridge couldn’t keep him a secondtime, and the comedy did take off, slowly andsurely. At Edinburgh, an agent and a BBCproducer handed him their cards. He took hisown show to Edinburgh the following year, gotgreat reviews, did four half-hour character-based monologues for Radio 4 (which includedhis Durham inspiration, Cordelia Grimes) and,as TV work began to drip in, he was able to quit

his job temping for Morgan Stanley andbecome a fully self-employed comedian.

After five years, he has done more or lesseverything: the compulsory Edinburgh one-man show; he has played characters inscripted studio-sitcoms where it is all abouthitting your mark, rehearsing Monday toThursday and filming on Friday; he has donethe chaotic live panel show in which the bigdanger is that the guests are quicker than youare; and he has improvised naturalism withRicky Gervais and Steve Merchant (having justshot an episode of their new sitcom). All thisvaried work has given him the opportunity tofind out what he is good at.

‘I think a comedian should work hard,’ he says.‘This last couple of years has been good in thatI feel that I’m sort of finding out what I amactually good at. I know I’m not a stand-up,and I wouldn’t really work well on a panel showbecause I’m not that quick. I am quite scripted

and for me it’s all about character and voiceand some of it is quite surreal so it wouldn’tquite fit.’

But it is this quirky surrealism that is his alone,like putting Martin Luther King’s words into themouth of Ainsley Harriott. And he knows histake on the world is not instantly appealing in the way of a stand-up’s one-liners. ‘There’snothing better than almost starting a gig,’ hesays, ‘and I’ve had this before a lot, like whenI’ve been doing an hour-long show and peoplearen’t quite with you at the start, then you turnit round. To have them by the end is kind of an ode to how I want to run my career. I’m not saying that the people out there should dislike my stuff, but I like getting them more on my wavelength. There’s somethingrewarding about letting people in and thenenjoying it with them.’

‘I remember just looking back atthe laboratories and thinking:“I know I’m not coming back”’

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CVhighlights

2011Life’s Too Short BBC Two

2010Pete and Dud: the Lost Sketches

Hot Sauce TV/BBC Two

2009Reggie Perrin BBC One

20084uarters BBC Radio Four

2007Billy Goat Hat Trick/BBC One

2006Lenny Henry pilot BBC Three

2005Back in Town Again one-man show

2004Beyond a Joke Cambridge

Footlights National Tour

2003Graduates from Durham

Contact:www.nickmohammed.com

What are the colleges for?by John Hirst, Senior Teaching Fellow in Management at Durham Business School

First, the history: collegiate universitieslargely derive their structures frommedieval guilds in which a Master (not a gender-specific term then) would takeapprentices into his or her household andinstruct them in the mechanics of a craftwhile simultaneously taking responsibilityfor their wellbeing and encouraging theirpersonal development. Far from theautocratic system that is sometimesimagined, these apprenticeships were arich mixture of instruction and (what wewould today call) embedded and reflectivelearning. The whole thing was overseen by a highly motivated community of Craft Masters – the guild confraternity.

The early European university – studiumgenerale – was founded to serve the higher-order learning needs of the guilds andfollowed much the same model. Subjectswere taught in ‘schools’ by Regent Masters(the academic equivalent of Craft Masters)and opportunities for embedded andreflective learning were provided for byaula (or halls). These embryo collegeswere mandated to provide students withsix things beyond their basic welfare, manyof which remain a feature of Durhamcolleges today:

• facilities for private study, such as a library or study space;

• mentoring (often by more seniorstudents who also learnt by this process of representation);

• opportunities to participate inmultidisciplinary debate or discoursewith members of the academiccommunity to promote rigour;

• opportunities to participate in public disputations, so engaging with the external community andpromoting relevance;

• group-reflection sessions,allowing students to internaliseunderstanding, represent it to others and discuss how to apply it;

• practical engagement in rolesand responsibilities as an integralpart of community life.

Regent Masters were clearlydistinguished from the Principalsof these halls or colleges, andlearning was a twin-trackdialectical process, involving analternation between teaching provided by the Regent Masters in the schools andthe experienced reflection leading to deeplearning gained in the halls or colleges. It was not so much a parallel process as a spiral process, designed to provoketransformational learning.

With the end of the guild system, the teaching and reflective-learning spiral began to break down. Academicspecialisation and disciplinaryfragmentation permeated the colleges,which were becoming increasinglydisconnected from their wider socialecosystems. It is therefore arguable that, when Durham’s collegiate structurewas created, it actually replicated a more authentic, earlier model of thecollegiate university.

This matters because creatingopportunities for reflective and embeddedlearning alongside the learning deliveredby teaching is one of the great goals ofmodern pedagogy. Reflective learning isthe ability to reflect on the relationshipbetween new knowledge and self-knowledge; while embedded learning is the ability to integrate that learning

into a relevant context (for example, the workplace or the wider society).

The Durham colleges achieve much the same goal and thereby profoundlycomplement the work of the University’sdepartments and schools, as well asproviding students with a sense ofbelonging and a place they call home.Like their precursors the guilds, collegesare learning communities that foster anintegrative and holistic approach topersonal development and relationshipformation, embracing a wide diversity of experiences, knowledge, values,approaches and opportunities, andconjoining them with narratives gluedtogether by college traditions and rituals.

It is no wonder that most of our alumnireflect on their colleges with affection and with an enduring sense of belongingthat provides a source of continuinginspiration and encouragementthroughout life. Durham students learn immeasurably from them.

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‘when Durham’s collegiate structurewas created, it actually replicated a more authentic, earlier model

of the collegiate university’

Glorified halls of residence – it’s a line often used by thoseunfavourably comparing Durham’s collegiate tradition to theteaching colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. But it’s wrong, both historically and pedagogically. In fact, Durham colleges are arguably more authentic and have a major, but mostlyimmeasurable, long-term impact on learning and wellbeing.

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To breathe or not to breathe – that is indeed the question when unlucky enough to be caught up in thickand heavy tear gas. If you don’t breathe, well, there are obvious ramifications. But if you do breathe…

First Person To breathe or not to breatheAlumna Madeleine McGivern in East Jerusalem

In April 2011, in the Palestinian communityof Silwan, East Jerusalem, my eyes felt likesomeone was stabbing them from behind, my throat burnt dry, and my lungs were onfire, desperately trying to fight the intrusion of such toxic and dangerous gas into my body.For 15 minutes after we had to run throughthe tear gas to get to safety, my colleaguesand I coughed, heaved, and choked our wayto breathing normally again. It was easy to understand how a baby could die from tear gas inhalation, as one three-month-oldgirl had in Silwan a few months before. The next day, I felt like I had flu, and wassick twice; it took me 48 hours to feel like a functioning human being again.

