Newsletter 58
February 2022
For ex-University of Sussex staff: keeping in touch, keeping connected
Welcome to Issue 58 of the Suss-Ex Club Newsletter!
Unfortunately, for a second year running the members’ Christmas lunch could not take place because of Covid. We therefore decided to organise a first for Suss-Ex - a Christmas social drop-in! You can read about this on page 3 – and watch out for repeats over the year…
Another first for Suss-Ex was a hybrid event – on 25th November we hosted a very interesting talk by Jan Nawrocki, Consultant Urologist (see page 3), attended on campus by several members but also streamed live via the magic of Zoom. Our Zoom participants included members from far afield who would not have been able to attend in person, so we hope to offer more hybrid events in the coming year.
For this edition we have included a small feature about Daniel Snowman. Daniel recently contacted us with some early photos of the University from 1963 when he held a Junior Lectureship. You can read more about Daniel’s adventures on page 2 (Spotlight on….).
Also, did you know that since Suss-Ex was founded in 2006, the benefits available to ex-students and ex-staff have evolved, including the way they can be accessed. In discussion with DARO we have updated the range of benefits available to Suss-Ex members and we are very pleased to include a list of these and how to access them on page 4.
We remind everyone that Suss-Ex is for all former Sussex colleagues, whether they’ve retired or just moved jobs, and former staff are always welcome to join. Joining is free, so if you know any former colleagues who might be interested, do encourage them to sign up either via our Facebook group page or by completing the membership form on our web page: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/suss-ex/.
Finally the Suss-Ex steering group is waving goodbye to two long-standing members who have been on the group since its inception. David Smith has organised many varied and interesting events over the years, all of which have been very well attended. Arnold Goldman is also standing down and we thank both him and David for their many contributions.
If you are interested in joining the steering group, please email us (contact details on page 6). Also, if you would like to suggest possible future events and activities, please tell us about those too or post your ideas to our FB page.
Suss-Ex Club Steering Group
Newsletter Contents:
Another social drop-in, this time Lewes!
Lewes walking tour: 8 October 2021
Talk by Jan Nawrocki – 25 November 2021: “How Surgeons think”
Christmas Social Drop-in – 6th December: The Station Bar, Hove
Suss-Ex Club: membership benefits
OUR NEXT online EVENT
Let’s get Quizzical! Thursday 24th February 6.30pm – 7.30pm
How much do you think you know (or can remember) about the University? Well, whether you are a recent ex-Sussex member or you have long since left the University, we have put together a fun quiz full of surprising factoids drawn from the University’s early days to more recent times.
There will be six fun rounds of questions, and you can join in from the comfort of your armchair by the magic of Zoom. Participants will be placed into virtual teams of 4–5 to argue about, we mean agree on, the answers! (Pssss, for a lot of the questions you don’t really need to have been there to figure out the answers…).
We will post the joining instructions closer to the date via our Facebook page, and we will also email them out to the membership. In the meantime, keep the evening free!
Another social drop-in, this time Lewes?
Following the success of our Christmas social drop-in in Hove (see page 3), Suss-Ex is keen to make this a regular feature of our Events calendar. We are looking for a suitable venue in Lewes for a late afternoon/early evening social gathering sometime in March, where we can also reserve some seating. Current suggestions include: The Depot or The King’s Head. If you are a Lewes resident, maybe you can also suggest somewhere suitable?
Further details to follow, on Facebook and via email.
Spotlight on… Daniel Snowman
The Suss-Ex Newsletter team was very pleased to hear from Daniel Snowman just before Christmas – Daniel was appointed to a junior lectureship by Asa Briggs back in the early days of the University in 1963, and he shared some photos of building work in progress from that year.
Daniel is a social and cultural historian and after Sussex went on to follow a varied and interesting career starting with the BBC, where he was Chief Producer (Features) covering radio broadcasts on cultural and historical subjects.
As a member of the London Philharmonic Choir, Daniel has pursued a strong interest in music and musicians, which includes books on the Amadeus Quartet, Plácido Domingo, and a biography of Verdi amongst other publications.
