Page 36 - Mansfield 2019/20

Alumni Association Report
What a year!
Daniel Tarry (Geography, 2011), President of the Mansfield College Alumni Association, reflects on the Association’s activities during 2019/20.
It goes without saying that 2020 is not a period in time we shall soon be forgetting. After a fantastic start to the Association’s year, with drinks receptions at the Counting House, London, and at the Banyan Bar & Kitchen, Manchester, the country moved into lockdown. All of a sudden, we found ourselves working from home, refining bakery skills, and taking up new hobbies.
Throughout this period, the Alumni Association continued to work to ensure that alumni were well supported by Mansfield, while College was also doing a superb job of helping students remotely. The Committee and I express our thanks
to all College staff who have supported the student body through this extraordinary time. The Development Office has provided us with a fantastic programme of virtual events, and I have particularly enjoyed being able to attend the Mansfield Public Talks series, and meeting many of you I would not normally encounter at in-person events.
In past years, the Association has made decisions on financial grants for students. This is money that has come from College funds rather than from the Association
or alumni. The Committee was asked to consider foregoing this privilege in order to allow College to distribute funds directly to students most in need. With data protection legislation, and College staff’s greater knowledge of the student body, this seemed a sensible request, and was supported by the Committee. We have continued to receive regular updates at our meetings on activities being undertaken
by students, and it was great to hear – through the annual Student of the Year nominations – of the help students have been giving each other throughout what has been the strangest of times.
I was delighted to be able to play my part in the Giving Day and Community Week activities by cycling 134 miles from my home to College and back to celebrate the 134th anniversary of the founding of Mansfield in 1886.
This year the Committee spent considerable time working with College to define the Association’s purpose, and to this end we updated our Constitution, with changes ratified at an EGM just before our AGM
on 30 September. Particular thanks go to our Secretary Mike Walton (English, 1956) for preparing the drafts of the revised Constitution ahead of our various meetings throughout the year. Prior to 2020 the Committee met three times a year. This year, and in years to come, the Committee will meet more frequently to ensure it is able to provide relevant input to the Development Office team and become more active and productive. I hope in the coming months you will start to see the benefit of the changes made to the way the Committee operates.
As I said last year, the Mansfield College Alumni Association is your association,
so if you would like to be involved in the Committee or its activities, helping to maintain and widen the alumni community and the Mansfield family, please get
in touch via our new email address: MansfieldCollegeAlumniAssociation@ outlook.com.
Mansfield College Alumni Association Committee
President Daniel Tarry (Geography, 2011)
Secretary Mike Walton (English, 1956)
College representative Lucinda Rumsey (Senior Tutor and Tutor for Admissions)
Committee members Serena Arthur (English, 2016), Peter Bergamin (Oriental Studies, 2012), Shahenda Darwich
(PPE, 2011), Adrian David (Mathematics, 2010), Lydia
Felty (VSP, 2015), Adam Kelly (English, 2016), Miriam Kennet (MSc Environmental Change & Management, 1997), Rebecca Loxton (English, 2011), Lucy Mahoney (DPhil Geography &
the Environment, 2009), Gerald Moule (MTh Applied Theology, 2004), Donald Norwood (Theology, 1959), Daniel Seiderer (MBA, 2007), Damola Shobowale (Jurisprudence, 2013), Bob Skelly (English, 1965)
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