What dangerous demonstration was Iattending? Well… the closing night of Palfest,the Palestine Literature Festival. Palfest runscultural and literature-based events acrossthe West Bank and works in universities andrefugee camps. The closing night of the 2011festival was held in the Solidarity Tent in theEast Jerusalem community of Silwan.

Silwan is a densely populated andimpoverished place. It is home toapproximately 50,000 Palestinians and 500 illegal Israeli settlers. According to the 2008 EU Report on East Jerusalem, thearea is ‘largely neglected by the JerusalemMunicipality, suffers from scarce educationalservices, inadequate sewage managementand a lack of sustainable infrastructure’.

The same report states that 88 housing unitsare ‘threatened with demolition to allow forthe further expansion of the so-called King’sValley Archaeological Park’. If demolished,this would lead to the displacement of 1,500Palestinians in order to make way for a touristattraction known locally as the City of DavidPark. The UN Committee Against Torture said as long ago as 2001 that it ‘expressesconcerns about Israeli policies of housedemolitions, which may amount to cruel,inhumane or degrading treatment orpunishment’.

Since these plans to demolish homes wereannounced, life in Silwan has been tougherthan ever. For the last six months, a policepresence has been an everyday occurrence,with tear gas as much a part of the day as going to the shops. ‘They (the Israeliauthorities) want to force us out, but to beable to say we left voluntarily,’ says oneSilwan Community Committee parent.

On that evening at the literature event, wewere also told to leave by the Israeli police.As we approached the venue, angry policemenshouted that the road was closed and that wecouldn’t pass. The magic word ‘international’got us through the roadblock and down intothe tent. Local people, Israeli peace activistswho work with Palestinians and are opposedto their own government’s polices, and theinternationals gathered, waiting for the eventto begin. Instead, at 7.45 pm the IsraeliPolice fired large amounts of tear gas at thetent. Everyone inside, including me and mycolleagues, was forced to flee.

Despite this flagrant attempt to stop theevent taking place, by 8.30 pm the audienceand authors had found their way back to thetent. We were welcomed by Fakhri Abu Diab,Chair of the Silwan Defence Committee, anon-violent resistance organisation set up todefend the homes of the families of Silwan.‘We had wanted to welcome you in our ownway,’ he said, ‘with the poems of a 13-year-old boy. We had women who wanted to talkabout their writing, but because of worries for children’s safety, they have left; and nowwe welcome you with tear gas.’

With red eyes and gas embers still burning inthe air scratching our throats, we listened topoetry, readings and music from Palestiniansand internationals. Soldiers watched from thehills, as their attempts to close down the non-violent event, in a violent way, failed miserably.

What is happening in Silwan is representativeof events taking place in communities acrossthe occupied Palestinian territories. How much

longer can the residents of Silwan, and thoseother communities, survive this pressureexerted on every aspect of life, every singleday? Why should they have to? As Fakhri AbuDiab said, whilst describing the tension ofliving with a demolition order on his familyhome: ‘Why are we different from any otherfamily in the world?’

‘my eyes felt likesomeone was stabbingthem from behind, mythroat burnt dry, andmy lungs were on fire’

Madeleine McGivern (BA Combined SocialSciences, Trevelyan, 2005-08) was in Silwan as a volunteer for theEcumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israelwww.eappi.org

Can you help? Durham University is trying to trace students of Bir Zeit University who received scholarships in order to study for a year at Durham and/or any Durham graduates who attended the Bir Zeit University Summer School. Please email alumni.office@durham.ac.uk

Fakhri Abu Diab (right) at Palfest 2011.

12

BURST?WHEN WILL THE DAM

‘’Im

age:

Ina

yat

Ali,

Pam

ir T

imes

we moved a lot ofpeople out of harm’sway and I am proudof that

13

To learn more about the work of the IHRR, please go to www.durham.ac.uk/ihrr

‘The situation is dire,’ says Professor DavePetley, Executive Director of the Institute ofHazard, Risk and Reliance (IHRR). ‘The damis there. The water levels are rising again. It is unlikely that it will survive.’

So what can be done for the tens of thousandsof people affected by the dam? This is thequestion that confronted Professor Petley inthe spring and summer of 2010 and that stillconfronts him today.

An expert on landslides, Professor Petley wasasked by the charity FOCUS HumanitarianAssistance Pakistan to visit the area in lateFebruary last year and report on what he found.‘There is a substantive risk of an outburstevent…’ he wrote, ‘most likely during or shortlyafter water flows across the (top of the dam)…If such an event occurs, there is the potentialfor a large flood-wave to travel downstream as far as 600 kilometres… This wave wouldgreatly endanger the downstream populationand could cause damage to infrastructure.’

But over topping was not the only risk. Thedam might be shaken apart by an earthquake;a further landslide into the water could createa wave that would break it apart; flash floodscreated by the collapse of lakes dammed byglaciers or moraines high in the mountainscould destroy it; or the weight of water couldseep out underneath and through the dam,undermining it from below in a phenomenonknown as ‘piping’.

As the water began to rise in the deep glacialvalley behind the dam, Professor Petleyadvised precautionary evacuation of the mostvulnerable people downstream. The authoritiesappeared to listen. Fifty-five thousand peoplewere moved to temporary camps, while aspillway was constructed on the downstreamface of the dam.

In March 2010, the dam began to seep, but held.

Another of Professor Petley’s recommendationswas a substantive monitoring effort. ‘There isan urgent need to determine the likely dateupon which water may flow across the spillway,’he wrote. ‘This should be disseminated and

recalculated regularly, with caveats that this is an estimate… Four alert states arerecommended, underpinned by a robustcommunications plan and an awareness andevacuation plan for the potentially-affectedpopulation.’

Unfortunately, the political situation inPakistan prevented any transparent approachto information provision, so in early AprilProfessor Petley helped FOCUS establish atemporary monitoring team above the lake. He then created a website publicising thedata that was available and which estimatedthe date when over topping would occur. One official source disseminated a date of17th April while Professor Petley’s estimatewas early June.

By mid-May, the waters had still not reachedthe top of the dam and the authorities werebriefing against him.

On 30th May 2010, the waters came over thetop; yet the dam held. And it still holds today,harming the life off everyone who lives aboveit and hanging over the lives of everyone wholives below.

So what is it like, taking responsibility for the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousandsof people?

