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e n v i r o nme n t a l

with a proven track record in

employment law, property law, dispute resolution, corporate law and environmental law across the UK and

internationally. We are the legal adviser to a number of multinationals and FTSE 250 companies and also act

for a wide range of public sector bodies.

Internationally, Clarkslegal is part of TAGLaw, a major global network of law firms

comprising over 7,500 lawyers giving clients access to high-quality legal advice in nearly 100 countries.

to offer a range

of services and solutions to clients in respect of their HR and Environmental issues both strategic and non-

strategic. This means that our people work in a highly innovative, multi-disciplinary environment, which is a

world away from that of a traditional law firm. Forbury Environmental is also highly active in

facilitating investment for entrepreneurs across the environmental sector.

In addition to providing advice on commercial matters

issues such as drafting wills, probate and administration of estates,

tax planning and trusts.

Clarkslegal are delighted to continue supporting the University’s House of Lords Alumni Reception.

We are extremely proud to have been associated with the University of Reading for overfour decades and to have played our part in many exciting projects and developments

with the University during this period.

In focus: Research 6

20Being Michael Rosen

Year in pictures 4

In focus: Research 6

Research News 10

My time your time 14

Student life today 16

Being Michael Rosen 20

Building for the future 24

What’s the issue? 26

My generation 28

Around the world 30

A short history of Reading 34

Alumni honours 38

150 years of fine art 40

Spark* writes 41

News 42

Events 48

Unearthing Silchester 50

Student life today16

IN Issuewelcome this

Connected is published annually and is sent free to Reading alumni and Friends. It is produced by the Development & Alumni Relations Office.

© University of Reading

The opinions expressed in Connected are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the University of Reading.

Front cover: Michael Rosen photographed by John Hunt, JJ Hunt Photography

Further photography: Laura Bennetto and Diem photography

Design: Ashley Smith (BA Typography & Graphic Communication, 2009) and the Design & Print Studio, University of Reading

Editorial: Trish O’Neill & Laura Garman (BA English Literature, 2008)

Print: Warners

Connected has been produced using paper from sustainable sources, and bleached using an Elemental Chlorine-free (ECF) process. The paper is produced at a mill that meets the ISO 4001 environmental management standard and the EMAS environmental management standard. The magazine is fully recyclable.

a very warm welcome to connected – the University’s mag-azine for alumni and friends. this new publication will be an annual issue, complemented by the quar-terly connected online newsletter. I hope you enjoy the new-style magazine, which takes a look at the past, present and future of our University from a variety of perspectives.

As ever, the University is continu-

ally evolving, but we are delighted

that a number of things have

remained the same. We are still

ranked as one of the leading 200

universities in the world; we

remain a very popular place to

study, with seven applications per

place; and our students rate us

well above the sector average in

the National Student Survey. Our

donors have continued to dem-

onstrate incredible generosity in

supporting Reading, with over

£23 millions pledged over the last

six years, to enhance every aspect

of our teaching, research and

student experience.

You may well have heard about

the increasingly difficult financial

climate faced by UK universities,

which will all face funding cuts,

to a greater or lesser extent.

Reading is relatively well posi-

tioned, with three-quarters of our

income sought competitively, and

only one-quarter currently coming

from the government ‘block grant’

via the Funding Council. However,

we have seen this as an opportu-

nity to build on our successes; the

University is currently in the midst

of a reshaping programme, in order

to sustain and augment our reputa-

tion as a leading research-intensive

institution. This will also increase

our already valuable contribution

to solving global problems such as

food security, nutrition and climate

change, alongside educating those

who will make a difference in

the future.

My renewed thanks to all of you –

staff, students, alumni and friends

– who make such a huge contribu-

tion to the life of your University.

The achievements you will read

about in this issue would not be

possible without your support.

Please do keep in touch – we are

always delighted to hear your news

and views. And do send me your

suggestions for Connected – it is

your magazine.

With best wishes,

Professor gordon marshall

CBE, BA (Stirling), D Phil (Oxford), FBA, AcSS

Vice-Chancellor

4

Berkshire showThe University showcased its agricultural expertise at the Royal County of Berkshire Show. Highlights of the exhibition included a 1920s steam engine, the opportunity to learn the science behind ice-cream production, and a chance for visitors to blend their own ‘food for thought’ beverage with our cycle-powered smoothie maker!

PuBlic lecture series for 2009–2010 oPensThis year’s Public Lecture Series kicked off with a talk entitled ‘Twitter nation: keeping up with the 21st century consumer’. ‘Twisting their words: why do some children struggle to read?’, ‘Functional foods: good science or marketing hype?’, and ‘Facing up to Rome: discoveries at Silchester’, were just some of the other fascinating topics covered by our experts. For details of this year’s Series, please turn to the inside back cover of the magazine.

Green week As part of a drive to reduce our carbon footprint and raise awareness of important environmental issues, the University teamed up with the Students’ Union (RUSU) to host a special Green Week. Staff members took part in a low carbon challenge to see if they could travel from Caversham to Henley without using a car in the fastest time possible.

house of lordsReading alumni at the House of Lords reception enjoyed an evening of catching up with old friends over drinks and canapés, before taking a tour of the House of Commons.

chamPaGne is Good for the heartResearchers from the University of Reading discovered that champagne could be good for the heart and circulation.

snow on camPusOver 12 inches of snow was recorded on White-knights campus in January; the most Reading has seen in over 20 years.

£1 million British heart foundation GrantIn January, the British Heart Foundation awarded a £1 million grant to a team at the University, enabling them to continue their cutting-edge research into exploring new and better ways to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

archaeoloGy dePartment PrizeThe Vice-Chancellor, Gordon Marshall, and the Head of Archaeology, Professor Grenville Astill, visited Buckingham Palace to collect the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for the Department of Archaeology; a prize that recog-nises the Department’s excellence in research, teaching and enterprise.

Year inPictures

SEPt

oct

nov Jan

Jan

fEb

nov

dEc

Archaeology department prize

£1 million British Heart

Foundation grant

Berkshire Show

£1.1 million grant for pollinator research

RUBC Regatta success

September 2009–August 2010

5

Butterfly symPosium with david attenBorouGh The University was delighted to welcome Sir David Attenborough in March, who, as President of Butterfly Conservation, attended their sixth International Symposium held on the Whiteknights campus. Sir David spoke at length to Reading PhD student, Robin Blake, about his research that is looking to increase biodiversity on farms.

law recePtionThe first Law Reception for graduates was held in April. Over 80 Law graduates enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with one another, and to hear the latest news from their old department.

donor dayDonor Day gave us the chance to thank in person many of our 5,000 plus donors, whose support enhances the student experience, teaching and research right across the Uni-versity. Donors were welcomed to campus to see how their donations are making a positive difference.

Graduations June and July saw 2,683 students attend 17 graduation ceremonies across 3 days in the Great Hall on the London Road campus. Since his inauguration in December 2007, the Chancellor, Sir John Madejski, has shaken the hand of over 2,000 graduating students, and since Gordon Marshall became Vice-Chan-cellor, over 24,000 graduates have processed through the Great Hall. In 20 years the Gradua-tion Administrator has produced over 100,000 degree certificates.

£1.1 million Grant for Pollinator research In June, the University was awarded £1.1million to help identify the main threats to bees and other insect pollinators, and how to reverse a decline in their numbers. Dr Simon G. Potts, Principal Research Fellow in the School of Agri-culture, Policy and Development, is working with colleagues at other institutions across the country on the Insect Pollinators Initiative. Read more about this issue on page 30.

ruBc reGatta successReading University Boat Club (RUBC) per-formed superbly at the Men and Women’s Henley Regattas. Eighteen ladies competed in six events at the Women’s Regatta – the biggest entry RUBC has ever seen.

merl exhiBition, 360 deGree views of readinGAugust saw the opening of a new MERL exhibi-tion entitled ‘A Circle and a Century: panoramic photos of Reading from the 1890s and today’, which gave a unique 360 degree, bird’s eye view of Reading. It illustrated the many changes to the town over the last 100 years, and saw the collabo-ration of a number of local organisations. See page 37 for further details.

mar JUnE JUly

aUg

JUly

aPrIl

may

Donor dayHouse of Lords

Law Reception

Butterfly Symposium

with David Attenborough

Green week

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/events

In focushealthHealth and wellbeing across the lifespan is a key area of research at the University of Reading. Considering both preventative and therapeutic health is essential in order to tackle the growing prevalence of chronic disease and the issues society faces as our population ages.

dr faustina hwang, Systems Engineering

‘Technology has great potential for improving quality of life as we age and it can also help our understanding of the ageing process. Our research is helping to make technologies easier to learn and use as people age. We are also developing technologies that can assess nutrition, physical function, cognition, and mental health, to help provide a more comprehensive picture of the factors that underpin ageing.’

6

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/research

dr marcus tindall, rcUK fellow in Emerging technologies for Systems biology, biological Sciences and mathematics

‘The complexity of medical diseases means new interdisciplinary approaches are required for treating them. One of the tools at our disposal is mathematical modelling; a relatively cost-free and informative tool. Experimental life scientists and clinicians are working together to develop mathemati-cal models, which can be used to gain new insights into tackling medical problems, and to make useful predictions using conventional technologies.’

dr tom Johnstone, centre for Integrative neuroscience and neurodynamics, Psychology and clinical language Science

‘At the University of Reading, researchers from a wide range of disciplines are applying cutting-edge brain imaging techniques

to examine exactly how the brain and body interact in healthy people, as well as those with mental or physical health problems.

The aim is to gain new insights into prevention and treatment strategies for a host of medical conditions that occur

from childhood through to older age.’

7

8

In focusfood security

Professor Ken norris, biodiversity, centre for food Security

‘Food production depends on biodiversity – the diversity of life on Earth. We eat biodiversity: domesticated crops and animals that provide our food are derived from wild species, and we also consume some of those wild species. Less obviously, we rely on the ‘ecosystem services’ that biodiversity provides to our farming systems, such as fertile soil in which crops can grow, pollination, and pest and disease control. Despite this reliance, it is becoming increasingly clear that the more intensively we produce food, the greater damage we do to biodiversity and the natural environment. Understanding and managing these dependencies is a key focus for our science.’

Professor richard tiffin, director, centre for food Security

‘Food security is about ensuring that everyone has access to a safe and nutritious supply of food. It also means that we have to do this sustainably, without compromising all of the other benefits that are provided by the natural ecosystems within which our food production is embed-ded. Providing access to the appropriate food is complex. For example, it is about ensuring that people can afford their food and that they under-stand the wider implications of their food choices in addition to ensuring that we have sufficient food available. We are developing an approach which considers the global food production system in its ecosystem and social contexts in order to address these issues.’

9

Due to the complexity of the food supply chain, a variety of factors can directly or indirectly affect food production and consumption. With this in mind, tackling the challenges surrounding food secu-rity requires an integrated approach. It is becoming increasingly apparent that research in this area should not be based around a purely scientific

approach; we need to draw on expertise in the social sciences in order to under-stand how people contribute to the problems of food security and how they will respond to potential solutions. The Centre for Food Security joins together existing areas of research excellence at the University to provide a platform for real-world research around this globally important issue.

Professor tim Wheeler, Sustainable agriculture, centre for food Security

‘Global agriculture is changing rapidly and will need to continue to do so in order to meet our future needs for food, animal fodder, and bioenergy. Agri-cultural production has to meet the demands of a growing population whilst coping with increasing pressures on the use of energy and water for food production, and uncertainties arising from climate change. Research has a key role to play in generat-ing the new knowledge and technologies for a future agricultural system that is more productive, sustainable and equitable.’

Professor glenn gibson, diet and health, centre for food Security

‘The processing of food, its interaction with the human body, and the factors influencing the choices made by consumers regarding food are all key parts of food security. Central to this is the potential for our understanding of how plant- and animal-based food processing, nutrition, digestion and food quality can be used to mediate benefits for improved health through diet. Moreover, understanding the factors and proc-esses involved in dietary choice and behaviour is important for considering the role that the consumer plays in the food security agenda.’

10

university research safeGuards the future of chocolateResearch from the School of Biological Sciences is leading the world’s fight to ensure the sustainability of cocoa production. Pests and diseases already destroy about a third of potential cocoa production, and with climate change there will be a greater threat to future supplies of cocoa. Researchers now have the funds for a new five-year project to assess the threat climate change poses to cocoa, which will help develop new cocoa varieties better suited to likely future climates.

new research encouraGes toddlers to try healthy foodsYoung children can be particularly fussy when it comes to trying new foods, and will often refuse to eat food unfamiliar to them. Research by psychologists at the University are helping to encour-age young children to eat healthier foods. Preliminary findings suggest that toddlers (around 21–24 months) who regularly look at pictures of fruit and vegetables that are not part of their normal diet are much more enthusiastic about trying them.

Researchnews

university weather Balloon measures volcanic PlumeRecent volcanic activity in Iceland has highlighted the need for

more information about volcanic ash in the atmosphere. To help with this, scientists from the Department of Meteorology have been gathering more accurate data about the potential danger to aircraft from volcanic plumes. Researchers have been using a newly-developed

weather balloon to feed back important information to the Met Office about the make-up of the volcanic ash.

These measurements were the first direct measurements of the plume over Scotland. The instrument used measured the particle size and concentration using a miniature laser system carried by the balloon. It was specifically designed to take electric charge measurements too, which can be an important property of vol-canic plumes. The weather balloon technique provided detailed information on the ash plume position, extent and structure.

As well as the particle size and concentration data, the balloon system also reported its position using GPS. The results will be used to provide vital data about hazards to aircraft should there be similar events in the future.

11

tv chef Backs hosPital food Project for older PeoPlePioneering research from the University of Reading is being used to enhance the taste of hospital food to help prevent or treat malnutri-tion in older people. The project is supported by celebrity chef and honarary graduate Heston Blumenthal (Hon DSc, 2006) and funded by Research into Ageing, the medical research arm of Age UK.

The research is using a taste central to Japanese food to modify the sensory properties of food to increase its flavour. Deliciousness in foods, especially savoury food, is enhanced by umami – which is known as the fifth taste and is the Japanese word for delicious and savoury. Umami naturally occurs in shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and tuna among others, and is commonly found in Marmite and Worcestershire sauce for example.

Researchers at the Department of Food Biosciences at Reading and Clinical Health Sciences are working with the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and Heston to modify foods so that older patients in particular will find them more flavoursome. The research is concen-trating initially on minced meat – a staple for many dishes. Once the researchers have perfected their recipes, the meals will be trialled on care wards for older people at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

world-class facility for chemical analysis oPens at universityThe University of Reading has recently opened a new state-of-the-art £4.5 million facility for chemical analysis. Researchers from a range of disciplines across the University will benefit from the new suite of instruments in the Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF), based in the School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy.

Many areas of scientific research require the analysis of chemical components, frequently using more than one instrument. The CAF provides a diverse range of techniques to cater for these requirements. The facility was opened in April 2010 by Professor David Garner, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

theatre and drama in shakesPeare's aGe Goes diGitalThe first stage of a project aiming to create the world’s single most important digital archive on early modern English theatre has been completed. Experts from the Univer-sity of Reading and King’s College London are currently making the largest collection of material on professional theatre and dramatic performance in the age of Shake-speare available online.

The collection includes the only surviving records of theatre box office receipts for any play by Shakespeare, and the contract to build the Fortune Theatre in London, written in 1600, listing the layout and design of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s company performed.

The original collection, housed at Dulwich College Archive in London, holds thousands of pages of manu-scripts relating to its founder, the

celebrated and eminent actor and entre-preneur Edward Alleyn (1566–1626) and of his father-in-law Philip Henslowe (d. 1616), the most successful theatre impresario of the age. The collection is available online at www.henslowe-alleyn.org.uk

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/research

10 Research Review

A single, sharp kick for speciation

FEATURE

In spite of years of study and debate, speciation still remains one of the biggest mysteries in biology. The traditional Darwinian view of speciation is

that the gradual accumulation of many

small adaptive changes eventually leads

organisms to split from their ancestors.

This is the view that natural selection

gradually draws a group of organisms

into some new way of life and over time

they become a new species, incapable of

mating with those they left behind. But

this common-sense view of speciation

runs into trouble when confronted with

some of the bewildering facts of evolution.

One is that there are large numbers of

some kinds of species, while there are

only small numbers of other kinds.

Famously there are so many kinds

of beetle – on the order of 500,000

species – that when JBS Haldane was

asked what we can conclude about

the Creator from the acts of creation,

he replied that he must have had an

‘inordinate fondness for beetles’. But by

comparison, there are only around 400

species of a small invertebrate

animal known as the

rotifer. Why such a

difference? The puzzles of speciation

extend well beyond numbers. So-called

cryptic species are those that even to

trained observers appear to be identical

but careful research with genes shows

that they are distinct species.

There are, for example, around 16

lemur species in Madagascar that fit

this description, and it is now well-

known that many groups of bats, which

are otherwise indistinguishable, are

actually different species. These cryptic

species hardly occupy such different

ways of life as we would expect from

a conventional account of speciation.

