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50 Years of Women at Cuth’s

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In October 1969 St Cuthbert’s Society admitted eight women students, after much debate in the Junior Common Room (JCR).

The Principal, Professor Leslie Brooks, was enthusiastic, but some JCR members thought it would be the end of civilization! No Durham (or Oxbridge) college was mixed at the time.


No Durham (or Oxbridge) college was mixed at the time.

No Durham (or Oxbridge) college was mixed at the time. The pioneers were given their own common room in House 8 on the Bailey, and some female lecturers were invited to join the SCR. In October 1970 thirty more women were admitted, and by 1971 there were 77. In 1974 Miss R Dobbie was elected JCR President; since then there have been ten more female Presidents, most recently five in a row, and two have gone on to be Student Union President (Millie Tanner and Megan Croll).

This year Cuth’s is celebrating the history of women in the Society in a variety of ways. At a reception in London in November 2019, alumnae/i from every decade gathered. One of the 1969 entrants, Barbara Glazier (now Keen – she married a Cuth’s man), and the 1969 JCR President, Peter Taylor, spoke about their time at Cuth’s, as did some women from the mid-70s, and also Millie and Megan. All Formals this year have begun with an Inspiring Woman Speaker, including a representative of St Cuthbert’s Hospice; Fiona Ellis, former College Council Chair and member of University Council; SCR member Dr Fiona Gameson, blind from the age of three, who inspired our popular Dining in the Dark Formals; and former President Catriona May, now a social worker in London.

 

 

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