There was a rumble in the jungle as a new batch of Freshers descended on college last week! On Saturday night all Chadsians, old and new, came together in the Cassidy Quad to boogie amongst tropical plants and bamboo shoots!
With 50% of the college channelling their inner explorer, the gathering could have been mistaken for a David Attenborough lookalike competition! It was a great end to Freshers Week and has us all looking forward to the Returners Bop in November.
Our new Chaplain Fr David Rushton (St Chad’s 1993-96) has been running marathons for good causes for a number of years and this Autumn we have been delighted that he chose to run the Richmond Half Marathon, Great North Run, Berlin Marathon and Chicago Marathon in support of the Cassidy Scholarships Fundraising Appeal.
On Wednesday 11th October we were able to officially welcome him with a service of installation, presided over by Rt Revd David Stancliffe, on behalf of the Bishop of Durham. It was a lovely service, with a sermon from Dr Margaret Masson and music from St Chad’s College Chapel choir.
Below are photos of both David’s running achievements and his installation.
Welcome (back) to Chad’s, David.
Just a few weeks ago we held an indoor-garden-party, featuring Giant Jenga, wine and excellent food, to say goodbye to many of our postgraduates. Now we’re just days away from welcoming our new students to into the College, both into the Middle Common Room and Junior Common Room.
Photos from the MCR Goodbye Party below. With thanks for everything that they have contributed to College over the last 12 months. You will be missed- do come back and visit and keep in touch!
This week saw a team of three Chad’s students leaving for our partnership school in South Africa for the yearly South Africa Outreach.
We arrived in Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, on Sunday and have spent the week here getting to know the country and preparing for our placement in St Matthew’s High School.
We were met at the airport by Tim Barnard, a member of staff at St Andrew’s College, who coordinates this project from South Africa. The cold definitely took some getting used to – it’s winter here and after a rare rain storm we even had to wait out a power cut in the local pub! Having said that, during the day it’s still very sunny and similar temperatures to July back home.
We have worked closely with four interns around our age who are working at St Andrews while they study at Rhodes University.
This week we have spent our mornings running winter holiday sessions in Maths and English Literacy for Grade 12 learners preparing for their NBT (National Benchmarking Test) at Good Shepherd School.
During the afternoons, we have been taking part in a variety of lessons and activities. We began with a South African history lesson from Tim, learning about the scars left by the European colonisation of the 1800s and the social issues facing the contemporary culture following the end of apartheid 23 years ago.
As part of our cultural induction, we have participated in isiXhosa lessons, one of the 11 official languages here and the mother tongue of most of the students we will be teaching. We learned how to introduce ourselves and practice pronunciation, especially as there are 18 ‘click’ sounds. We were also lucky enough to be able to experience traditional South African food.
Towards the end of the week we met with Prof. Kenneth Ngcoza who works in the Education Department at Rhodes University. He told us about the particular challenges South Africans face in terms of education in disadvantaged areas, and the strategies Rhodes is using to improve access to education and opportunities. The reality is that learners from poorer backgrounds have to work significantly harder than those in private schools to get into university.
After a positive and educational first week, we are looking forward to what’s next!
Alastair, Phoebe and Liberty
A selection of photos of St Chad’s staff, fellows, students, graduates and parents take during a rather wet, windy and grey Congregation week.
A couple of weeks ago a slightly depleted Chapel Choir took a weekend trip to Jersey. Though they generally tour for longer this year various commitments meant that tour time was reduced, making the relative proximity of Jersey the ideal choice.
It would be fair to say that there were doubts in the choir about what the tour would be like, having become accustomed to more exciting sounding locations, but the doubters were soon proved wrong; Jersey turned out to have plenty to do, excellent weather and some of the best audiences the choir has had.
In support of MHNE, SCCCFS ’17 saw Chad’s quad transformed into a stadium for viewing ‘beautiful people wearing clothes’ in the words of compère Rose Minshall.
Launching with an incredible display of core strength from Chad’s very own pole dancer Izzy Niner, the catwalk was sporadically taken over by entertainers ranging from the DU dance squad to singers Helena Morgan and George Cook, whose rendition of a High School Musical Classic left not a dry eye in the house.
Of course, *clothes clothes clothes* were in abundance and the SCCCFS exec secured 21 fashion brands. The gals and guys of Chad’s looked resplendent, and if you too desire to resplend then the morning of the 21st will see a fashion flash-sale in the garden. If metallic crops, jazzy leggings, bowtee shirts, and patriotic swimwear are your thing do come and join.
Gratifyingly, the show was an outrageous success, with a phenomenal five thousand pounds raised for the charity Mental Health North East. This more than doubles last year’s amount and the SCCCFS exec deserve a great deal of credit for working around the clock to support a cause so close to their hearts.
Charity officer Izzy Zeitlyn commented: “We were so pleased to have Lyn Boyd, Chief executive officer of MHNE, Tamara Blakey, one the MHNE young persons team, Jan Blakey and Karen brown, supporters of the charity, with us on the night. MHNE is such a small charity, with all their funding coming from donations, so the charity was thrilled to be SCCCFS’s chosen charity. The charity representatives really enjoyed the evening and we hope to stay in contact with the charity for future fundraising events.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of the Revd David Rushton as the next Chaplain and Outreach Officer of St Chad’s College. David has served as an NHS Chaplain for the last sixteen years. He is presently Head of Chaplaincy Services at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London. David is also Chair of the Trust’s clinical ethics committee, Co-chair of the LGBT staff support forum, member of London Borough of Camden Inter-faith Network, and the Bishop of London’s Advisor for health care and healthcare chaplaincy. He read Theology at St Chad’s and is an experienced musician and an enthusiastic runner.
David will be taking up his appointment in time for the start of the new academic year. We greatly look forward to the experience and enthusiasm he will bring to all of us at St Chad’s.
On Monday 5th June, just a few days before the General Election, St Chads played host to the newly formed Model Westminster Society’s Question Time event. Four of Durham’s prospective parliamentary candidates took part in a panel chaired by Chads’ own Conor Fegan, and students were invited to submit questions for the candidates to respond to. Despite the heavy rain and some flooding in Chads’ Quad, the event was packed, with more questions coming from the audience than there was time for at the event. Students asked questions on both local and national issues, including student housing and college fees, plans for development of schools in Durham, fox hunting and whether the police should be armed.
In addition to questions, the four candidates were given several minutes at the start and end of the event to convince students why they should be elected MP for Durham City, and all four stayed after the event to mingle with the audience and take further questions. Thanks should go to Jonathan Elmer (Green Party), Richard Lawrie (Conservatives), Amanda Hopgood (Liberal Democrats) and Roberta Blackman-Woods (Labour) for taking part in the event and responding to a wide range of issues important to Durham students. The Model Westminster Society should also receive credit for what was a very ambitious and fantastically organised event, particularly for a new society.
From the turnout and length of discussion on the night, it is clear that Durham students are politically engaged and willing to challenge politicians on issues which matter to them. In an election where young voter turnout was especially high, students should be proud of the contribution we are able to make to politics, and strive to make sure our voices are always heard.
