Author Archives: Wendy Raeside

25 Year Lunch 2016

The annual 25 Year Lunch was held in the Darwin Conference Suite on 20 October, with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow, hosting for the final time before her retirement next year.

At each lunch, the Vice-Chancellor is accompanied (depending on numbers) by her two Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellors and the Director of HR & Organisational Development.

Since 2007, Dame Julia has hosted ten lunches, shaken hands and congratulated 126 members of staff. She has handed out gifts of wine glasses, vases, photo frames and pens and, for those who requested a donation to charity, the University has donated to a total of 48 charities such as Cancer Research, MSF, British Heart Foundation, The Dogs Trust (to name a few).

This year one of the invitees, Dave Pilbeam, Deputy Head Chef, cooked the lunch and then joined in the celebrations once service was over.

The lunch celebrates and recognises the contribution each staff member has made over the years at the University and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all.

Picture shows (from left to right):
Back row
Tim Pryor (Estates), Dr George Conyne (School of History), Julie Martin (SHEU),
Lesley Lawrence (IS Library Collections), Angela Hewlett-Day (SHEU),
Professor John Fitzpatrick (KLS), Alex Watson (Estates)
Middle Row
Sue Casement (Office of the Master of Rutherford), Justine Abernethy (IS Finance),
Judi Rowbotham (IS Training Team), Angie Allen (School of Computing), Laetitia Gullett (EMS),
Nick Swinford (Estates), David Nightingale (Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost)
Front row
Professor David Ayers (School of English), Denise Everitt (Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer), Neil Oliver (Finance Division), Gill Warr (SSPSSR)
Dr Kathy Bennett (Finance Division – Retired), Maddy Withers (Organiser),
Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow (Vice-Chancellor), Dave Pilbeam (Kent Hospitality),
Peter Lee (EDA), Tim Jenkins (IS Requirements), Alison Ross-Green (Director of HR & OD).

The Cuba Scholarship

This is a fantastic opportunity for three to four postgraduate students to travel to Cuba and experience the life and culture of this vibrant island. The award includes flights and a maintenance grant towards accommodation and subsistence while in Cuba between April and May 2017 (final dates to be determined).

The visit will encompass a series of cultural activities in Cuba including visits to Havana and the nearby village of Viñales. The students will work with University staff to build their own itinerary and will be involved in selecting their own accommodation, and will potentially be accompanied by a University donor.

Full details, and how to apply, are available on our Scholarship webpages.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 20 November 2016.

Medway Staff Briefing now online

The latest issue of Medway Staff Briefing is now available online.

Features in the 28 October 2016 issue include:

Review of the Medway Learning & Teaching Festival
A link to art and music events organised by the School of Music and Fine Art
Services offered by the Sports Ready Clinic
Let’s Play activities – including yoga sessions – available at Medway campus.

The next issue of Medway Staff Briefing will be published on Friday 17 February 2017. Please submit copy to Denise Flockhart, PA to Vice-Chancellor (Medway), by Friday 3 February 2017.

John Doe Trio releases album under SMFA’s Foundry Studio recording contract

The John Doe Trio, an exciting Kent based three piece blues-rock band, is the first band to release an album under the School of Music and Fine Art’s Foundry Studio recording contract. The album Stranger is now available on iTunes, Amazon, HMV, and Spotify.

Based in the Chatham Historic Dockyard, The Foundry provides flagship music industry-standard facilities for the degree programmes, containing a 5.1 Control Room with a collection of outboard gear, a Live Room and Vocal Booth, with the studio designed by DACS Audio, who have over 25 years of field experience in Studio Design, Audio Installation, and Acoustic Treatment.

Phil Marsh, the School’s Technical Manager said: ‘The foundry recording contract is a unique collaborative opportunity for artists to access the high end recording facilities and staff expertise that the school offers.’

Studio engineer Frank Walker added: ‘Being able to use the foundry gave us the flexibility to capture the authentic John Doe Trio sound. Recording a band of this calibre made full use of the studio and I was really pleased with the results.’

The band have been receiving glowing reports from the blues radio and online fraternity for their debut album. As well as traditional blues and blues-rock, the album combines influences of funk, bluegrass and jazz in the creation of a truly exciting sound. After an extremely successful launch night at one of Kent’s premier regular live music venues, the band intend to follow up the release of Stranger with a number of high profile live shows over the next twelve months.

For further information go to www.johndoeblues.co.uk , www.facebook.com/johndoeblues or twitter @johndoeblues.

Day trip to Bruges on 19 November

For the 15th year running, the Chaplaincy has organised a day trip to the beautiful city of Bruges in Belgium.

Bruges was one of the cradles of the Northern European Renaissance, and has many cultural as well as retail attractions.

