New Hall Society Committee

If you are interested in becoming more involved with the New Hall Society, why not join the Committee? The Committee meets in College four times a year to discuss ideas for events and publications, and also has input into the fundraising activities organised by the Development Office. Further details.

The Committee consist of 4 officers (namely, the Chairman, the Honorary Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer and the Administrator) and not more than 12 members representing all New Hall Society members. Appointment is for 3 years and Committee members shall retire annually by rotation. Retiring members shall be eligible for re-election. The Committee has the right to co-opt for a year at a time.

Committee Members 2010-2011

• Chair: Mrs Joy Richardson (1967) "I studied History and have since followed a career in primary teaching, teacher training and educational consultancy. I returned to Cambridge to live after many years away, and have since enjoyed reconnecting with the College and supporting the alumnae network through the work of the New Hall Society. I am also the 1967 Year Rep."
• Hon. Secretary: Kate Love (Interim Development Manager)
• Hon. Treasurer: Ms Paola Morris (Bursar)
• Administrator: Lauren Withall (Development Officer)
• Ms Misbah Arif (1999) Misbah read Part II Genetics but sorely missed the Neuroscience element of Part Ib Physiology, so went on to UCL to read an MSc in Natural Sciences, followed by an MPhil in the same subject as she sought to become a mad professor. However, in between she spent a life-changing 6 months as a VSO volunteer in Accrington and Sri Lanka. The plan changed and after two years of Teach First, which was meant to be a career-change bridge to the charity sector, she found her true calling as a teacher. Now in her fourth year of teaching she is at Parliament Hill School whose ethos closely reflects that of New Hall's and she loves it. In her spare time she is a yogi, runner and avid book reader and is always up for trying new things, at least once.
• Dr Camilla Bhakri (2001) Camilla studied medicine at New Hall, matriculating in 2001. Since qualifying in 2006 she has been based in the Cambridge area, currently living near Ely. She is about halfway through the Cambridge GP training scheme and looking forward to being free of the interminable exams soon! Camilla had a great time at New Hall, making many lifelong friends as well as being superbly educated. She joined the committee recently in an effort to try to stay in touch with the college and hopefully to be able to give something back.
• Mrs Claudia Bray (1993) Claudia read German and French at New Hall and was involved with the New Hall Music Society. She went on to King's College, London to do her PGCE and has been teaching languages at secondary school level ever since. Initially she stayed on in London, however once the opportunity to return to Cambridge came up, she jumped at the chance. No longer at the mercy of London transport, she enjoys cycling everywhere. Now she is Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Perse Girls and The Stephen Perse Sixth Form College in Cambridge. Married to an outdoor expedition leader, much time is spent travelling and trekking. Recently travels have been closer to home since the arrival of their son Leo. However, there is a continued interest and involvement with musical activities.
• Dr Abbe Brown (1989) Abbe read Law at New Hall from 1989-1992. Abbe worked as a solicitor, specialising in Commercial, Intellectual Property and Competition litigation in London, Australia and Edinburgh. She then made the big jump back to academia, and gained a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, investigating the relationship between intellectual property, competition and human rights. In 2006, Abbe was made a Lecturer in Information Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh. Abbe married Robbie (Pembroke, 1989) in 1993, and has 2 sons, Hamish (born 2002) and Ross (born 2004), and now lives in Aberdeen. Abbe has very happy memories of her time at New Hall, has been sustained by the friendships she made there, and welcomes the chance to give something back.
• Mrs Jane Evans (1965) Jane read Archaeology & Anthropology (Part II Social Anthropology). She embarked on a PhD in Management Studies, which she abandoned in favour of going to Papua New Guinea with her husband. Not tempted by the anthropological opportunities, she worked in arts administration. Three years later the family moved to the Philippines, where Jane studied painting at the Chinese Artists Guild and the Philippine Chinese Art Center. Returning to Cambridge in the late 1970s, Jane became a painter and teacher of painting. She has exhibited widely in one-woman and group shows and runs classes and workshops in Britain and abroad. Her books and articles have played a major role in popularising Chinese painting techniques in Europe and the USA. Jane is married to Martin Evans (St John's, 1963) and has two adult children and two grandchildren. Jane is the Year Rep for 1965.