Recently, the research group I lead

in the School of Biological Sciences

came up with a radical new idea to

understand the processes that give rise

to new species. We examined the time

intervals between events of speciation

throughout the evolutionary histories

of over one hundred groups of plants,

animals and fungi. What we realised,

was that by statistically characterising

the distributions of these time intervals

it is possible to infer which evolutionary

process fashioned them. For example,

if speciation occurs only after a large

number of factors have somehow added

together to create a new species, some

simple mathematics shows that we

should expect the well known normal

distribution or bell-shaped curve of time

intervals between events of speciation.

If those same factors multiply each

other’s effects, a related distribution

called the log-normal is expected. All

together we defined five different

distributions this way, each one of

which points to a different mechanism

of speciation.

The surprise was that none of the

distributions that sought to explain

speciation by factors combining in some

way provided a good description of

the actual time intervals between the

speciation events. Instead the best fit

for 80% of the groups was another well

known distribution – the exponential.

Like the other distributions, the

exponential has a straightforward

explanation, but it is a disquieting

one for evolutionary biologists.

‘It is not the strongest of the

species that survives, nor the most

intelligent. It is the one that is the

most adaptable to change.’

attributed to Charles R. Darwin

(1809–1882)

The exponential distribution of waiting

times is the distribution that is expected

when some single infrequent event

occurs. For instance, the time interval

between successive telephone calls to

a switchboard, or the length of time

Professor Mark Pagel discusses new research

into the mechanism by which new species arise

FEATURE

between decays of a radioactive atom,

and even the distance between roadkills

on a motorway all follow the exponential.

It has the look of a ‘ski-jump’, with the

most likely interval being very short with

longer waiting times being progressively

less and less likely.

The significance of the exponential

for understanding speciation is that

it is a distribution of single events. Its

fit to the real waiting times between

speciation events suggests that it

isn’t the accumulation of events that

is important in causing speciation.

Instead, speciation seems to be brought

about by single, rare events; each one

of which must be individually sufficient

to cause speciation to occur.

It is a way of thinking about speciation

that removes it from the gradual tug

of natural selection and puts speciation

at the mercy of these rare, even

arbitrary events that simply happen

in the lifetime of a species: speciation

becomes a matter of happenstance – a

‘happy accident’ that occurs when one

of these events comes along and causes

a group of individuals to be isolated

reproductively from another group.

The events might include the uplift of

a mountain range that splits a species

in two, any of a number of rare genetic

alterations that make individuals unable

to inter-breed, or even changes to

mating preferences or preferences for

habitat. For example, a genetic mutation

that made fish breed in surface waters

instead of near the bottom, or a change

in preference among female lizards for

mates with blue spots rather than red

ones, could lead to speciation.

What of beetles and rotifers? This new

way of thinking about speciation says

that to understand why there are so

many of some kinds of species and

so few of others, we need to look to

the catalogue of potential causes of

speciation that might apply to a given

group of species. Those with a long list

should have high speciation rates and

vice versa.

Some have interpreted our research as

being anti-Darwinian, but it is nothing

of the kind. Once an event that brings

about reproductive isolation occurs,

all of the changes that we normally

attribute to species happen as natural

selection adapts these new species to

their environments. Cryptic species

such as the lemurs tell us, though, that

the actual speciation event itself need

not have had much at all to do

with natural selection.

ReferenceVenditti C., Meade A., Pagel M. 2009.

Phylogenies reveal new interpretation

of Speciation and the Red Queen.

Nature. 463: 349–352

12 Research Review

Issue 10 Summer 2010 13

Professor Mark Pagel’s article is reprinted here following its

original publication in our Research Review, Summer 2010.

To read the full version of the latest Research Review, visit

www.reading.ac.uk/research

10 Research Review

A single, sharp kick for speciation

FEATURE

In spite of years of study and debate, speciation still remains one of the biggest mysteries in biology. The traditional Darwinian view of speciation is

that the gradual accumulation of many

small adaptive changes eventually leads

organisms to split from their ancestors.

This is the view that natural selection

gradually draws a group of organisms

into some new way of life and over time

they become a new species, incapable of

mating with those they left behind. But

this common-sense view of speciation

runs into trouble when confronted with

some of the bewildering facts of evolution.

One is that there are large numbers of

some kinds of species, while there are

only small numbers of other kinds.

Famously there are so many kinds

of beetle – on the order of 500,000

species – that when JBS Haldane was

asked what we can conclude about

the Creator from the acts of creation,

he replied that he must have had an

‘inordinate fondness for beetles’. But by

comparison, there are only around 400

species of a small invertebrate

animal known as the

rotifer. Why such a

difference? The puzzles of speciation

extend well beyond numbers. So-called

cryptic species are those that even to

trained observers appear to be identical

but careful research with genes shows

that they are distinct species.

There are, for example, around 16

lemur species in Madagascar that fit

this description, and it is now well-

known that many groups of bats, which

are otherwise indistinguishable, are

actually different species. These cryptic

species hardly occupy such different

ways of life as we would expect from

a conventional account of speciation.

Recently, the research group I lead

in the School of Biological Sciences

came up with a radical new idea to

understand the processes that give rise

to new species. We examined the time

intervals between events of speciation

throughout the evolutionary histories

of over one hundred groups of plants,

animals and fungi. What we realised,

was that by statistically characterising

the distributions of these time intervals

it is possible to infer which evolutionary

process fashioned them. For example,

if speciation occurs only after a large

number of factors have somehow added

together to create a new species, some

simple mathematics shows that we

should expect the well known normal

distribution or bell-shaped curve of time

intervals between events of speciation.

If those same factors multiply each

other’s effects, a related distribution

called the log-normal is expected. All

together we defined five different

distributions this way, each one of

which points to a different mechanism

of speciation.

The surprise was that none of the

distributions that sought to explain

speciation by factors combining in some

way provided a good description of

the actual time intervals between the

speciation events. Instead the best fit

for 80% of the groups was another well

known distribution – the exponential.

Like the other distributions, the

exponential has a straightforward

explanation, but it is a disquieting

one for evolutionary biologists.

‘It is not the strongest of the

species that survives, nor the most

intelligent. It is the one that is the

most adaptable to change.’

attributed to Charles R. Darwin

(1809–1882)

The exponential distribution of waiting

times is the distribution that is expected

when some single infrequent event

occurs. For instance, the time interval

between successive telephone calls to

a switchboard, or the length of time

Professor Mark Pagel discusses new research

into the mechanism by which new species arise

FEATURE

between decays of a radioactive atom,

and even the distance between roadkills

on a motorway all follow the exponential.

It has the look of a ‘ski-jump’, with the

most likely interval being very short with

longer waiting times being progressively

less and less likely.

The significance of the exponential

for understanding speciation is that

it is a distribution of single events. Its

fit to the real waiting times between

speciation events suggests that it

isn’t the accumulation of events that

is important in causing speciation.

Instead, speciation seems to be brought

about by single, rare events; each one

of which must be individually sufficient

to cause speciation to occur.

It is a way of thinking about speciation

that removes it from the gradual tug

of natural selection and puts speciation

at the mercy of these rare, even

arbitrary events that simply happen

in the lifetime of a species: speciation

becomes a matter of happenstance – a

‘happy accident’ that occurs when one

of these events comes along and causes

a group of individuals to be isolated

reproductively from another group.

The events might include the uplift of

a mountain range that splits a species

in two, any of a number of rare genetic

alterations that make individuals unable

to inter-breed, or even changes to

mating preferences or preferences for

habitat. For example, a genetic mutation

that made fish breed in surface waters

instead of near the bottom, or a change

in preference among female lizards for

mates with blue spots rather than red

ones, could lead to speciation.

What of beetles and rotifers? This new

way of thinking about speciation says

that to understand why there are so

many of some kinds of species and

so few of others, we need to look to

the catalogue of potential causes of

speciation that might apply to a given

group of species. Those with a long list

should have high speciation rates and

vice versa.

Some have interpreted our research as

being anti-Darwinian, but it is nothing

of the kind. Once an event that brings

about reproductive isolation occurs,

all of the changes that we normally

attribute to species happen as natural

selection adapts these new species to

their environments. Cryptic species

such as the lemurs tell us, though, that

the actual speciation event itself need

not have had much at all to do

with natural selection.

ReferenceVenditti C., Meade A., Pagel M. 2009.

Phylogenies reveal new interpretation

of Speciation and the Red Queen.

Nature. 463: 349–352

12 Research Review

Issue 10 Summer 2010 13

14

grandparents allan (bSc agriculture, 1952) and Joan haworth (ba french, 1948; dip Ed, 1949), their daughter Susan Stott (bSc agriculture, 1983), and her daughter rebecca Stott (bSc hons land management, 2010) tell their story …

Today is a very special day for the

family, as it marks the graduation of

Rebecca – the youngest generation of

the family to graduate from Reading.

Still in her robes having graduated

only minutes earlier, Rebecca’s grand-

parents and mother are feeling very

proud of her achievement; and nos-

talgic too.

‘It’s quite something to know that

we all graduated wearing the same

gown’ explains Allan, who has

returned to the London Road site

with his wife Joan having graduated

some sixty years earlier.

Not everything has remained the

same however. In fact, Rebecca’s

University experience is radically dif-

ferent in many respects. Much to her

elders’ amusement, Rebecca explains

how hectic her life has been in the

lead up to graduation.

‘I’ve just got back from a summer

break in Newquay. Every June, it’s

tradition for Reading students to rally

their friends together and head down

to Cornwall to spend five days cele-

brating the end of the academic year.

I’ve been three years in a row now!’

This is news to Joan and Allan,

who were here between 1945 and

1952, and were in St Andrew’s Hall

and St David’s Hall respectively.

The fast-paced lifestyle that current

students lead is very different to how

things were six decades earlier.

‘University life was a lot quieter back

then’, explains Joan, ‘and we didn’t

have as much freedom as students

have today’.

This shift in freedom is very appar-

ent as Joan reflects on the boundaries

of student life in the 1940s.

‘We had great discipline in St

Andrew’s Hall. The doors were locked

at 11 pm, whereas Rebecca was able to

return at any time to Wantage Hall.

Halls were single sex back then and

we were only allowed male students

in our room in the afternoon, provid-

ing we left the door ajar.

‘When we took our daughter, Susan,

to Wells Hall for the first time in

1980, it was a surprise to see women

and men had bedrooms in the same

corridors, and shared facilities. There

were also locks to the bedroom

doors, whereas we had none.’

They say that you never forget your time spent at university. These are the days that are widely regarded as the best of your life after all. But how have the student traditions and memories changed through the decades? Is the ‘then’ much different from the ‘now’? Here, we speak to three different generations from the same family – all of whom have passed through the University of Reading.

your timeMy time

15

For Allan, Joan, and their daugh-

ter Susan, the number of students

graduating alongside Rebecca is quite

astonishing. As Susan explains, ‘Only

three or four of my year went to

university, and for girls, it was very

unusual. Now, looking at all the

students graduating here today, there

is an even mix of boys and girls.’

‘University life was a lot quieter back then and we didn’t have as much freedom as students have today’.

Allan and Joan concur: ‘It strikes

us how many more students there

are now. In 1945, there were about

1,000 of us. Now, there are well

over 19,000!’

Student numbers are not the only

thing to have risen however, as Susan

points out. ‘One big difference in my

University experience – and Mum

and Dad’s too – is that we never got

into debt, as we were fortunate to

have grants, not loans.’

The cost of a university education

may have risen dramatically through

the decades, but the fun memories

have remained priceless. Susan

recalls the favourite student tradi-

tions of her time, in the 1980s.

‘RAG week just took over the whole

of the middle of town. Sheep night

was a great highlight too, where

everyone clubbed together to fill

the quad of Wantage with sheep. I

also remember the day the Reading

Agrics managed to get a Mini on the

roof of the dining hall at Cirencester

College.’ As Allan, Joan and Rebecca

contemplate the logistics of this,

Susan laughs and simply explains –

‘we had some very strong Agrics!’

The subject of the Students’ Union

is also a fine example of how things

have changed. For Joan and Allan,

it was ‘just one room in the old arts

block with the social hub in The

Buttery’; for Susan, it was the place

‘you wouldn’t be seen dead in!’ and

for Rebecca? ‘I went there all the

time, every Wednesday and Saturday

night. Unquestionably, it was and still

is the place to go.’

Despite the differences in their

experiences, the friendly spirit and

camaraderie at the University of

Reading is one thing that the family

unanimously agree on: ‘Other uni-

versities never have the same great

atmosphere as Reading. It is an

amazing place.’

Three generations of Reading graduates, pictured at London Road, 2010. From left–right, Joan, Rebecca, Susan and Allan.

share your [email protected]

Student life

todayToday, the University of Reading is host to a cosmopolitan community of over 19,000 students from around the world. Every individual brings something new and different to the campus, and the University experience can be totally different from one person to the next. Here, we talk to four students at Reading who each have a very unique perspective on what University life means to them.

lottie burgess, third-year real Estate undergraduate

‘I started rowing when I was 14 and knew I wanted to get involved with the Boat Club (RUBC) when I came to University. Two years in and I am now the Boat Club President. This summer, I was selected to compete in the under-23 World Championships in Belarus. This and winning Women’s Henley three years in a row in the lightweight doubles would have to be my biggest achievements to date. I train for at least three hours each day, and will be on the river by 7 am before my lectures start at 9 am. I will then be back on the water early evening for more training. As long as I avoid too many late nights and keep my diary up to date, I can still manage my busy schedule! The Real Estate department have been very supportive of my rowing commitments. After I graduate, I hope to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor, although rowing will always be part of my life.’

The eliteathlete

16

greg tinker, Phd student, School of languages and European Studies

‘My thesis, The Cultural Memory of the Second World War: D-Day Veterans and Commemoration in Britain, looks at how Second World War veterans remem-ber their wartime experiences. In particular, the remembrance visits they have made and the thoughts and feelings they have when remembering those they lost. My research is unique in two ways. First, it is timely. Most remaining Second World War veterans are approaching ninety years of age, meaning this will be one of last projects to explore their living memory before it’s too late. Second, this research focuses not on the war itself, but rather on the Second World War’s remarkable post-war cultural legacy. I feel very privileged to be conducting this research, I must say. In my spare time, I have worked with the Postgraduate Representation Group, which organises special events for postgrads and represents their views at University committee meetings. I have also assisted with welfare support at St George’s Hall. I’d like to have a first draft of my thesis in a few months time though, so I’ll be working flat out this year, but it will be worth it!’

The Phd student

17

Sarah o’donnell, third-year history & Politics undergraduate

‘Dance, singing and drama are a huge part of my University life. During my second year, I spent six months rehearsing for the Drama Society (RUDS) production of Fame, in which I had a main part. What I am wearing now is just one of my many stage costumes! Alongside Fame, I juggled being President of the Blessed Melody Gospel Choir and the Secretary of the History & Politics Society; roles that I will maintain this year too. I enjoy writing in my spare time, having written for the fashion and music sections of the student newspaper, Spark*, on a regular basis. I am also facing one of my biggest academic challenges to date, as one of my history essays is being published in November. The Univer-sity of Reading has been a great place to exercise and develop my skills. It may be my final year, but I definitely won’t be slowing down – it’s my last chance to do all these amazing extra-curricular activities after all!’

The performer

18

richard mcKenzie, ba german and russian, 1989, now studying for an ma in german

‘I first graduated from Reading aged 24, and for the last twenty years, I have been a marketing professional. I am now relishing the opportunity to take a year out of working life to focus on one subject in great detail. The biggest difference in this University experience is that I now have a family. There is a clear balance of pros and cons to this! For instance, it is often hard to justify my day of watching research films to my wife when she comes home from a busy day at work. However, I love being able to spend more time at home with my two daughters. I am also seizing more opportunities this time round. One of my greatest highlights has been running my own show on the student radio station, Junction 11. I have presented one of my papers at a University conference; I have worked on the University’s Annual Fund; I stood as a local candidate in the general election – it is fair to say it has been a fulfilling year!’

The family man

Michael Rosen

Being Michael RosenIt is a gloriously hot day in london when I meet michael at the royal festival hall; a place where he feels very much at home having lived in london all his life. growing up with his parents and brother in harrow, michael’s love for literature was born.

‘Both of my parents were teachers and have had a

huge influence on my life and work. They were totally

engaged in lots of literature in all its forms. Even in the

last hours of his life, my Dad was still saying to me: “You

know I really think you ought to read ...” And despite me

telling him that he had other things to worry about, he’d

remain insistent; still supervising my education in his

ninetieth year!

‘From childhood, I always had an idea that I wanted to

get involved in writing, but I don’t think I had the sense

that I could write as a profession. I always wanted to be

an actor.’

Interestingly, when he was 18, Michael began to

study medicine – an experience he prefers to refer to

as ‘a little diversion’. ‘I got it into my head that to be a

serious person, you have to do something slightly less

frivolous than writing, and it took me three or four

years to get this out of my system.’

‘My medical training? Yes … you have to think of that as a little diversion.’

After a period of working at the BBC and a few

publications later, Michael was drawn into the world

of children’s books, and his first book, Mind your own

Business, was published in 1974.

Michael Rosen (MA Children’s Literature, 1993) is a celebrated children’s author, broadcaster, lecturer, and holder of the Children’s Laureate title, 2007 – 2009. To date, he has written over 140 books. Words by Laura Garman

Being Michael Rosen

22

Keeping in touch with what children find scary or

intriguing comes easily to Michael. Considering that

some of his latest poems ponder broccoli growing under

the armpits, and how frightening public toilet hand

dryers are, I ask how he retains this curious mindset

when he is writing.

