College Commemoration Dinner Honours Retired Colleagues and New Fellows

After two years without a major College celebration, Fellows were pleased to gather on 4th March along with some staff and students for our first annual Commemoration Dinner. This event honoured those who had left Governing Body during the pandemic without a full farewell and introduced and congratulated those who had most recently been elected to new Fellowships.

Dame Lynne Brindley was thanked for her tenure as Master of Pembroke from 2013 to 2020, the College’s first female Master. Professor Alfons Weber recently moved on from College having served eight years as Rokos-Clarendon Fellow and Tutor in Physics, bringing that subject back to life at Pembroke after a gap of some decades. Professor Jeremy Taylor was honoured for his 28 years as Tutorial Fellow in Medicine, having retired in 2020.

Given the recent lift in restrictions by the UK government and the return of in-person events, we were delighted to invite Dame Brindley, Professor Weber and Professor Taylor back to Pembroke once more to thank them for all they have done for our community over the years.

Current Master, Sir Ernest Ryder, warmly welcomed all those to be honoured and paid tribute to those who had recently left the Governing Body.  Votes of thanks were also given by Professor Tim Woollings, Professor Rebecca Williams, Professor Irene Tracey and Professor Fredrik Karpe

Professor Williams shared: “In an early conversation with Lynne, I remember Andrew Teal asking her what, if she were a stick of rock, would be written through her core. Lynne’s reply was ‘public service’, and in College we know how much we have benefited from that fact. Lynne was always a visible and active Master, regularly hosting students, staff and academics in the Lodgings as well as frequently being seen out and about in College.”

In Professor Woollings’ tribute, he cited Deborah Cotton, a student of Professor Weber. Deborah, who we have shared a celebrating success story about, says: “Alfons did an absolutely incredible job of making Pembroke physics feel like a community - you could tell he really loved the college, not just from his Pembroke polo shirt that he perpetually wore but also from the effort he put into Pembroke physics events and teaching.”

Professor Karpe shared in his tribute to Professor Taylor: “Whenever I meet young doctors and clinical students who have studied at Pembroke and they realize that’s my connection too, the return question is always ‘How is Jeremy?’. There is this warm stream of fond memories by previous students, they clearly had such a good experience in Pembroke. This is, of course, a demonstration of Jeremy’s extremely engaging tutorial teaching, but perhaps even more his caring, his kindness and personal touch – this is what the students really remember.”

Each leaver was presented with gifts of thanks from their colleagues and the College.

Sir Ernest then gave a speech welcoming Honorary Fellows Professors Helen Moore, Helen Small, John Armour and Sir Chris Whitty, Foundation Fellow Stephen Gosztony and Supernumerary Fellow Mike Wagstaff.

Professor Helen Moore, elected to an Honorary Fellowship in 2020, studied at Pembroke as an undergraduate, before being appointed as Fellow of Corpus Christi College at Oxford, where she is now President. Professor Helen Small was Jon Aisbitt Fellow in English at Pembroke for over 20 years, including two years as Vicegerent. She is now the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford. Professor Sir Chris Whitty also studied at Pembroke and is now Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Advisor to the Government. Professor John Armour, another alumnus, is now Professor of Law and Finance at Oxford, having held posts at other institutions around the world and published widely in his field.

Stephen Gosztony was an undergraduate at Pembroke and has recently been elected to a Foundation Fellowship in addition to serving on Governing Body as Advisory Fellow. We are immensely grateful for Stephen’s significant generosity to Pembroke in financial support as well as the time and advice which he regularly gives. The final Fellow honoured was Mike Wagstaff, elected to Supernumerary Fellowship in recognition of his eleven years of service on Governing Body as an Advisory Fellow.