̽»¨Ö±²¥

Attendees came from as many asÌý18 different countries around the world and spanned several generations, with the oldest matriculation date being 1933. ̽»¨Ö±²¥weather was beautiful and Cambridge looked at its finest as three days of tours, lectures and social occasions took place throughout the city.

College participation reached a record high this year, as each of the 31 Colleges was represented with at least one alumnus (Girton, again, had the highest rate of participation, welcoming back more than 60 alumni).

Following the Opening Reception at the Fitzwilliam Museum on Friday night, at which the Vice-Chancellor and the new Director of ̽»¨Ö±²¥Fitz, Dr Timothy Potts, gave welcome speeches, the highlight event was A Literary Evening at Lucy Cavendish College with special guests novelist Ali Smith and the College’s newly-elected President, Professor Janet Todd, an internationally-renowned scholar of early women writers.

Lectures on the Saturday took a variety of themes from Professor Tim Blanning’s very well-received talk entitled ‘ ̽»¨Ö±²¥Romantic Revolution: 1750 – 1850’ to ‘Why Do We Like to Eat’ from Dr Sadaf Farooqi, Honorary Clinical Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, carefully programmed just before the lunch-time break.

̽»¨Ö±²¥main event saw an extremely topical and engaging discussion between two alumni who are among the UK media industry’s most influential people, Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger and former Head of Current Affairs at the BBC Tim Gardam on the subject of Truth, Lies and the Digital Age, wonderfully moderated by Dame Patricia Hodgson.

Sunday morning’s events at Newnham College were likewise extremely popular and Newnham Conversations offered alumni the chance to listen to a stimulating and enjoyable discussion between two of the College’s best known alumnae authors, Margaret Drabble and Sarah Dunant.

ThereÌýwere 146 separate events over the three days making this the busiest Alumni Weekend to date. ̽»¨Ö±²¥19th Alumni Weekend will take place over the weekend of 25 to 27 September 2009.
Ìý