‘As we have all been children, there is a level at which

you can imagine being a child – it is not impossible. In

fact, it is quite easy. Part of it is helped by having young

children. I tell them things which I have to explain in

a way that they will get it.’

Michael lights up when he talks about his children,

and amusingly recounts their feelings on his work.

‘My five-year-old will plead with me to read “the one

about the ...”, but if we are on holiday and I haven’t got

that particular book with me then he doesn’t understand

why I don’t know it. As he has seen me reciting my work

on YouTube, he thinks I know them all off by heart – but

I can’t explain how autocue works to a five-year-old! The

irony is that his Dad ends up saying “No, you can’t have

a Michael Rosen poem!”

‘As we have all been children, there is a level at which you can imagine being a child – it is not impossible. In fact, it is quite easy.’

‘I even get a critical analysis from my children. The other

day, my daughter told me the poem Chocolate Cake was

boring – I said that’s because you’ve heard it twenty times!’

Just over ten years ago, Michael’s personal life was

marked by tragedy, when his eighteen-year-old son Eddie

died of meningitis. A few years later, Michael channelled

his anguish into Sad Book, a poignant text which mourns

the loss of Eddie. Sad Book reaches out to children – and

adults – facing some of the darkest issues we, as humans,

have to deal with, and voices the emotions that are often

unspeakable in day-to-day life. With a patient grace that

signals he is used to being asked about this, Michael

explains what prompted him to write about his own

personal grief.

‘It was partly triggered by the fact that children kept

asking me about Eddie, because I used to write about him

as a little boy in my work. Then I would have to say “he

died”. Then I thought wouldn’t it be a good idea if they

could access that in the same way that they’ve accessed

the funny stories I’ve written about Eddie? So it came out

of a moment about five or so years ago just, as it were,

imagining a child in front of me and explaining to them

where I am now in relation to Eddie.’

The illustrator Quentin Blake, who famously collaborated

with Roald Dahl, was a natural choice for Michael when

it came to illustrating his very personal Sad Book.

‘I think of Quentin as a mime artist on the page –

he mimes with his pen and creates a silent show of my

poems. If someone was miming my stuff, they would

be doing Quentin-like things.

‘There are two or three pages in the Sad Book that are

just unbelievable. There is one picture sequence that

shows an energetic Eddie in various frames, but the

last one is blank. I love that, I think that’s great.’

In 2007, Michael was appointed Children’s Laureate, a

prestigious role which is awarded to an eminent illustra-

tor or writer every two years. What Michael accomplished

in these two years is outstanding, and quite rightly, he

is very proud of all he achieved in his time as Laureate.

‘I started the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which is an award

for the funniest book of the year. We also did an exhibition

on the history of children’s poetry at the British Library

and this tribute made me feel over the moon. I also created

a website where children can upload their own poetry –

this website is what I am all about. I am very proud

of these three projects I must say’.

Michael has continued to impart his wisdom with adults

too, and is currently lecturing a Children’s Literature

module for Masters students at Birkbeck College,

University of London.

‘I think of Quentin Blake as a mime artist on the page – he mimes with his pen and creates a silent show of my poems.’

Meeting Michael Rosen and hearing his anecdotes has

been filled with hilarity and poignancy at the same time.

As our meeting concludes, it is strikingly obvious as to

why he is a much-loved children’s author. He is fun, yet

pensive; entertaining, and extremely hard-working.

And the best advice he has ever received?

‘My Dad used to say in a parentally dismissive way,

“Keep writing lad”. But in actual fact, there is no better

advice to give to a writer.’

read the full article onlinewww.alumni.reading.ac.uk/ netcommunities/michaelrosen

Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy features some of Michael’s favourite Quentin Blake illustrations. ‘Don’t pour gravy on the baby’ and ‘don’t pour mustard in the custard’ are just two of many witty teachings this colourful book of poems has to offer.

Michael Rosen, Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. London, Bloomsbury 2006.

mustard, custard, GrumBle Belly and Gravy

A glimpse into Michael’s work

Where Broccoli Comes From,

a poem by Michael

Not many people know

that broccoli grows in the armpits

of very big green men

who live in the forest

and brave broccoli cutters

go deep into the forests

and they creep up on the

very big green men.

They wait for the

very big green men

to fall asleep

and the broccoli cutters

get out their

great big broccoli razors

and they shave the

armpits

of the very big green men.

And that’s where broccoli

comes from.

Not many people know that.

Just thought I’d let you know.

‘Broccoli’ by Michael Rosen (© Michael Rosen) is printed

by permission of United Agents (www.unitedagents.co.uk)

on behalf of Michael Rosen

film, theatre and televisionThe £11.4 million project, due to be completed next Easter, will create a dedicated space for three theatre performance areas, a screening room, film editing rooms, TV studio, costume and make up areas, rehearsal spaces and prop store, as well as staff offices.

more at the sPortsParkNew equipment worth £230,000 is now available for members to use.

henley Business schoolHenley is one of the few global business schools to hold triple accreditation (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB). Its flagship programme is the world-ranked Henley MBA which is delivered in different formats to 3,000 students per year, making it the largest provider of MBAs in Europe.

The new building houses a dedicated resource centre, café, high-tech 275-seat lecture theatre, dedicated research space, IT rooms and high-quality teaching space.

building future

for the

24

University of reading students value their education greatly. reading consistently scores very highly in the national Student Survey, with an 88% overall satis-faction rate in the latest study. to continue attracting students of the highest standard and carry out world-leading research, reading needs to keep investing in its facilities and further improve the student experience.

Whiteknights Campus has

seen significant changes in the

last few years and impressive

developments continue apace.

Students now benefit from a state-

of-the-art Student Services Centre,

the Carrington Building, which

opened in 2007.

Phase One of the University’s £250

million Whiteknights Development

Plan 2008–18 is almost complete,

ensuring Reading continues to be

regarded as one of the leading uni-

versities in the world.

A major refurbishment of our

London Road Campus, the original

home of the University in the heart

of the town, is also taking place.

The £30 million investment will

create a new home for the Universi-

ty’s Institute of Education (currently

based on the Bulmershe Campus),

which trains nearly 1,000 teachers

every year. The project will be

complete by summer 2011.

Current construction on

Whiteknights includes a new pur-

pose-built home for the University’s

Department of Film, Theatre & Tel-

evision and a new business facility

which will offer high quality space

to technology-based companies. The

facility forms part of the Universi-

ty’s wider plans to work closely with

innovative companies and compli-

ments Reading’s plans to develop

a Science and Innovation Park

near campus.

These exciting developments mean

the University continues to evolve

and deliver a world-class student

experience, maintaining its proud

tradition of producing graduates

of the highest calibre.

student servicesLocated between the Palmer Building and the Students’ Union on the Whiteknights Campus, the Centre includes a new Helpdesk for all general student enquiries, as well as the Disability Office, Accommodation, Student Financial Support, Student Records, the Careers Advisory Service and Centre for Career Management Skills, the Study Advisers and some elements of the Counselling Service.

student hallsNearly 1,000 students will move into new halls, Mackinder and Stenton, in October. The design of the buildings will reduce carbon emissions below the standards required by current Build-ing Regulations by around 20 per cent. Each student bedroom is equipped with Internet connections, linked to the University network, thermostatic radiator, swipe key entrance, work station, large single bed with under mattress storage, wardrobe and bookshelves, ensuite shower-room with toilet and sink and heated towel rail.

hoPkins BuildinGThe building is named after Professor Hopkins, who invented rod-lens endoscopes that led to the development of modern key-hole surgery and who held the Professorship in Applied Optics at the University from 1967 until 1984.

This multi-disciplinary centre brings together scientists from a wide range of research fields to work to understand the development of cardiovascular diseases, and the underlying obesity-related metabolic diseases from which they develop.

student hallsNearly 1,000 students will move into new halls, Mackinder and Stenton, in October. The design of the buildings will reduce carbon emissions to below the standards required by current building regulations by around 20%. Each student bedroom is linked to the University network and equipped with internet connec-tion, thermostatic radiator, swipe key entrance, work station, large single bed with under mattress storage, wardrobe and bookshelves, and ensuite shower-room with toilet, sink and heated towel rail.

hoPkins BuildinGThis building is named after Professor Hopkins, who invented rod-lens endoscopes that led to the development of modern key-hole surgery and who held the Professorship in Applied Optics at the University from 1967 until 1984.

This multidisciplinary centre brings together scientists from a wide range of research fields to work to understand the development of cardiovascular diseases, and the underlying obesity-related metabolic diseases from which they develop.

25

26

the University is actively seeking more ways in which we can engage with employers to enhance the learning opportunities we provide our students. today, the value of real-world experience in preparing students for life beyond university has never been so pertinent.

Many of our programmes have

integrated or optional placements,

and there are numerous other

opportunities to gain experience

with a small business, professional

practice, charity, or major company.

There are also opportunities to vol-

unteer at the University or in the

wider community, study in another

country, or work alongside University

researchers during summer vaca-

tions. Our new Reading Experience

and Development (RED) award allows

students to gain formal recognition

for part-time or voluntary work and

development activities, to think

about the employability skills and

experience gained as a result, and

to learn how to present these when

seeking employment.

Through their involvement in these

kinds of modules, projects and initia-

tives, students learn how to engage

with the ‘real world’ alongside their

academic learning. They see their

studies in challenging new contexts.

An added benefit is the positive

effect that this kind of learning has

on the employment prospects of

our graduates. In these uncertain

financial times, we need to use all

our resources to provide our students

with the best foundation they can

have to face the world ahead of them.

The challenge is how to provide

opportunities for work-related learn-

ing and employer contact in ways

which integrate and compliment the

curriculum, engage and develop the

students, and benefit the employer

involved. We believe we’re on the

right track; just take a look at these

exciting examples that show the dif-

ferent ways in which our students

and employers are working in and

around the curriculum to improve

the employability of our graduates.

And we’re not stopping here …

makinG lanGuaGe workStudents of English take a short placement as part of a module that helps them to analyse the use of language in a workplace setting. Students work with host employers to develop a project based on communica-tion issues within the organisation. Drawing on their seminar learning and observations on site, students’ evaluations often contrib-ute directly to strategic priorities for their employers.

fair access to Professional exPerienceFive students from the School of Systems Engineering are gaining valuable work experience this summer with IT solutions company CISCO as part of the government’s ‘Fair Access to the Professions’ initiative. Participating students have disabilities or health issues that have posed specific challenges for them when seeking work experience. These internships will help them to develop their technical and work skills with a leading business and establish ongoing rela-tionships with industry mentors.

Chris Long is out at CISCO with his guide dog, Quita. ‘Quita and I have settled in well and are making friends with all the other interns here. It’s been a great privilege to be able to do this “fair access” placement. I feel it will give me a great deal of experience in the networking field.’

Engaging employers in learning

What’s the issue?emPloyaBility

27

In the centre for Entrepreneurship students get an opportunity to work at starting their own enterprise.

They form teams, formulate busi-

ness ideas and construct a business

plan. Successful Reading alumni and

experienced entrepreneurs are guest

speakers and assist in judging the

entrepreneurship exhibition, where

students pitch their ideas in a high

intensity trade-show environment.

‘Since graduating I have had a fast-moving career gaining experience in recruitment and fundraising and I’m now with an ambitious start-up company, Seven Hills, working on PR campaigning with high profile entrepreneurs. My experiences with entrepreneurship at the University of Reading definitely empowered me to feel quickly at ease in a variety of business environments and to grasp opportunities to be entrepreneurial in developing my career.’

rosie Walkinton, Politics and International Relations, 2008

law students are supplementing their education with some hands- on work.

A new module asks them to

examine the legal issues arising

out of a hypothetical project to

construct new halls of residence

on campus. The Vice-Chancellor

instructs them and off they go

in search of contracts, planning

permits, and health and safety

forms to advise senior management.

‘I felt as if I were really conducting research for an actual client in the real world. The materials provided made it so realistic. It gave me a “feel” for what it would be like to work as an independent lawyer.’

anne-marié gregory, Part 3, LLB student

In the henley business School, students are benefiting from a highly fruitful partnership with telefonica o2.

Senior O2 figures provide expert teaching input and organise VIP events for students as well as giving fascinating public lectures and funding postgraduate scholarships. Marketing students are required to sign a confidentiality agreement when working on current ‘live’ case studies and lecture examples pro-vided by O2.

‘The opportunity to bring lectures to life and practically apply the knowledge gained from my Masters at the Henley Business School is both exciting and invaluable. I have no doubt that this achievement, combined with the experience gained during my studies, will equip me better to succeed in my future career.’

faye Weston, O2 Scholarship winner, MSc Marketing and International Management

how you can helPWe are increasingly looking for ways in which we can involve our alumni as employers within our academic and development programmes. If you are interested in getting involved and believe you have experience and oppor-tunities that you can offer our students, let us know by selecting the relevant boxes through the ‘update details’ form which comes with your magazine.

Practicing entrepreneurship

lawyers get their hands dirty

Working in partnership with o2

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/entreprenurship www.reading.ac.uk/cstd www.reading.ac.uk/alumni

My g

ener

atio

n

The 1980s marked the ubiquitous influence of pop culture. Posters of Madonna, Duran Duran and Queen adorned the walls of students everywhere. Leg warmers, jumpsuits and shoulder pads became the defining fashion statements of the era, and people were left puzzled by the Rubik’s cube phenomenon. Here, Sally Robinson (née Manning, BSc Geography, 1987) reminisces on what it was like to be a student at Reading in this colourful decade.

‘Even though I grew up just down

the road from the University, the

community feel of the Reading

campus confirmed that this was

where I wanted to be. At the time,

I was a member of the GB Synchro-

nised Swimming Squad, and would

often have to travel abroad for inter-

national competitions. My tutors in

the Geography Department, including

the wonderful Dr Whittow, were just

fantastic and fully supported my need

to balance my studies with my extra-

curricular activities.

‘On my first day, I remember walking

into the dining room of St Patrick’s

Hall and meeting Tim who, unbe-

known to me at the time, would later

become my husband. I immediately

got to know Tim and his friends, and

we enjoyed every minute of our uni-

versity days.

‘We had many great nights at the Stu-

dents’ Union. I remember seeing the

now-infamous Gary Glitter perform

there – he was just outrageous and

went down a storm at the time.

‘Duran Duran were at the height

of their fame and posters of Simon

Le Bon graced the bedroom walls

of many girls! Bands like Wham and

Spandau Ballet were very popular too,

and I recall sitting in my room doing

my coursework to the songs of Alison

Moyet. Madonna was just starting out

and many of us would emulate her

fashion and hairstyle.

‘Speaking of fashion, big hair was

everywhere. The boyfriend I had

when I started at Reading had a true

punk hair style; a completely shaved

head save the spiky Mohican with col-

oured tips running down the middle.

Really tight drainpipe trousers were

a big hit with the boys too!

‘Posters of Simon Le Bon graced the bedroom walls of many girls!’

‘As I was so sporty and forever training

for my synchronised swimming, I was

always dressed in sports wear. In fact,

a couple of years ago, I happened to

see an old friend I studied Geography

with. To my mortification, she placed

me as ‘the one who was always in a

tracksuit’! She was right though, as my

distinct eighties style rarely extended

beyond the comfortable threads of a

synthetic, brightly-coloured tracksuit!

‘Rather embarrassingly, as I was born

on the same day as the first edition of

‘the Reading Evening Post’, I took part in

a feature on all the babies born that

day, 21 years later. I wore a horrendous

black and red silk dress with huge

shoulder pads. It really was hideous

and still haunts me to this day!

‘Alongside the colourful fashion and

iconic pop culture, the 1980s univer-

sity experience was an age where it

wasn’t too difficult to get a place. I got

a grant and I certainly didn’t leave

with a huge bill. It was a chance to

make the most of absolutely every-

thing, without the pressure of not

finding a job at the end of it. I wonder

if I would have had to sacrifice all the

time I spent on my extra-curricular

activities – particularly my synchro-

nised swimming – if the same

pressure was there then as it is now.

‘Some twenty years on, and I still

cannot claim to have ever mastered

the Rubik’s cube. Given the formula-

and a lot of patience – I like to think

I could solve it. Perhaps I will make

that my mission to pay homage to

the 1980s!’

Sally and her husband, Tim Robinson (BSc Land Management 1987), who she met at university

30

Bees are dying in their millions. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill. Without bees and the thousands of other important pollinators, we wouldn’t have healthy crops, fruit, seeds or vegetables. It is an essential process for stable crops.

Dr Peter Kwapong, Ghana

Around the worldGraduate Profile

dr Peter Kwapong (Phd Entomology in horticulture, 2008) is one graduate undertaking global research to further inform the world’s entemologists. he is providing an initiative in his native ghana, the International Stingless bee centre (ISbc), which is making a great impact on beekeepers, farmers, and the general public in ghana, West africa and the rest of the world. We caught up with Peter in ghana at the ISbc to find out about his time at reading and his important research.

Peter – why did you choose reading?I looked at a lot of universities and

I found that Reading was one of the

most friendly and good for studying

the course I chose to do.

What was it like to be an international student at the University?For me it was very exciting, and

fortunately there were already some

Ghanaians at Reading who helped me

settle in. Being international students

in Reading was a privilege for us. I

made a lot of international friends in

Reading – within the community and

at the University. The environment

left a real impact on me.

how did your career progress after reading?Well I haven’t done badly since!

