No . 134 The Trusty Servant
Co Ro achievements Tommy Cookson ( I , 55-60 , Co Ro 74- 90 , HM , 03-05 ) was awarded an MBE this summer for services to education – not only to Winchester College , as his plethora of dates might suggest , but also for creating a support system for new and inexperienced teachers of Physics .
John Falconer ( Co Ro , 78-14 ) has published Letters from Helfenberg , a family correspondence between Dresden and Cambridge , and beyond , 1909-1948 . In 1913 his German grandmother married an English classics lecturer in Dresden ’ s Frauenkirche and moved with him to Cambridge just before the outbreak of the First World War . These selected letters , exchanged through war and peace , juxtapose local and personal news with frequent references to the great international events of the time , together with literary and musical allusions , philosophical reflections and engaging observations . 480 pages . Matador . ISBN : 978-1803132044 . Available from www . troubador . co . uk .
Head of Economics Michael Marcas ( Co Ro , 21- ) has set up a charity in Romania , which aims to bring high quality teaching to children in Romanian villages . Wandering Scholars hopes to use the classroom to inspire children to become both scholarly , and ambitious to use their knowledge and abilities for the common good , and to know and value their Romanian village heritage . If you would like to know more , do contact him on mtm @ wincoll . ac . uk .
Studium from the inside – a speaker gives the low-down : Ian Alexander ( G , 67-72 ) was lured into action
I was delighted to be invited to the Headmaster ’ s Guest Night in May 2022 , and to see the college and the town at once familiar and updated .
I had been expecting an Oxfordstyle Gaude , and the odd pleasure of meeting people of exactly my age , hardly any of whom I would recognise until they spoke and said their names and houses . But it wasn ’ t . The guests were partly current and former members of staff , and partly a mix of other people , including a few Old Wykehamists .
Dons had been instructed to move halfway through the dinner , so I found myself in conversation with Adam Rattray , who teaches history of art , and runs the twice-yearly Studium events . Studium , as OWs of the last twenty years will remember , is a day when all normal hours are suspended , and replaced with a wide range of lectures . Not necessarily thanks to the liberal wine supply , I agreed to be one of the speakers at the next one , in October .
Adam made it clear that I could choose any topic for my talk , but that I was to speak for just 35 minutes of the 1-hour slot , leaving a wide expanse of time for questions . I bounced an absurdly academic title off Adam , who quite correctly pointed out that the average age of my audience was 17 , and that I would certainly get it right if I set my mind to it .
I went through a good number of drafts , refining both the slides and the title . This came out as If Software is Worth Doing , it ’ s Worth Designing Badly ! meaning that it ’ s essential to make rough-and-ready prototypes to discover what people really want , before taking the plunge with a finished product .
The venue was the building I knew as Gymna :, which has become the fully-fitted-out Queen Elizabeth II Theatre ; a member of VI Book , who had plainly taken the trouble to study my website , gave me a generous welcome . Then the minutes flew by as I spoke , and it was time to sit down and take questions . These came from all around the audience , and were uniformly thoughtful , demanding careful answers .
I listened in to two talks , and truthfully told Sir Hew Pike ( I , 1956- 60 ) that I would have loved to hear his talk on The Just War , had I not been speaking at the same time .
Lunch was in the panelled dining room of the Master in College . Adam and the archivist , Suzanne Foster , rounded off the day by showing us around some of the treasures , including the medieval stained glass , Oxyrhynchus papyri , and King Richard II ’ s 1382 charter granting land for the building of the College .
Visiting Win Coll Security arrangements
We are delighted that so many Old Wykehamists visit the College . Please remember that visitors ( other than for an event or as a spectator at matches , when the instructions issued might be different ,) must contact Win Coll Soc beforehand . This should be done at least 24 hours ahead of the planned visit , or by Friday midday for weekend visits : + 44 ( 0 ) 1962 621264 or wincollsoc @ wincoll . ac . uk .
Visitors should arrive at the Porters ’ Lodge and not enter by any other gate . They will be asked to produce identification and sign the relevant visitors ’ book ; they will be issued with a visitor ’ s badge and lanyard , to be worn conspicuously during their visit , and returned as they leave through the same gate . The Porters will also explain which areas of the school are off limits . With a busy programme of events outside term time , these security arrangements should be observed both during term time and in the school holidays .
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