50 Years on the Cherwell: A Celebration
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Wolfson’s current site on the Cherwell River. In the five decades since these Powell & Moya buildings opened their doors, thousands of the brightest minds from around the world have called this place home. To celebrate this milestone, on Saturday 29th June, Wolfson welcomed 300 of our friends, members and alumni to the College for a day of festivities. Guests were treated to tours, lectures, high tea and sunshine in our glorious grounds.
“It was a delight to invite over 300 guests to Wolfson College to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of our iconic buildings here on the banks of the river Cherwell. The sun shone, our speakers inspired, and we enjoyed a celebration for all the generations of the Wolfson family.”
Wolfson’s President Sir Tim Hitchens
Honorary Fellow and architect Alan Berman, and writer and former Visiting Scholar Ian Hembrow spoke about ‘Wolfson College: the people behind the place’, discussing the architectural partnership of Powell and Moya, who designed and built Wolfson. Guests were invited to take tours of the College’s gardens and its recently completed decarbonisation project. We gave the first screening of a film which features five members of the Wolfson community past and present, who have either witnessed Wolfson blossom from its earliest days or have in some way helped turn this place into the College we know and love today.
Later on in the day, former Wolfson President and founder of the Oxford Centre for Life Writing Hermione Lee took us on a journey through the lives of houses and the idea of home in her talk ‘Where the Heart Is: Homes, Houses and the writing of Lives’. Meanwhile, in the café a group of Wolfson Researchers and Graduate Students gave quick-fire, illustrated presentations on their research work in the Japanese PechaKucha style. To top the whole day off, Isaiah Berlin’s official biographer Michael Ignatieff gave a keynote lecture on ‘Isaiah Berlin and the making of a liberal institution’ in which he discussed the liberal nature of Wolfson College, and the importance of Berlin’s philosophy in educational settings today.
The College was delighted to share its celebration with so many friends, and hopes the day was a fitting tribute to this place we call home.
