From the Master

Information Session on Catering in 2010
I know that you are aware that we’ve put the New College catering out to tender for 2010. This includes both a new revised food offering as well as the new café and a more flexible food option.  I would be happy to meet with residents tonight to give an update on where this is up to as well as some of the ideas for the food offering and the catering plan next year.

I will be available in the 4th Floor Meeting Room North from 7.30pm.  I hope to see some of you there.

Thank You

As this will be our last newsletter for the year I wanted to pay a special tribute to many people.  First I want to thank the RA team.  This wonderful group of people has served the College faithfully all year. I want to offer special thanks to Christine for leadership of the team.

Another great thing about New College is also the fantastic team of Academic Tutors. Thank you James for leading the group as well as tutoring maths at times!  Thank you to this faithful group.

I also want to thank the staff of the College and Scolarest for their service to the college community.  The staff is critical to sustaining this wonderful College community. I’ve appreciated the way that residents have tried to work with staff to make New College such a great place.

I also want to thank Andrew and the NCSA Exec for the great job that they’ve done this year.

Finally, I want to say farewell to James (again!). He’ll be around until the end of December, but I want to acknowledge once again how much we’ll miss him, and the incredible contribution that the Pietsch family has made to New College. Please make sure that you take the chance to say goodbye before you leave.

Best wishes for Christmas and 2010
I want to offer my best wishes to all residents leaving us in 2009. Please stay in touch with the College. Make sure that you submit your new address details and that you update your address as you move again in the future.

I hope that everyone has a special Christmas.  As you know, at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus some 2,000 years ago.  This birth would hardly have been note-worthy but for the life he led and his death and resurrection. Some dispute this, but millions believe it and have committed their lives to following this man who claimed also to be God. The Bible is the place to go to consider his claim that he was the Son of God, the testimony of hundreds that he rose to life and his promise that he will come again.  

Consider who Jesus was (and is!) this Christmas.  C.S. Lewis has famously stated that if you read the Bible you can only conclude that Jesus was one of three things, a lunatic, a liar or Lord. For me it is the latter, what about you? Please reflect upon this at Christmas.

I hope that you will have a wonderful Christmas.  I will look forward to seeing many of you again next year. If you’re leaving, don’t forget to call in to visit friends and don’t forget to pay a visit to the office, we like to see you when come back as well. 

From the Dean

Room inspections
As part of ensuring that every room is ready for residents next year, Mick will be checking rooms to make sure each room has the correct furniture. He will be doing this over the next week after 10 am on each day. The timetable for checking on different rooms will be:

1st floor – Wed (11/11/09) and Thurs (12/11/09)
2nd floor – Fri (13/11/09) and Mon (16/11/09)
3rd floor – Tues (17/11/09) and Wed (18/11/09)
4th floor – Thur (19/11/09) and Fri (20/11/09)

If there is some reason why you would prefer Mick not to check your room during these times, you will need to discuss this with me so I can let Mick know before the scheduled day.

Exit interviews
While I do have a lot of interviews at the moment for next year I would like to invite current residents to arrange an exit interview before you go – particularly if there is something that you think could be improved in College next year.

Farewell
This is the last time I will write something in the weekly notices - just another reminder that my time here is almost over. Thank you to everyone for your best wishes for the future – to the parents who have sent me letters, residents who have spoken to me about their time here, and to the members of staff who I have had the pleasure of working closely with over the past seven years.

Thank you most of all to Margie who has supported me working late hours, being out at various social events, counselling people in our living room, being called out at all hours to deal with emergencies and responding to many, many fire alarms. As well as supporting me, there are many in the community who have benefited first hand from her care and concern and I appreciate the way that she has worked with me in supporting members of this community.  Our family has had a fairly unique experience living in a place like New College for so long and I know that our children – every one of them, will be grateful in years to come for the time they had at New College. It is not every child who has the chance to interact firsthand with such a group of amazing young people and I am very conscious of what a privilege this has been for our whole family.

New College is a community that has benefited greatly from Trevor’s leadership over the past seven years and no doubt will continue to do so into the future. As Ben Gooley joins the staff next year to work closely with Trevor and the resident community, I have every confidence that it will go on being a great place for residents into the future.

Have a great time over the break relaxing with friends and family (maybe also earning some money working as well). I look forward to keeping in touch with people and hearing all about New College in 2010.