Sir Ivor and Lady Crewe

A year after planned events were curtailed, as so many were by the pandemic, College was finally able to say its goodbyes and offer its thanks to Sir Ivor and Lady Crewe after 12 years’ of Mastership.

The weekend began mercifully dry despite forecast storms, with Sir Ivor and Lady Crewe hosting 2020 Leavers’ drinks on the Goodhart Lawn. This was followed by a full afternoon of refreshments and entertainment, with the string quartet of the Martlet Ensemble (Caroline Balding, Ruth Ehrlich, Vanessa McNaught, Richard Tunnicliffe) even playing beyond their allotted time to accommodate further dancing from the children in attendance.

The Martlet Ensemble

The morning of Sunday 25 July started with a series of tours organised for attendees. A literary tour of Oxford for Old Members was led by Alastair Lack (1964, History), presenter, producer, editor and manager for over 27 years for the BBC World Service; whilst College Archivist, Dr Robin Darwall-Smith (1982, Classics), entertained and informed others with a tour of Univ itself. Meanwhile, at Staverton, College’s Development Director, Gordon Cox, ran tours of the Univ North site.

From noon, a hog roast was underway in the gardens at Stavs, with accompanying jazz from singer Olivia Williams, backed by Harry Baker (piano), Joseph Bradley (bass) and Oren McLoughlin (drums). A relaxed afternoon for friends, family and colleagues, on the site of Univ North, set to be one of Sir Ivor’s most spectacular legacies.

Three Univ Masters: Lord Butler of Brockwell (1998–2008), Baroness Amos (2020-), Sir Ivor Crewe (2008–2020)

Baroness Amos, Master of Univ since 2020, thanked Sir Ivor for leaving her a project so well managed and one that is, “really about the future of Univ as a College, that links into the university’s own expansion, and is very much about becoming an even more exciting College with two key centres.”

In his farewell speech Sir Ivor said: “The best is yet to come! Most students who come to Univ in the future will have an experience of two different Univ settings, the college on the High and here at Univ North.”

He also expressed his pride in other areas of the College’s development during his Mastership, including the Graduate Scholarship Programme and the launch, in 2016, of the Opportunity Programme, which has since evolved into Opportunity Oxford. He further noted: “The expansion of the College’s fellowship including the consolidation of humanities and the opening up of the College to very senior researchers, particularly on the science side and in particular for women scientists.”

Sir Ivor at Stavs

He concluded, “Being Master of the College was a great honour, a source of enormous pride and, I have to say, we had a great time! The most enjoyable, fulfilling and satisfying 12 years of our lives. Univ is a wonderful college, we will keep in very close touch with it, and we wish it well.”

Our thanks to all those who helped made the weekend such an enormous success despite challenging circumstances and to all those who attended.

And, of course, our heartfelt thanks to Sir Ivor and Lady Crewe for their commitment, drive and ambition during their tenure at Univ. We wish them all the very best.