‘I recommended temporary evacuation whileover topping occurred. And I stand by theprudence of that course of action today,’ saysProfessor Petley. ‘No one knew what wouldhappen, and the risk of a catastrophic floodwas real. This summer, as the flow of meltwaterinto the lake increased, the authorities chosenot to move people. I think this was the correctdecision. Nevertheless, the downstreamcommunities are facing a level of risk that is intolerable. You just have to look at thelandscape around them. There are hundredsof landslide scars in the area, many of whichwill have blocked valleys in a similar way towhat has happened at Attabad. Yet how manylandslide dams are left? There are fragmentsand remains of them in many locations, butthere are very few intact landslide dams.’

‘Academics today have to put their heads abovethe parapet and accept the consequences oftheir responsibilities,’ he says. ‘And, howeverdifficult it was for me – and as the waters roseit was sometimes unbelievably uncomfortablegiven the multiple political forces at work in Pakistan – the real jeopardy was with thepeople who lived below the dam. We moved a lot of people out of harm’s way and I amproud of that. But my concerns are still thesame as they were. At the moment, it looks likethe authorities are going to do the right thing,which is to lower the level of the dam duringthe low-flow season over the next two years. I hope they do, because the dam will continueto pose an unacceptable risk.’

Professor Petley’s response to problems likethe Attabad dam inspired him to develop a new approach to academic intervention.Realising that it was developing countries thatbore the losses of this kind of catastrophe butthe developed ones that had the research, hehas created a three-pronged approach basedon high-quality research, the seeking out ofexternal partners who can build capacity inthe country concerned, and the provision of a rapid response to the crisis.

This framework – research, partners, response– ultimately led to the creation of the Institutefor Hazard, Risk and Resilience and createdthe cross-disciplinary model followed by theother Durham institutes.

‘In 2007, the University asked people topropose ideas for a series of fundraisingcampaigns to mark its 175th anniversary,’ he says. ‘I had identified that there were lotsof researchers working across the Universityon different types of hazard – volcanoes,earthquakes, floods, terrorism and financialcrashes. So I asked why we couldn’t bringthem all together using the same model ofresearch, partners and response. The Universityagreed and with the help of three very generousalumni we were able to create the Institute.

‘Fundamentally it is a mechanism for linkingtogether people who work in differentacademic departments, and those workingwith hazard and risk outside academia, inorder to address the key questions that facesociety. Why, for example, do natural disasterscreate so much loss of life and have such aneconomic impact when our knowledge andtechnology are always advancing? IHRR aimsto generate a new type of relationship betweenacademics and practitioners, with the ultimateaim of reducing risk and loss.’

There is a monstrous new lake in the Himalayas.Formed by a landslide at Attabad in early 2010,the lake has inundated 7.55 km2 of land andsubmerged 25 km of the strategically-vitalKarakoram Highway, which links Pakistan withChina. It has cut off the 20,000 people who liveupstream, and it threatens the 25,000 people

who live downstream with a catastrophic flood should the rockand mud of the dam give way. And it will break, one day.

Bill’s Best BitsWere you there? Highlights from all Bill Bryson’sCongregation speeches 2005-11

JUNE 2005Thank you very, very much for letting me bepart of this glorious enterprise, this wonderfulinstitution of yours, and thank you for makingme proud. And thank you, perhaps above all,for this fantastic outfit, which I’m verypleased to have. I am so going to knock them out at my next high school reunion.

JANUARY 2006President Bush only last month signed a bill providing over $3.5 billion for a singleresearch programme, something called theNational Nanotechnology Initiative to studyvery small things. Now President Bush wasof course grateful for this, because they’rehoping that with the new technology they will be able to locate his brain. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

JUNE 2006Although I haven’t been Chancellor very long,I’m discovering slightly to my surprise that I am already evolving certain small traditionsof my own, and one of them seems to be thatevery time I get up to speak, at some point in the speech, usually quite early on, usuallyjust about now in fact, I make some sort oflight-hearted observations about the mentalcapabilities of my President, George W Bush.But I decided I wasn’t going to do that thistime. I wasn’t going to give in to that terribletemptation to make fun of the poor man.

And then, about a week ago, entirelycoincidentally, a friend in Canada sent me acollection of recent statements made by thePresident in the course of his official duties.Statements, actual statements like: I knowhow hard it is to put food on your family, or You teach a child to read and he or herwill be able to pass a literacy test, or Ourenemies are innovative and resourceful andso are we – they never stop thinking aboutnew ways to harm our country and ourpeople, and neither do we. And I looked atall this for a long, long time and I thought:‘No, I’m not going to go there, I’m not goingto do that, it’s just too easy and he is myPresident after all.’

14

JANUARY 2007My obsession for this coming year, for this175th anniversary year for Durham, is to tryto get every student who wants to do so tosign on to the organ-donor register. I cannotthink personally of a better way to start therest of your lives than by taking a step thatmay one day help others to do likewise withtheir own. But let me just say that, until thatday, I hope all you graduated students getdecades and decades of happy, fulfilling useout of all your organs and out of every lastmolecule of fibre that is so gloriously anduniquely you.

JUNE 2007It was a terribly exciting year for me becauseI got to pose for the Durham UniversityCharities Kommittee naked-student calendar,which may actually be the high point of mylife so far. Certainly it gave me all kinds ofcredibility with my own children, particularlywhen they learned that I wouldn’t be posingnaked myself. In fact, the people took onelook at me and made me put on moreclothes before they took the pictures.

JANUARY 2008You who have graduated today really areexceptionally lucky. You will never be in abetter position than you are at this moment.Enjoy your life and make the most of it.That’s the last instruction I will ever give youas Chancellor, but it’s also the best one I willever give you too.

JUNE 2008I’m always on the look out for particles ofwisdom that I can pass on to the graduateshere, and it happens that recently I had an experience that I found unexpectedlyinspiring. It happened in a bar in Des Moines,Iowa, my home town, and I was drinking at the time so it may be that I overrate itssignificance very slightly. But it seemedawfully good to me at the time and I hopethat it will be of some value to you too in the years to come.

I was just taking stock of my surroundingsand my gaze fell on a sign that was on thewall. The sign was one of those officialnotices that they put up because they arerequired to by law in America, and this one said: ‘Warning – drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause birth defects.’ And somebody had written underneath it: ‘Just look around.’

