In Easter 2025, our Principal Jan Royall and Somerville College Choir overcame chaos at Heathrow Airport to embark on a flying visit to friends and supporters in the US. Here we reflect how music and good friends enabled Somerville to salvage hope from the ruins of their original plans.
It was before sunrise on the morning of Friday 21st March, and the members of Somerville College Choir were stood ready to board the coach that would take them to Heathrow, when the news broke. A fire in a Middlesex substation had grounded all flights in and out of the airport.
Faced with the prospect of cancelled flights, collapsing arrangements and missed engagements, you might have expected the organisers of the trip to give up. But then you wouldn’t have been counting on the resourcefulness of the Somerville College Development team, or our heartfelt desire to reconnect with friends in America.
Within hours, alternative plans were in place. Sadly, the new travel plans meant we had to shorten the itinerary and miss out on the homestays and outreach activities planned for the city of Tyler, home to the Hibbs family and their famous Texan hospitality. However, despite this setback, there were plenty of meaningful opportunities in the ensuing days to spend time reconnecting over the shared values that unite Somervillians around the world.
The Choir’s first stop on their tour was Houston, Texas. Still in their travel clothes, everyone filed directly from the coach into the beautiful modernist surroundings of St Phillips’s Presbyterian Church. Here, under the peerless conducting of Director of Chapel Music Will Dawes, the Choir gave their first performance to an audience that may have been smaller than planned, yet made up for its size with ten-gallon enthusiasm.
Afterwards, the Choir was delighted and overwhelmed to learn from Tisa Hibbs, mother to alumnus and former Choir member Stratton Hibbs, that, in recognition of its musical excellence and commitment to outreach, the Choir had not only been given the freedom of the City of Tyler, but also that March 25th would henceforth be known as Somerville College Choir Day in Tyler.
St Philip Presbyterian Church welcomes the Choir
The Choir receive a warm Texas welcome!
Principal Jan Royall with Tisa and Phyllis Hibbs
Jan with Phyllis Hibbs and Nancy Brown and Terry Slesinski-Wykowski of the Houston Oxford Society
Reconnecting with alumni was an important part of this trip, and Somerville Principal, accompanied by Development Director Sara Kalim, managed to reconnect with alumni and friends of the College in Texas, Washington DC and New York.
In DC, Jan and Sara and Dr Nermeen Varawalla (President of the Somerville Association and Advisory Board member of the OICSD) were hosted by Indiaspora for a dinner event at Karma restaurant where they met with former leading US-Indian people of eminence – from entrepreneurs to academics – to promote the work of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development at Somerville. The pair also found time to meet with Somerville’s recently appointed Professorial Fellow in Linguistics, Professor Colin Phillips, at Planet Word, the fabulously interactive museum dedicated to preserving and promoting world languages. Here they received a personal tour from Colin and Ann Friedman, founder and philanthropist.
Perhaps most memorably in DC was the lunch at which Somerville alumni of all ages were kindly hosted by Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman at their stunning home. Both Frank and Debbie are committed supporters of US cultural institutions as well as Indian universities, and it was captivating to hear about Debbie’s role as Governor’s Member of the Folger Shakespeare Library, a major US institution ensuring Shakespeare’s stories remain accessible to all.
Jan, Sara and Dr Nermeen Varawalla at Indiaspora with Sanjeev Joshipura
Sara at Planet Word
Jan and Sara with Professor Colin Phillips and Ann Friedman
Jan with Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman
Somerville alumni hosted by Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman
Somerville alumni outside the home of Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman
Jan with alumna Isobel Grodd
Jan and Sara with alumna Emily Harvey
Jan, Sara, Nermeen and OICSD alumnus Gaurav Dubey
Virginia Ross in a Somerville College Choir hoodie
Jan with Virginia Ross and Nancy Brown
