Dear Alumna,

It has been a busy month in College, not least of all with preparations for the arrival of students for Michaelmas term. International students have been arriving for their quarantine periods, supported by College with food deliveries from the Buttery and a new dedicated member of staff to oversee their wellbeing arrangements. Students will be arriving at staggered times over the next few weeks and a marquee has been situated on Old Hall lawn to allow for COVID-secure gatherings and classes in the upcoming months. Imagination and industriousness from all corners of our community have allowed us to adapt to the circumstances and we wish all our arrivals, new and returning, the warmest of welcomes.  

In the Roll & Development Office, we have undertaken the Principal and Development Director's usual annual visit to Hong Kong and Singapore virtually. Giving alumnae the chance to meet Alison Rose and Sarah Carthew in small groups and at larger drinks receptions. Alumnae also received a bundle of specially filmed exclusive content, to give them a taste of Newnham and its community from afar. The virtual medium meant it was possible for Vice-President Dr Emma Mawdsley and current JCR and MCR Presidents to meet and chat to alumnae, too. The conversations were filled with enthusiasm and happiness, with alumnae and current members looking forward to the plans for the 150th Anniversary celebrations and beyond.

Reunion groups who matriculated in 1965, 1980, 1990 or 2000 had their reunion gathering as part of the University-wide Alumni Festival, now in its 30th year. To complement their virtual gathering, they also received access to a 'slice of Newnham' through videos and two exclusive Newnham-inspired recipes to create at home. It was wonderful to bring alumnae together virtually to celebrate their milestone anniversaries. 

As part of the Alumni Festival, our own much-loved Newnham Conversation took place on the 25th, featuring Professor Onora O’Neill and Professor Rae Langton, who discussed digital democracy. Members of Newnham joined from across the globe for reflections including the Arab Spring, propaganda, voting, cookies (of the computer kind), the economy of attention, anonymity, liars and beyond. It was great to be able to offer the digital event to all Newnham members, which was particularly important to students looking for things to keep spirits high while isolating on their return to College.

With best wishes, 

- The Roll & Development Office

As College is getting busier with students returning, the gardens have now been closed to visitors until at least Monday 26th October, to allow for any quarantine periods for late returning students. We would always advise emailing ahead of any visit to check current restrictions and avoid disappointment. 

Dr Jacinta Victoria Muinde, a former PhD student at Newnham College, has been awarded the Audrey Richards Prize 2020 for the best PhD dissertation in African Studies. | Read about how the scholars and students of Victorian Newnham were actively excluded by the University Library at the time, in a long read by Ann Kennedy Smith, a great contrast to the welcoming and safe Library we have today! | Genevieve Gaunt (NC 2010) stars in an all-new radio show called 'First Action Bureau' available via all major podcast platforms launching on 1st October. | Alumna Dr Carol Ibe blogged about her time at the Cambridge-Africa Programme. She will be continuing her career as a postdoctoral researcher at the John Innes Centre. | Lottie Mills, a current second year student reading English, has been shortlisted for the BBC Young Writers' Award with her short story, 'The Changeling' which you can listen to here. | An article by Abigail Baker explores Newnham Fellow Jane Harrison, and her early work giving tours and lectures in the museums of Victorian London.  | PhD student Sam Leggett was awarded the 2020 Student Award for the best paper given at the European Association of Archaeologists’ annual conference. | An obituary for the late Nina Wedderburn (NC 1947) was published in The Guardian. | Episode Two of the Franklin Centenary Podcast is available, looking closer at Rosalind Franklin as a scientist. | MCR member Hannah Gaffney has been appointed the Betty Behrens Research Fellow at Clare Hall. | We have also received personal news from Annabel Morgan, nee Lawrence, (NC 1998), Rosemary Fisher (NC 2003), Jennifer Field (NC 1996) and Rachael Haggerty, nee Ashton, (NC 2007) which you can read and see more about here.

Newnham College Family Forum - Saturday 10th October - 2pm BST - 'Stories from Lockdown'

The annual Newnham College Family Forum for alumnae will take place on Saturday 10th October from 2pm BST. This will be a virtual event, exploring 'Stories from Lockdown' - looking at how the pandemic and lockdown have affected people in different ways.

Our speakers will be Libby Richards (NC 2005), Ruth Shin (NC 2007), Victoria Singh (NC 1971) and a yet to be confirmed researcher from the University of Cambridge Centre for Family Research. 

You can book your place here - the event is open to all members of Newnham, past and present - students, staff and alumnae. 

Dr Manali Desai becomes the Head of Department at Cambridge Sociology.

Recent graduate, Miske, features in 'Somalinimo' documentary

In lockdown, in Ballarat, Australia - Penelope Greenslade nee Stern, Old Hall 1956-9 reflects on lockdown and WW2.

"We are in quite strict lockdown here in Ballarat. My university, Federation University, where I am an Honorary Research Fellow, sent a message around in early March instructing us that anyone over 70 was not allowed to set foot in the University until further notice. Kindly, they gave me assistance so my computer/scanner etc could come home and was set up for me. I have a rather large house for one person so have a room dedicated to writing papers, and a laboratory in my garden with microscopes, specimens and literature so I am much luckier than many and well set up. 

It appears easier to be productive in lockdown as I have published more papers than normal, eight this year so far (see researchgate). I have also had my work featured on the Australian National Broadcaster Science page for a species I described from Antarctica that I named after Greta Thunberg. This coming week I am being interviewed by The Guardian and I am told the journalist is intrigued to learn more about the animals which are my focus for work, Collembola with common name, Springtail. Of course, at present I cannot visit my family in Melbourne and Adelaide but that may change soon. Although Zoom is not for me, I have found emails to colleagues quite sufficient for my collaborations and of course I use the telephone for social contact.

I was a small child during the second world war in London, (aged 2 to 8 years), lockdown is less onerous than then. At that time we could not buy sweets including chocolate and had  a very limited range of food and drink to select from. Often only egg powder was available for instance. My mother in desperation served up horse on occasion and also whale. We balked at both. Also I do not have to be woken in the night and run into an air raid shelter in the garden (Andersen type) and I can buy whatever books and clothes I like. Nor do I have to carry a gas mask around. The type of masks we are obliged to wear every time we go out now are far more comfortable and lighter than the suffocating red mickey mouse contraption my parents assured me was lovely. The war restrictions lasted of course not weeks or even months but several years."

- Penelope Greenslade (nee Stern)

[Photos, from top left - Penelope's mother in the doorway of an air raid shelter, Penelope on her new tricycle with a protective wall in the background built by her father to protect the house from bomb blasts, a road obstruction preventing the family car reaching the house due to an unexploded bomb further down the street, a photograph of the Queen Mary maternity wing that Penelope's father worked in, having sustained bomb damage.]

Rita Clifton and Dame Mary Beard - 'When Rita Met Mary (Again!)'

If you would like to contact the Roll & Development Office you can always email the Roll & Development Office at roll@newn.cam.ac.uk, and follow us on our Twitter and Instagram pages. We always love to hear of news, big or small, from our alumnae, so please send your updates our way!

Our Development Director, Sarah Carthew, is always happy to speak to alumnae and can be reached directly by phone at 07464203246.