• Dr Wing-Sze Vanessa Ho (1997) Vanessa studied Natural Sciences and read Part II Pharmacology. Wanting to stay in science and Cambridge, she completed a PhD in vascular pharmacology under the supervision of Dr Robin Hiley. She continued her post-doctoral research in USA (Milwaukee) and the UK (Nottingham), and took up a lectureship at St George's University of London in 2008. She enjoys get-togethers with friends, reading and travelling particularly her adventures in Peru, Bolivia and Egypt. Recently, she has also taken up boxing and, tentatively, poetry!
• Tessa Kilvington-Shaw (1970) Tessa read Natural Sciences (Part II Materials Science) and stayed on in Cambridge to do research for a PhD in Metallurgy. She decided after two years that it wasn't for her and went as a VSO to teach Maths and Physics in Nigeria. From there she resumed academic research and completed a multidisciplinary study for a PhD at Edinburgh University on Hydro-electric Power Development in Brazil. A career as a technical journalist and PR executive followed. These days she is very busy as an adult and youth magistrate in Cambridge, on numerous committees and also presenting to schools. She has recently joined a hospital manager panel undertaking reviews of patients detained under the mental health act. The birth of two children curtailed her more adventurous travel but she can claim to have hitch-hiked across the Sahara Desert and travelled up the Amazon River on a local boat sleeping in a hammock! Her current hobbies include singing, gardening, tennis and amateur dramatics.
• Dr Eleanor O'Gorman (1991) Eleanor came to New Hall as a PhD student in the faculty of Social and Political Sciences, where she wrote her thesis on the liberation war in Zimbabwe based on the oral histories of women. This inspired a move into international development work. Her career has included teaching at the University of East Anglia (Norwich), working as a Senior Policy Adviser with the UN in New York and Brussels, and undertaking numerous missions to conflict zones including Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, and Sri Lanka. She is now back in Cambridge working as a freelance strategist and researcher on international conflict and development issues. She is Senior Associate at the new Centre for Gender Studies and Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies. New Hall has been a constant support and reflection of the international and humanitarian values that inspire her. Her free time is dedicated to friends, yoga, and poetry.
• Yvonne Gruendler (1999) Yvonne read Natural Sciences (Part II Pathology) and worked in media (publishing, radio and TV) upon graduating. Her interest in HIV took her to Scotland and Nigeria with VSO, and subsequently ended in working for a HIV charity and the GTZ (German Technical Aid). Following her MSc at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in Reproductive & Sexual Health Research, she entered the UK's National Health Service, working in strategic development. She is embarking on a MBA at INSEAD, and hopes that she will be fortunate enough to keep learning throughout her life. Having travelled to six continents, Yvonne aims to head to the Antarctic with the next few years. In the meantime, she enjoys singing, writing, and dancing her way through the rest of the world.
• Dr Irenka Suto (1996) "I studied Natural Sciences at New Hall, reading Part II Psychology in my final year. As a student I enjoyed playing the violin in College concerts and had a go at hockey from time to time. I've yet to uproot myself from Cambridge, and since doing a PhD and Post-doctoral research in the psychiatry department, I've become a researcher in the field of educational assessment."

Co-opted:

• Dr Janet Moore (Emeritus Fellow) "Janet is an anomaly, and not only in using direct speech. Firstly I could not come to New Hall as a student because in 1944 it did not exist so I went to Newnham; secondly, after my PhD I spent 12 years "doing nothing" i.e. enjoying our three children and the pleasure of living in Dorset, where my husband Norman worked in the Nature Conservancy. Most anomalous of all, when his job took us back to Cambridge, I then, once the children were a bit older, got back to work in the Zoology Department - it was easier then and I was lucky, my research supervisor, Dr Pantin, was very kind. Work had to be different: one can be cook and bottle-washer to young children or to developing hydroids, but not both. My work stopped at 3pm when I collected the children from three schools and drove home to Swavesey.

  Then I was lucky: the Department wanted someone to work on nemertine worms and that fitted; also I found that I loved supervising. At New Hall, Yvette Spencer Booth sadly died. She had been the College Director of Studies for Biological Sciences; Rosemary Murray invited me to take her place and I lived happily ever after."

• Elizabeth Waldram (1955) Elizabeth has been co-opted to represent alumnae from the very earliest years of New Hall.