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Paris

The annual summer performance in the Wardens garden by Michael Burdens New Chamber Opera is now a popular and well established feature of the New College summer calendar. On 30 September 2006 the company went international, with a sparkling performance of Haydns early comic opera, La Cantinera, in the magnificent ballroom of the British Embassy in Paris the palatial residence acquired by the Duke of Wellington in 1814 from Napoleon Bonapartes favourite sister, Pauline. The opera was the highlight of a Paris weekend organised by the New College Society in conjunction with the Paris Branch of the Oxford University Society. The idea of a visit to Paris was originally inspired by the loan of the Colleges 1492 Coconut Cup to the newly opened Muse du Quai de Branly (President Chiracs intended monumentum aere perennius), but Michael Burdens proposal to direct a performance of the New Chamber Opera troupe at the Embassy greatly added to the occasion. As a result some 80 members of the Society and their guests, together with members of the Paris Oxford University Society, enjoyed a delightful performance of this rarely presented Haydn piece, followed by a sumptuous dinner, in perhaps the grandest surroundings that the Treasury has allowed to survive in the whole diplomatic estate. The Societys warm thanks go to the Ambassador, Sir John Holmes, and Lady Holmes, for sharing the evening with us and allowing us to use the Embassy for this happy and successful occasion; to Michael Burden and New Chamber Opera for a performance that was so exactly right for the setting; and to Susan Ashcroft-Jones and Paula Squires for, as usual, coping so well with all the complicated logistics involved. Brian Unwin (1955) President, the New College Society Derek and Joans roof terrace energy to dine with our Bay Area alumni/ae and very enjoyable it was. Daniel Lee (2001) organised a drinks party in New York in September on Derek and Joans roof terrace. A particularly good sunset and the NY skyline was the backdrop for the first of what we hope will be an annual event. Thanks to everyone who makes these events possible and thanks to everyone who attends them.
Below: Derek and Joan Benham with Chengiah Ragaven (1971)

Forthcoming

Events
Saturday, 9 December Old Members Carol Service. Those matriculating after 1969 are invited to apply to the Development Office for tickets. Friday, 15 December Gaude. Those matriculating between 1990 and 1994 have been invited. 2007 Saturday, 10 March New College Law Society Dinner in College. Friday, 23 March Inter-College Golf Tournament at Frilford Heath. Saturday, 23 June Commem Ball. Tuesday, 26 June New College Society Supper Party in the Cloisters. Friday, 29 June Gaude. Matriculation years to be announced. Friday, 6 and 13 July New Chamber Opera will perform Handels Xerxes in the Wardens Garden. Booking form enclosed. 9 to 23 September The Warden will again accompany a Westminster Classic Tours Cruise along Turkeys Turquoise Coast - In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Lycia and Pamphylia.

