Culture Night 2017
A large crowd of 120 people gathered at the College Chapel yesterday evening for a guided tour of the College – our contribution to the nationwide series of events to mark Culture Night 2017. On a beautiful, crisp autumn evening our Sub-Warden, Julian Girdham, led an extremely interesting tour of the campus’s many beautiful and architecturally significant buildings. The tour began at the William Butterfield designed College Chapel, where Julian outlined when, where and why the College took residence at its current site. The tour then moved onto Chapel Square (to admire the view) then to the Big School Room (or BSR) where Julian spoke of the fire than nearly destroyed the College (but for “an act of God”) in the late 19th century. The tour then moved through the main thoroughfare of the College, passing the library (designed by John Somerville-Large), towards the modernist Robin Walker-designed Science Building. This building was refurbished only last year and the visitors were extremely impressed with the bright, modern and unique laboratories. The tour then moved back to the main College building, Hollypark House – a Georgian building dating from the late 18th century – where the tour concluded to generous applause for the guide.
It was a wonderful evening and we were delighted to welcome so many guests, most of whom were visiting the College for the first time. Some of these first time visitors had extremely interesting links to the College’s history while one couple were visiting from Mexico. Many thanks to all who contributed to a wonderful evening and especially to the organiser and tour guide Mr. Julian Girdham.
Below are some photos from the event from our Flickr page.