Our visit is on Saturday 19 November, with an early departure from Canterbury campus. Travel is by coach and Channel Tunnel. Seats, available to students and staff, are £30, and you are free to spend the time in Bruges as you wish.

Please contact s.c.e.laird@kent.ac.uk or p.j.geldard@kent.ac.uk for tickets or further information.

Music 1914-18: An exhibition by Dr Emma Hanna

This exhibition, on music in the period 1914-18, shows how integral music was and is to the history and memory of the First World War. During the conflict music was an important component in recruitment, fund raising and the maintenance of both civilian and military morale.

Music in all its forms was of course an established feature of everyday life, and the importance of music and all kinds of entertainments intensified during the course of the conflict. The elite musical scene in Britain became ever more internationalised, although the rising number of foreign musicians moving into local house orchestras was a cause of some concern to musicians’ unions.

That the fighting fronts were full of music and humour may come as a surprise. While Britain’s modern memory of the First World War is dominated by mud and loss, the history of music 1914-18 shows us that in the midst of so much fear and death there was a great deal of life. Music of all kinds connected servicemen back to the sound worlds of comfort, family and friends. Through music the soldiers were reminded of the homes for which they were fighting.

But it’s not all about bawdy music hall ditties and marching songs. Music and musicians were implicated in espionage plots; after 1915 bugle calls were used to guard civilians’ public safety after Zeppelin raids; orchestras provided cover for prisoners of war to escape from German prison camps. Music would also have therapeutic uses both for wounded servicemen and for the comfort of the bereaved in the war’s aftermath.

This exhibition gives a taste of research in progress by Dr Emma Hanna into the provision of musical entertainments in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for a forthcoming monograph Music and Morale in the British Armed Forces, 1914-18. It demonstrates that music of all kinds was omnipresent on the home and fighting fronts during the war years and its aftermath, and the power of music to cajole, console, educate and inspire was unmatched by any other medium.

Music 1914-18 will be on display in the Colyer-Fergusson Gallery at the University of Kent from Tuesday 8 November until Thursday 24 November 2016. It will feature alongside a First World War lunchtime concert organised with the Music Department on Friday 11 November.

Find out more about the Gateways to the First World War project at http://www.gatewaysfww.org.uk/ .

SMFA lecturer and singer on BBC R3

School of Music and Fine Art Assistant Lecturer in Music Performance and freelance classical singer, Sarah Dacey, is performing live with Juice Vocal Ensemble on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Open Ear’ concert.

The concert takes place at St John-at-Hackney, London E5, on Friday 4 November from 19.30. The programme includes a new song of Sarah’s called ‘Poetree’.

Tickets are free but you have to apply in advance via the BBC webpages.

Antonio da Silva on ‘Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures’

Dr Antonio da Silva, Language Coordinator in Portuguese in the Department of Modern Languages, is to take part in a post-screening talk as part of the ‘Journey’s in Brazilian Cinema’ season at the Embassy of Brazil, London, on Wednesday 2 November at 18.30.
The talk, with Dr Natalia Pinazza (Birkbeck, University of London), follows the screening of Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (dir. Marcelo Gomes, 2005). The film is set in 1942 in the middle of north-eastern Brazil, in which two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.

Although their personalities and lives are worlds apart, the two men develop a deep friendship, as Johan, in an effort to provide Ranulpho with job skills, teaches him to run the film projector, and drive a truck. In this deliberately paced road film, Marcelo Gomes reminds us that war is as close as Johan’s radio, broadcasting its relentless warnings that all lives are changed when the world is in conflict.

Further information on all the screenings is available at: http://londres.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/cineclub_brazil.xml.

Please RSVP to culturalbrazil.rsvp@gmail.com, mentioning the session(s) you would like to attend.

Postgraduate study – Open Event

Are you considering postgraduate study either for career progression or personal interest?

If so, come to Kent’s postgraduate Open Event on Saturday 26 November, 10.00-13.00 in Darwin to find out more. We will have the latest information about the new £10,000 loans for Master’s and you may also be eligible for a staff discount on your fees.

Most of Kent’s programmes are available part-time and there are also some taught online and at weekends too and all Kent’s UK and EU locations will be represented.

Find out more about the Open Event on the University website.

Ticket offer for Cricket Club fireworks

Kent County Cricket Club is offering University staff and students discounted tickets for its Firework Night on Saturday 5 November.

The Firework Night takes place at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence – doors open at 17.00, entertainment (hosted by KMFM’s Laura Nevitt) starts at 17.15 and the fireworks display will be at 19.15.

Discounted ticket prices available in advance are: Adults – £5, juniors (aged 2-14), £2.50 and family (two adults, two juniors), £12.50. Visit Kent Cricket Shop to book your tickets now, using the promo code UKC2016 (e-ticket only, discounted tickets must be purchased by 17.00 on Friday 4 November).