The Queen's College Record 2020

Old Members’ Activities
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Paul Newton
President of The Queen’s
College Association
It is an obvious understatement to say that it has
been an unusual year. Reflecting my optimistic nature,
however, I refuse to believe that things will never be
the same again. Medical scientists (doubtless Oxford
ones!) will find a solution to the current pandemic. They
are a special breed as epitomised by Old Member
and Honorary Fellow Dr A.W. ‘Bill’ Frankland MBE,
DM, FRCP. Bill, who died earlier this year at the age
of 108, was the College’s and the University’s oldest
Old Member. His dedicated work on allergies spanned
nearly ninety years. He popularised the pollen count to
help clinicians and patients understand what triggers
their seasonal allergies and amazingly completed his last
paper in March of this year, only a few weeks before he
died. This paper can be accessed through the College’s
website (bit.ly/bill-frankland). A tribute to him and his life can also be found there, and
his obituary appears later in this year’s Record. Bill led an incredible life which included
a period spent in a Japanese prisoner of war camp following the fall of Singapore in
1942. He was, unsurprisingly, the camp doctor treating fellow prisoners in conditions
we can only imagine.
The current COVID-19 pandemic meant that this year’s Old Members’ programme
disappointingly divided into two very distinctive halves. Events during the first half
continued as normal, culminating in the Queen’s Women’s Network Dinner: In
Conversation with the Provost. This event took place in early March at the University
Women’s Club in London as a continuation of the celebration of the 40th Anniversary
of Co-Education at the College. If anyone missed this event, it is possible to watch
the Conversation online at the College’s YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/
queenscollegeox).
Other events during the first half that offered Old Members opportunities to eat heartily,
drink copiously and reminisce unashamedly, lest we forget what these occasions entail,
included the Jubilee Matriculation Gaudy Lunch (1949 / 1959 / 1969); the Ten Years’
later Lunch (2009); the MA Reunion Lunch (for undergraduates who matriculated in
2012 and who are now eligible to take their MA); the Boar’s Head Gaudy (1996 / 1997)
and the Needle and Thread Gaudy (2004 / 2005). They were enjoyed by nearly 500
people, representing a significant proportion of the Old Members’ community.
The second half of the year’s Old Members’ programme unfortunately saw the
cancellation of a reunion dinner in Berlin and a US trip which would have included
dinners in New York and Washington, DC. Summer in-College events were also
86 The Queen’s College | College Record 2020