I used my studies at Reading more

in my teaching career. The field of

pollination and bees is where I have

progressed, and I’ve met a lot of

people from across the world in

this area. Pollination became an

international issue and it was new

to a lot of people. I happened to have

the spotlight on me because of this

and became part of an international

academic community very quickly.

and of course you have continued your links with the University of reading through research you have done with dr Simon Potts …Yes, Simon is one of the people I met

and we developed a proposal together

and collaborated on a project in

2005. We often publish together

and the link continues

to grow.

tell us more about the ISbc.The ISBC came about as a result

of the work I did with Simon. We

sampled bees in the tropical rainfor-

est and we found that most of the

flower visitors of all the trees there

are stingless bees. At a meeting in

South Africa, I met an influential

woman in US agriculture and told

her about my desire to pursue this

area of research, but that funding

was a problem.

‘We have visitors from all over the world who come to see the work being carried out.’

A funding agency went on to call

me and I put forward my proposal

on stingless bees and they gave me

funding to study with the aim of

empowering farmers to make extra

money through honey, and through

using the bees for pollination.

Initially we were training farmers

in five communities around the

research site. As we trained

them, we used them to build

structures for work on our

studies, and create a sanc-

tuary for the bees. We also

acquired a 20 acre secondary

forest to provide a sanctuary and

thankfully our funders decided to

provide extra resource. We have now

trained 150 families from around the

world on stingless beekeeping and

31

Around the world

Bees in crisisIn June, the University of Reading was awarded £1.1 million to help identify the main threats to bees and other insect pollinators and how to reverse a decline in their numbers.

Dr Simon G. Potts, Principal Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Devel-opment, will be working with colleagues at other institutions across the country on the Insect Pollinators Initiative.

Pollinators, including honey and bumble bees, butterflies and moths, play an essential role in putting foods on our tables through the pollination of many vital crops. These insects are susceptible to a variety of envi-ronmental threats including loss of natural habitats, misuse of pesticides, diseases and climate change.

Pollination by insects is vital for agricultural production and maintenance of biodiversity - 80% of British wild flowers and 84% of EU crops depend on insect pollinators, mainly bees. Given that the value of insect pollinators to UK agriculture is estimated to be worth more than £430 million per year, the research at the University will make an important contribu-tion to our food security.

The funding has been made available under the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. This is a joint initiative from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government.

expanded our training to include

Nigeria, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire

and Cameroon.

We have visitors from all over the

world who come to see the work

being carried out. We have offices,

a training hall, bee sheds, a carpen-

try shop, a bee walkway and we are

hoping to construct a greenhouse

where we can do pollination trials.

We are preparing to launch the

centre so that the general public

can have access, and of course it

will make funding more sustain-

able if people want to visit. When I

was at Reading, I also learnt about

teaching children when they are

young about nature conservation,

so I plan to work with the govern-

ment to teach young children and

am very excited about this.

bee populations are declining and disappearing (in fact, in the US they appear to be collapsing). What effects will this have on the planet?

Bees are vital to crop production.

If bees keep declining, food and

seeds will be minimised. Not only

will it have a dramatic effect on

the world economy, but nutrition

will be compromised too. I think

the most important thing is aware-

ness creation and education. We

need to focus on the major issues

with pesticides and we also need to

increase practices that are friendly

to retaining pollinators in our com-

munities across the world, and

ensure minimal destruction of

their habitats.

32

the University of reading is already an international university. We have been receiving students from abroad for more than 100 years and currently have about 3,000 students from outside of the UK studying on our campuses. We have several teaching and

research partnerships with

institutions in other countries and

are recognised as one of the top 200

universities in the world. A signifi-

cant proportion of our research and

teaching addresses issues of global

concern, from understanding the

impacts of climate change to the

causes and consequences of

international conflict.

The intention is now to build on

this foundation to become what

can be termed a global (rather than

merely international) university. This

is one in which teaching, research

and enterprise are conceived,

planned and delivered with explicit

relevance to global needs and issues:

internationalisation at Reading is our

response to a globalised world.

Why do we want to be a global uni-

versity? Simply because that is the

type of university that our staff,

students and stakeholders – ranging

from the local community to the

UK government – deserve.

Professor Steven mithen Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International and External Engagement)

Professor Dr Aydin ozturk is from Turkey and completed an msc in Applied sta-tistics and computer studies in 1973.

‘My study and living experiences at the University of Reading gave me a great start in my career. After I returned from Reading, which was the first place that I had ever visited away from Turkey, I brought many things back academically, and had developed many life skills.

‘I learnt how to play tennis at Reading. Before studying here tennis was unknown to me and

in those days (the 1970s) to my city where I am from in Turkey. After I returned home, I intro-duced tennis to my students and friends!

‘Since my time at the University, I have visited many international countries and places. Reading has a very special place in my heart however, as it was where I first came across many different things; my experiences and the academic knowledge that I gained has played a big part in the person I am today.

‘I am currently the Head of the Department of Computer Engineering at Yasar University in Turkey. I am now looking into collaborating with the University in the area of computer sciences.’

Becoming a global university

‘The creation of Henley Business School is a major addition to the way we do business internationally. The coming together of two internationally recognised brands has resulted in each enhancing the international opportunities of the other in a wide range of markets.’

what do our international students and alumni think of their time at readinG?

33

Daniel orwa is from Kenya and is a second-year student in mathematics and Applied statistics.

‘I was awarded the University of Reading

International Baccalaureate Scholarship that covered my tuition fees and most of my living costs. It was an honour to win the Scholarship and I hope that others will be lucky enough to win it in the future and have the same chance I have had to study here.

‘I have had a wonderful experience in my first year; I’ve enjoyed every moment of it – it’s

just amazing. When it comes to academics, the lecturers are friendly and always welcome discussions and questions with responses that are timely and of high quality. This has given me a sense of academic security and confidence; knowing that help is always avail-able through the numerous tutorials, drop-in sessions and by email. With top researchers and dedicated professionals, we get the best and it’s certainly quality education.

‘I also like the campus environment, where almost everyone around is a student or member of staff. This enables students to interact more in a friendly atmosphere and have the best university experience making it feel like home!

‘The University has more than 100 clubs and societies to cater for the tastes of the diverse student population. I joined Reading’s “Model United Nations” to further my interest in international relations. Whilst in the society, I have participated in a national conference and got an honourable mention. I also joined the University’s Naval Unit, where I have been able to enhance my teamwork, leadership, communication, command and management – all lifelong skills essential to the progressive world we are living in.

‘If I had to make the choice again, it would still be Reading. The experience and environment is very fulfilling.’

a short historyof reading

Students choose to study at the University of Reading for its teaching and research excellence and the student experience on offer. In the past, decisions may have been influenced by its home town’s reputation for the three Bs: bulbs, biscuits and beer.

Well, perhaps the last one anyway, but Reading has

diversified. The town and the University have each

advanced to become a major force at home and abroad.

As the University has grown and developed into one

of the leading universities in the world, Reading has

seen enormous and significant changes too. The two

have evolved together and forged long-lasting links that

benefit the University, the town and its community.

When the University received its Royal Charter in 1926,

it taught just 671 students. Last year Reading welcomed

over 19,000 students. How times have changed. How

time has flown.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Reading

was declared a ‘safe town’ by the government and 25,000

evacuees arrived under the official evacuation programme.

Today, the University is home to the Research Centre for

Evacuees and War Child Studies. The Centre aims to be

the pivotal hub of cross-discipline war child research

in the world, informing present and future governments

on the treatment and welfare of children in war zones.

The immediate postwar period was a time of austerity,

rationing and shortage for Reading although the University

continued to expand, acquiring the Whiteknights estate

for its new parkland campus in 1947.

In the 1950s the town and University kept growing. People

were moving to Reading to start new lives from all over

the UK and from the former British colonies, especially the

Indian sub continent and the Caribbean. Reading now has

the largest Bajan population outside Barbados.

Life on the University’s campuses today mirrors the

changes to the town’s population. Students often comment

on the vibrant, cosmopolitan and culturally diverse

community atmosphere that the University offers them.

Image courtesy of Museum of English Rural Life, Dann-Lewis collection

In the 1970s and 1980s as old indus-

tries left, new companies arrived

including Prudential, Digital and

Yellow Pages. Reading is now at the

centre of the UK’s ‘Silicon Valley’,

with international companies such

as Microsoft and Oracle located on

its business parks.

The University now enjoys strong

and fruitful partnerships with

local industry. Reading’s research

expertise and world-class facili-

ties have provided vital support for

companies in the current economic

climate. Plans are underway for the

University to develop a Science and

Innovation Park near to campus,

which will bring together innova-

tive and technology-based companies

from both the local and international

business communities.

A cultural shift in the town has

occurred too. Reading has beauti-

fied its river frontages on the Kennet

and the Thames. While preserving

its heritage buildings, new architec-

tural projects have been encouraged,

notably the landmark ‘the Blade’.

The Reading Festival, formerly the

Reading Rock Festival, attracts the

biggest bands in the world and is now

one of the foremost music events in

the UK. Last year over 90,000 people

attended the three-day festival.

Recent research conducted by the

University found that the 2009 festi-

val was worth over £16 million to the

town’s economy.

The late 1990s saw the completion of

two major developments, bringing

with them a huge boost to the town’s

reputation and economy.

In 1998, Reading Football Club

moved from its humble Elm Park

home to the new Madejski Stadium,

named after successful businessman,

Club Chairman and current Univer-

sity of Reading Chancellor Sir John

Madejski. With Sir John’s investment,

Reading FC climbed the footballing

ladder and in 2006 was promoted to

the Premiership for the first time in

the club’s history.

The biggest change to the look

and feel of Reading’s town centre

occurred just before the start of the

new millenium. The opening of the

Oracle shopping centre in September

1999 transformed an area of largely

derelict and undeveloped land into a

hub of shoppers, cinema goers

and riverside revellers.

37

cemetery junction a readinG landmark and a £1 million movie!

visit our exhiBition: ‘a circle and a century’

Let’s face it: Reading doesn’t boast a Big Ben or a Piccadilly Circus. What is does have though are small areas of cultural diversity with a real sense of community, that mean a large amount to those who have lived or are living there, and the town itself.

Cemetery Junction is one of those places. It has been housing those studying at the University of Reading for many years, and provided much-needed, late-night suste-nance for many staggering students!

The ‘Junction’ became immortalised this year when the Reading-born comic and now Hollywood star Ricky Gervais, with his friend, co-director and writer Stephen Mer-chant, named their latest offering after the East Reading landmark.

The comedy-drama is based in a fictional town in the 1970s. Gervais draws upon his experience of growing up in Reading to tell the funny, touching and universal story of being trapped in a small town and dreaming of escape.

Modern Reading however, has evolved into a vibrant and fun place to be. Cemetery Junction, rich in colour and full of flavour, continues to play a large role in the day-to-day life of Reading residents and University students. Although there is no sign of a movie sequel, its new-found stardom means the ‘Junction’ will always be remembered.

The full sets of panoramic views of Reading, old and new, will be on display at MERL from 9 August – 29 October 2010. Full details at: www.reading.ac.uk/merl/whatson/ exhibitions/merl-circleandacentury.aspx

These developments mean the town

now attracts more and more people

and, like the University, continues

to flourish. A University of Reading

degree is so sought-after that every

year, the calibre of students who

apply gets higher and higher. As a

result the University has raised its

entry grades this year.

The town once famed for its three

Bs now has a University asking for

two Bs ... and one A!

© Jill Furmanovsky

Courtsey of the Local Studies Collection at Reading Central Library

A view from ‘The Blade’: rising 128m above the Reading skyline

In 2005, a momentous England v australia ashes test series captured the hearts and minds of the nation. cricket had never been so popular and it wasn’t just the men wowing the crowds; the English Women’s cricket team put on a tremendous display, beating the australians in a series for the first time in 42 years. a series win that alumna beth morgan (bSc Psychology, 2005) is extremely proud to have played a major part in.

Beth first took to the sport at the

age of 13, where she played at Gun-

nersbury WCC, and went on to play

for Middlesex. A talented all-round

cricketer, she made her one-day

international debut aged 17 against

Holland and played in her first test

match against the Australians in

2005. Her contribution with bat and

ball in the final test proved vital in

the team’s magnificent victory.

Now an established member of

the England team, Beth has taken

27 ODI wickets and six test wickets

in seven games with an economy rate

of 2.18. Her highest score with the bat

is 77 in an ODI against New Zealand

in 2007 and 46* in Twenty20, scored

against Australia at the Oval.

Beth graduated with a first-class

psychology degree from the Univer-

sity in 2005 and is delighted to be

awarded the Alumnus of the Year

title for 2010.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed my three years

at Reading and feel that I graduated

with all the skills needed to succeed

in the world today. Not only did I

gain an excellent psychology degree

which will stand me in good stead

for my future career, I also grew as a

person in many ways and feel I devel-

oped many crucial and transferable

life skills. I am very grateful for the

support of all the staff at the Univer-

sity who encouraged me to pursue

my cricket career and helped me to

balance that with my studies.

‘The best advice I can give new

graduates as they leave university

would be to pursue your goal in life,

whether it be a career, further study

or a life ambition. My experience

at Reading gave me the confidence

to chase my dream of playing inter-

national cricket and to realise it.

Graduates leaving Reading will be

equipped with all the tools they need

to succeed in life and it is all about

applying them correctly and working

hard to get the best out of yourself.

‘It is a huge honour and privilege

to even be considered for this pres-

tigious award alongside so many

successful and inspirational gradu-

ates, past and present, from this

University. I feel very lucky to have

been given such great opportunities,

both throughout my sporting career

and also in gaining a superb educa-

tion from the University of Reading

and I would like to thank everyone

involved for all their support in

helping me to achieve my ambitions

and receive this recognition.’

Beth Morgan will be presented

with her award at the Degree

Congregations in December.

Alumnus of the Year 2010

Beth MorganBSc Psychology, 2005

‘I feel very lucky to have been given such great opportunities, both throughout my sporting career and also in gaining a superb education’

39

Professor Janet beer has been awarded the honorary degree of doctor of letters. Since grad-uating in English from reading in 1978, Professor beer has achieved outstanding academic success, which culminated in 2007 with her appointment as vice-chancellor of oxford brookes University.

Since her appointment as Vice-Chancellor, Janet

has rapidly risen to national prominence, taking up

a number of leadership roles in the higher education

sector, including membership of the Advisory Board

of the Higher Education Policy Institute and of the

Board of Universities UK, the body which represents all

Vice-Chancellors in the UK. She is also currently Chair

of the steering group for the National Students Survey,

a role which amply reflects her long standing commit-

ment to students and to the quality of provision in the

Higher Education sector.

Janet has an established record of research in late

nineteenth and early twentieth-century American

literature and culture, and contemporary Canadian

women’s writing. She has been the Associate editor

of The Year’s Work in English Studies (OUP) since 1999

and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal

of American Studies.

In making her appointment at Oxford Brookes the

Chair of the Governors, Tim Stevenson, said of Janet,

‘She is very much a rising star …with impressive lead-

ership and management skills and a deep knowledge

of the issues and challenges facing the HE sector.’

In making this award of Honorary Doctor of Letters

the University of Reading recognises Professor Beer as

a firmly-established member of the higher education

solar system!

alison carnwath is one of only three women to be chairman of a ftSE 100 company having, in 2008, taken up the reins at land Securities, britain’s most valu-able quoted property company. She is considered to be one of the busiest directors in the ftSE 100 with other significant roles in corporations in both the UK

and US and has been named in the Times Power 100 as one of the ‘top 100’ most influential directors in the United Kingdom.

After joining Land Securities in 2004 as a non-executive

director, Alison Carnwath became Chairman in Novem-

ber 2008. Land Securities is the largest property company

in Europe and the leading British property development

and investment company headquartered in central

London. The company also owns the Piccadilly lights in

Piccadilly Circus, London and was one of the companies

involved in developing The Bullring shopping centre

in Birmingham.

During her distinguished career, Alison spent 25 years

as an investment banker at a number of companies

including J. Henry Schröder, Phoenix Securities, Don-

aldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Peat Marwick Mitchell, KPMG,

and Lloyds Bank International. She is currently a non-

executive of two FTSE 100 companies alongside Land

Securities; she has been non-executive director of Gal-

lagher since 2003, Friends Provident since 2002 and Man

Group since 2001. In addition, she has been on the boards

of Cullens, Manweb, Sears, National Power, Arcadia,

and Nationwide among others.

Somehow Alison still finds time to be involved with

the charitable sector sitting on the development boards

of the Royal Society of Arts and The Healing Foundation,

and is a Woolf Patron of the British Library, and a Pioneer

Donor of the Reading Real Estate Foundation at the

University of Reading.

Alison epitomises what we hope for in every Reading

graduate: individuals who have the confidence and

enthusiasm to fulfil their personal ambitions and seek

to make a difference in the world in which they live.

This is clearly what she has done.

Janet BeerAlison Carnwathba german and Economics, 1975honorary degree of doctor of laws

ba English, 1978honorary degree of doctor of letters

Honorary deGrees

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/alumni

on 28 July 1860, the berkshire chronicle advertised art classes for the newly-opened reading govern-ment School of art. morning classes ran for ladies and gentlemen on alternate days, with apprentices admitted to the two-hour artisans evening class for a monthly fee of two shillings.

