St. Clare's celebrates in style

On Thursday 27th November St. Clare's celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding with a tremendous celebration at Oxford Town Hall. An audience of almost 600 listened to Peter Oppenheimer, Chairman of Governors, introduce a panel of speakers. The Lord Mayor, Councillor Patrick Stannard, welcomed guests to the civic centre of the city. The Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Hugo Brunner, recalled how important were the early links between St. Clare's in Oxford and in Bonn during the years after the Second World War.

Anne Dreydel, one of the two original founders back in 1953, remembered that it had been at a meeting in the Town Hall where, as an undergraduate at St Anne's, she first heard (Sir) Victor Gollancz speaking about the plight of ordinary German citizens after the War. This had been one of many things which had inspired her, together with co-founder Mrs Pamela Morris, to establish first the Oxford English Centre, which grew into St. Clare's in 1953.

Sir John Hanson, Warden of Green College, University of Oxford and former Director-General of the British Council, spoke of St. Clare's special contribution to the educational diversity within the City and praised St. Clare's vision in promoting the international dimension of education.

Lord Watson, delivering the keynote address, expressed his admiration for Anne Dreydel and her contribution to British-German relations. He then went on to speak about the special relationships between Britain and the rest of Europe, and with the United States, emphasising how critical it was to maintain both.

Boyd Roberts set out the College's vision for the future, based on strengthening connections with the alumni and parents, developing facilities and focussing on the values of Global Citizenship. He announced that St. Clare's is planning to launch a fund early in 2004 to give friends and colleagues the opportunity to support the College in achieving it's goals.

The audience was entertained with music as they arrived from a string quartet of first year International Baccalaureate students. During the programme there were two musical interludes: the first by current IB student Oliver Thompson, on Clarinet, playing extracts from Malcolm Arnold, plus three Roumanian Dances by Bela Bartok. It was a spirited and exciting performance. Later, alumna Carolin Dentler, currently a student at the Royal Academy of Music, played the final movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto: a thrilling finale to our programme. We were extremely grateful to Dr Christopher Tadman-Robins for accompanying both musicians, and to St. Clare's Music Co-ordinator, Philomena Solomon, for organising the entire musical side of the programme, which made such a difference to the whole occasion.

Also in the programme was a short dramatic piece entitled "The Chestnut Tree" , written by Marta Emmitt and performed by two of our current students. It drew a parallel between a student here in the 1950s and one here today, showing the common theme of international understanding across the decades.

A Reception followed in the Assembly Rooms and Old Library with delicious canapes and drinks for all 600 guests. Finally, dinner back at St. Clare's for guests, colleagues, with some further words from Boyd, Anne Dreydel, and two short speeches from alumni Nikki Cheetham and Nikita Lobanov, both expressing how much they owed to St. Clare's and how having come here had helped them progress in life. This final day of celebrating 50 years ended a tremendous year of celebration world-wide, during which we have met new friends, found many "lost" alumni, and carried the word about St. Clare's - its history and its future vision - around the globe. Thank you to all who have been involved.

27 November 2003

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