As you can imagine over such an interesting and active life, Daniel has rubbed shoulders with many celebrities over the years ranging from Harry Truman to Pope John-Paul II, all of which he has captured via a series of literary vignettes in his recently published memoir “Just Passing Through”.
Daniel still lectures widely around the world and leads music tours to major international festivals. Closer to home, he continues to lecture at the Institute of Historical Research and at the V&A, covering the history of opera and other topics.
Here are some photos that Daniel took in 1963 when the campus was very much a work in progress – photo a) has caused some controversy amongst the steering group as opinion is divided on which building (or buildings) it is … we would be intrigued to know what you think. You can comment on our Facebook page, or email rossana.dowsett@ntlworld.com
a) b) Daniel’s Father Arthur at Falmer House c) Daniel and a student (1963)
Would you like to recall something interesting you were involved in whilst at the University? Or perhaps you’ve gone on to do something interesting or perhaps you have achieved a life-long ambition after leaving Sussex? Or you know someone who has? We would love to know! Get in touch with the editors at: rossana.dowsett@ntlworld.com
Lewes walking tour: 8 October 2021
On 8 October
2021 Suss-Ex members joined Lewes historian Marcus Taylor for an excellent,
fully subscribed morning walking tour of Lewes.
We saw how a wealth of building materials has created
the town’s architectural detailing and its distinctive streetscape. We learned
how Caen sandstone had been imported to construct Lewes Priory, of the
concealed timber framing of Anne of Cleves house and the local production of
bricks and glazed mathematical tiles.
We walked from Trinity church on Southover High Street via Southover Grange and the 15th century bookshop on Keere Street, to see the oldest bowling green in the world (1753) and Sun Street’s unique 19th century frontages. Overall a most interesting tour - which should be repeated!
With many thanks to Marcus Taylor and to David Smith who arranged the event.
Talk by Jan Nawrocki – 25 November 2021: “How Surgeons think”
Jan definitely proved to be a smooth operator when it
came to our first hybrid event! He gave participants, both those present in the
Genome Centre seminar room and those joining us via Zoom, an excellent tour de
force of the way attitudes of surgeons/medics have influenced modern day medical
practice and education.
Jan reached as far back as the ancient Greeks to more
recent times to illustrate the range of good and not so good characteristics
that come to bear on whether someone will make a good doctor. The talk was interweaved
with external determinants such as post-war lessons that came to bear on
setting internationally recognised standards of good medical practice.
The talk gave a lot of food for thought, such as the changing dynamics of the patient/surgeon relationship, and prompted some really good discussion. An excellent insight into the practice of modern medicine… and if you ever thought you would have made a good doctor, this talk would most certainly have settled your mind either way. Here are a couple of Jan’s less salubrious illustrations!
With thanks to Sara Hinchliffe who organised the event and to David Smith for suggesting this excellent speaker.
Christmas Social Drop-in – 6th December: The Station Bar, Hove
In the
absence of the annual Christmas lunch (due to Covid), we decided to embrace the
festive season by hosting our first ever social drop-in.
Very informal, with no need to pre-book, we gathered around an area reserved for our use at the Station Bar in Hove, conveniently close to Hove Station.
We were very pleased to meet new and also potential new members and we were having such a jolly time that we forgot to take any photos!
We intend to make this a regular event and alternate them between Hove, Lewes and Brighton. Our next one will be in Lewes – probably over March, so watch out for further details! And remember that you can bring along friends, spouses, partners, and ex-colleagues who haven’t yet joined Suss-Ex.