The University of Reading as it is

today with its many different facul-

ties and schools has its origins in the

Reading Government School of Art

opened in 1860 and the study of the

Arts has always been an integral

part of the University.

This summer the University joined

the Museum of Reading, which from

1882 to 1904 housed the Art School,

to celebrate 150 years of formal art

education in Reading. The exhibi-

tion sought to evoke the spirit of the

art school’s rich and distinguished

history. Artworks and ephemera were

drawn from the Museum, University

and local collections to tell the story

of how the study of art has diversified

from a Victorian desire to improve

industrial art to the contemporary

students at Reading today.

By the mid 1960s, traditional Fine Art

teaching separated into independent

disciplines and Typography and Art

History became important depart-

ments in their own right. The School

became the Department of Fine Art

and through the following decades it

mirrored social and cultural changes

within art. More experimental

approaches to teaching such as Rita

Donagh’s celebrated ‘White Room

Experiment’ allowed students to

engage with wider political interests.

Performance art emerged through

student groups such as the Moodies

who bemused external examiners

with their burlesque cabaret along-

side the Sunshine Group which

included Andy Mackay, a founder

member of Roxy Music.

In recent times the Department of

Fine Art has produced three eminent

Turner Prize nominees, Cornelia

Parker, Richard Wilson and Mike

Nelson. It continues to foster young

artists to make a difference across

the cultural industries drawing on

its long and rich history.

Pictured: An image produced by current students for 2010 having worked through the department’s archives in preparation for the exhibition.

150 years of fine art

Spark* newspaper is written by students, for students. having evolved through the years from its days as the Rattler, Shell and a brief spell as Splat, Spark* is a much-loved, now fortnightly, publication that covers a wide range of topics that matter to students.

As well as the usual news and debates; last year, new sections on Health & Food and Science & Technology were added due to popular demand; testament to the continual growth and popularity of the newspaper. Entirely run by student volunteers, Spark* is going from strength to strength. Here is a snapshot of what the students have been talking about over the last year.

In June, the University held the biggest event of the year: the Summer Ball. Widely regarded as the flagship event to celebrate the end of exams, this year’s ball included funfair rides and live music from chart-top-

ping acts Scouting for Girls and Wheatus. The night finished at 6 am, proving that Reading students sure know how to go out with a bang!

During the 2010 general election, student representatives challenged local MPs in an effort to put a stop to the increase in tuition fees. Candidates from Reading East were invited to campus to hear what our repre-sentatives had to say, giving our students the opportunity to get involved with the way the country is run.

October saw a team of Reading Meteorology students reach the final of the ‘NPower Future Leaders Challenge’. Competing against university students from across the UK, our students designed a project to help sustainability in local schools, and really showed their passion for creating a ‘green’ world.

In February, RUSU held the elections that determined which students should represent the University next year. Candidates were campaigning around the clock for the coveted Student Officer roles. There were a record numbers of voters this year and we wish the winners the best of luck for next year!

42

This year the University and Students’ Union made the ‘Blooming Students’ project bigger and better with a grant from the University’s Annual Fund.

This innovative scheme encour-ages students, who live in private rented accommodation, to tidy up their front gardens and make them beautiful with plants and flowers. On signing up, students receive a starter kit of pots, compost (made on campus by grounds staff) and spring bulbs such as daffodils and grape hyacinths.

This year 100 student households joined in, and in May, judges visited all the gardens to pick out the best. Two student house-holds shared the prize money of £100 each. They were cybernetics

student Kim Cave-Ayland for her innovative front garden in Grange Avenue, which included edible plants such as beans, chives and marigolds; and Mark Ferrey, studying information technol-ogy, who had filled his tiny gravel front garden with planted con-tainers of red, white and blue flowers. The prize money was donated by local letting agents, Space.

The Annual Fund grant was also used to purchase trowels, seca-teurs, hedge-trimmers and other gardening equipment which is borrowed by students to keep their front and back gardens tidy all year round.

the friends of the university

Community and Friends news

The Friends’ programme has remained active and varied over the last year. The autumn 2009 talk by Alumnus of the Year 2008, Professor Debby Reynolds, and the Christmas Concert in association with music@Reading, were notable highlights.

March saw an enjoyable guided tour of the Madejski Stadium. Sir John Madejski, Chancellor of the University and President of The Friends, gave an entertaining address and was happy to answer questions about Reading FC.

The Spring Lecture given by Dr Alastair Culham, entitled ‘Plants for the 2080s – Gardening with a crystal ball’ was well received.

Seventy-five members attended the Yearly Meeting in June. It was preceded by a superbly organised visit to the Hopkins Building, where Professor Gavin Brooks and a number of his colleagues in the School of Biological Sciences

gave stimulating presentations. Professor Gordon Marshall again kindly briefed the Yearly Meeting over tea and was generously informative in the ensuing Q&A exchange. The meeting also noted the involvement of the Events Team in our activities, and our Working Party on Membership and Communications.

Later in June, The Friends paid their annual visit to the gardens of Bledlow Manor, the home of Lord Carrington, President Emeritus of The Friends. The sun shone and Lord Carrington circulated amongst members and joined us for tea. We admired the beautifully landscaped new garden that he has created in memory of his late wife.

Membership in excess of 500 enabled The Friends to increase the total of our annual grants to University departments to over £10,000.

The autumn term will bring a visit to Henley Business School on 27 October, and a talk on 2 November by Dr Lisa Methven of the School of Food Biosciences, who is currently working with Heston Blumenthal (Hon DSc, 2006). Events planned for 2011 include visits to CEDAR and to a local silk mill, and a talk from a member of the Archaeology Department.

Membership is open to all those interested in the University’s educational goals, its history, current activities and future development. New members are always welcome. Please contact: The Secretary, DARO, Blandford Lodge, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading RG6 6AH; email: [email protected] or tel: 0118 378 8006.

students flower Power

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/thefriends

find out more online atwww.reading.ac.uk/community

43

Your newsWelcome to your news. If you’d like to contact us with news – be it a marriage to a fellow graduate, news of a new job or an obituary paying tribute to a fellow graduate, then do get in touch using the form that came with your issue of connected or contact us using the details on the back of this magazine.

1940 – 49david liddicoat Ag 47, WG having served as a Magistrate for over 20 years and a similar period in other public life, David is now content to sit back and let the world go by!

Philip Millins Fr 42, WG. From 1939-46, Philip was Captain in the Royal Berkshire Regiment and Intel-ligence Corps; He has also been HMI (schools) and Principal of Edge Hill University, College of Higher Educa-tion, Ormskirk, Lancs.

1950–59anthony day Dip Art Tchr 55. At 87 years old, Anthony is a full-time painter, exhibiting annually, alongside being author of eleven books and a photographer! He bases his work on local history.

shirley dobson (Mrs Haynes) Maths 56, WX is Town Mayor 2010-11 for Thrapston, Northamp-tonshire, after 7 years on the Town Council. She is also a Middle School Governor after a lifetime in education. She has been married for 52 years, has 5 children and 14 grandchildren.

Basil longy Ag 58, DA is busy working on his memoirs, including 9 years in Pakistan and 26 years in Africa.

James Petrides Ag 53, PA still lives at the same farm after 54 years in Hailsham, East Sussex, but moved to a smaller barn that he converted. His daughter and family live in the farmhouse and his son lives in the old cowshed. The farm is converted for workshops and offices and the land loaned to neighbours. James would welcome visits from old friends.

John smith Geog 54, PA. After Reading, John completed his National Service, extending the basic 2 years by ‘signing on’ as a 3 year ‘regular’ serving in the RAF as an education officer stationed in Germany. His teaching career began when he spent 4 years as assistant geography master at Melton Mow-bray Grammar School; then Head of Geography at Kelsick Grammar School, Ambleside. He has attended many reunions and in 2007, 42 years after the school closed, former pupils attending included surgeons, university professors, writers and nuclear scientists. In 1964 he be-came Head of Geography at Ripon Grammar School, where he met his wife, and remained in post for 25 years. After retiring and until he reached the age of 65, he taught on a part-time basis and worked as a part-time postman. He played rugby for Goole Grammar School’s first XV, but had no real interest in athletics. However in more recent times, despite the handicap of partial sight, he has taken to running. He has completed the half-marathon Great North Run every year since 1998. In 2008, at the age of 76, he covered the 13.1 mile course in 3 hrs 46 secs and in 09 he finished in 2hrs 58 mins 32 secs.

Brian stenning Maths/Phys 57, WG recently moved from the Wyre Forest into Bewdley. He is still actively walking, rowing on the Severn, contributing to local music and furniture making as a pastime. He attends occasional reunions with University Singers from the 1950’s.

1960–69Peter adams Hist/Pol 66, WK retirement has enabled Peter to pur-sue his interest in travel with even more enthusiasm and recent jour-neys to Oman, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Namibia and the Galapagos Islands

- bringing the number of countries he has visited to 121. His involve-ment in Freemasonry continues to bring much personal fulfillment and provides continuing activity. He is also a qualified teacher of ballroom dancing and belongs to three film societies.

richard Bisgrove Hort 65 has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the Kew Guild. The Guild was founded in 1893 as an association of alumni of the Royal Botanic gardens. Honorary Fellowship is limited to 25 members. The award is made for Richard’s ‘distinguished service to the general advancement of horti-culture and garden history within this country and abroad.’

Celia Walden (Mrs Cart-wright) GenSc 61, GE. Celia enjoyed meeting fellow graduates at the 1959 reunion in September. She has been married for 45 years and is enjoying retirement with her husband. They have 2 sons, one in Cambridge and the other married with one son and living in New Zealand.

Brian durham GenSc 64, PA enjoyed a thirty-eight year career in field archaeology, mainly with UK’s top independent consultancy. In 1981 he married Maureen Mellor and they have a daughter and son. In 2003 he was appointed to a new post of Archaeologist to Oxford City Council, which allowed him to develop approaches to communal heritage and to the preservation of organic artefacts in the ground. The latter involved the terrestrial carbon

cycle, and on retirement in 2008 he extended that interest to the atmo-spheric carbon cycle with a one-year MSc in Applied Meteorology, again at the University of Reading. He is a member of the University’s Bland-ford Club, and recently attended a reunion of 1960s graduates. He is in contact with David Wells (Geog 62) who is godfather to his daughter, and with Tim Treacher (Ag 62 & 68).

William eneas PG(Dip) Ag 68. William’s second book, The New Caribbean: A Region in Transition, was published in February.

Keith faulkner Phys 65. From 1962-64, Keith became temporary executive officer for the Ministry of Aviation. He went on to perform various roles, including Deputy Managing Director for TBA Ltd until 1969. Until 1981 he held various roles at Manpower, including branch manager, division manager, London area administration manager and western area manager. From 1981-2003 he held various roles at Manpower, including UK client ser-vices manager, company secretary, corporate affairs and director of public affairs. He is currently Chair-man of Working Links, having been Managing Director until 2008.

Paul Hocking Ag 69, WK has worked at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, since 1983 and has transferred with colleagues to the University of Edinburgh Veterinary school, with the rank of Reader.

James Hogg PhD Psy 67 left school at 15 to join the Merchant Navy but failed the eye test, so returned to school and then to Uni-versity. After Reading he joined Birk-beck College at London University as an assistant lecturer. After 5 years at Birkbeck he moved to a senior lectureship post at the ground-breaking Hester Adrian Centre in Manchester. He gradually became engaged with people with learning disabilities and their families. In the 1970s he produced guidance for services working with children with profound and multiple learning dis-abilities. In the early 90s he founded

the voluntary organisation PAMIS, with his wife, and established the day respite service called the White Top Centre. He is now an emeritus professor at Dundee, but he still works full-time and has no plans to retire.

arlette Kalfleche 61 has retired as Head of Department, Modern Languages, at St Mary’s Ascot. Being French she spends her time between UK and Lille.

francis Mordaunt Dip AgEc 68, SB. After Reading, his first job was with Lugg and Gould, later Lau-rence Gould. In 1980 he moved to the East of Scotland College of Ag-riculture, near Edinburgh, as a farm business adviser. From 1988 became a consultant with Andersons, set-ting up research department in Melton Mowbray in 1996. He retired at the end of March and planned to move back to Edinburgh and walk in the Highlands.

James orson Ag 69, WK has been appointed to the executive board of the British Crop Production Council. He is currently research and technical director of The Arable Group (Tag), which is now part of the country’s largest independent crop research and information cen-tre following its recent merger with Cambridge’s national Institute of Agricultural Botany. He joined Adas where he took on posts as direct adviser, agronomist and then finally head of cereals development. he then became director of the Morley Research Centre - a farmer-owned research station in Norfolk provid-ing information to support the businesses of some of the biggest farmers in Europe.

Catherine Westby (Mrs stewart) Engl 60, WX. In February 2009 her first children’s book was one of 14 entries (out of nearly 2000) on the long list for The Times / Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition for unpublished fiction. She is currently seeking an agent / publisher.

Timothy Treacher AgSc 62. See Brian Durham 1963.

Patrick Webber GenSc 60 was awarded a prestigious medal in June for his work in plant biology. He is Professor Emeritus in plant biology at Michigan State University and was recognised by the International Arctic Science Committee for his contributions to arctic and alpine tundra ecology and plant taxonomy; also the promotion of arctic re-search in general. It is the first time that the medal has been awarded. He has focused his career on study-ing what controls the variety, num-bers and distribution of plants, ani-mals and micro organisms. He also pioneered a multi-layer mapping method that is now the standard required by regulatory agencies.

david Wells Geog 62, PA. See Brian Durham 1963.

1970–79roy Batt PhD 74, WG. Roy’s most recent publication is Giving Voice (poems 1977-2007): Hub Edi-tions 2008.

Kenneth Boyd FdSc 74, WL. See Steve Ecob 1974.

lynne Williams (Mrs Brindley) BMus 71, GE has been in charge of the British Library, billed as the UK’s ‘collective memory’ for 10 years. She supervises the preservation of over 150 million items stored in the library’s archives. Her job takes her across the world, from Beijing to Buenos Aires, but as often as she can she heads to Cornwall with her husband Tim to relax in the county she was raised in. Librarianship was a change of direction for her, as she was brought up in a musical family and that was her first love, but she did not think about how difficult it might be to make a career out of her passion. Now she is more interested in collecting modern art, rather than books and has supported a few living artists in Cornwall.

godfrey Burrell Geog 70, PA is Rector and Rural Dean in South Warwickshire. On 1 July most of the original RUBC 1st VIII (semi-finalists in the Ladies Plate and awarded a University Shell) gathered at Henley for a 40th anniversary reunion.

John Canton EstMan 74, WK is a partner in Jolliffe Daking Char-tered Surveyors in Peterborough. In his spare time he is Chairman of Peterborough City Rowing Club, rowing coach and organiser of Pe-terborough Regattas.

luciano Cheles Ital/Fr 73, CH is Professor of Italian studies at the University of Poitiers and living in Paris

ian Cowdroy EstMan 74, WL. Between 1974 and 2006, Ian worked as a surveyor for ADAS/FRCA/RDS. Since 2007 he has been working as a Learning Support Assistant for the Royal London Society for the Blind. He is one of a team of volunteers providing cricket commentary for the MCC/RNIB Ball by Ball service for the blind and visually impaired.

Peter Crawshaw Bot/Zoo 71, AN. Peter has retired from Town Planning and lives with his partner, Jean, in Harrogate.

robert Crowell Micro 72, CH is a professor in sign language stud-ies as well as the Deaf Studies at the Southwestern Illinois College, St Louis, USA.

Christopher dabner 74, PA. See Steve Ecob 1974.

Michael dray AgBot 70, WI. Michael does some teaching back at the school where he was Head of Biology, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham, a mixed school. He is involved with the school’s con-servation area. He has many happy memories of the other 15 ‘Ag Bot’ graduates of 1969.

stephen ecob Hist 74, PA belongs to a group who meet fairly regularly for reunion weekends,

Robert Alexander Creswell was born in London on 22 February 1948. He was brought up in Mar-low, and went to school in High Wycombe. After taking an honours degree in Chemical Physics at the University of Reading in 1969, fol-lowed by a Ph.D. in 1972. He spent seven years as a research scientist holding successive positions at Michigan State University, then the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, and finally a Fellowship in Cambridge. He met his wife, Lee, a talented artist, during his time

at Reading. In 1979 he changed direction and joined the tax of-fice, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), in which he had a rewarding and successful career. In 2009 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and he died at the early age of 62 on 21 July 2010.

Bob led a full and busy life, and had many friends. He was dedicated to the University and a member of the Blandford Club. Apart from his professional work he became a serious mountaineer and explorer

of the world, and he also became an expert cabinet maker – a wood-worker and furniture maker of the very highest quality. He was by na-ture an intellectual, with interests in many different fields, particularly in botany and wild life, and in his garden. He collected an enormous and varied library. With his wife Lee they became great entertainers, and many friends and colleagues will remember the wonderful par-ties that they gave at their home in Cambridge, and later at their second home in Derbyshire.