The Development Office


Last year I mentioned that we would be looking to appoint a new Director of Development. We have not had one since Anna Whitworth was forced to retire because of ill-health, but several things have made it essential to make an appointment now. The first is that the University is about to launch a substantial campaign with which we must cooperate. They have appointed a new and highly professional Director of Development Jon Dellandrea and he in turn has appointed Sue Cunningham previously the very successful Director of Development at Christ Church to oversee the actual fund-raising operations of the University. The intention is that there should be a Campaign of Campaigns, rather than a single blockbuster attempt to raise something in excess of the 800 million that Cambridge is presently seeking as way of celebrating the 800 years since Cambridges foundation. The idea of a Campaign of Campaigns is that all parts of the University and the Colleges will collaborate on fund-raising projects, partly to maximise the benefits that success in one academic field can bring to another academic field, and partly to integrate the fund-raising efforts of colleges and the University. Everyone working in Oxford has heard the complaint that we are bad at joined up working for the common good; and the hope is that we are entering an era of real cooperation. Which brings us to the appointment of William Conner, the new Director of Development. William is an American, educated at Grinnell College, and among other things a historian of music, an expert on organs, and a former editor of Grove. He has worked in development for several decades on both sides of the Atlantic, helping institutions as diverse as the London Business School and the San Francisco Opera. Given the diversity of activities that New College nowadays embraces, we have every confidence that we shall be a good fit. He will be working for us for three days a week, and will continue to work for the consultancy of which he is a partner Brakeley for the rest of the week. He will provide the professional partner for the Universitys efforts that we need, as well as bringing his experience to our existing programme of annual giving, and the Legacy Campaign that we launched two years ago. The College is working on its strategic vision for the next two decades; this is something we absolutely have to do in the light of changes to University and college funding that are already in train, not to mention changes in academic life and the worlds expectations of us. It is clear that we must devote more attention to graduate students, to the research careers of the Fellowship, and especially to people at the start of an academic career. And we have to do that without damaging the jewel in the crown that our undergraduate teaching represents. So we need resources to promote research without damaging teaching, or to look at the same point from the other direction to enhance our teaching without undermining the research careers of those who do the teaching. Old Members who have heard of Williams arrival have all asked the same question: Does this mean that they will see less of Susan Ashcroft-Jones and Paula Squires? The answer is absolutely not. Susan and Paula have been running a very efficient but under-staffed office, and I have been a part-time Director of Development in the intervals of doing rather a lot of other things. William Conner and I will be supported by Maggie Bradfield, who will be Williams secretary and my PA. The current jargon would talk of a step change in effectiveness. How the Founder would have put it I do not know, but the tenor of his Statutes was certainly that efficiency in securing and using the resources for the job comes a close second to godliness and good learning themselves.

news
November 2006 Number 23

From the Warden


The rain falls into a gently steaming front quad: autumn has arrived. We have replaced our flock of graduating students with a flock of graduate and undergraduate freshers; and I owe you my annual reckoning of what we are up to, what we hope to get up to next, and what we have done with the resources you have given us. Last year the College absorbed the fact of its greater prosperity following the sale of Weedon Hill and began to do some of the things we have wanted to in the past. The addition to endowment income came at an opportune moment; during the dozen years of waiting for planning permission, we put off questions about uncompetitive stipends for Junior Research Fellows and Tutorial Fellows, the shortage of scholarships and research funds for graduates, and joining the trend towards subject clusters by reinforcing subjects in which the College is strong. We made sure we kept the roof on and refurbished most student accommodation over those years. Many of you have remarked on your shock at encountering proper heating, warm bathrooms, and lavatory facilities that do not involve a hike across the quad. We are grateful to you for help with the funds to do it; indeed, this year we are using a legacy from Professor Lee Bradley to give Savile House a new lease of life. But we can now look at the leaks in the chapel roof without flinching, and can begin to take the measure of the Bursars particular bugbear, slipping slates on the Cloister and Wardens Barn roofs. The Development Fund has benefitted from the continued recovery of the stock market after its collapse five years ago. It is now worth something over 10 million, and the combination of the income derived from the Fund and the new donations received during the year allowed the Fund to give the College about 650K. Half of that was devoted to the Junior Research Fellowships whose endowments form a large part of the Development Fund, and the remainder to teaching posts, student bursaries, and a variety of smaller projects. In 2005-6, the Fund was especially generous in underwriting the production of Messiah with which the Choir celebrated Edward Higginbottoms thirty wonderfully successful years as Organist and Choirmaster. As last year, I have placed overleaf a slightly edited version of the Review of Activities that the Trustees of the Development Fund place at the beginning of the annual published accounts; and as last year, I make my usual request that you let us know what we do not tell you that you would like to know, and what we do tell you that you find merely tedious and would gladly do without.