JANUARY 2009Durham is unquestionably the friendliestplace I know. It is striking – frankly it isalmost spooky at times – how cheerful andamiable this place is. I’ve been watchingDurham very closely for a few years now and I’m convinced that it is genuinely andconsistently just about the nicest place onearth. I don’t know how you do it but I’mimpressed and grateful.

JUNE 2009You are uniformly delightful and adorableand brainy and gifted and good, and forthose of you graduating today my onlycommand to you is to stay like that for ever. You have achieved a kind of perfection.You might as well maintain it.

JANUARY 2010I don’t have to do a thing for myself when I come to Durham. People hold open doorsfor me and fetch me cups of tea and call me Dr Bryson. It’s just wonderful. I can never getenough of that. It isn’t like that in the realworld for me, believe me. In the real worldthings are usually much more like anexperience I had in Bath not too long ago. I was just standing there in front of one ofthe Roman Baths and some man came up to me with a camera and he said: ‘Excuseme do you mind if I take a picture?’ And Iwas thrilled because this just never happensin the real world for me, and I said that ofcourse I would be delighted, and I kind ofstruck a pose. And he looked at me like I wasa complete idiot and he said: ‘No, would youmind moving out of the way? I want to take apicture of the baths.’ So I’m very, very gratefulto be treated as an important person everytime I come to Durham, and when we go outonto Palace Green in a few minutes, if youwant to take pictures of me, you just snapaway. I’ll be very pleased to pose.

JUNE 2010As you know, I am required by long traditionto offer you new graduates some solemnadvice that will help you to lead better livesand make the world a better place, which

I am happy to do. I’ve thought very hardabout this and there is a great deal that I could suggest, of course. You could try to end poverty, find cures for malaria andcancer and other pernicious diseases, bringpeace to troubled regions. But, fundamentally,the challenge for your generation I thinkcomes down to a single goal: you must figure out some way to beat Germany in the World Cup.

JANUARY 2011Now this is something of a poignant time forme because I’m just entering my final yearas Chancellor of this wonderful and gloriousUniversity. This is almost, unbelievably to me,my 107th individual graduation ceremonyand my 36th visit to the City, and I like tothink that I’ve learned a thing or two aboutDurham in my time here. Certainly, I havelearned that this is incontestably the loveliestcity in the world. I’ve even come to acceptthat, if you squint your eyes to the pointwhere almost no light reaches the optic nerveand avert your gaze slightly, even DunelmHouse takes on an austere beauty.

JUNE 2011This is one of 14 graduation ceremonies thisweek in this magnificent cathedral and, asyou might imagine with such a number to getthrough, you might think it would get a littlerepetitious. But honestly it doesn’t. Everyceremony here really is gloriously individual,just as every graduand is gloriously individual.For me, it is a week of 3,500 separatelyelectrifying moments with a few rather moreexuberant surprises thrown in. Sometimes,as you’ve seen, I get a warm hug, sometimesa high-five, sometimes I’m given a little bagof sweets or a wristband or some other smallkeepsake. Once, a young man handed me a library book that he said was desperatelyoverdue and asked if I would return it for him.So it is a genuinely exciting and unpredictableweek. To be presented with a week-longprocession of cheery young people, all withminds sleekly honed and precision-engineeredfor life beyond Durham, it’s not somethingyou would ever tire of, believe me.

15

‘...if you want to take picturesof me, you just snap away.

I’ll be very pleased to pose.’

16

PACKINGWith your reading list, you receive a list ofsuitable articles to bring to Durham, whichinclude sheets, an eiderdown, cups andsaucers, a sugar basin, a butter dish,tablecloths etc, f or which there is not agreat deal of choice as they are in shortsupply. These are packed in your trunk,with your books and clothes, and the trunkis collected from home and delivered toCollege by the railway company for 2/6d(12½p). It is waiting in your room whenyou arrive.

FIRST DAYYou meet your room-mate and otherfreshers, also some older students. All theother freshers are vivacious and articulateto a degree you can only hope to aspire to. The second years are amazinglysophisticated and lose no time in tellingyou that during your time in Durham yourgoal is to obtain a degree, a husband and£1,000 a year. The Principal is a tiny Scotwith a soft voice, who can see what you are thinking.

You are instructed to put your butter rationin your covered container and to place itwith your sugar ration in its bowl in the largecupboard at the entrance to the dining hall,to be collected for use during meals. It doesnot occur to you that anyone else will use it,nor does any difficulty with the systemarise during your first two years whilerationing continues. Your room is unlockedand this does not strike you as strange.

FRESHERS’ CONFERENCEYou experience the Union coffee bar, where you are greeted like an old friend by a Chadsman who had been on teachingpractice at your school and who says you must now call him Ike. This is quitebeyond you, although you try to appear at ease.

You go to the freshers’ ball in the GreatHall of the Castle, where an enormouselderly gentleman engages you inconversation and enquires how you likeDurham. As he is wearing a long purpledress, you are rather overwhelmed – youlater discover he is the Bishop of Durham,Michael Ramsey.

To introduce students to the area, a seriesof visits is arranged. You go to Consett IronWorks. Although your home is in Consett,you have never been allowed near the Works,and you find the experience terrifying,although you do strike up an acquaintancewith a Chadsman in your department whenyou both flee in terror from a white-hotgirder rolling across the floor towards you.

The older students put on an entertainmenton Saturday evening and amaze you bytheir self-possession and talent. You areparticularly impressed by the Senior Woman,Doreen, who sings songs from The Mikado;she is quite grown-up. (At this stage in lifeyour ambition is to be 28 and haveinteresting bags under your eyes.)

The Principal quietly informs students that her flat is just above the front door and that it would be appreciated if she did not have to listen to people sayinggoodnight to friends.

FIRST WEEKAt your department, you meet your newlyappointed Professor, who gives the group(of 14, including five women) a pep-talk.He warns the women not to get pregnant.You are surprised by this, as it had notoccurred to you that this would be an optionin your course. As you do not at this stageknow the facts of life, you spend much ofyour first year not sitting too close to malestudents in the library.

There is a fire practice, during which thefire engine runs over the ornamental squarein front of the main entrance, annihilatingthe baby tree planted there; the Fellows’Garden is no more. At the first lecture,everyone else has read more, knows more,and has more opinions than you. One ofthe freshers is in her late twenties! Another one is from Africa!

On the Saturday night at the end of theweek, the first years have to produce a song.Gwyneth takes the year in hand and you make up something to the tune of It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. This isperformed at a College sing-song, whichfeatures songs by previous years and someold favourites. Apparently there have beenproblems with facilities: the music roomsare not soundproofed; the partitions in thetoilets were not thought to be of a decentheight and have had to be raised.