Bob Creswell 1948–2010

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which usually involve a substantial meal! The group consists of: Keith Young (FdSci 75), Chris Dabner (P&B 74), Paul Taylor (FdSci 74), Jeremy Wheeler (Phys & Meteor 75), Ken Boyd (FdSci 74) and Steve. Most of the group are married with various children reaching adulthood.

anthony eden EstMan 70 is retired from full-time employment as a chartered surveyor, but remains a consultant specialising in valu-ations for business rates. His son David (MSc Real Est 2007) qualified as a member of the Royal Inst of Chartered surveyors. He is Chairman of the largest youth football club in North Hertfordshire which takes up a lot of his leisure time. He is mar-ried to Gaynor.

William fulthorpe MSc Con-Man 78, WK. After 2 years in Australia for his company employer, TECHNIP, and then two years in Lon-don, William is now expatriated to Aberdeen to manage the construc-tion of a new build pipe lay vessel.

alastair graham EstMan 79, WG started his working life as a farmer in Sutherland. Berlin-born, he was educated at Bradfield Col-lege, Berkshire, and then the Univer-sity of Reading. He is married with four children and is Head Teacher at Hall Grove School in Bagshot, Sur-rey, a preparatory school which he has run since 1978. He is a Conserva-tive Councillor for Surrey Heath.

Colin Hawes Dip EnvEd 75. Colin is a retired lecturer and now a part-time PhD student in his 5th year at Royal Holloway, University of London. His thesis is on the stag beetle.

andrew Jefford Engl 78, DA is the son of a vicar and eldest of three brothers. Andrew grew up in Norfolk and pursued postgraduate studies on Robert Louis Stevenson with Malcolm Bradbury at the Uni-versity of East Anglia, before work-ing as an editor for Paul Hamlyn’s Octopus Group. In the late 1980s he got the chance to combine his pas-sions for wine and writing, and since then he has worked as a freelance drinks journalist and broadcaster. He has written several books and guides, most recently Andrew Jef-ford’s Wine Course (Ryland, Peters & Small; 2008). He has won a plethora of distinctions for his work, includ-ing three successive Louis Roederer Awards in 06, 07 and 08. The New France was awarded the André Simon award, Lanson award, and Veuve Clicquot USA Book of the Year in 03. He is a senior research fellow at the University of Adelaide, as well as wine writer in residence to the Australian Wine 2030 project.

John Marriott EstMan 78, AN is semi-retired from surveying, but has now retrained as a psycho-synthesis therapist. working with teenagers in the east end of London,

and in a private clinic in Cranbrook, Kent. He has 4 children, is divorced but about to remarry.

Wendy Peek CompSc 74, BR having taken early retirement in 2008, Wendy returned to live in Cornwall in 2009. Over the last 2 years she has completed a number of long distance motorcycle rides in Australia and the USA, raising funds to support women diagnosed with breast cancer. She also volunteers with the Shelterbox charity.

anthony Pope Ag 74, SB is lead adviser heading a new five-strong South West TB Advisory Service unit which has £1.3 million in funding for 4 years. His service has been up and running for a few months follow-ing exhaustive training, a scheme hosted by the NFU in its regional office in Exeter and co-sponsored by the National Beef Association, the Country Land and Business Associa-tion, DairyCo and the English Beef & Lamb Executive. He was born in Ke-nya, where his father farmed exten-sively, with pyrethrum as the main cash crop. He travelled to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, worked for Tate & Lyle in Zambia and South Africa, then returned to Zambia to manage a large holding and then later to Zimbabwe to set up a farm-ing enterprise on a former timber estate of 3,000 hectares. Back in the UK he spent 5 years working in partnership with his father, then set up as an overseas agricultural con-sultant, working for 15 years with United Nations agencies.

John Pratt AgMan 76, CH and Nicky (nee Johnson) (Hist 76) remain based in West Oxfordshire, whilst John works on European Commission funded contracts in overseas development. He is currently in Papua New Guinea.

david Pullinger Pol/Econ 70, WK is working part-time at Impe-rial College helping Business School students get jobs. David also has his own consultancy, coaching and training. He is researching into ex-istential approaches to coaching to teach an MA next year. He is married with three adult children and lives in Amersham.

Margaret Beacham (Mrs ricketts) Lat/Ling 70, BR has partially retired after over 38 years service with the Inland Revenue (now HMRC).

Julia stuart (Mrs rose) Maths 74 is ICT Co-ordinator / Head of ICT at Debenham High School in Suffolk. She says her maths degree prepared her with the logic required to get into ICT, but she no longer teaches any maths. She is a committed Christian and cites Reading Christian Union as a great encouragement. She is active in a church in Framlingham, a Fair Trade rep for Tearfund’s Created gifts and has been happily married for 31 years, with 3 children and one grandchild.

Keith sheppard Maths/CompSc 72, WI has decided to retire early and concentrate on his children’s books. His first children’s novel, ‘Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There’ was published in the autumn of 2009. He is hoping to publish a second novel next year.

Paul Taylor FdSc 74, WL. See Steve Ecob 1974.

Brian Titton LLB Law 77, MN is a Personal Adviser for Connexions in Wolverhampton.

stephen Vaux Hort 76. Stephen is involved in developing a novel wood pellet manufacturing tech-nology based in Oxford, but with global goals.

albert Weir Ag 72, AN has had a varied career. He was brought up on a tenant farm in Cheshire, but left to study agricultural econom-ics as he was the second son in the family and the farm was not big enough for him and his brother. He then studied for a PhD at Newcastle and lived in Whitley Bay. Life by the sea was not for him, so he moved to Corbridge and worked as a gardener at the original Slaley Hall. He even-tually bought a cottage in Slaley and was then working for the National Park as an agricultural conservation officer for 32 years - a job he loved. He contacted farmers and was given a small budget to start up a dry-stone walling scheme and restored hundreds of miles of dry-stone wall in Northumberland. Illness forced him to look at life in a different way and at 57 he took early retirement. After many hours of organising the restoration of property for other people, he indulged in a restoration of his own. He attends a furniture restoration class at Newton Village Hall, raises money for cancer chari-ties by holding auctions and takes part in charity treks.

Jeremy Wheeler Phys/Met 75, PA. See Steve Ecob 1974.

Peter Williams PhD Geog 76. In 1989, Peter became the Professor of Housing Management at Cardiff University. Then in 1994 he was a Board member for Housing in Wales and in 1995 became a Board mem-ber for the Housing Corporation. In 1997 he was appointed Deputy Director-General for the Council of Mortgage Lenders. He enjoys racing punting and rugby union.

Keith Young FdSc 75, PA. See Steve Ecob 1974.

1980–89david atkins LandMan 88, WK. After Reading, David began his career with DTZ, the property consultant, then in 1998 joined Hammerson, taking charge of research and orchestrating big acquisitions and disposals, and was the main contact for its French and

German businesses. He became the UK business’s Managing Director in 2007. His most notable moves have been to buy Silverburn, a prime shopping centre in Glasgow, from Lloyds Banking Group for £297 mil-lion, and to announce that he would steer Hammerson’s focus towards France, which accounts for a third of its portfolio.

arthur Baxter Geol 81, BR. Arthur is a self-employed pub-lisher and designer with Dane Stone Cards. He is also a student again, taking an MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture at the University of Manchester, having completed a BA in Sociology and Independent Stud-ies at UCLAN.

Helen straw (Mrs Bilton) PGCE ProfStud 82, BU is a leading expert on outdoor play for young children and has writ-ten a number of books - Book Bilton,H. (2010) Outdoor Learning in the Early Years. 3rd Edition Abingdon:Routledge.

Hugh Carson Cert Ed 80, DA. Hugh retired in 2006 after 10 years as Headmaster of Malvern College. Previously he was Headmaster of Denstone College. He is on the Court of the Skinners’ Company, one of the City Livery Companies, and is due to become Master in 2010-11.

rowena Tibbles (Mrs Comrie) Art 82, DA has been shortlisted for the prestigious Aspect prize for painting. The winner of the £15,000 prize will be awarded at the Fleming collection, Mayfair, London, in Janu-ary 2011. The next task is to produce 10-12 pieces of work for the final. The Fleming Collection is the largest private collection of Scottish Art and the overall winner will have their painting displayed within the collection. The winning artist will also receive a cheque for £10,000. Rowena has worked as a profes-sional artist for the past 25 years. She has supported her painting practice with teaching at Aberdeen University and in Schools delivering the SAC supported “Arts across the Curriculum” programme, and through other freelance artwork in-cluding the design of an abstracted 20ft map of Scotland for the BBC painted on tarmac. Rowena says her images submitted this year are ex-amples of large-scale oils that have been at the bedrock of her practice since her student days and have continued to play a vital role in her work. She is influenced by colour field painters such as Frankenthaler, Blow and Leapman. Rowena lives in Glasgow.

Peter dunn QS 85, AN was appointed as Director for Mission of the Baptist Missionary Society in November 09.

neil dymond Psy 89, WG. In April 2008, Neil started working for charities and businesses and con-tinues to enjoy success. He has two children aged 11 and 9 and enjoys his relationship with Jeanne and her daughters.

Carenza ellery PGCE 85. Carenza successfully performed her one-woman show - The Real Mini Show. She is refining it for another performance. She is in her 5th year teaching part-time Art in Bristol. She acted as EFL assistant last year.

david watkins, 1963(Art 63) Professor and Head of Goldsmithing, Silver-smithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art for 21 years. Always pioneering new ideas, and in the spirit of the rule-breaking sixties, he and Wendy Ramshaw (ArtTeach 61)created a range of spectacular jewellery – made of paper.

An exhibition of the work of David, who is a leading British artist, jeweller and sculptor in metal, is being held at the V&A until 26 September. David Watkins represents a driving force in British design. His work has been internationally collected since the early 1970s. His is a unique voice. He began his career as a jazz pianist and sculptor, and his practice and understanding of these two disciplines reverberate throughout his work, bringing to it unexpected directions and innovations. At a formative moment in the 1960s David had worked on special effects for Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, the film 2001, designing and creating model spacecraft to high levels of demand and precision. Evidence of this experience can be seen in the earliest of his works - a silver and white enamel necklace and brooch echo the beauty of space probes and the moon landing station.

More recently he continues to explore the virtual reality of computer aided design technologies. But in all David’s work his design constant is a commitment to the human requirement for bodily adornment, and something more. In 2010 it seems fitting that David, celebrated throughout the world as artist and innovator, continues to reach still further into the future.

christian union reunion, 2010 On Thursday 29th July, 50 past members of the Christian Union (RUECU) from 1948-62 and 14 spouses, from around the world, met for a reunion in Sussex, by kind invitation of David Bowerman CBE JP DL BSc HonRCM (1954-57, Wantage, Agriculture) and his wife Mary, who kindly provided an excellent lunch in the magnificent surroundings of their art gallery/music room. Everybody enjoyed looking at photos, letters, chatting, reminiscing, and walking round the wonderful gardens. Two current student members reported on university life now and how the Christian Union relates to present students.

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yale center for British art welcomes head of researchMartina Droth has been appointed as Head of Research for the Yale Center for British Art. Ms. Droth also serves as the Center’s first Curator of Sculpture. A graduate of the Camberwell School of Arts, London (BA), Gold-smiths College, London (MA), and the University of Reading (PhD), Martina joins the Center from the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, where she had been Research Coordinator since 2002, as well as a visiting lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Leeds.

In her position, Martina oversees the Center’s research, education, and public programs, which include visiting scholars who conduct extended research projects at the Center, and ‘Yale-in-London’, a study-abroad pro-gram for Yale undergraduates, as well as a wide range of scholarly events and seminars. Martina is committed to developing links between the Center and the scholarly community at Yale, equally integrating faculty and stu-dents into the Center’s programs. She will also expand the Center’s presence internationally, deepening rela-tionships with research institutes in art history and the visual arts around the world.

Martina’s upcoming projects include an exhibition on Victorian sculpture that she is curating with Michael Hatt, Professor of the History of Art at Warwick University, and Jason Edwards, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of York. This will be the first exhibition to fully survey nineteenth-century British sculpture.

robert fitzmaurice MFA 86. Robert is a Reading artist who has painted all his adult life, but his first solo exhibition in over a decade was held at the Corn Exchange, New-bury, from 2-24 June. It was entitled ‘From Here On In’ and consisted of two major themes: the human fig-ure and what it means to be human. The exhibition consisted of paint-ings, drawings and collages.

Juliet reeves (Mrs gasmi) Fr/IRel 85, BR still lives in France and is a faithful Jehovah’s Witness, after 21 years.

Peter Hamilton-leggett Geog 82, WK. Peter retired in 2002. He and his wife are now happily researching and writing on local history. He is also compiling a bibli-ography of Devon churches.

alice Kettle Art 84, WG has held another exhibition of her re-markable embroidery work and re-lief drawings, this time in the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham. Having studied at Reading she went on to study at Goldsmiths College where she became interested in narrative themes and with collaged cloth to her machine-worked embroidery. She has specialised in large wall hangings and three dimensional features using both monochrome as well as highly coloured designs. The exhibition went on its travels after March.

graham Martin RegSc 84, WI was working as operations manager for TNT in Swindon, but decided to go into business with his mother, Maureen, and brother, and started up a transport business, Carousel Logistics, in Sittingbourne, Kent. He is now Carousel’s Managing Director and the company has a £15m turn-over and employs 120 people, in-cluding contractors. His father was never involved in the business, but ran a fruit and sheep farm - 4 miles from where Carousel is today. His mother semi-retired about 10 years ago and remained part-time for the next 5 years. But the brothers have changed the management structure and created a structure to allow people to develop by having teams for different areas of the business. There are now five directors, three of which are not family members.

Michael McCartney Geog 89, WL is a freelance safari guide working for high-end mobile safari operators in Kenya and Tanzania. He also does some consultancy in tourism / eco-tourism and wildlife conservation as well as community development in wildlife areas. He is enjoying a nomadic lifestyle.

silas Michaelides MSc AgMet 83 was appointed Director of the Meteorological Service of Cyprus from September 2009. Dr Michae-lides is the Permanent Represen-tative of Cyprus with the World Meteorological Organisation.

Helen gunn (Mrs Milton) BEd 85, BU is running an hotel in North Devon. She is married to Philip, who ran for Conservative MP for North Devon in the general election. They have 4 children.

Twalib Myoya Grass Sc 88 re-tired in Nov 07 at the age of 60 and now works as a private consultant in pasture and does private farming activities in Tanzania.

Clive Phillips Ag 80, AN has published two books - The Welfare of Animals, the Silent Majority, was short listed for a Eureka Museum prize in Australia and published by Springer and Principals of Cattle production - 2nd edition published by CABi. He is working on a book inspired by his 26,000 km drive round Australia visiting cattle and sheep properties as well as other fascinating places. His wife Alison nee HALL (Maths 80) is still teach-ing mathematics but after the trip round Australia felt the need to do something different. She would be pleased to hear from anyone who did maths or was in St Andrew’s at the same time.

Michael Prisk LandMan 83, WK has served on the Conserva-tive front bench since 2002, taking on positions as shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Paymaster General and Home Affairs Whip. Michael moved to the business and enterprise role in 2005 and has expanded his portfolio ever since. He now overseas business and enterprise policy, taking in deregu-lation, policies towards individual industry sectors, including low carbon, regional economic policy, business support, export licensing and the Olympic legacy. He is proud of his commitment which he thinks will make a big difference for small businesses.

Hugh robertson LandMan 85, WL is the new Olympic Minister having taken over from Tessa Jowell after the May General Election. He says ‘that as a government and a country, we are absolutely com-mitted to delivering this project on time and to budget in 2012’. Hugh won an army scholarship to univer-sity, then served as an officer in the Life Guards from 1985-95. He saw active service in Northern Ireland, commanding a platoon in Lon-donderry and Fermanagh. During the first Gulf War, he was adjutant of a main battle tank regiment, and in Bosnia he commanded the Brit-ish detachment in Sarajevo during the siege of the city. He retired as a major in 1995 to pursue a political career. At the same time, he started work in the investment manage-ment arm of Schroders, becoming head of new business development for the property division respon-sible for pension fund, local author-ity and charity investment in the UK. He was also an assistant director of Schroders Investment Management. But his business career has taken a back seat since he was elected to Parliament in June 2001 as MP for Faversham and Mid Kent.

James sidaway MPhil IntSt 88 has moved to take up the position at the University of Amsterdam as a Professor of Political and Cultural Geography.

Ceri Thomas Engl/Fr 82, WL is Editor of Gardening Which? She enjoys sharing her knowledge of the latest developments in gardening. As well as studying at Reading, she studied at RHS Wisley.

John Willie PG(Dip) AgExt 86. John returned to Vanuatu in 1986. From 1988-94 he became Senior Agricultural Extension Officer for northern Vanuatu. In 1995 he was elected to the National Parliament

and was an MP until 2004. Whilst serving as an MP he was Minister of Agriculture three times; Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for two terms; first Deputy Speaker of Parliament once; Vice-Chairman of the Board of Air Vanuatu until March 2009 and then Vice-Chairman of Vanuatu Party for four years.

1990–99najem al-rubaiey PhD Chem 95, SB has obtained a grant to do research on water and waste water treatment and environmental research.

stuart Barlow Hort 90, WX is Andover College’s new assistant principal having started at Sparsholt College in 1990 as a lecturer in Horticulture after graduating. He was formerly learning manager for Creative and Performing Arts and for Sport, Outdoor Education and Public Services at Andover.

