Looking Forward to Spring

March / April 2015

Selwyn Signal

Spotlight On ... 2

Prepare for your

Appraisal

2

On My Desert

Island

2

Kitten Tails 3

Grab a Team—

its’ Quiz Night!

3

Staff Update 4

Staff Training 4

Inside this Issue:

Comedy Night

Review

4

No doubt you’re glad to be

bidding farewell to Winter

for another year. Spring

officially arrives on 20

March this year and little

tell-tale signs are appear-

ing everywhere. The bit-

terly cold days are becom-

ing fewer, the sun is begin-

ning to peek out of the

clouds a little more often

and the birds are begin-

ning to sing.

As we put the colder win-

ter months behind us, a

few members of staff tell

us what they are looking

forward to this spring...

Paul Baldry—seeing the

leaves growing on the

trees, a profusion of spring

bulbs everywhere, walk-

ing into work in warmer

weather, and longer

lighter days.

College Diary Dates

March

13 Full Term ends

April

2 College Offices close

(5.00pm)

3 Good Friday

5 Easter Sunday

6 Bank Holiday Monday

7 College re-opens

10 Term begins

11 FPR begins

20 1st Quiet Period begins

21 Full Term begins

23 St George’s Day

22 FPR ends

25 Term ends

World Book Day at Selwyn

Thursday

5 March

2015

marks the

18th World

Book Day

organised

by UNESCO to promote

reading internationally.

We in the Library are

never ones to let anything

book-related pass us by, so

we’re using this as a

chance to highlight some

of our books from around

the world.

In the lead up, we’ve high-

lighted world items from

the lending collection.

On World Book Day itself,

we’ll have some of our

older and rarer books out

on display between 9am

and 3pm. Please do drop

by if you are passing!

Selected books will be on

show in the Library dis-

play case for the rest of the

month (in the Main Li-

brary, near the end win-

dow).

Our theological collection

is particularly varied and

we have religious texts in

more than 30 languages.

As you might expect,

given George Augustus

Selwyn’s history, many

come from New Zealand

and the Pacific Islands,

and we’ve unearthed

books in Maori, Fijian,

Tongan, Samoan, Raroton-

gan, and more.

We’ve also dug out some

other intriguing and odd

titles, such as the Dutch

Icones lignorum : a represen-

tation of inland and foreign

wood, as well trees as [sic]

shrubs (1773).

It’s a must-read for all you

Lovers of Natural History

who collect such speci-

mens in your Cabinets of

Natural Curiosities...

S e l w y n C o l l e g e , C a m b r i d g e

Laurie McPhun— long

cycle rides on Sundays,

and sitting in a pub near a

river watching the baby

ducks swimming by.

Janet Lucas—spring sun-

shine, warmer days, and

lighter mornings and eve-

nings.

Sue Barnes—the pink

blossom in the trees on

West Bye Lane, a vase of

tulips on the table, walk-

ing outside in a jumper

instead of a winter coat,

watching baby ducklings,

and lambs (aaahh).

Thanks to Doug and the Mainte-

nance Team, last autumn the Bur-

sary had a substantial makeover.

The counter and partition wall

were removed in order to create a

more modern, open-plan office

environment, with space for two

additional workstations.

Together with fresh paint, some new

carpet tiles and brighter lighting,

this has been a huge improvement

and Sally and her team are delighted

with the result.

In January the Bursary welcomed

Paige Dixon, who joined the staff as

an Accounts Assis-

tant; this is a new

role within the de-

partment.

Paige will provide a

much needed extra

resource and will be

building up a portfo-

lio of responsibilities

over the coming

months.

Prepare for Your Appraisal

As appraisal time

approaches, one of

the most important

things you can do is

to prepare for it...

Gather information

and review your performance

Review your job description and ob-

jectives set at your last appraisal, and

if you’ve kept notes over the last year,

look back to see what your strengths

and challenges were.

Make a list of your accomplishments

Prepare a list of your achievements

during the past year. Include any

obstacles that limited your ability and

any training courses you have at-

tended or new skills you have learnt.

Prepare a list of areas for develop-

ment. Identify any areas where you

could do better, skills, or experience

you would like to gain, or additional

responsibilities you would like to take

on. Think about your career plans (if

you have any) and be prepared to talk

about them. What skills, knowledge

or experience do you need to develop

to help you achieve these goals?

PAGE 2

Spotlight On … the Bursary

SELWYN SIGNAL

Laying carpet tiles

where the counter used

to be.

Almost finished— two new work stations here the photo-copier used to stand.

With the counter removed,

Doug and Vince are hard at

work.