FIRST TERMYou wear your gown to all lectures.Lectures are in the almshouses on PalaceGreen and sometimes in Pemberton. The lecturers call you ‘Miss’, as do yourfellow students.

1717

If you are out during the evening and returnbetween 10 pm and 11 pm, Mr Robinson is on duty at the kitchen entrance to checkyour name in the book. You do as you aretold – after all, you have far more freedomhere than you ever had at home – but thereare rumours of people who do not sign outand return by way of the laundry window.You discover that one of your fellowfreshers has her own radio!

JCR meetings are held in the West JCR on Sunday afternoons. There is heateddiscussion (in which you do not, of course,participate) about whether students shouldcome into breakfast with their hair incurlers; it is decided that they should not.

There is a freshers’ dance in College, whichyou do not attend. About halfway throughthe evening, you are dragooned into puttingin an appearance, because there is such ashortage of women – you go down, and aremobbed by male students who have cometo Mary’s because they want to meet women.

Some people are worried by the lack ofprivacy in the washrooms. At some pointcurtains are fitted in front of the washbasins.

You meet your moral tutor, who gives you a glass of sherry. This strikes you as theheight of sophistication. She mentions thatshe will be monitoring the number of timesyou sign out of College, because you willneed to do some academic work while you are here. Not until 40-odd years laterdo you discover the tutors’ checklist, which has a detailed breakdown of yourevening activities.

There is some ruling about whetherstudents are allowed to visit public houses.As you have never been inside a publichouse, and have no intention of visitingone, you do not appreciate the strength of feeling of male students in your year who have come up after national service. ‘The Waterloo’ features largely in theirdiscussions.

At the end of term you have Collections. It does not occur to anyone to tell you howwell you did, apart from signifying that you are allowed to continue your studies.

FIRST YEARThere is discussion at a JCR meeting aboutpieces of tin in the students’ food – soup,or perhaps fruit. The matter is taken upwith the bursar, and the kitchen acquires a new tin-opener. You are invited to visitother colleges. You have coffee in Hatfield,John’s and Castle. The College holds aformal debate, for which you have to wearevening dress under your gown. You are sointerested in what people are wearing thatyou cannot recall the topic, or who spoke.You spend a great deal of time working inthe library. The afternoons are thirsty, aswomen are not allowed into the Union barin the afternoons. You and another studentstay up all night talking, just to see what itfeels like. You play tennis for College, butthis does not seem to involve playing awayfrom home; probably the courts at Mary’sare the only ones for women. You do playmixed friendlies on courts at the racecourse.

It is some time before you invite a youngman for tea. When you do, you ask him for3 pm, quite forgetting that visiting hours are from 3.30 pm. A student from nextdoor pops in at about ten past, wearing arowing sweater and a pair of diaphanouspanties. She sees the back of your guest’shead and pops out again pretty quick.

During the Easter term, a meeting of the St Mary’s Committee is held in the EastJCR. You and your friends are amused bythe idea that the hatted and gloved ladiesattending were ever your age.

You are invited to Castle Day, which youenjoy; it is the first weekend of the Easterterm and a blazing hot day. You do notunderstand why everybody laughs whenLofty does a cabaret turn and declares he will give up rowing. His actual words:‘I’ll never touch an oar again!’

You are offered a vacation job as an au pairwith a French family. The letter points outthat it is the custom of this particularfamily to swim naked, so your moral tutoradvises you not to accept the post. Instead,you work for a family business on theoutskirts of Paris. You learn to be abarmaid and have some interestingexperiences before your return as a second-year.

Elizabeth Boyd (PGCE, St Mary’s 1952-57)

She however knows how to make it happen.For the last half a century, Dame ElisabethHoodless (BA Social Studies, King’s College,1959-62) has been working for CommunityService Volunteers – the home-based versionof VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), both ofwhich were founded by Alec Dickson. For 36of those years she was Executive Director, and,by the time she retired earlier this year, theorganisation had an income of £28 millionand was leading more than 200,000volunteers with the help of 16,000 partnerorganisations – groups, companies, charities,public services and schools. CSV works with12,000 young unemployed people, with1,000 teenagers who are volunteering full-time away from home, with young offenders,with senior volunteers and with employees; it turns down no one who has the time to give.

So when Mr Cameron made his Big Societyannouncement back in 2010, Dame Elisabethgave, by her own count, 14 televisioninterviews welcoming the initiative.

‘I thought the concept was very promising,’she says. ‘The difficulty is, as has been saidabout the economy, that if you cut deep andfast, you destroy the pillars that hold everythingup. For example, if the libraries have beenclosed, you can’t volunteer to keep them open.The last thing volunteers want to do is takeover someone’s job, and young Mr Cameronneeds to understand that when people retireafter years of taking responsibility they’requite happy to give their time. I am thinkingof a neighbour who volunteers once a week fora nature reserve. What my neighbour doesn’twant to do however is take responsibility. Allhis life he’s been a doctor; he has been takingresponsibility; now he’s retired, he just wantsto do what he’s told and make the world abetter place.’

But for Dame Elisabeth, the most importantthing CSV does is innovate. It was CSV thatfirst harnessed volunteers to help care for

people in their own homes so they did nothave to live in an institution; and, long beforeanyone had come up with the idea of teachingassistants, it was a CSV project that showedthat there was a role in classrooms forunqualified people who could help theteacher with jobs such as sharpening pencils and taking children to the toilet.

And now CSV is pioneering Volunteers inChild Protection, an initiative that began inBromley after the death of Victoria Climbiéand which is now underway at over 15 localauthorities.

‘I thought, we’re going to do something,’ saysDame Elisabeth, ‘and to the eternal credit ofthe Sainsburys Foundation they funded us todo a pilot programme in Bromley to see whathappened. It was marvellous. In Bromley, theturnover of social workers is on average everysix months, so to have a volunteer who stayswith a family for five years, or up to ten yearsas it is now, is just magic. The very firstvolunteer, he was a city gent, said that onceyou’ve been to the supermarket there’s not alot to do; so he now works with four families.The social workers like it because they know,if nobody’s called them, that things are lookingup. And the mothers love it because the kidsstart going to school, they can get a job, andthey know the volunteers can’t take theirchildren away. As one of them put it to me:

“They get the mattress and fridges out of theback garden.”

‘That’s the delight of volunteers, or the problem,whichever way you see it. Volunteers thinkindependently, they don’t have to worry abouttheir pension or their career. If they seesomething that’s wrong, they say so.’

