Legacy Pledger Kathryn Moore on the circular nature of giving

 

Kathryn Moore (BA 2005) has fond memories of sitting in the quad at Wills Hall in the summer sunshine, with her fellow students of English at the end of term. While everyone else was busy with exams, Kathryn and her classmates could enjoy some freedom as the university year ended because at that time, English students were continually assessed throughout the year, rather than having an intense period of exams at the end. Like many of our alumni, Kathryn is still in close contact with the friends she met while studying, and is a regular visitor back to the city.

‘Studying at Bristol was such a happy time in my life. I picked a subject I really enjoyed and met like-minded people wherever I went – on my course, in halls and in the various societies.’ (more…)

Legacy Pledger Alastair Hodge believes in giving back

Barrister Alastair Hodge (LLB 1996) is determined that those following in his footsteps will benefit from everything his Bristol education afforded him, by pledging a gift in his Will to the University.

Graduating with a degree in law & german, Alastair went on to take the Bar Vocational Course, followed by his one-year pupillage, and today is a successful barrister working in London. Alastair regularly returns to Bristol to speak to current law students and offer career advice, something he says he benefited from when he was a student. “If I derive a benefit from something I always try to give back,” says Alastair. “I love to see the enthusiasm of students when I come back to give talks, all those interested and expectant faces in the audience.” (more…)

Legator Dr Marett looks back while planning ahead

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Dr Valerie Marett MBE, (BA 1950, Cert Ed 1951) 93, has crystal clear memories of her time at Bristol, where she took up her place to read History in 1947, not long after the end of the second world war.

Resplendent in a bright sweater which was a gift from her late husband (Dr Marett refuses to wear the ‘uniform’ of a white cardigan, which is prevalent in her residential home) she tells us of her time at Bristol.

Dr Marett came to Bristol from a state grammar school in her native Wales and found herself surrounded by ex-service personnel and pupils of independent schools. She liked Bristol because it wasn’t the University of Wales where other members of her family had gone. At that time her halls of residence (Manor Hall) were female-only, headed by the warden Miss Morgan. Because of the austere conditions in post-war UK, she vividly recalls the gasps from her fellow students when one young woman appeared ready for a ball in a Christian Dior New Look dress, glowing from her holiday on a film star’s Caribbean yacht. Dr Marett appreciated the supportive atmosphere at Manor Hall, as at that time only 5% of the student population was female. For her, the drama students and those involved in their productions were the life and soul of the University at that time, in particular a Gerald Lloyd-Williams (Sub Lt), who had served in the navy during the war.

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Championing PhD research

(c) David Pratt

Lucy Parnall, Head of Bristol Doctoral College and Research Strategy, illustrates the way legacy gifts have helped PhD students during the pandemic.

Part of my role as the Head of Bristol Doctoral College is to enhance the experience of postgraduate researchers and to make sure our PhD students have a positive time at Bristol. We run the PGR Hub, a dedicated space for postgraduate researchers to meet up with colleagues and attend training sessions. We also work to equip our students with the skills and experience they need to be successful during and beyond their PhDs, in academia and in other careers.

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A Bristol life: Dr John Reeks (MA 2010, PhD 2015)

For over 12 years Dr John Reeks has been a part of the University of Bristol: first as an MA student, then as a PhD researcher and now as a lecturer in the Department of History. Here he tells us more about what makes the University such a special place for him.

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You’re expanding postgraduate opportunities

Olivia sits on a beach smiling at the camera. She is wearing an orange top and dark trousers

Olivia Kinsman was able to take up a place at the University of Bristol this year having been awarded the Keil Scholarship, which supports PhD students in the Department of History.

I can remember taking my A-levels and knowing how much I wanted to go to university. Even then I knew that eventually I wanted to do a PhD. I’m from a single parent household with a low income and there are lots of us in the family, so growing up was really challenging at times. I’ve always been determined that I wasn’t going to let my background or finances get in the way of what I wanted to do – even if that meant saving up until I was 50 to do my PhD. For me, applying for scholarships and being proactive about reaching out for financial assistance has been really important.

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Alumnus legacy gift helps acquire stunning manuscript leaf

With help from a generous bequest by the late Anthony John Edwards (BA 1952), the University Library’s Special Collections has acquired a beautiful manuscript leaf from a thirteenth-century Latin Bible. The manuscript almost certainly originated from Glastonbury Abbey, one of the greatest Benedictine monasteries in medieval England. Alumnus Mr Edwards was a History graduate who went on to become the first librarian of Canterbury Christ Church University.