Mark Barnett Fr/Pol 92, WG began his investment career in 1992 with Mercury Asset Management before joining Invesco Perpetual in 1996, which he now manages.

Catriona Bruce PBNFA 92, WL is owner of the largest fireworks importer in Australia. She now has 4 girls.

rabinder Buttar Cert Man 92. In January 2009, Rabinder won the award for the Scots Businesswoman of the Year at the prestigious Evening Times, Scotswoman of the Year Awards which took place in Glasagow’s City Chambers.

Yu-lan Chang FdT 99, BU is Director of Production and Master Blender for Kavalan Distillery, in the north-east of the island of Taiwan. It is the first distillery on the island and is named after the ‘people of the plain’.

Michael Collins BEng Bldg Eng Des & Mngmnt 96, GE is regional operations manager for Spie Matthew Hall, building services construction, in Bristol. He lives in Weston-super-Mare and has 2 children.

Christine Webb (Mrs Cunniffe) MMus Perf 91 is the former Direc-tor of Music at LVS, Ascot, and is tak-ing up the position of Head of Senior School in September.

fabio dalan Occ 98, WX is a seconded national expert from a public administration in Italy and was planning to stay in Brussels until Sept 2010.

Katherine dent Zoo 97, SH. After 2 years with butterfly conser-vation working on the South East Woodlands project, Katherine is returning to the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust as the Head of Conservation and Education in Berkshire, having previously worked as the Reserves Manager.

Carolyn Casey (Mrs devereaux) Engl 99, WX. Carolyn is teaching in Surrey schools since moving to Epsom. She married in July 2009 and her honeymoon was spent travelling around Mexico and the USA for a month.

Chelsea smith (Mrs duke) Engl 98, PA. In July 2009, Chelsea’s

first book was published, High Heels and A Head Torch: the essential guide for girls who backpack - which tells women all the things that guidebooks do not with amusing anecdotes and stories.

James gale BEng MechEng 95, WK has worked for a specialist structural monitoring company for the last 5 years. James visits interest-ing places behind the scenes like the Thames Barrier, Olympic Park, the new Wembley Stadium and nuclear power sections. He is living back in his home county of Wiltshire, with his partner, Corinne. He would like to hear from any other Mech Eng graduates of 1995.

abel ghogomu MSc Ed&Phys 93, BU is Vice-Principal of the Bilingual Grammar School, Buea, Cameroon.

James greenland LandMan 95, WX. James is now in Bristol with Savills. He married in 2008.

steven griffiths MA Hist of Draw 96 was one of three artists who exhibited 70 small paintings and wood engravings at Fountain Fine Art in Llandeilo, Carmarthen-shire this summer. He is a regular exhibitor at the Mall Galleries in London and tutors at Coleg Sir Gar.

Marc guerrero i Tarragó Ec 94, WK is Vice-President of the Eu-ropean Liberal and Democrats Party (ELDR) in Barcelona, Spain.

ida Hadoto MA RurSocDev 92, SB was welcomed in August last year, to the base of the charity ‘Send a Cow’, to share her experiences so far as she has been working in Africa for the charity since it was launched 21 years ago. She started working for the Newton St Loe charity, which helps African families by providing livestock, crop seeds and farming equipment. Ida was determined to make a real difference on the ground. She began work as the social development coordinator in Uganda, where the charity set out to help help families to help them-selves, by providing training, seeds and livestock. Ida, who has adopted more than 50 children with her husband, decided to start work for the charity after she had taught in Africa. She had earlier moved to the UK and to study at Reading, return-ing to Uganda to do voluntary work. It was here she heard about the job at ‘Send a Cow’.

Clifford Hart LandMan 90, MN moved to New Zealand and is working for the New Zealand Gov-ernment, valuing rural properties in the Bay of Islands.

Brian Heathcote Dip VocGuid 93, BU has completed the South West Coastal footpath, at 634 miles, the longest continuous National Trail in the UK.

linda Cook (Mrs Hopper) MEd 93 visits Kenya regularly, working for a charity which focuses on therapeutic work with children and is initiating a scheme to support families in rural and slum areas.

Joanna Jamieson Fr/Man 99, WK is Director of Berkeley PR in Three Mile Cross. The PR company has weathered the storm and is recruiting more staff. It offers op-portunities to enthusiastic young people looking to break into the

sally roBinsonI am married to Tim Robinson (BSc Land Management, 1987), and we have two children. Today, I run my own business, ‘Organic at Heart’, developing and manufac-turing certified organic, ethical and planet-conscious skincare and household products. Our clients include the John Lewis group and Jamie Oliver.

For more information/mailorder please visit us at www.organicatheart.co.uk

To read about Sally’s memories of her time at University see page 28

world of PR and have set up a PR apprenticeship scheme They are looking for experienced people working in a London-based agency who perhaps want to move out of London. The agency was established in 1998 and now employs 29 people in Reading and Bristol. Jo lives in Twyford, Berkshire.

dipak Joshi Ad Hoc AgExt 95, SB is working as Associate Professor of Horticulture at Anand Niketan College of Agriculture, Warora, Chandrapur, India. He is also in-volved in local church farm land development work and shares his experiences with local farmers.

Janet Wanjohi (Mrs Kabiru) LLB 94, CH. After graduating spent a year in Kenya and obtained her professional qualification before returning to the UK in 95 to read for the BCL at Oxford University (St Hilda’s College) on a Rhodes Scholarship. She graduated from Oxford in 97, moved back to Kenya and married Ian in the same year. In 98, she and her husband moved to Ghana where she practised law with Bentsi-Enchill & Letsa for 3 years. They moved back home to Kenya in 01 and Janet joined the law firm of Kaplan & Stratton based in Nairobi where she made Partner in 03. In 06, she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Nairobi as Director, Tax Services and in 08 moved to British American Tobacco as Head of Tax and Treasury for the Sub-Saharan Africa Area where she is today. Janet continues to pursue her passion for acting on the local stage and is active in her Church and in Bible Study Fellow-ship International. She is also the Kenya National Secretary for the Rhodes Trust and has a number of business interests which include a Children’s Decor company. She has a son and daughter (7,5).

Michaela Metz (Mrs Kennedy) Psy 94, WX works for a social ser-vice agency in Pittsburgh, USA. She carries out mental health research, and acts as the agency’s well-being coordinator. She has been married for almost 12 years and lives on a small farm with horses, dogs and other animals. Life is treating her well and she enjoys living in the US.

stephen langrell Bot 90, WX received the Best Individual Project Award in 1986 at the Young Scientists Competition, as well as the Irish Professors of Botany Award. He worked as a molecular plant pathologist and biosecurity special-ist for the University of London, the Scottish Executive, France’s Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and Australia’s Commonwealth Science and Indus-trial Research Organization (CSIRO) before joining the European Com-mission’s Joint Research Centre in 2003 where he is a principal scien-tific officer involved in European and international development policy which supports research related to sustainable agriculture, food secu-rity and climate change.

li shirong PhD ConMan 98, BR has taken over as President of the Chartered Institute of Building, the first female to take on the role and the first President from outside of the UK. She has pioneered the ‘sustainable cities’ project between the Chongqing and UK govern-

ments, to develop sustainable urban and rural areas that provide a destination for UK companies to promote innovative green products and services. She is also a key player in the development of the China UK Centre for Professional Excel-lence, in Chongqing, providing a link between UK training platforms and Chinese technology.

alasdair lindsay Art 96, WL is a keen surfer as well as ac-complished artist based in Hayle, Cornwall. He is very aware of the need for our beaches and seas to be protected from the various sources of pollution that threaten them and with this in mind donated one of his paintings from his exhibition which was held in June in Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance, and was sold in aid of Surfers Against Sew-age. He has been among the prize winners in the Hunting Art Prize and was selected to show in the same prize competition in the years 2000, 2004 and 2005 and in 2007 was selected for exhibition in the Singer Freidlander Sunday Times Watercolour Competition at the Mall Galleries, London.

Karen lord FdScEcMkt 98, WI is MD of the Bluewater branch of John Lewis in Kent and has vowed to make the store a successful com-mercial rival to the famous Oxford Street store. She was previously MD of the store in Solihull which won awards under her management. She comes to Kent a few months after a £20 million investment in a store makeover and creation of a new Waitrose food hall. She is married to a manager at Peter Jones, London.

richard luney FdMMM 98, SH is fish and aquaculture manager for M&S. He says the retailer is com-mitted to doing more business with Northern Ireland’s farmed-fish sec-tor. Richard confirmed that fish con-sumption there is on the up, some-thing which M&S is determined to reflect in the quantity and variety of product it has on its shelves. He has been with M&S for 12 years. Prior to graduating he completed a 3 year food technology course at CAFRE’s Loughry College campus. Since 1998 he has worked as a senior food tech-nologist in many other areas of the M&S food business. His current role covers all the technical and procure-ment aspects of fish and seafood that are supplied by M&S.

smart lungu PhD Bot 95, BR has been working as Project Coordi-nator for total land care in Zambia (2006–2008) and is also serving as liaison officer for the World Agrofor-estry Centre in Zambia.

doris lonkokile (Mrs Mela-letsa) BEd SchMan&Dev 99, BU has moved to the Ministry of Education in Lobatse, Botswana, as Policy-Maker for Educational Man-agement. She changed her surname from Lonkokile and is married to a South African. She has 15 year old twins, a boy and a girl.

fraser Muggeridge Typog 95, MN is a visiting tutor at the University. After studying he worked with Sara Chapman (Typog 89) at ‘the letter g’ in 1998 before leaving to set up his own studio in 2001. He and his two colleagues shared a pared-down aesthetic, in which colour, paper stock and

format played as important a role as typography. The result being an elegant portfolio grounded in fine art, from artists’ books and gallery catalogues to posters, invitations, experimental novels, websites, record covers and the odd film title. The studio’s clients include Tate Publishing, Whitechapel Gallery, De La Warr Pavilion and Art on the Underground. He co-curated ‘The Form of the Book’ conference at St Bride Library, London, in 2009. He is a member of the 2010 DGAD graphic design jury. An exhibition ‘Designed by Fraser Muggeridge studio’ took place during March and April at Kaleid editions (an artists’ book project space in London). His new Typography Summer School was held in London in July.

Claire Murphy Zoo 96, WG has been trained in complementary medicine on three continents and opened a treatment centre,The Acupressure Centre in Bath. Instead of needles, physical and mental well-being is addressed through pressure from fingers and thumbs. Her interest stemmed from spend-ing time with her sister who was studying complementary medicine, and from travelling to Thailand and experiencing acupressure treat-ments herself. She is a member of the Complementary Therapists’ Association and the NHS Directory for Complementary and Alternative Practitioners.

adrian Pearce Ag 90, WX. Adrian started his working life on a west country dairy farm; he pro-gressed through Reading’s Agricul-ture department before qualifying as both a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. For the last 20 years he has been advising farmers and landowners across the South of England on a variety of financial matters.

edward reynolds Pol/IR 96, WK has been appointed as solicitor for Coffin Mew in Hampshire, in the wealth management team, and will provide estate and tax planning ad-vice to the firm’s higher-net-worth clients. A major part of his role will be to liaise with the firm’s corporate team to deal with the private tax affairs of the firm’s business-owner clients and the succession issues that often arise. He has more than 12 years’ experience in private client work. He qualified as a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Prac-titioners in 2005.

fiona riggall MSc Bot 99, SH. After leaving Reading, Fiona worked for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, teaching unemployed youngsters traditional countryside skills such as hedge laying and dry stone walling in North Yorkshire. She is the new learning and interpretation officer for the Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve. At the time of writing, with 80 school parties set to visit the Fen before the summer holidays as well as a full programme of holiday ac-tivities to organise, she was set to be very busy, but has landed her dream job. Before joining Wicken Fen, she worked as a full-time volunteer at Lloyds Park in Walthamstow in Lon-don, teaching children from Inner London Schools about wildlife in an urban environment.

Christine Maurel (Mrs rouil-lard) MA Entrep&CompStrat 93, BR is thinking of enrolling in a new distance learning course at Reading’s College of Estate Manage-ment to continue learning and enhance her career possibilities in the construction industry.

laura sayer FdT 91 is now Asda’s in-store bakery buyer. Sayer is the UK’s second largest bakery chain and one of the nation’s biggest scratch bakery operations, which Laura’s great grandparents started in Liverpool. Whilst the Sayers are no longer involved in the craft busi-ness - the family involvement ended with her dad, she says that this heritage influenced her career path. After her degree she had a one-year placement at United Biscuits. She then worked as a food technologist for Marks & Spencer on bacon; this was followed by a stint in R&D at Kraft in Munich. She then worked for KP Foods on Hula Hoops. A change of direction into retail started out as a food technologist in dairy at Tesco, then into dressings, salads, confectionery and other areas. A stint at a dairy company preceded her rejoining Tesco in Ireland for 8 years. She has been at Asda for 4 years. She enjoys travelling, reading, gardening, golf.

samantha siddle Soc 96, WI has changed jobs and is now working as Head of Operations at Hatstand Ltd which is an IT Consul-tancy firm in London. She is engaged and as of writing, planned to marry in June 2010.

flora Kintu (Mrs Tladi) PhD AgExt 96 has retired from service after 27 years of teaching at Botswa-na College of Agriculture. She left the College in April 2007. She got a job at the University of Botswana to coordinate Public Education at the Centre for Continuing Education from May 2007. She transferred to the Department of Adult Education, a lecturing position in Jan 2010.

Barra Toure PG(Dip) RurDev & Ext 99, HL is a private farmer and a member of the Kombo Cashew Farmers’ Association in The Gambia, being a member of the executive and a trainer.

najma sachedina (Mrs Virani) Acc&Econ 99, SH. Najma is work-ing as Director of Accounting at a credit card processing company in Atlanta, having been an auditor for 9 years. She is expecting her second child in April 2010.

adam Whittaker LandMan 95, WX is a newly appointed Equity Partner with Russell & Russell Solicitors. He has been with the Practice since 1997 and specialises in Licensing and Criminal Law.

1985 land manaGement alumni reunion 2010Organised by Simon Marshall Esq, a reunion of some 35 Land Management graduates from 1985 was held at Browns restaurant in London on the 26th May.

Graduate credits uni for success of world cuP Phone aPPEngland may not have scored the goals they hoped for at the World Cup, but thanks to the University of Read-ing a young entrepreneur has already achieved one of his. Omar Ahmad has scored a big hit with a new iPhone application dedicated to providing historical content and data on every FIFA World Cup.

Omar designed the ‘app’ after being inspired by Read-ing’s Business Entrepreneurship module. After just one week of going public, World Cup Universe was already in the top 10 UK Sports Apps on Apple’s iTunes and App Store.

Omar graduated in 2008 with Food Marketing and Busi-ness Economics. He puts his success down to his time at Reading, determination and a passion for football.

Omar said: ‘I had a fantastic time at Reading. The facili-ties and lectures were first class and I enjoyed my life on campus very much. Reading taught me to be as entrepreneurial as possible. The Business Entrepreneur-ship module with Prof. Tahir Rehman was extremely valuable, and showed me that to achieve success you must go out and find it.’

the readinG sinGers, 50 years onFew members of University clubs or societies can claim to remain active with the same colleagues after fifty or sixty years. But a group of singers who were studying at the University of Reading between 1948 and the late 1950’s have been meeting to sing in London once or twice a year ever since a big reunion held in 2000. Until recently, the conductors have been Marian Pear-son, nee Inglefield (BA, General Studies, 1948) and Pat Jeskins, nee Bayston (BA Latin, 1957). Marian and Pat are pictured here at the home of Stella Armstrong, nee Denham (BA French, 1955), where they met to sing on the 22nd April this year. The Reading Singers are hoping to meet in the future, in or near Reading.

If you are a singer of any age and would like to join them please contact John Lake: 01235 868251 or [email protected]

2000–09laura allen Stat 02 is working for Promar International, subsidiary of Genus plc, and undertaking book-keeping for farm businesses throughout the south midlands. She lives in Towcester, Northants, with partner Richard Clarke (AgEcon 00) whom she met via Berkshire Young Farmers Club, rather than the Stu-dents’ Union!

Paul Bettesworth LandMan 05, WG has joined the board of Directors at Bettesworths, sitting alongside his father, his uncle and his brother Matt, who is Manag-ing Director. He joined the family business 3 years ago after leaving Reading. Whilst at university, he hit the headlines when he captained the Reading team to the last 16 of the BBC’s University Challenge. He subsequently worked in London gaining valuable experience with national firm Lambert Smith Hampton. He specialises in the sale, acquisition and valuation of com-mercial property throughout Torbay and South Devon. He plays rugby for Torquay Athletic, where he is a keen member of the first-team squad. He is engaged to Gayle and they plan to marry in December.

Charles Burkitt BiomedEng&Cyb 08 was the Stroke in Oxford’s boat in the 2010 Boat Race.