When asked if there isn’t a fundamentalconflict between volunteering and a ‘statist’solution to social problems, she says ‘Ooh,that’s a big word!’ Like all good politicalrhetoric, what she is saying sounds like

common sense, anything any reasonableperson could agree with. And there iscertainly something of the ghost of Blair’s‘Third Way’ about her.

Her background is Labour. She was Secretaryof the University’s Labour Club, as wasDonald, her husband-to-be, also a Durhamgraduate. Indeed, the stories of her studentdays feature Labour Cabinet ministers onspeaking visits crammed into the back ofDonald’s car, of trips to Russia (where shesaw parks with empty plinths and toppledstatues of Khrushchev lying in the weeds) andthen to America; as if she was seeking to jointhe dots on the political axis of the then-worldin the way that today’s students spend theirgap years volunteering. She went on tobecome a Labour Councillor in Islington atthe age of 22, but left the Party shortly beforeTony Blair resigned in 2007. ‘When they cutthe benefit for single mothers,’ she explains.‘I wouldn’t vote for anyone else but I wasn’tgoing to give money to them.’

She was close too to the Blairites. A familyfriend of David Blunkett MP, she also knowsLord Levy, Blair’s fundraiser and special envoy to the Middle East, who is the currentPresident of CSV.

It was Lord Levy who taught her to make the‘ask’ – that moment when a fundraiser has to ask a donor to contribute.

‘Oh he has all the strengths of the Jewishcommunity,’ she says. ‘He has energy, he haswisdom, he thinks laterally, he tells the mostoutrageous, enormously funny jokes and he isdeeply committed to volunteering. He knowsalmost everybody, and, if he doesn’t knowsomeone, he knows somebody who does. He’s a visionary in terms of what could be,and he loves young people.’

She concedes there could be a questionhanging over the police’s motivation for the famous investigation into the selling

18

MR CAMERON, TAKE NOTEDame Elisabeth knows how to organise volunteers

She calls the Prime Minister ‘young Mr Cameron’. She is 70, Mr Cameron is 45, so why shouldn’t she? But there is alsosomething between a knowing and old-fashioned respect and thearch implication that Mr Cameron is wet behind the ears when it comes to understanding how to create the Big Society, that he is a big boy with a big idea who isn’t sure how to make it happen.

of peerages, particularly given what we knownow about the relationship between the policeand the press. ‘I can’t say what role the policeplayed,’ she concludes, ‘but I know the man:he’s an accountant and accountants don’t do silly things which the police thought theycould catch him out with. In the end, he wasgiven a clean bill of health. But the sufferingthat he went through was beyond belief.’

She chose Durham because it was furtheraway than Liverpool, although, as she alsobelieved Durham was somewhere north ofBlackpool, this may have been a fortuitousguess. In any case, she ended up inNewcastle because she had applied to King’sCollege (the Durham college that became thefounding institution of Newcastle Universityin 1963). A postgraduate qualification insocial work from the LSE followed, and thenthe job that has defined her life.

‘I was expecting to be a medical social workerwhen I saw a job advertised that said youngperson needed to organise young volunteers,’she says. ‘Now, as a child I’d grown up in afamily that volunteered. I can remember myparents organising Sunday afternoon tea forprisoners of war, and I found it quite strange

that our social work course did not includevolunteering – when I was at LSE, it was likea dirty word. The job was a two-year contractand I thought, “Oh well, I think I’ll beengaged by then, I could do it for two years”.

To my amazement, I was offered it. I’m notsaying I never looked at another job, but Inever saw another job that I wanted to dountil I retired at 70.’

As well as raising two sons, the other thingshe fitted in for 42 years was being amagistrate. So how would she have dealt with this summer’s rioters? ‘Oh I gave verypowerful lectures, very powerful lectures,’ she says. ‘I sent very few kids into custodybecause I know the damage it does. There

is an enormous range of penalties availablefor young people nowadays, including curfews,which they find very inconvenient, as well aswork of social value, which they get used to. I would have kept them busy until they got a job.’

She has all the brilliant matter-of-factness of a common sensical English girl who justwants to get things done, and it is telling thatshe tags the photography for Durham Firstonto her trip to the hairdresser’s.

‘Now I can’t lay my hands on it at the momentbut there is a most wonderful governmentbooklet and this is what Mr Cameron shouldproduce,’ she says, as a parting shot. ‘Thisbook was published in 1939 to tell everybodywhat was needed in the years ahead as warapproached. There’s a message from thepolice, there’s a message from the PrimeMinister, and then the Home Secretary laysout what people needed to do and whom to contact if they would like to do it.’ Mr Cameron, take note.

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‘the last thingvolunteers want to do is take over

someone’s job’

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HOUSEOFUSHAW

THENEWLIFE

OFTHE

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Less than four miles away from the sanctuary of Durham Cathedral, on a hilltop at theentrance to the Durham dales and in the heartland of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede,there exists another historic, beautiful and sacred space. Ushaw College can trace itsfoundation to the creation of an ‘English College’ in Douai, France in 1568 and to the training of Roman Catholic priests who could be smuggled back into England tocelebrate Mass – and face the penalty of execution if they were caught. Following theFrench Revolution, the seminary relocated to County Durham and re-established itselfat Ushaw. Consciously modelled on a university college, Ushaw College was to becomethe intellectual centre for Catholicism in the north of England. In 1958, 40,000 peopleattended an open-air Mass in the grounds to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

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For further information regarding the development at Ushaw, contact andrew.harston@durham.ac.uk

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Ushaw closed as a seminary in June 2011. However,Durham University is now working on ambitiousdevelopment plans, in full partnership with thetrustees of Ushaw, to establish an internationallysignificant centre of Catholic scholarship andculture. We are working to ensure that the unique,historic, and historically important manuscripts,libraries, archival holdings and treasures all stay in their rightful place, at Ushaw, under the expertstewardship of the University.

This photo-story, by renowned architecturalphotographer Alex Ramsey, captures Ushaw College at this moment of transition.

Our University Strategy 2010-20 states thatwe will be ‘recognised internationally forcreative thought and transformative researchof the highest calibre that will benefit fromand help to shape national and internationalagendas’. Durham’s research activitygenerated over £48 million in 2010 alone,helping to shape our education provisionthrough research-led education. If we are tofulfil the University’s ambitions, and preserveand enhance the currency of a Durham degree, it’s vital that Durham punches above its weightin an ever-competitive global research field.

The research strategy also highlights theimportance of raising the University’s researchprofile nationally and internationally byeffectively disseminating our researchsuccesses and outcomes.

