Autumn 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of our arrival as Freshers at Somerville in 1974. We are celebrating this milestone with a Golden Reunion in College and we would love to see you.
Please spread the word to any of your contemporaries who may not be on email, or not in touch with the College at all, as data protection rules restrict what we can do in this respect. If you know anyone who wants to re-establish contact with College please direct them to Lisa Gygax lisa.gygax@some.ox.ac.uk so that we may include them.
The University’s annual Alumni Weekend takes place on 21st and 22nd September, and we hope this may make a journey to Somerville even more worthwhile for those who live further away.
We are acutely aware that reunions are not everyone’s cup of tea but we hope you will consider joining us for this special one. Alumnae who have come to their Golden Reunions in the past have been effusive in their positive feedback!
“Several of us had misgivings beforehand about reunions. I’m really glad I overcame my doubts and hesitations and turned up – it was far more interesting and entertaining than I expected and led to some quite unusual reflections on the past, both mine personally and that of our generation.”
If you would like to come to your reunion but need help with the booking costs, you are welcome to apply to the Senior Members Fund for financial assistance (applications to Lisa Gygax, lisa.gygax@some.ox.ac.uk)
Thursday 19 September
From 11.00am Coffee in the Mary Somerville Room (old JCR)
11.45am Library Tour
12.30pm Reception
1.00– 2.00pm Buffet luncheon in Hall/Reading Room
Lunch in Margery Fry for MCR alumnae
2.30pm -3.00pm Somerville and Beyond: Class of 74 meets again.
Quick and lighthearted College quiz.
3.00pm Somerville Now and Then: Continuities and Innovations
An opportunity to join a discussion with a College panel of
the Principal, Treasurer, Senior Tutor, Development Director & an Academic Fellow
4.00pm Tea
7.00pm Photograph in Hall (prompt attendance to ensure inclusion in photo please)
7.15pm. Drinks Reception in Reading Room
7.45pm Gala Dinner in Hall, hosted by the Principal, Baroness Jan Royall.
Friday 20 September
8.00 – 10.00am Breakfast in Hall
10.30am College Art Tour
Throughout the reunion, there will be displays of publications and of memorabilia in the Library.
Year group booklet – a request for EVERYONE
It has become a tradition since this event started in 1959 to produce a booklet at these key milestones, so that people can find out about those in their year group they have lost contact with, whether they can come to the Golden Reunion or not. The booklet will be available to all of you and is a really important part of the College archive. A printed copy of the booklet will be available free to those attending the reunion. A digital copy will be sent to all members of the year group, so do please send your contribution, whether or not you are able to come to the event itself.
Here are some suggestions about putting your entry together:
• A length up to 500 words would be helpful
• Photographs of you (perhaps then and now?)
• You could write about any aspects of life since Somerville: home and work, any community involvement, travels or moves, changes or developments of your interests and opinions. This is not all about amazing successes in life, but about those things that have been important to you. All lives and experiences are worth reading about!
• It would be interesting to read any reflections you want to share now, about your time at Somerville and how, if at all, the experience affected your life subsequently
Please feel free to write as you like; an informal style has worked well in the past. Here are some examples of contributions to last year’s booklet.
Please send your entry, and any photographs, to Jackie Watson (jacqueline.watson@some.ox.ac.uk) by the end of July.
B&B is available and bookable using the code SOME1974. Please note: you will need to input this code before checking availability.
The reunion has been nominated as a charity fundraising event which enables it to be VAT exempt. Therefore, the College charges to you for this Reunion will not be subject to VAT (currently a saving to you of 20%). If you would like to make a gift to the College this can be done via the College’s one-off gift page here www.some.ox.ac.uk/support/make-a-gift/ . However, we want to emphasise that it is getting together rather than fundraising which is the primary purpose of this event.