Karen Campbell MSc AgEc 09. Since 1985, Karen has worked in the investment business as a broking and a buy-side analyst and as a fund manager. After an MBA at INSEAD in France in 1990, she worked for Fidel-ity as an analyst and ran its German country fund before moving to the Capital Group where she spent 14 years covering the food and house-hold sector as well as having respon-sibility for European small market capitalisation companies. After Reading in 2009 she became the director of Forest Footprint; a proj-ect which was created to increase transparency on the sustainability performance of companies in these products’ global supply chains.

uchendu Chigbu MA Bus & Man 05, BR is doing doctoral research in Rural Development at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Prior to this he completed an MSc in Land Management there. He works as a Research Assistant in the same Institute. He married on 16 December 2009.

david Clark ConMan 03, HL recently set up a company to build 5 lakeland homes in the Lake District and is waiting to hear about senior project management roles in Libya.

richard Clarke AgEc 00, GE. In the summer of 2009 Richard estab-lished Harris & Clarke LLP, a firm of Chartered Accountants specialising in Agriculture. The business is based in Northampton and provides em-ployment for ten members of staff. he enjoys working on family’s small farm on weekends and regularly meets up with a few St George’s Hall ex-pats. He lives in Towcester, Northants, with partner Laura AL-LEN (Stats 02; MSc Biom 03).

Mark Crosby Ag 07, WK has been appointed as a schools farming

liaison coordinator at Otley College, with the aim of promoting studies and careers in farming to 14-16 year olds. 2010 marks 40 years of Suffolk-based Otley College. The appoint-ment is thanks to support from the Felix Thornley Cobbold Trust and the Chadacre Agricultural Trust. To date Mark has been heavily involved in promoting the Diploma in Envi-ronmental and Land Based Studies, which is a new qualification running this autumn to school pupils from the age of 14. In his spare time he exhibits his collection of classic tractors or prepares his machines for the next venue.

richard Crouch MEng Cyb 04 has graduated from RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire. He is now training as an engineer.

Henry douglas ConMan&Surv 09 has joined the team of Space Build, as junior site manager. He has carried out work experience at international consultancy EC Harris, and has been working on the WEYES project. Space Build provides the perfect opportunity for a more hands-on approach and has now completed over 100 new build and refurbishment projects across the North, Midlands and Scotland.

adam fahn Maths 02, PA has completed his year as Mayor of Leighton Buzzard. He is now the Managing Director of Culture Cafe which is an award winning catering provider to the public sector offer-ing a local and international cultural hub through food, drink and events.

evelyn gyimah Engl 07, SB. Since graduating, Evelyn has been keen to take her next steps into a ca-reer in International Development. She has volunteered to work with SPW as a Peer Educator with young people in a rural community in South Africa. She will be promoting sexual health awareness and will be raising awareness of and addressing health and environmental issues af-fecting the lives of young people i.e. from AIDS and HIV.

Wayne Hart Des for Comm 08. Wayne has started an apprentice-ship with Pip Hall (Typog & Graphic Comm 87). The scheme is funded by the memorial arts charity. He has also completed three weeks of work experience with Richard Kindersley, a major figure in his field.

andrew Jackson LLB 09 has en-rolled on the Legal Practice Course at Nottingham Law School.

Bhaskar Karky MSc Ag&DevEcon 00, WG is working for the International Centre for In-tegrated Mountain Development in Nepal as a Resource Economist. He completed PhD at the University of Twente in the Netherlands in 2008. He is married and happily settled.

leona Knight Art 09 exhibited a range of paintings, including work from her final degree show at Wokingham’s Loch Fyne restaurant in April. 10% of sales were donated to the RNLI.

Maryanne lineker-Mobberley HistArtArch 08, BU has joined the Fine Art team at Halls’ Welsh Bridge head office in Shrewsbury, having previously undertaken a work experience placement with the company. Her appointment is designed to enhance not only the

professional service that Halls pro-vides, but also the quality of their catalogues and cataloguing.

robert Milne Habitat & Soil-Man 06 developed an organic garden near Brampton Bryan out of necessity, but it became a passion. He was an innovator, using human waste as manure and carried out crop trials using diluted urine as fertiliser. The results were good and it wasn’t long before the isolated garden was on the gardeners’ grape-vine. He also helped a number of primary schools in Herefordshire establish vegetable plots. He teamed up with growers in Norway, Scotland and Iceland. He has now gone into print - Organic Vegetable Gardening, which is illustrated with some of his own drawings.

steven Moul Hort 02, BR is a self-employed landscaper and set up The Big Bamboo Garden Com-pany in 2005. He married a fellow Reading graduate whom he met in Bridges Hall, the first week of the first term of the first year. They have 2 children and own their own home. He still visits Reading regularly to see friends.

Brian Murphy Hist 01, SB otherwise known as Aka Blaize hav-ing changed his name by deed poll following listeners’ suggestions. He is the intrepid sidekick and assistant producer to Christian O’Connell on the Absolute Radio breakfast show. Before joining Xfm as a broadcast assistant he worked in an orphan-age in Mumbai and as a London handyman. He moved to Absolute (or Virgin Radio as it was then) two years ago.

Wai ng LLB Law 06, CH relo-cated to New Zealand in Feb 2010. She married Alberto Vanzo (Occ 06) in Reading in August 2009.

rachel Periam AnSc 04 is working for the London Ambulance Service as an ‘emergency medical technician’ but training to become a fully qualified and registered paramedic.

Benjamin Plank HumGeog 00, WK. Benjamin is now a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force has been selected to join the Red Arrows aerobatic display team for 2010-2012. He has previously served in Afghanistan flying a Harrier jet and is now fulfilling his dream. He is married to Amy LEWIS (Hum Geog 00) who is Senior Environmental Health Officer with Corby Borough Council.

athalie redwood-Brown PG(Cert) AcadPr 05 is rowing full-time at the High Performance Centre in Nottingham whilst completing a PhD in Performance Analysis in Soccer. Athalie competed at the European Universities Cham-pionships winning bronze.

rebecca riley Engl 09. Rebecca was one of a number of students to be offered a placement for 3 months assisting the account management team at White Space Design in Ipswich, following a plea by its Chief Executive to local businesses to help save a ‘lost generation’ of young people whose career prospects have been hampered by the reces-sion. She hopes that her placement will be a useful stepping stone into a career in marketing. She found the

simon Bell Ba film and theatre, 1991‘I’ve directed over 110 productions including 44 Shakespeare plays, ten revues, five musicals, five operas and a tour of Australia, but my fondest recollection will always be of the very first play I ever directed at the University of Reading’s Bob Kayley Studio in 1988.’

placement very useful and hopes more graduates will take advantage of work placements.

elsa sattout PhD AgBot 04 is a Chief of project aiming at strengthening national systems, structures and mechanisms of na-ture protection in protected sites in Lebanon. For the past ten years, she has been working on biodiversity management in Lebanon especially in nature reserves. She has served the world community through her work with the United nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme on issues relevant to the Convention on Biological diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety. She has been coordinating programmes at the World Conser-vation Union while working in the Middle East region on biodiversity conservation and the implementa-tion of the Convention on Biological Diversity. She has been involved in the academic sector while super-vising students and teaching MSc degree students courses relevant to ecology, environmental sciences, biodiversity conservation and man-agement, Mediterranean biodiver-sity and environmental economy. Volunteering, being essential for her personal and professional evolution, has taken much time in the past decade while supporting Non-Governmental Organisations in setting-up the basis for their long-term conservation and sustainable management plans in national biodiversity hotspots. After years of professional experience, she is starting to visualize a new approach for nature conservation involving reform and ‘sewing’ new social dynamics to conserve the environ-ment and nature. Through her work, she is eager to conserve the earth’s natural and human resources. She believes that nature will heal itself, as long as we follow a sustainable way of living.

Paul simmonds Bot 04, WL. Paul is at Norfolk’s Cornerways Nursery and has been crowned as this year’s NFU Young Grower of the Year. In 2006, after a packed first

full season which saw him take on every role on the nursery site, he added running the packhouse to his portfolio, just as the business was preparing to expand. He is now assistant nursery manager of the op-eration and Cornerways’ technical manager. He is also involved in HDC projects such as a study looking into root zone microbial activity.

Petr sramek Occ Pol/IR 08, CH worked at Czech main TV new channel (CT24), in the business & economics section and has studied abroad at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

nicola stafford Psy 00, WK set up her own media recruitment company, Spotlight Recruitment, in 07, after 8 years in the work place. The company uses media like Twitter and Linked In to publicise itself alongside extremely diverse advertising to target very relevant and talented people. Based in Cov-ent Garden, her staff recruit in office support, digital marketing and busi-ness development for creative and corporate clients in London includ-ing working with clients like TAG Worldwide, Leo Burnett, ITV and In-genious Media as well as high profile entrepreneurs and celebrities.

Tobias Tobbell ClassSt 01, WL. Whilst at Reading, Tobias managed to readdress several stage-plays - two were at the Edinburgh Fringe carnival 2001 and 2002. He abandoned theatre to concentrate on film-making and went on to study Feature Film evolution at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He made his film debut at the age of 25. He now lives in Lon-don and works on fictional features and occasionally on shorter amateur dramatics projects.

alberto Vanzo Ad Hoc Phil 06, CH. See Wai NG 2006.

Joanna Ward Hist 03. Before launching studentgems.com, Joanna spent time working in London and Hong Kong, with stints in Russia and Germany. She has moved between being a personal assistant, a fund manager and an administrator for a number of small businesses. As well as her history degree, she is compe-tent in Russian. As a fund-raiser for the Anglo-American School in Mos-cow she came up with the idea for the now well-established Auction and Ball in the process raising more than $100,000. Mother-of-three Joanna is a keen ‘round the world’ cook and film-goer and enjoys sail-ing and walking. She launched stu-dentgems.com which came about because of a meeting at the school gate, in depth research of an idea and the desire to return to work.

Helen Wray Engl 02, SH is an Editor of a Financial magazine and enjoying every minute.

Miles Young PhysGeog 00, WX worked in local government before moving to consultancy in 2004. He is now an Associate Plan-ning Consultant with city based firm, Martin Robeson Planning. He returned to Reading in 2004-5 for MSc Planning and Development. In 2005 he founded Day Camps - out-door activity centre in Biggin Hill, Hertfordshire.

keePinG in touchMany of you ask for news of friends. If you would like to contact some-one appearing in these pages, or other former students please contact us (details can be found on the back of this magazine) to find out if we have a current address. Ad-dresses will not be disclosed to third parties, unless we have had permis-sion to do so, but we are happy to forward letters.

48

the Stenton lecture 2009: the objects of historyNovember 2009Presented by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, ‘The Objects of History’ retold humanity’s history through the objects we have made. Neil started his distinguished career as a lecturer in the Art History Department at the University and was voted ‘Briton of the Year’ by the Times in 2009.

Events rounduPover the past year, the University has supported a range of exciting and varied events across campus and beyond. In September 2009, the University had a strong presence

at the Royal Berkshire Show. It was also a key partner

in Reading Science Week (part of the National Science

Week) in March 2010; and in April, the Chemical Analysis

Facility was opened by Professor David Garner, President

of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Public Lectures and Café Scientifique, open to all

and free to attend, have run throughout the year,

with subjects ranging from climate change and global

food security to economics of happiness respectively.

Other popular events included the first Institute of Educa-

tion (IoE) alumni reception in May, which was held at the

new home of the IoE from 2011; the London Road campus.

The Silchester open days in July were also richly attended,

as visitors enjoyed a guided tour of the excavation site.

Surprisingly Well adaptedNovember 2009Mark Pagel, a leading evolutionary biologist from the University and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopaedia of Evolution, gave the free public lecture ‘Surprisingly Well Adapted, Darwinism and Human Affairs in Darwin’s 200th year’ at the new Business School lecture theatre. Guests also had the wonderful opportunity to view a first edition of the Origin of the Species.

law alumni receptionApril 2010The first Law alumni reception, generously sponsored by Reed Smith, was hosted on the 32nd floor of their London office, boasting breathtaking views of central London. Over 90 Law alumni from across the years enjoyed the opportunity to catch up.

Professor Patricia Leopold, who joined the University as a lecturer in 1974 said, ‘the universal view was that no one had changed! The School is very grateful to its alumni for the support they give it and in particular for the financial support they provide for the School’s pro bono activities. We all look forward to the next reunion in 2011.’

We are currently planning the next Law reception for April/ May 2011. Email [email protected] for details.

Over the past year Reading Real Estate Foundation has hosted several success-ful networking and reunion events. In October nearly 400 guests attended the RREF Annual Dinner in London to be part of the largest single subject alumni gath-ering in the UK. Two Breakfast Forums provided insightful discussions on REITS and the 2012 Olympics respectively. At the start of 2010 RREF held its first joint

event with the ULI Young Leaders, aimed at alumni from the last 10 years of gradua-tion and in the spring the inaugural RREF Mentoring Reception welcomed mentees and mentors taking part in the hugely successful Mentoring Programme. For infor-mation on forthcoming RREF events, please go to www.rref.net or contact us at [email protected]

discover more events onlinewww.reading.ac.uk/events

the Stenton lecture 2009: the objects of history

Surprisingly Well adapted

reading real Estate events round-up

law alumni reception

49

construction management and Engineering alumni networking receptionwednesday 10 November 2010, 6.30 pm Guest speaker: John Armitt, Chairman, Olympic Delivery Authority

The subject of the event will be around sustainability and the London Olympics 2012. Limited tickets.

Contact: [email protected] | 0118 378 8006

Upcoming events

annual law lecture Thursday 03 march 2011Whiteknights campus (exact venue TBC)

Guest speaker: Rt Hon. Baroness Hale of Richmond

Contact: Rosa Bardwell, [email protected]

house of lords alumni reception 2010Generously sponsored by Clarkslegal

Friday 1 october 2010, 5.00 pmHouse of Lords, London

£50 per person

A special alumni reception, hosted by The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington, Chancellor Emeritus.

See www.reading.ac.uk/alumni for further details | 0118 378 8006

reading real Estate foundation 9th annual dinnerThursday 4 November, 6.45 pmThe Grange St Pauls Hotel, London

£95 per person £65 per person for 2010 graduates

Join fellow RREF alumni for the largest single subject reunion in the UK. The evening will consist of a three course meal, drinks, evening entertainment and an invaluable opportunity to network with others in the field.

Contact: Emma Pryke, [email protected] | 0118 378 4192

mErl annual lecture in partnership with the centre for food Security: the global future of food and farmingThursday 25 November 2010Business school, Whiteknights campus, Univer-sity of Reading

Guest speaker: Sir John Beddington, Chief Sci-entific Advisor to HM Government

FREE | Ticket

Sir John Beddington will discuss the potential threats and challenges to achieving a sustain-able global food supply. The lecture marks the launch of the new Centre for Food Security, which offers a platform for research on this globally important issue at the University.

Contact: [email protected] | 0118 378 8660

60th anniversary celebrations: the archers and museum of English rural life: 1951–2011 1 may to 4 september 2011Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), University of Reading, Redlands Road, RG1 5EX

In 1951 the first episode of the Archers was broadcast, the same year MERL was founded. This new exhibition celebrates both the radio serial and the Museum, charting changes to the countryside that these two institutions have witnessed over the last 60 years. For details, including the MERL Spectacular on 11 June 2011 see www.reading.ac.uk/merl or call 0118 378 8660

Wednesday 10 November: John Armitt

house of lords alumni reception 2010

annual law lecture reading real Estate foundation 9th annual dinner

construction management and Engineering alumni networking reception

mErl annual lecture in partnership with the centre for food Security: the global future of food and farming 60th anniversary celebrations:

the archers and museum of English rural life: 1951–2011

50

Unearthingsilchesterthe quality of research at the Uni-versity of reading is highly regarded nationally and internationally. areas of research excellence include its department of archaeology which was awarded the distinguished Queen’s anniversary Prize in 2009.The Department has been excavat-

ing and researching the major Iron

Age centre and Roman town Calleva

Atrebatum at the Silchester Roman

site in North Hampshire since 1997.

Major questions concern the origin

of Calleva in the Iron Age, particu-

larly with it being one of a very small

number of towns with evidence of

settlement before the Roman con-

quest of southern Britain of 43AD.

Silchester is both a training field

school and a research excavation,

with archaeology students from

Reading and enthusiasts from as

far away as the US and Australia

flocking to the Field School for

six weeks every summer.

During the 2008 dig, our University

archaeologists made the exciting find

of the first evidence of an Iron Age

town in Britain, and last year uncov-

ered the earliest representation of

any Egyptian God in Roman Britain.

find out more online atwww.silchester.reading.ac.uk

Public Lecture Series2010–2011

Surveillance societyAre we being ‘watched’ too closely? Dr James FerrymanWednesday 13 October 2010

Climate changeThe science explained Professor Nigel ArnellWednesday 10 November 2010

Post election reflections Is the British Parliament above the law?Dr Stuart LakinWednesday 8 December 2010

The brains behind businessWhat neuroscience can tell us about business failure and success Professor Doug Saddy and Dr Kevin MoneyWednesday 9 February 2011

The evolution of languagePast, present and future Professor Mark Pagel Wednesday 16 March 2011

Human rightsWhy has our generation discovered human rights?Professor Alan CromartieWednesday 4 May 2011

The University of Reading Public lecture series is free to attend and all members of the public are welcome. No ticket required but numbers are limited so please arrive early. Large groups should telephone or email in advance.

8.00 pm Palmer Building Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading0118 378 [email protected]/publiclectureseries

Free | all welcomeNo ticket required

For more information, please contact:

development and alumni relationsUniversity of Reading Whiteknights Reading, RG6 6AH

[email protected] Tel (0118) 378 8006

www.reading.ac.uk/alumni

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