By closing my eyes and listening to the

lark soar, I would be transported back

to the English countryside that, for me,

is more beautiful than anywhere else

in the world.

The book is the most difficult decision

to make as I read copiously. For senti-

mental reasons, I am tempted to re-

quest “Psammy for Short” by Edgar

Dickle, first published in 1929.

This is a book my mother had as a

child and read to me, she also made a

recording for my children of herself

reading it (beautifully). However she

refuses to be parted from her copy and

since it has long been out of print, the

only way to obtain one would be at

auction, which the Finance Manager

probably wouldn’t allow. It’s great

fun, with a very quirky English sense

of humour; sadly it would probably

now be considered politically incor-

rect.

Since you are very unlikely to have

ever encountered this book, I won’t

bore on about it much further except

to add that it involves a young boy

king (Psammy) undertaking a journey

across the desert to return sand to a

neighbouring kingdom. Psammy is

accompanied by his Prime Minister (a

Dormouse) and they ride on a hot

water bottle with the Dormouse’s

handkerchief as a sail and his alarm

clock (because he has a tendency to

fall asleep).

Finally, my essential

item. Assuming that

Colin Firth is out of

the question, may I

have a snorkel and

mask? I’m a fanatical

swimmer and get

twitchy if I don’t get to immerse my-

self in cold chlorinated water several

times a week; however I loathe salt

water, particularly in my eyes. With

my essential item I could enjoy swim-

ming in the turquoise waters sur-

rounding my desert island, admiring

the colourful fish and maybe catching

a few to keep me going.

On My Desert Island

It’s probably cheating but for my

record I would like to request the

greatest hits of the Pet Shop Boys:

there are quite a lot of them! I like

the singer, I like the songs, this is my

kind of music…

If I’m only allowed one song, then

(along with several million Britons) I

would go with “The Lark Ascend-

ing” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Finance Manager, Sally Clayson,

provides her list three items (a

record, book and luxury or essen-

tial item) she could not do without

if stranded on a desert island…

SELWYN SIGNAL PAGE 3

Kitten Tails

Social Events Diary

14 March—Quiz Night

8 May—White Water Rafting

17 June—Staff Outing: Ceremony of

the Keys, Tower of London

2 September—Staff Outing: Burghley

House, Stamford or Rutland Water

12 December—Staff Christmas

Party—Queens’ College

A reminder that the charity Quiz

Night to raise money for ‘Stroke’ is on

Saturday 14 March. If you haven’t yet

entered your team and wish to join in

the fun contact Kelly Wilson to regis-

ter. If you would like to make a dona-

tion to this worthy cause Kelly would

be pleased to receive any contribu-

tions.

As a warm up for the evening here are

a few questions to get those brain cells

working.

1. What colour is the Northern Line on

the London underground?

2. A couple celebrating their crystal

wedding anniversary have been mar-

ried for how many years?

3. How high is a basketball hoop?

4. How many years did Nelson Man-

dela spend in prison?

5. What is the largest bone in the hu-

man body?

6. Which country has the longest

coastline?

7. Who might use a maulstick?

8. Christopher Cockerill invented

what in 1955?

9. Which two countries signed up to

the common market in 1973 alongside

the UK?

10. What does Agflation mean?

(Answers on page 4.)

Grab a Team—it’s Quiz Night!

What happens when 5 tiny 3 week old

kittens find themselves in the Library

car park on a warm summer’s day,

vulnerable to the heavy traffic on

Grange Road, cars and bikes whizzing

in and out of the car park, humans

tramping this way and that, with no

sign of mum? A rescue. That’s what!

History suggests that in times of crisis

folk pull together, and it could be

argued there is no better cause than

indefensible baby animals to pull on

the heart strings and make normally

impassive humans gird their loins into

action. So it was that a small task

force of duty porters lead by Vet Fel-

low Mr Eves set about the rescue mis-

sion

Catching kittens isn’t that easy. The

term “herding cats” springs to mind.

Not yet old enough to be street wise

but fearsome and ferocious, they man-

aged to outwit us for several

hours, the dense summer flora

making excellent hidey holes.

Blooded and scratched we even-

tually retired with all 5 safely

captured, uninjured and devastat-

ingly cute.

For the next few weeks the kittens

were looked after on the Eves

family farm along with sheep,

dogs and other cats. Astonishingly,

despite their very young pre-weaned

age, they all survived. Our intention

was always to reunite kittens with

mum, but a week long battle to trap

her and a miraculous escape, meant

that in the end we had to satisfy our-

selves that we’d done all we could.