University News
We probably all get news about the University through its various media channels and prick up our ears whenever it gets a mention on national news, so we generally tend to apply our ‘overload’ filter in determining what to share with you in this Newsletter. However, we thought some of the following were worthy of special mention:
People
New V-C appointed
The appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor has now been announced. She is the world-renowned, interdisciplinary social scientist Professor Sasha Roseneil and will take up her role in August, becoming Sussex’s ninth V-C in its 60-year history. Professor Roseneil is currently Pro-Provost (Equity and Inclusion) and Dean of the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at UCL. https://www.sussex.ac.uk/news/university?id=57215
MBE for Jayne Aldridge
The
University’s Director for the Student Experience Jayne Aldridge has been
awarded an MBE for services to students in higher education. Jayne was appointed
as Sussex’s first Director for the Student Experience in 2018 after four years at the Student Services organisation.
David
Maguire, Interim Vice-Chancellor, stated: “Huge congratulations to Jayne on the
award of her MBE, it is incredibly well deserved.” You can read more about
Jayne and Student Experience at Sussex here:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/?id=57008
Developments:
Work on new West Slope development
The building of new student housing and facilities on ‘West Slope’ was approved by B&H City Council in 2020 and the plans have now been given the go-ahead by the University Council. The development will double the amount of student housing on the West Slope – an extra 1,000 rooms. The development will also include: a new health and wellbeing centre; a new, larger supermarket; a new café; additional study space in a new library; and an open area of flexible green space
The area for redevelopment includes Park Village and some of the Park Houses (Kulukundis House, Lancaster House, Kent House and York House). The University will be working in partnership with Balfour Beatty, who will raise the finance to build and operate the project. The new accommodation will become available in several phases over a four-year period.
Work will also begin soon to remove a number of trees from the West Slope development area and five new trees will be planted for every two removed.
Suss-Ex Club: membership benefits
We are very pleased to announce that in discussion with DARO, we have updated the benefits that Suss-Ex members can access.
Since 2006 (when the Suss-Ex Club was established), the University has introduced new on-line resources and new ways of sharing University news, so here is a summary of what your Suss-Ex membership now entitles you to:
Membership of the Sussex online Alumni community: membership includes access to the Alumni Directory to find friends and other former Sussex students, and to online journals and the alumni membership for both the Library and SussexSport. You can register here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/community
JSTOR: an on-line library where subscribers can access more than 50 million digitised pages of scholarly works and research materials https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/community/jstor
SAGE Journals: free access to scholarly journals and material previously only available to staff and current students of the University. https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/community/sage-journals
SussexSport: special discounted rates are available for annual and three-monthly memberships - http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sport/public/memberships
Library: a range of membership options are available with discounted rates for ex-staff/alumni. See: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/using-the-library/visitors
Alumni News online: receive regular updates about the University and its community https://alumni.sussex.ac.uk/sussex-news
Falmer Magazine: produced annually with a great round-up of University events and strategy, plus excellent features on University people including alumni. This is available online to download from here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/falmer-magazine/about
(For members who prefer to receive a hard copy, you need to be registered on the DARO Suss-Ex Club membership list and provide your home address – information about how to do this is provided below*).
Sussex Centre for Language Studies: members can benefit from a concession for the Open Courses in Modern Languages - http://www.sussex.ac.uk/languages/ml/opencourses
To access all these benefits, register online here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/community.
* To receive a hard copy of Falmer Magazine AND emails about Suss-Ex Club events, simply email your name and home address to: C.M.Goldie@sussex.ac.uk (Charles is on the Suss-Ex steering group and maintains the membership list with DARO).
Who has been publishing?
Following calls in previous Newsletters, we’re happy to give details of the following publications by retired members. Such evidence of activity helps confirm the continuing importance to the University of its retired members. Charles Goldie aims to publish further lists on an annual basis and is happy to receive contributions at any time.
Tony Evans
Mechanics of The Solar System: An Introduction to Mathematical Astronomy (Brown Dog Books, 2021), ISBN13: 978-1839522345.
Fred Gray
The Architecture of British Seaside Piers (Crowood, 2020), ISBN13: 978-1-78500-713-2.
“Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside …”, The Architectural Historian 12(May 2021), 32–33.
Mike Hutchings
Mike’s publications since retirement begin with
Roiloa, S. R. & Hutchings, M. J. (2012), “The effects of rooting frequency and position of rooted ramets on plasticity and yield in clonal fragments of Glechoma hederacea”. Evolutionary Ecology 27(2012), 145–152.