2011 saw Durham’s research making headlinesacross the globe: from testing theories aboutthe evolution of the universe, dark matter andthe formation of galaxies, to exposing publichealth partnerships as ‘ineffective’ ataddressing critical issues of obesity or alcoholabuse. Converting what can be very technical,specialist research into an engaging ‘hardnews’ or feature package for national andinternational media interest can be a challenge.Durham academics work with the media team to relate their research to, and drive, the global news and policy agenda. This alsomakes research widely accessible beyondacademic journals.

Innovative research partnerships with the likesof Procter & Gamble and energy watchdogOfgem have brought in significant income tothe University in 2011 and advanced Durhamresearch to shape the world around us. Ourresearch stars’ expert comment on the biggeststories of 2011 – from the Japan earthquakeand the global economy, to standards ofprimary education, has enhanced publicengagement and understanding through aprism of some of the world’s most acclaimedmedia outlets. In recent months, this hasincluded the Daily Telegraph, the pages of the New York Times or primetime newsbroadcasts and documentaries on CNN,China National Radio and the BBC.

New discoveries and fresh thinking arecontinually thriving in our dynamiccommunity. Looking back at September,for example, Durham researchers at ourSchool of Education demonstrated howprimary schoolchildren can becomeeffective peer tutors, raising readingand mathematics levels among theirschoolmates. Then, in October,researchers from our Departmentof Geography made headlines fortheir role in a project to explore ahidden lake in Antarctica whichcould yield new knowledgeabout the evolution of life onEarth and other planets –

the project’s aim being to provide vital cluesabout the Earth’s past climate. Stories likethese demonstrate Durham’s diverse researchauthority. Critically, our research is alsoinforming public policy, with requests forresearch from Government committees and political parties.

For the last five years in succession, Durhamhas been achieving more national andinternational media profile than at any time in its history, and the quality of mediacoverage of Durham research (and researchers)continues to increase too. In the last sixmonths, Durham has secured more than3,000 positive news articles in the media, a 41 per cent increase from the same periodin 2009-10 in overseas media outlets and1,500 articles in the US alone.

In 2012, exciting research to be unveiledincludes a controversial project which islooking at the feasibility of ‘seeding’ theEarth’s atmosphere to tackle the issue ofglobal warming, and the roll-out of some of Durham’s pioneering applications of newsmart grid energy technologies. Keep an eye out for the headlines…

Maintaining a high profile for Durham’sresearch, by both a greater and targetedmedia distribution, helps to create internationaldemand for our cutting edge academic andresearch programmes, invites internationalcollaborations, and provides supportingevidence for researchers to demonstrate the‘impact’ of their work to leverage more funding.Proclaiming our ‘excellence in research’ ismore important than ever. And good newsstories are not exclusive to our researchoutput, with student achievements, specialevents, cultural attractions and our steady riseup national and international university leaguetables all putting Durham’s name in lights inrecent months.

DID YOU KNOW…More Durham University academics featuredon BBC Radio 4’s world-acclaimed Todayprogramme in the last 12 months than thoseof any other university.

Help us to maintain Durham’s high profile,subscribe to an RSS feed and keep up to date with news issued by Durham’sresearchers, visit the Durham UniversityMedia Room: www.durham.ac.uk/news

Follow University news and developmentsthe moment they are announced on theDurham University Twitter account:@durham_uni

DURHAM RESEARCH HEADLINING THE NEWS

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The last few months have seen a number of truly excitingdevelopments at Experience Durham. As the umbrellaorganisation with responsibility for the oversight of studentsport, music and the arts (and for both staff and studentvolunteering), Experience Durham has been up and runningfor the past 12 months. At the start of the 2011-12 academicyearweare looking forward toanexcitingphaseofdevelopment.

We are fortunate to have been able to secure funding for a sabbaticalofficer, who will have oversight of the development of student theatreand music within the University. Jess Gordon (BA English Literature,Hild-Bede, 2008-11) joined us in August and has made a great start,providing a light touch and steering hand to complement the superb workthat our students have been doing for so many years. The emphasis ison building on what is already in place and providing unique anddistinctive opportunities that were not previously easily accessible.

One of the best examples of this will come in the form of students beingprovided with the opportunity to travel to Zambia and work with localpeople to develop their understanding of drama. Experience Durham hashad a long-standing relationship with Sport-in-Action Zambia, and thissummer saw Durham students travel to Africa and work with young

people for the sixthsuccessive year. Extendingthe opportunity to thoseinvolved in student theatrepromises to be a reallyexciting addition, and, ifthe last six years in sportare anything to go by, alife-changing experience for many of the people involved.

The impact of students working within the local community has alwaysbeen something that Durham has been proud of, and the role thatStudent Community Action (SCA) plays at the centre of this is quiteastounding. Our hope is that by working in conjunction with SCA we willnow be able to create and further formalise opportunities for studentswanting to help develop music and theatre within the local area. Thiswill also include engaging our Vice-Chancellor’s Scholars within theprogramme. Our scholars are some of the most talented young people inBritain and we are keen to ensure that they are great ambassadors forthe University.

It has been an exciting summer for sport. Ournew facilities at Maiden Castle are not quitefinished, but will be a great addition to the

University when they are. Theconstruction has not held usback however. We go into the2011-12 season having hadthe best year in our history,and we believe that we will be able to deliver even morethis time around.

Recruitment has now becomea pivotal aspect of succeedingat university-level sport. Weare strengthening our talentbase with new recruitsstarting with us this year –over 70 freshers and 53postgraduate students withexceptional sporting ability

from around the world, with strongrepresentation from the USA. When you addthese 123 athletes to the talent we retained

from the end of last year, we have a right tobelieve that we are well placed to succeed inthe British Universities and Colleges Sports(BUCS) Championships. Women’s football and men’s and women’s volleyball are thelatest sports to have been developed as ourprogramme continues to grow.

Although it is exciting to believe that we couldhave up to 11 BUCS National Championship-winning squads this year, it is important toremember that our 360-degree model ofcommunity engagement means that all of ourtarget sports must at the same time deliver aprogramme within the community, as well assupport our ever-growing college programme.We are likely to work with over 4,000 youngpeople this year and have more teams, acrossmore sports at college level than ever before.If we can achieve all of our objectives, it reallywill be an impressive year.

