Unfortunately, we were not able to hold the Alumni Society AGM on the Alumni weekend in September 2021 as planned as there were not enough committee members able to attend to make it quorate.

After consultation with the Chair, Mr Edward Hagger (1993), we will instead hold an online/virtual AGM (facilitated through Zoom) on Thursday, 9th December at 10:30am GMT. It is our hope that this will allow more of you to join the AGM than ever before!

You can find the joining details for the Zoom meeting in the email version of this newsletter or by contacting the Development Office at development@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk and we look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible:

In October, the Master presented prizes to the five winners in this year's CR Art Contest.
With over 65 entries received from current and incoming students, alumni (yes- you can enter it next year too!), Fellows, and staff, the judging panel, comprised of members of the College's Arts Committee and the CR Committee, had a difficult job picking the winners from so many excellent entries. Styles and media ranged from pen and ink, pencil, paintings, computer artwork, photos, lino prints and collage.

The Master had a similarly difficult decision picking her 'Master's Choice' and in congratulating the winners, she reminded us that art still plays, and must play, an important part in all our lives, and the images captured the variety and diversity we all enjoy at St Edmund's.

Gordon Chesterman, Chair of the College's Art Committee, was similarly impressed with all the entries and, although disappointed none of his submissions won a prize(!), is looking forward to next year's competition and seeing many more excellent student entries.

To view the winning entries, and all other submissions, take a look at the CR website.

Earlier this week, (on Tuesday 16th November) we celebrated the Feast Day of the patron of our College, St Edmund of Abingdon with a festal Mass in the College Chapel. To mark the occasion, Fr Ed, the Dean, shared with us all a little about our patron in just sixty seconds.

At the beginning of this new academic year, we published a series of videos with key members of St Edmund's to welcome our students and explain their role in the running of the College.

In this video, the Master welcomes everyone, new and returning, to St Edmund's.

Veterinary Medicine student and former jockey, Kathy Begley (2021), has won the IJF Progress Award, part of the prestigious JETS - Jockeys Education & Training Scheme Richard Davis Awards, celebrating career development of jockeys and former jockeys.

You can watch Kathy talk about her experience of winning the award and coming to study Veterinary Medicine at St Edmund's in a video from JETS on YouTube using the link below.

Our annual Telephone Campaign took place 11th-23rd September; we called our alumni from all across the world to catch up on what you all have been up to since your time at St Edmund's and to ask for your support.

Thank you very much to all of you who took the time to speak with our student callers, who thoroughly enjoyed every conversation and learnt a great deal from hearing stories both about your time in College and life since then.

We are especially grateful to everyone who generously made a donation as part of the Campaign. Thanks to your generosity, we raised a total of over £40,000 in pledged donations, which will make a big difference in ensuring that we can continue to give our students the fullest experience during the time here.

If you were expecting a call and didn't receive one, please, make sure we have your current phone number and other contact details using this form on our website.

On the 29th September, a small event was held for the official opening of the Badger II Gazebo in the College Gardens. The gazebo has served many purposes since its completion, from being a place to sit and socialise outdoors during lockdowns to a makeshift practice room for rowers. It was generously funded by alumna Lily Bacon, along with her husband Andy Harter. We were delighted that many members of the College were able to attend, including members of the Boat Club and CR Committee. Badger II will continue to be a key part of College life for many years to come!

This two-hour workshop for current students on entrepreneurship was kindly hosted by two St Edmund’s alumni now working in the tech start-up ecosystem as investors: Colin Tan (2004) and Katerina Sanchez-Schilling (2016).  Firstly, the workshop covered advice on how a fundraising deck should be structured, and the types of funding resources and mechanisms there are in the UK. In the second part, there was a basic introduction to Intellectual Property, with an open Q&A session with experts from Matthys and Squire, European and UK Patent Attorneys, Craig Titmus and James Pickford.

Student feedback has been incredible and we are extremely grateful to Colin and Katerina for their generosity with their time and knowledge.

If you're interested in sharing careers advice with St Edmund's students, we'd love to hear from you at development@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk!

As a part of our Alumni Festival Weekend celebrations, the Alumni Society held their annual Concert and Dinner on Saturday 25th September. This was one of a first large-scale in person events in College since the beginning of the pandemic, and we were so glad that some of our alumni were able to join us. The concert was held in the Chapel, with acclaimed musician and alumna Susie Self (mezzo-soprano) performing with Alexander Wells (piano) and Michael Christie (cello). The livestream recording of the event is still available to view on Facebook.

The second event that marked the Alumni Weekend was the College Family Day, which was held on the afternoon of Sunday 26th September for all past and present members of College and their families. We were very lucky to be blessed with warm, sunny weather despite it being so late in the year, and were able to fully enjoy the festivities which included fair games, music from Cambridge Jazz and an extensive supply of food and drinks. It was a wonderful opportunity for all to catch up after the long summer break, and also to welcome new students to St Edmund's. We hope that any alumni who attended the event had a wonderful time.

Our annual Alumni Society London Dinner was finally held at the Oxford and Cambridge Club earlier this month after a two year wait owing to the pandemic. We were amazed at the number of alumni who came; this year marked the first time the event was at full capacity! Thank you to everyone who attended; it was very special to reconnect with our alumni in London and see you in-person after such a long time. We hope that you will join us again for our next London event, Davy's Wine Bar Drinks, on the 8th February 2022!

Our events this term have all been incredibly popular, with places for our Alumni Society London Dinner and December Guest Night Dinner being fully booked out with a considerable waitlist. We are delighted that so many of you are keen to engage with the College and we are very much looking forward to seeing more of you at our upcoming events in the new year. To avoid disappointment, please make a note of the dates of events happening next term, and keep an eye out for email notifications that registration has opened.

Tuesday 8th February, 6.00-8.00pm: Davy's Wine Bar Drinks (London)

Friday 18th March, 7.00pm: Alumni Guest Night Dinner in College