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COLLEGE LIFEJames Bennett, the Home Bursar, onConferences at CatzSupplying the needs of conferences brings with it manychallenges for our catering and domestic staff. Facingthose challenges successfully – as, year after year theydo – means that, when term starts again, we have ateam which thinks not from the standard perspectiveof student mass-catering, but one that has had thecreative stimulus of working in the demandingconference market. One example of what, practically,this creativity means, is the fact that St Catherine’s isnow home to the annual Oxford Symposium on Foodand Cookery. Writing about the 2008 symposium, PaulLevy, co-chair of the Symposium and author of thePenguin Book of Food and Drink declared that:This year's Oxford Symposium was the mostsuccessful in its twenty-seven years. The boardhas long felt that there was a gap between havingan annual meeting at which high standards appliedto food discussed as a subject, but where the foodconsumed was not up to the same elevatedstandard. This year, owing to the talent, flexibilityand totally helpful and committed attitude of ChefTim Kelsey and his staff, the food served to our160-plus symposiasts was of the same quality –as superior, nourishing and elegant – as the papersdelivered by our speakers.From a general businessperspective, experience of runningmeeting spaces, providingovernight accommodation, andcatering on a commercial basismeans that our domestic operationand its management is betterinformed about costs and efficiency. It also aspires toyear-round standards which are more often associatedwith hotels than with halls of residence.Conferences, however, do not just underpin the termtimelife at St Catherine’s because of the income theyprovide and the standards they set; their role is muchmore integral to the mission of the College – theadvancement of teaching and research in the artsand sciences. Catz acts as a home and a base for animmense variety of conference activity: from researchin an impressive number of disciplines (whereacademics from across the globe come to StCatherine’s to discuss new advances in their field ofstudy) to long-established activities such as the CharlesCoulson Summer School in Theoretical Chemistry, anevent which dates back to the 1950s. We also hostmeetings of professionals in areas such as law,medicine and other caring professions, andHome Bursar, JamesBennettCatz acts asa home anda base foran immensevariety ofconferenceactivity...ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2008/13