"The Fellows Dinner last night was wonderful - thank you. The calibre of members was impressive, as was their palpable positivity. The College is clearly in good heart. I always enjoy catching up with other Fellows and appreciate the opportunity to get to know more members over a delicious dinner."
We were thrilled to receive the above positive feedback from one of the many College Fellows who attended the annual Fellows' Dinner held on Wednesday, 1 May 2019.
It was also lovely to welcome Fellow and previous Master Dr Peter Norris who flew in specially from Hokitika for the occasion. We were pleased to accommodate him in one of our guest rooms for a couple of nights during his time back in Dunedin.
The evening commenced at 6.45 pm with drinks and canapés, including bluff oysters, in the Valentine Common Room. Background music was provided by First Year Rep Alex Dykes who is a very able guitarist and singer. At 7.25 pm, the party of around 65 proceeded to the Norris Dining Hall for dinner.
The Kitchen at St Margaret's outshone themselves as usual with a marvellous three-course meal:
During the dinner, three new Fellows were introduced and presented with their Fellow certificates, namely Dr Jon Cornwall (Early Learning in Medicine; in absentia), Dr John Heydon (Occupational Physician and the University Doctor), and Professor Takashi Shogimen (History). They are warmly welcomed to the community of St Margaret's College Fellows which now numbers 78 Fellows.
Council Members, College Leaders, and Student Executive Committee Members also attended the Dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the company of the Fellows. The musical interlude provided by the musicians was just beautiful. We were treated to two items: (1) Anna Domett singing Adele's "Skyfall" accompanied by pianist Lucy Tang; and (2) "You raise me up", played by Tessa Dalgety-Evans (cello), Abida Denny (violin) and Rose Wu (piano).
The President of the Student Executive, Bronté Chamberlain, reflected on the Executive Committee's training programme and the various activities that the Executive Committee organised for Members during and after Orientation Week. Her talk ended with a lovely video showing some of the highlights.
Following the main course, College Leaders Rose Wu and Ashish Yadav gave an entertaining talk about the College Leaders training programme during early February before the College opened for the 2019 academic year. A short video was also shown of the highlights of their week-long away trip to Arrowtown, expertly put together by College Leader Josiah Bugden.
Overall, it was a really pleasant evening and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The accompanying photos provide the evidence!
(Story by the Master, Dr Charles Tustin)
