Autumn 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of your arrival as Freshers at Somerville in 1976. We are celebrating this milestone with a Golden Reunion in College and we would love to see you.
The reunion is a chance to catch up with those you knew at College and to meet properly those you did not. Somervillians are interesting people! As well as meals back in Hall and finding out about how the College has developed since you were last here (and, of course, what never changes), there will be plenty of time to talk less formally. We would very much like to welcome back alumnae who studied for either undergraduate or graduate courses from 1976.
We are aware that reunions are not everyone’s cup of tea but we hope that the informality and joy of this special one will attract you! Alumnae who have come to their Golden Reunions in the past have been hugely positive in their 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.”
Please spread the word to any of your contemporaries who may not be on email, or not in touch with the College at all. If you know anyone who wants to re-establish contact with College please ask them to email Jackie Watson jacqueline.watson@some.ox.ac.uk so that we may include them.
The University’s annual Alumni Weekend, Meeting Minds, takes place immediately after your reunion, on 19 – 20 September, and we hope this may make a journey to Somerville even more worthwhile for those who live further away. We will hold our Alumni Formal Hall, for all alumni, on Saturday 19 September.
If you would like to come to your reunion but need help with the booking costs, then remember that the Senior Members Fund offers financial assistance (email Jackie Watson jacqueline.watson@some.ox.ac.uk to enquire). We would very much like all those in this year group to be able to attend.
B&B is available from Wednesday to Saturday nights, and bookable using the code AlumniSept26. (Please note: you will need to input this code before checking availability and booking – it will allow you to access alumni prices). Due to Maintenance we have buildings out of use this year , and so guests will need to vacate their rooms by 10am promptly, MTC will be available to store luggage. Twin rooms are also available, but we would like to inform everyone that there will be external maintenance work taking place on ROQ East this summer. This will involve contractors working on scaffolding during daytime hours, as well as some potential for noise disruption from sanding. We apologise for this inconvenience, and have applied discounts to our prices accordingly.
Programme
Thursday 17 September:
11am Arrival, check-in for those staying over, and tea/coffee and pastries in the Mary Somerville Room (former JCR)
12pm Pre-lunch drinks in the MSR
1pm Group photograph, followed by buffet lunch in Hall
2pm Tea/coffee, with a light-hearted College quiz, in the Margaret Thatcher Centre foyer
3.30 Tour of the College site, including highlights of the art collection, leaving from the MTC
5pm Break
6pm Drinks and remembrance: celebrating the lives of the following alumnae, including music from a special year group choir* Harriet Bourne, née Pottle – Jurisprudence; Sian Warner – Literae Humaniores; Rosemary Thomas, née Toye – Physics; Tamara Madej – Clinical Medicine; Victoria Gibson – English; Claire Beauvais, née Burrows – Agricultural & Forest Sciences
7pm Gala dinner in Hall, hosted by the Principal, Catherine Royle, followed by second dessert in MSR
*Thanks to Hilary Bates for organising the music and to the singers. They will sing Burgon: Nunc dimittis, Stephen Oliver: How blest are they that fear the Lord and Rutter: The Lord bless you and keep you. Thanks also to those who have agreed to speak. The opening poem will be ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’, by Mary Elizabeth Frye.
Friday 18 September:
8-10am Breakfast in Hall. Those staying in College for just Thursday night should check out at the Lodge by 10am, and leave any luggage in the Margaret Thatcher Centre. This can be collected after lunch, or later in the day, as required
10.30 Meet at the MTC ahead of a walk around the University’s Radcliffe Observatory Quarter developments (including the site of Somerville’s new building and the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities). NB. Friday is the University’s September Open Day, so there will be a lot of people in and around College
12.30 Drinks in the MSR
1pm Lunch in Hall
2pm Finish
An exhibition covering Somerville 1976-80, as well as books published recently by Somervillians, will be available in the Library foyer, and the Mary Somerville Room will be available throughout, for people to have tea/coffee and a chat.
Booking is now closed – For any queries please contact alumnievents@some.ox.ac.uk
Year group booklet – a request for EVERYONE
It has become a tradition 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?) – and any other photographs of student days that you can find…
- You could write about any aspects of life at or 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 previous entries , to give you an idea.
Please send your entry, and any photographs, to Honey Hinkson (development.assistant@some.ox.ac.uk) by the end of July.
If you have any material relating to your time in College that you’d be willing to contribute to Somerville’s Archive, do let Jackie know.
You can purchase a copy of the 1976 matric photo on the Gillman and Soame website here.