New York Reunion


The spring of 2006 saw another New York Reunion. Once again, we are deeply indebted to Derek Benham (1972) for organising the New College dinner at the New York Athletic Club; it was a great success by the time the last strayed revellers left, the Club was shut As usual, we took advantage of the existence of the New York Reunion to hold dinners in Washington and Boston, thanks yet again to Russ Carpenter and Jeff Rudman for organising those occasions, both of them very well attended and a valuable opportunity as always to remake old friendships and to see new faces. Kate and I took advantage of a trip to California and Elliot Myless (1980) unbounded

Keeping in Touch
Please remember to visit us on the Colleges website. The alumni area allows you to keep up with us, and also to update us about changes of address and the like.

news
Dolly Mirchandani (1992) with her husband, Oliver Ulich, and the Warden Mrs Crispina McDonald with Dr Jim Haight (1963)

New College complies with the 1998 Data Protection Act. We use your date for alumni relations and fundraising. New College Development Fund, registered charity no. 900202, exists to support New College, Oxford.

www.new.ox.ac.uk

www.new.ox.ac.uk

www.new.ox.ac.uk

Objective and Activities (from the Trustees Report)


In previous reports, we have listed the four major objectives of the Development Fund and have given some detail about the support of Junior Research Fellowships. The Fund supports research, teaching, refurbishment, and student financial aid. In the field of research this is primarily through the support of Junior Research Fellowships. The improved investment climate has meant that the deficiency in the endowment of the funds supporting the JRFs has been somewhat reduced; but we have also had further generous gifts towards the support of the Salvesen Junior Fellowship. The College elected several new Junior Research Fellows last year, from highly competitive fields. In medicine and bio-chemistry, the decision was taken to elect four Todd-Bird Fellows rather than one, since the new Fellows came with their own support. The Colleges decision to spread the Development Funds support as widely as possible means that the College now has fifteen Junior research Fellows. The College elected a new Fairbairn Fellow in Classics, Mr Grygor Kantor, and a new Weston Fellow in History, Ms Alice Rio, as well as a Cox Junior Fellow, Mr Nicholas Cheeseman. Ms Julie Maxwell, the previous Weston Fellow in English secured a teaching post in Cambridge, had her first novel accepted, and gained her doctorate in the summer; Dr Nikolay Nikolov, the G.H. Hardy Fellow in Mathematics has been appointed to a post at Imperial College, London, but is remaining at New College for the final year of his fellowship. The Fund also supports the Colleges teaching by its contribution to the salaries of Tutorial Fellows and other teachers. Retrenchment by the University has meant that a greater share of the costs of tuition has recently fallen on colleges, and the Fund is able to alleviate this burden. The expenditure from the Fund on the support of tutorial fellowships has diminished a little, but expenditure on tutorial and research fellowships will continue to be some fifty percent of the Funds charitable expenditure. In 2005-6, expenditure on fellowships of both kinds was some 80,000 higher than in 2004-5. Support for the fabric has not this year involved the restoration of stained glass, though as last years report suggested, we expect to spend some 3 million on the Nave stained glass over the next twenty years. The Fund has this year contributed to the work required for the College to comply with new legislation on disabled access, so that the total contribution was only some 25,000 less than in the previous year. The cost of student aid fell slightly from 107K to 90K. With the arrival of top-up fees, arrangements for student bursaries will change; the University will play a major role in providing basic student assistance, and the College will provide funding for the relief of hardship, and for the enhancement of the educational experience of both undergraduate and graduate students. We anticipate that whatever sums are saved on the provision of basic student assistance to undergraduates will have to be expended on other forms of support. In particular, we anticipate that meeting the costs of graduate education will become an increasingly prominent aspect of the Funds activities. One out of the ordinary item of support in 2005-6 was the provision of 60,000 to underwrite a major recording venture of the New College Choir. To mark thirty years service by the College Choirmaster and Organist, Dr Edward Higginbottom, the Choir has recorded Messiah to the original scoring, with the orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music. Since December 2005, the work has been performed live in many European cities, culminating in a sold-out performance in the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.

Manuscript Conservation:
A Plea for Help
A few years ago, Old Members helped us to purchase the New Dictionary of National Biography for the Library; many of you thought that the College must have other needs that could provide an opportunity for you to sponsor something equivalent to a volume of the NDNB. One has just arisen. The College has recently taken back the manuscripts that have been stored in the Bodleian Library. There are around 380 of them, and they have been in Bodley for some 99 years; they have been much consulted but not been much conserved: the staff at Bodley have been overburdened and under-resourced.

