Remembering Olly and Deep

This November saw the first anniversary of the deaths of first-year students Sundeep (“Deep”) Watts and Harcourt (“Olly”) Tucker in Michaelmas 2007.

In the same weekend last year both students were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, one with suspected meningitis and the other having collapsed during a hockey match. The College spent an agonising two days hoping that both would pull through, but tragically, on the evening of Monday November 12th, within five hours of each other, both Deep and Olly died. The Rector described them both as popular, lively and intelligent young men who had each made an astonishing number of friends in their five weeks at Exeter College – and the other students were devastated by their loss.

The anniversary itself was marked by a special candlelit service of Compline at 10pm, which was attended by friends and family. The service began with the dedication of two benches, which were inscribed with the words ‘In Memory of Olly’ and ‘In Memory of Deep’. Later in the week they were placed in the Fellows’ Garden and they now stand in one of the most beautiful spots in the whole of Oxford, up on the mound overlooking Radcliffe Square, providing a peaceful space where friends can come to remember them, or simply enjoy the views of the College and city which both young men loved.