Meekers, T., Hutchings, M. J., Honnay, O. & Jacquemyn, H. (2012), “Biological Flora of the British Isles: Gymnadenia conopsea s. l”. Journal of Ecology 100(2012), 1269–1288.
The full list of 18 papers is here. The photo is of Gymnadenia conopsea (Wikimedia Commons).
Daniel Snowman
Just Passing Through: Interactions with the World 1938–2021 (Brown Dog Books, 2021), ISBN13: 978-1839522864.
Under the heading “Book 5, University of Sussex, 1963–67: ‘A New Map of Learning’” Daniel has 6 chapters, beginning with “24: Balliol-by-the-Sea”.
Peter Townsend
The Dark Side of Technology (Oxford University Press, 2016), ISBN13: 9-780198-790532.
The Evolution of Music through Culture and Science (Oxford University Press, 2020), ISBN13: 9-780198-848400.
The Power of Imperfections: a Key to Technology, Love, Life and Survival (Oxford University Press, 2022), ISBN13: 978–0–19–285747–7.
Do you have a publication or publications that you would like to see featured in our next Newsletter? Send details/links to Charles Goldie: C.M.Goldie@sussex.ac.uk
OBITUARIES
In this edition we note with regret the loss of a number of ex-colleagues. Please let us know if there is anyone we’ve missed.
The Suss-Ex Club always wishes to note the passing away of ex members of staff, and in particular their contribution to the University and its life. A full list of obituaries is on the Suss-Ex website. The obituaries below are presented as links. However, those commissioned for this Newsletter are appended to the PDF version.
Jonathan Bacon, Neuroscientist, died 5th November 2021, aged 71.
Staff Bulletin (This is
Sussex) 12th November
2021, 19th November
2021
A memorial event for Jonathan is planned for Friday 8th April.
Dorothy Evans, Nurse, died 21st May 2011,
aged 76.
Tony Evans, Physicist and Astronomer, died 12th August 2021, aged 85.
Suss-Ex Club (joint obituary of Dorothy and Tony, commissioned for this Newsletter)
Ladislaus (Laci) Löb, Professor of German, died 2nd October 2021, aged 88.
Suss-Ex Club (obituary commissioned for this Newsletter), Bulletin (This is Sussex) 22nd October 2021
Mike Owen, Engineer, died 25th December 2021, aged 83.
Suss-Ex Club (obituary commissioned for this Newsletter), Bulletin (This is Sussex) 14th January 2022
Derek Robinson, Statistician, died 25th July 2021, aged 74.
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A: Statistics in Society, 2022 (to appear)
George Sim, Crystallographer, died 2012, aged 82/83.
Suss-Ex Club (obituary commissioned for this Newsletter)
Who are we?
Patron: Sir Gordon Conway
Founded in 2006 with
the support of our patron (and also our founding Chair), the Suss-Ex Club is
for all ex-staff of the University with the purpose of keeping us connected and
organising social events and activities for its members (partners welcome!).
We benefit from the support of the Alumni Office who maintain our members’ database and send out our Newsletters and Event alerts.
More information about Suss-Ex is available on its webpage at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/suss-ex/. ‘Suss-Ex Club’ in Google will get you there, as will http://tiny.cc/sussex, or you can find us in the A–Z on the University’s homepage
Suss-Ex activities are organised by a steering group, which currently comprises:
Rossana Dowsett Rossana.Dowsett@ntlworld.com
Colin Finn colinfinn@btinternet.com
Jackie Fuller jkfuller21@hotmail.com Treasurer
Charles Goldie c.m.goldie@sussex.ac.uk Secretary
Sara Hinchliffe sarajanehinchliffe@gmail.com
Steve Pavey miniperson2003@yahoo.co.uk
Paul Tofts uos@paul-tofts.org.uk, Chair
Helen Walker helenjwalker@btinternet.com
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