THE BEST YEAR IN DURHAM’S SPORTING HISTORY

Experience DurhamStudent achievement in sport, music and the artsQuentin Sloper, Head of Student Experience (Sports, Music and the Arts)

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News in BriefIntrepid Alumnusand Crew Row to North Pole

‘Old Pulteney Row to the Pole’ is thebrainchild of Jock Wishart (BA CombinedArts, Hild-Bede, 1971-74), a proudDurham alumnus and loyal Universitysupporter and fundraiser, as well as a seasoned Arctic adventurer andtransatlantic rower. This summer, Jockled a five-man crew, including fellowDurham alumnus Christopher ‘Billy’Gammon (BA Anthropology & Sociology,St Cuthbert’s Society, 1993-96) in theworld’s first attempt to row to the 1996position of the Magnetic North Pole

Carrying the Durham University logo on their boat, Jock and his crew achievedtwo historic firsts. Not only did theybecome the first people to row to theposition of one of the earth’s poles, their expedition was also the first to userowing boats in the polar regions sinceSir Ernest Shackleton ordered his ship’screw to their boats in Antarctica in 1916.

You can find out more about thismagnificent feat of ocean and iceendurance, at www.rowtothepole.com

Honorary DegreeAt Winter Congregation, Durham willaward an honorary degree to JoannaBarker née James (BA French,Collingwood, 1977-81). A formerPresident of Durham Union Society,Joanna is a pioneer in private equity and the fight against cancer. Shestarted her career when venture capitalin the UK was in its infancy and laterwas one of the first to introduce thisform of finance to the newly-liberatedcountries of Eastern Europe. Her charitywork was prompted by the deaths of hermother and sister from ovarian cancer.She founded Target Ovarian Cancer to improve survival rates by raisingawareness of the symptoms andthrough research into new treatments.She is married to Graham Barker (LLB Law, Van Mildert, 1977-80).

New CollegeAppointments

In recent months, several colleges have welcomed new Heads of House.(From left to right) Professor Joe Elliothas become Principal of CollingwoodCollege; Professor Simon Hackett joinedSt Mary’s College as Principal; andProfessor Tom Allen became Master ofGrey College. All have previous experienceof Durham University as members of theSchool ofEducation, theSchool ofAppliedSocial Sciences and Durham Law Schoolrespectively. Dr Susan Frenk was madePrincipal of St Aidan’s College, havingfulfilled the role of Acting Principal andSenior Tutor of the College in recent years.

Van Mildert College welcomed ProfessorDavid Harper as Master of the College in November. Professor Harper waspreviously Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Copenhagen andHead of Geology at the Natural HistoryMuseum of Denmark.

The search is now on to find successorsfor: Professor Graham Towl, Principal ofSt Cuthbert’s Society after his promotionto Deputy Warden of Durham University;Dr Penny Wilson, Principal of UstinovCollege, following her retirement; andProfessor Maurice Tucker, Master ofUniversity College, following his move to Bristol University.

Alumnus awarded Bravery Medal in AustraliaJohn Hannah (MSc ManagementStudies, Graduate Society,1979-80) has been awarded the Bravery Medal by theGovernor General of Australia for protecting a woman who wasbeing attacked in the Australian

Capital Territory earlier in theyear. Mr Hannah and his partnerJennifer Small (who received a Bravery Commendation) bothsuffered considerable injuries as a result of their bravery.

Mr Hannah said: ‘At Durham, a lot of female students used toask the male students to walkthem back to their colleges. Now, the same Durham chivalryhas been recognised in Australia.’

www.durham.ac.uk/shopwear it with pride

Fourah Bay College UpdateThe editorial team would like to thank all of the many peoplewho responded to our request in the last issue for informationabout Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and the possibilitythat Durham validated ‘the first BA in Africa’. A number of ourrespondents are continuing to investigate and we hope to bein a position to give a definitive update in our next edition.

Queen’s Birthday Honours for Durham Alumni and StaffOur warmest congratulations to thosewho received a DBE: Rosemary Cramp(Emeritus Professor of Archaeology); and Sarah MacIntyre (BA Social andPublic Administration, St Aidan’s, 1967-70). Also to Christopher ShawGibson-Smith (BSc Geology, UniversityCollege, 1964-67), who received a CBE.

Our very best wishes also go to all those who received an MBE: Michael Butler(Community and Youth Work Studies, Grey College, 1975-79); William Dixon(Sociology, St Cuthbert’s, 1979-82);Mary Hawgood (BA French, St Mary’sCollege, 1953-57); and Leo Westhead(BSc Applied Physics, University College,1960-63).

Our very best wishes also go to all thosewho received an OBE: John RotherhamHunter (PhD Archaeology, UniversityCollege, 1970-77); Bronwen Northmore(Russian, Trevelyan College, 1969-72);Catherine Purdy (MBA, 2000-02);Andrew Strauss (BA Economics, Hatfield,1995-98); and William Timpson(BA Geography, Hatfield, 1991-94).

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DECEMBER 2011FRIDAY 16TH Palatinate Christmas BallRoyal Courts of Justice, London

JANUARY 2012FRIDAY 13TH Hatfield Association Winter DinnerDurham

FEBRUARY 2012SATURDAY 11TH – SUNDAY 12TH Hatfield College ChapelChoir ReunionDurham

SATURDAY 18TH – SUNDAY 19TH Josephine Butler Alumni WeekendDurham

MARCH 2012FRIDAY 23RD – SUNDAY 25TH The Sixty-sixth Annual Reunionof the Durham Castle SocietyDurham

APRIL 2012FRIDAY 13TH – SUNDAY 15TH The Grey Association Reunionand AGMDurham

JUNE 2012FRIDAY 15TH – SUNDAY 17THDurham Business SchoolReunion WeekendDurham

SATURDAY 30THDunelm Society at HenleyHenley Regatta

SEPTEMBER 2012THURSDAY 20THTrevelyan College SocietyAlumni EventLondon

FRIDAY 21ST – SUNDAY 23RD College of St Hild & St BedeAssociation Reunion WeekendDurham (TBC)

FRIDAY 21ST – SUNDAY 23RD St Aidan’s College ReunionWeekend – 1947-62 MatriculatesParticularly WelcomeDurham

St Aidan’s College warmly welcomesany King’s College alumni to theirReunion Weekend

FRIDAY 21ST – SUNDAY 23RD St Mary’s College SocietyReunion WeekendDurham

NOVEMBER 2012WEDNESDAY 7THDurham University ConvocationMiddle Temple Hall, LondonDunelm Society Annual DinnerMiddle Temple Hall, London

For more information, please see www.dunelm.org.uk/events or telephone +44 (0)191 334 6305