The 2014 Somerville College Telethon passed the £100,000 mark over the weekend, the earliest point in the annual two-week fundraising campaign that it has ever reached six figures.
The Telethon, which ends on Sunday, 5 October, seeks to support the running costs and future of the College.
Student callers spend their evenings at Somerville calling alumni old and young. In the process, a number of stories are passed down the Somerville generations of how College has changed, and the important ways in which it remains the same.
Some parents of students have received calls for the first time and a number of them have made donations, including parents of some of the callers themselves.
The team has also started calling North America and are trying to get through to Asia and Australasia with some extra calling sessions later in the week.
One alumna described her experience as an undergraduate in the long-gone days of curfews. She would climb over the back wall to escape after the deadline. One one occasion, she was out late at a ball with her boyfriend, and arrived back outside College especially late.
Her ballgown made scaling the wall especially difficult – and the porters had removed a doorknob that had previously served as a helpful foothold. So she took the ballgown off and used her boyfriend to get a step-up.
Once she had made it, however, her boyfriend ran off with her dress, leaving her to dash through College – and back to her room – in her underwear.
Putting a face to a voice
This year, alumni can read about their callers on the College website – and even see a photo of who they are speaking to. Details of the 2014 callers can be found HERE.