Due to the Covid-19 lockdown during the first half of the year, the annual Fellows’ Dinner took place three months later, on Wednesday, 5 August 2020.
And what a lovely event it was with one Fellow commenting afterwards that she and her husband “thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the company of the bright and engaging Members and Fellows.”
In attendance were 24 Fellows, Council Members and their partners plus the Master and his wife, the Dean of Students, 13 College Leaders, 10 Members of the Members’ Executive Committee and three musicians. The College was honoured to have the presence of Life Fellow H Robert Wilson and his wife, Natalie Ellis-Wilson at the Dinner.
The evening commenced at 6.45 pm with drinks and canapés, including bluff oysters, in the Valentine Common Room. Background music was provided by third-year Member Sonia Hua on the piano. At 7.25 pm, the party of 54 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 Ina Bercinskas, Dr Heleen du Plessis (in absentia) and Associate Professor Lisa McNeill. They are warmly welcomed to the community of St Margaret's College Fellows.
The beautiful two-item musical interlude was presented by, firstly, Sonia Hua (piano) followed by a trio comprising Sonia, Tessa Dalgety-Evans (cello) and Kevin Chen (saxophone).
The President of the Members’ Executive, Remin Reji Mathew, reflected on the Executive Committee's training programme and the various activities that the Executive Committee organised for Members during and after Orientation Week. His talk ended with a lovely video showing some of the highlights.
Following the main course, College Leaders Dikshya Parajuli and Dineth Rajapakse gave an entertaining talk about the College Leaders training programme during early February before the College opened for the 2020 academic year. A short video was also shown of the highlights of their week-long away trip to Wanaka.
The final speech of the evening was delivered by the Dean of Students, George Connolly. George provided information about the College's current marketing campaign to attract high quality applicants for the 2021 academic year against the background of this year's Covid-19 situation.
Overall, it was a perfectly pleasant evening and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The accompanying photos provide the evidence!
(Story by the Master, Dr Charles Tustin)