Abbeys played a key role, alongside universities, in the growth of higher education in the thirteenth century and beyond and Glastonbury was especially famous for its vast library of books and manuscripts. When King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the abbey in 1539 and the execution of its Abbot on Glastonbury Tor, the library and its contents were destroyed, dispersed or sold.

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Theatre alumnus’ work lives on: the Kevin Elyot in memoriam award 2020

Kevin Elyot Archive at Bristol's Theatre Collection
Part of the Kevin Elyot archive

We are delighted with the announcement of Lucy Bell as the 2020 recipient of the Kevin Elyot Award for writer-in-residence at Bristol’s Theatre Collection. The award will support Lucy in creating a new dramatic work inspired by Elyot’s archive, which was donated to the Theatre Collection by his sister following his death in 2014. The archive comprises scripts, correspondence, manuscripts and publicity material, detailing Elyot’s working process from initial idea to finished product.

The Award is an annual award of £3,000 made in memory of Department of Theatre alumnus Kevin Elyot (1951-2014), and the influence he has had on writing and the arts. It has been generously funded by an endowment gift given to the University of Bristol by Kevin’s family.

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2019 Kevin Elyot Award winner announced

We are delighted to announce Erdem Avşar as the 2019 recipient of the Kevin Elyot Award for writer-in-residence at Bristol’s Theatre Collection.


Erdem Avşar is an international playwright, translator and lecturer who holds a master’s degree in Human Rights. His work as a playwright is political and often poetic in its language. He is fascinated with form and style and with the idea of queering dramatic realms and structures.

Erdem was selected to Royal Court Theatre’s International New Writing Scheme where he completed his play Dark Pink under the supervision of Zinnie Harris, Mark Ravenhill and Richard Twyman. His other political plays include his short play #occupylove (showcased at the Traverse Theatre as part of the TravNewTalents event Words, Words, Words), #politicsoftea (accepted to National Theatre of Scotland’s “Yes, No, Don’t Know” festival, co-curated by David Greig and David MacLennan) and The Contestant (opened at the Quartieri dell’Arte festival in Italy last year).

Erdem won the EU Collective Plays! International Playwriting Competition co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme. After a series of writing residencies in Italy, he wrote a polyvocal play, the Boy with Scar, in collaboration with three other playwrights. The play premiered at the 22nd Quartieri dell’Arte festival and it had a multinational cast and creatives from Italy, England, Northern Ireland, Turkey and Benin.

His translations of three Zinnie Harris plays premiered at DOT Theatre, Istanbul. His translation of Midwinter was listed in the 2017 Honours List of Eurodram – Network for Drama in Translation. He has recently won the University of Glasgow’s Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith PhD Scholarship for a research on queer theatre as political intervention. He is also a UNESCO RILA Affiliate Artist, a network of artists that work within the realm of refugee integration through languages and the arts. Erdem grew up in Istanbul and is based in Glasgow and Istanbul.

On receiving the good news from Jo Elsworth (Director: Theatre Collection, Faculty of Arts and Director of Cultural Collections – Secondment, Library Services) Erdem had this to say:

Thank you very much, once again, for this amazing news and I am grateful to everyone who considered my application worthy of this brilliant award. Sometimes a wonderful news gains even more significance. I am currently in Istanbul and it was heartbreaking to witness another Pride march being violently attacked last week. Since then I have been struggling to think of new ways of creating something that mattered, a work that could have an impact. And I must admit that things looked quite bleak. Then I received your phone call – a huge encouragement, excitement, and hope, that came at such a perfect time. I am absolutely delighted. I cannot wait to join you in Bristol and start discovering (and devouring!) Elyot’s materials in the archive.

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The Kevin Elyot Award is an annual award of £3,000 given to support a writer-in-residence at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. It is made in memory of Kevin Elyot (1951-2014) – an alumnus of the University Drama Department – and the influence he has had on writing and the Arts. It is hoped that the award will enable a writer to be inspired by his work and help them develop their own practice. The Kevin Elyot Archive is held at the Theatre Collection, and comprises scripts, correspondence, manuscript and publicity material detailing Elyot’s working process from initial idea to finished product. The Theatre Collection is one of the world’s largest archives of British theatre history and Live Art and is an accredited museum and international research facility open to all.

The award has been generously funded by a gift given to the University by members of Kevin’s family. The award will support a promising writer, practitioner or scholar to begin the process of creating a new written work. The award holder will use the Kevin Elyot Archive as well as other holdings within the Theatre Collection to inspire a new dramatic work or other creative or academic outcome.