In our attempt to catch mum we did

manage to trap dad, a big very

smelly black and white Tom. Street-

wise, scabby, aggressive and raging,

he was taken into vet care, returning

a few days later to live out his days

harmlessly in the grounds here

about.

Of the 5 rescued kittens 3 were girls

and having lost both my dogs the

previous Christmas, I was suggesta-

ble to having one myself. But a dyed

in the wool dog owner, I was at first,

more than a little reluctant, and cer-

tainly less than enthusiastic. In the

end Mr Eves helped me make a deci-

sion, no arm

twisting in-

volved, and on

August 19th

two terrified

girls came

home with me.

Six weeks later

they both de-

cided it was

OK to share

their new found space with me and

ventured out from behind the sofa. I

had been adopted!

Six months on and I have been fully

integrated, recognised for the useful

services I provide; food, drink,

warmth, cuddles and curious funny

things to play with.

Like chalk and cheese they are very

different. Maud, dainty and spirited,

bold and brave. Mabel, dignified

and gracious, noble but shy,

Mum is still seen skulking about the

grounds, sunning herself in winter

warm spots, probably with kittens

secreted away somewhere nearby,

and no doubt as nature would have

it, there will be more.

Happy endings are hard fought espe-

cially in nature and doing the right

thing with best intentions may not

always end the way one would hope.

But I am very glad of my two girls.

Helen Stephens

The girls arrive August 2014

Paige Dixon has joined

the Bursary as an Ac-

counts Assistant (see

‘Spotlight on the Bursary’

on page 2).

Leavers

In Housekeeping, Benya

Halemba and Nicoleta

Voinea have both con-

firmed they will not be

returning after their Mater-

nity Leave.

Anna Gabrukiewicz and

Mateusz (Matt) Baca have

both resigned from their

roles as Housekeeping

Supervisors.

New Faces

We welcome two new

Housekeeping Supervisors

Tatjana Bondar and Maria

Andua.

Staff Update

If any smokers are con-

templating kicking the

habit, the Smokefree web-

site contains lots of infor-

mation, help and advice http://smokefree.nhs.uk/advice-

and-information/ or tele-

phone the Smoke Free

Helpline: 0300 123 1044 0300 123 1044

PAGE 4 SELWYN SIGNAL

Comedy Night

Review A small group of staff

went to see Omid Djalili

on 30 January, including

Howard Beaumont, who

reviews the evening:

“Brilliant show! Very

funny and entertain-

ing. Omid had us stitches

throughout! His support-

ing act, Boothby Graffoe,

was fantastic - a very

funny man. Overall, an

extremely enjoyable night.

Highly recommended!”

Our Porters attended two

training days in January

to complete essential

health and safety re-

fresher training, which

included manual han-

dling, ladder safety, Evac

chair, first aid and fire

warden and fire extin-

guisher training.

Kerry Williams is pic-

tured above, beside the

trainer, extinguishing a

fire in the car park at our

17 West Road hostel.

Porters’ Training Days

The training days also gave

the Porters the opportunity

to improve their team work-

ing skills, using Lego® Seri-

ous Play®.

The

Por-

ters

are

photographed hard at work

constructing their models

and reviewing and discuss-

ing the results.

FOODBANK

Food donated at last

years’ Carol Services

weighed a total of 39.2

kgs. The food was sent to

REACH Community Pro-

jects in Haverhill, who

distribute food to local

families who are strug-

gling to make ends meet.

The JCR Committee has

recently started a collec-

tion for the Cambridge

City foodbank. If you

would like to support this

charity please place non-

perishable food in the

foodbank in the Porters’

Lodge.

The winners! Samantha,

Gina and Stephanie as-

sembled 5 boxes in the

teambuilding challenge.

Quiz Answers

1. Black

2. 15

3. 10 feet

4. 27 years

5. Femur

6. Canada

7. An Artist

8. The Hovercraft

9. Eire & Denmark

10. An increase in the price

of food.

A reminder that this year

the clocks will go for-

ward by one hour at 1.00

am on Sunday 29 March,

although I doubt many of

us will be springing out of

bed after we've lost an

hour's sleep!

for and give seamless pres-

entations.

IT Manager Dave Johnstone

also gave us some useful tips

on how to manage our email

and electronic folder, files

and documents more effi-

ciently.

Congratulations

Sam and Kate Weekes are

proud parents

of a son (Finlay

John) who was

born on Thurs-

day 26 Febru-

ary. Kate and Finlay are

both doing fine.

Learning at Work Week

offered a variety of 30

minute taster sessions to

give staff the opportunity

to test their communica-

tion and team building

skills, pick up some tips

about body language,

and learn how to prepare

Learning at Work Week