Gaudy for 1978-81 Matriculands

The Gaudy for 1978-81 Old Members took place in College on Saturday 24th June. We were fortunate to have superb weather, no doubt thanks to the presence of our Old Member Weather Man and Ex-changes speaker, Ken Mylne (1981, Physics)! 120 Old Members, Fellows and staff attended the event, making it one of our largest gaudies for some time.

The event took the following format:

Saturday, 24th June

3.00pm
Tea in the Rector's Lodgings - as the weather was so lovely, with a clear blue sky and very warm sunshine, tea was taken in the Rector's Garden. Around 40 guests mingled in this pleasant setting, many meeting our current Rector, Frances Cairncross, for the first time.
4.15-5.15pm
'Ex-changes' talk by Ken Mylne (1981) - although just under 40 people had signed up to attend this talk, the weather tempted rather a few to stay in the Gardens or go for a stroll around Oxford (I believe that for many, this stroll went as far as the King's Arms on Broad Street!). For those who missed it, Ken's talk was truly fascinating and, towards the end, spine-chilling as we were shown the facts and figures proving just how quickly man has changed the climate in the last 100 years! Ken also featured the climateprediction.net experiment. This is the largest project to try and predict the climate of the 21st Century, by asking interested users to download a climate-modelling programme onto their desktop, where it will run one of millions of prediction models, the data from which is then fed back to the Met Office where it will be collated. Many, many thanks to Ken for being so willing to give this year's talk.
6.00pm
Gaudy Service in the Chapel - those attending may have noticed a photographer clambering around in the organ loft. He was taking pictures for the cover of the College Choir's new CD!
6.50pm
Champagne in the Rector's Lodgings and the official photograph - those who weren't out on the lawn enjoying their fizz were studiously scanning the table plans to see who they had been seated next to at dinner......"Oh no!" At 7.15 everyone said 'cheese' for the official photograph - the photographer now hanging precariously from an upstairs window in the Lodgings! I think he might be charging us danger money next time!
7.30pm
Dinner in Hall - Despite the heat produced by 120 bodies we enjoyed a meal of spiced chic pea soup, elderflower and mint sorbet, wild salmon with seasonal veg and triple layered chocolate mousse along with lashings of what was definitely not ginger beer. Dinner was rounded-off by an excellent speech by Philip New (1980,PPE) who was praised particularly for his jokes and his brevity! The Rector finished with a summary of the College's current aims (a fight almost broke out at our table as to how a tutorial could possibly only cost £50....!)

After dinner, people retired to the Undercroft Bar (with many spilling out into the Front Quad in an effort to cool down!) Attendees were provided with information about late opening bars in Oxford, for any who had the stamina to continue into the small hours. My informant tells me that a significant number made it in to town and kept going until kicking-out time (2.30am) and that at least 4 night owls were still in the Fellow's Garden at 4.30am to see the sun rise!

Photos

The official photograph of the Gaudy is available from www.firstexposure.co.uk where you can view and order the photograph online. For the unofficial photo gallery, click here. If you have any images from the night that you would like to share, do please send them to the Development Office and we'd be more than happy to post them here.

And Finally....

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