The College Record 2022

of Wantage. The new College Chaplain is the Revd Alice Watson, a graduate of
both Cambridge and Oxford, who has just completed her curacy in Kettering. It
feels affirming that the College has for a second time appointed a female chaplain
at the end of her curacy: it evidently worked out all right last time! But I am equally
confident that Alice will bring her own gifts and direction to Chapel life.
Most of all, these times have called for courage. Although the College may sometimes
feel like an oasis from the ‘real world’, we find ourselves at the cutting edge of
the social debates and challenges that will face the generation to come. There
is no more real and urgent task than building a community which lives well and
functions together in a changing world. I’ve always sought to make the Chapel a
place of challenge as well as comfort – even if I haven’t always got that right. Sermon
highlights this year included the Revd Augustine Tanner-Ihm’s African-American take
on the Gospel of Luke, entitled “Who’s invited to the cookout?”, and Remembrance
Sunday with former Northern Ireland politician and conflict expert Lord Alderdice.
Reports and College Activities
Summer was a valedictory season in more ways than one. As well as an emotional
farewell service – for departing students and departing Chaplain alike! – the Chapel
hosted a number of memorials for Honorary and Emeritus Fellows: Dr Morrin
Acheson (1925-2020) Emeritus Fellow in Chemistry; Dr Peter Neumann (1940-2020)
Emeritus Fellow in Mathematics; Prof Brian McGuinness (1927-2019) Emeritus Fellow
in Philosophy; and medieval historian the Revd Prof Colin Morris (1928-2021) Old
Member and Honorary Fellow.
The quotation with which I began is most familiar from the funeral service.
A downbeat note, perhaps, after a largely positive year in the life of the Chapel! I am
writing this in drought-stricken August (hopefully long forgotten by the time you read
this) so perhaps I am merely inspired by the yellowing lawn I can see behind my
vicarage in Wantage. But this year has been for me one of beginnings and endings.
The transience of the College community can be a surprising strength – I recall some
of the early changes I made in the Chapel, which I’d never get away with in a parish
full of people who remember how it’s ‘always been done’! But it also demands a
particular grace of letting go.
It has been a joy to see the life of the College and Chapel restored to something
like its pre-pandemic vitality. I’ve also been humbled by how many students and
colleagues have taken the time to express their appreciation for my ministry here.
Now it’s my turn to vacate the Chaplain’s stall once more, and to join the community
of those whose lives have briefly intersected with that of the College, and then gone
their separate ways. All that remains is to thank everyone for five amazing years, and
to assure you of my prayers and blessings for all that is to come.
College Record 2022 | The Queen’s College 45