2017-2020 Gaudy

On 26 September, Univ’s Old Members who matriculated between 2017 and 2020 were invited back to College for their Gaudy.

Ffion Price (2017, History and Politics) has written a report of the reunion.

Returning to Univ felt, in many ways, like coming home.

Stepping over the threshold into Main Quad, and entering into the throngs of peers collecting room keys had a district air of ‘freshers’ week’ about it. As the fantastic team of staff at the development office signed us in, we began the process of connecting with one another – just as some of us had done nearly 10 years ago.

Like then, fellow Univites had travelled from far-flung corners of the country and beyond to be there. Meanwhile, others had remained among Oxford’s dreaming spires since our days as students, now calling the city their home. Wherever we had found ourselves however, we were, for one evening, reunited in the place that had once brought all of us together – surrounded by the familiar flagstones, wisteria, and polite requests not to walk on the grass (which was in a state of repair following our hot summer).

For all the familiarity, our return to College in some ways felt unusual. Our own university experiences had been unique to the generations before and after us – marked distinctly by having experienced both pre- and post-covid eras of learning and living during our studies. For my year – the eldest of the cohorts present – the pandemic impacted Hilary and Trinity terms of our third year. For the successive generations present, the pandemic defined far more of their student experience. Reflecting on our times at the College and life beyond, it was heartening to hear how, despite the unique individual and organisational challenges that the pandemic had presented, our peers had been supported and had flourished in their post-Univ lives.

The afternoon brought us together over a splendid tea in the Master’s Garden. On an unusually warm September afternoon, surrounded by the garden’s wonderful flora, conversations moved easily between the past and the present. We caught snippets of one another’s worlds: new jobs, family life, moves further afield and, perhaps predictably, new academic pursuits and projects now occupying our time. There was much to reminisce about, including our own memories of our last times in the Master’s Garden for Summer Balls and College plays.

It was a pleasure, too, to reconnect with familiar College faces over tea. Among them was Andrew Gregory, whose warm recollections of our time at Univ were accompanied by a reminder of the College’s enduring traditions. He spoke of the incoming Freshers, and the preparations underway for their arrival in 0th week. It was a lovely illustration of the continuity of College life – how each new generation of students arrives, and how the people and traditions of Univ can help to make an unfamiliar place feel like home.

As the evening light settled across the quad, we gathered in the stillness of the College chapel before dinner. It offered a moment of pause amid the business of the day, providing – as it had done so many times before – an opportunity for quiet reflection. The tranquillity bestowed by the setting was soon interrupted, however, in the best possible way, by our scratch choir, which led a brilliant performance that included Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer.

The choir was enthusiastically supported by us present alumni – a group happy to acknowledge that our vocal abilities were perhaps somewhat less developed than our enthusiasm. As a person of proud Welsh heritage, I took my responsibilities towards Cwm Rhondda very seriously, lending a particularly spirited contribution. What we wider alumni perhaps collectively lacked in skill, we more than made up for in commitment.

The evening continued with a sumptuous formal dinner in Hall, during which we were joined by some of Univ’s tutors. Warm remarks from Adam Smith, speaking in his newly appointed role as Vice-Master, and former JCR President Dag Yosief rounded off the evening, celebrating the shared experiences that had brought us back together.

Afterwards, we made our way to the College bar, where conversation and celebration continued late into the evening. At 11pm, in keeping with the longstanding tradition of the College curfew, it was time to call it a night.

Perhaps the most striking feeling throughout the day, shared by many, was one of gratitude: for the friends we had made, the experiences we had shared and all that Univ had given us to carry into the years that followed. Returning to College offered a chance to appreciate just how much those years had shaped us. To return and share in those memories, while seeing the College’s preparations underway to support the next generations of Univ students to make their own, was a real privilege.

At a time when the futures of young people, and the role that higher education can play in their lives, feels increasingly insecure, the Gaudy was a particularly poignant reminder of the value of education, and the important role that places like Univ, and its people, can play in responding to a changing, uncertain, world – creating space for academic exploration, skills-building, and laying the foundations for personal and professional successes.

Our sincerest thanks go to everyone who made the wonderful occasion possible, including the teams at the Development Office, Hall, the Domestic Bursary, College scouts, the Lodge and Academic Staff.

Ffion Price