Parents Open Day

Achievements and Performance


The Fund keeps its activities under constant review, but is aware of the difficulties of quantifying their success. The public benefit provided by the intelligent and energetic young people who gain Junior Research Fellowships comes over a life-time of activity; making the College more accessible to disabled persons is an obvious good cause; and student aid encourages students from non-traditional backgrounds to apply to New College. It also forges bonds of friendship and gratitude between present and former members of the College and helps to sustain a climate in which philanthropy can flourish. The fund-raising activities of the Fund are also kept under constant review. New College alumni/ae have no liking for aggressive campaigns, but the biennial Telethon has become not only well-accepted but well-liked by Old Members who enjoy talking to the students who make the calls. The next Telethon is planned for January 2007. Otherwise, the Warden as head of the College solicits gifts, and a Legacy Campaign that was launched a year ago is beginning to bear fruit. Because many intending donors are not precise about the size of legacy they have in mind, it is hard to put numbers on what may eventually be received, but it is certainly several million pounds. The College has recently appointed a Director of Development, and future reports will be able to assess the difference his appointment has made. The Trustees believe that by putting 500 to 600 thousand a year into the promotion of research and teaching, student aid, and the preservation and enhancement of heritage assets, the Fund provides a substantial public benefit. In the absence of such support, there would either be less good work done or it would be done in a deteriorating environment by less happy people, or public funding would have to fill the gap.

This years Open Day for the family and friends of First-Year Students

We live in hopes of affordable and rapid digitisation, of course, but for the moment microfilm is needed, and some that has been done already must be redone. The boxes cost from 150 to 300 according to size and difficulty of manufacture, but most are quite large. Repairs rebinding and sewing for the most part come to around 150 a manuscript; and microfilming costs about about 200 for a 400 page ms. We have had a very generous gift from Michael Lester to get the project started; and much as with the NDNB, we are hoping that many of you will wish to buy one or more boxes for the project. Because there are only a couple of firms who can make the boxes, a small gift each year for several years will help a great deal. And some of the mss are, of course, quite stunning.

The Dining Room of the Wardens Lodgings

There is much work to do. All the manuscripts need a conservation box made to the highest archival standards to protect them against fire, flood and humidity; most need expert repair so that they can be handled by researchers who need to consult the original. Microfilms exist for almost two-thirds of them, but we need to microfilm all of them so that researchers who are interested only in the text can be offered the microfilm.

The Wykeham Society

Plans for the Future


Higher education and the institutions associated with it work to very long time-frames, but the financial situation of higher education institutions can change with alarming speed. Young people will not abandon research, New College will not stop teaching the subjects in which provision is currently supported, students will not be immune from financial problems, and buildings will deteriorate, if slowly. But the ways in which public funding is provided may well change as rapidly in future as they have in the past two decades. The Fund is unlikely to reduce its four main objectives, and not likely to have sufficient assets to add others. It will continue to be devoted to keeping up with the rising cost of those four objectives.

Gaude
We have decided to revert to the historical placing of the Gaude; it is clear that Old Members much prefer the end of June date to a winter date. So, it will now once again be held on the Friday evening of 10th week of Trinity. That enables us to guarantee the presence of the Choir and the existence of Evensong. There will be a last non-traditional Gaude this December, for the youngest cohort of Old Members, since they would otherwise not have a Gaude until around 2012. Moving conferences to accommodate the change back is something of a nightmare, but we have our fingers crossed.

Turkey
All being well, there will be another chance to take a Westminster Classic Cruises tour of the Aegean cost of Turkey; the 2007 tour will explore the sites and coastline south of where our 2005 trip went. As before, the Warden will be along to supplement the efforts of the tour leader. Further details are enclosed, but heres a photograph to whet the appetite in a wet autumn.
Right: Mr & Mrs Robin Raw (1957) with the Warden

New College Choir

Use the order form enclosed or go to www.newcollegechoir.com to solve your Christmas headaches. RECENT RELEASES

www.new.ox.ac.uk

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