Past Events

Live Zoom with Dr Sue Stuart-Smith

6:00pm

Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind, a Sunday Times Bestseller. She studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor and working in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire.

She currently teaches at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London and is a consultant at DocHealth, a not for profit, psychotherapeutic consultation service for doctors. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer, and, over thirty years together, they have created the wonderful Barn Garden in Hertfordshire.

Her talk, centered on her book, The Well Gardened Mind, analyses the relationship between gardening and mental health.

Emma Connects: Children's Activity - Easter Puzzle

• Easter Puzzle.pdf

• Easter Puzzle Answers.pdf

Virtual Drinks Tasting with Fever Tree

6:00pm

Entrepreneurs Ideation Workshop

6:00pm

We’re continuing to explore how we can better serve entrepreneurs among our members, and this was another opportunity to have a direct influence on our plans.

During this one hour workshop we:

• shared our findings from the recent survey
• used these as inspiration for a few short creative exercises
• worked together to develop a number of ideas that could support entrepreneurship

Gathering of Members (1989 - 1991)

Emma Gives - Virtual Quiz

8:00pm

Intellectual Property Law Lecture

Emma Enables: big conversations - How can we create a fair and inclusive society?

6:00pm

This academic year, we are holding a discussion each term to explore some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for the world today. Our first was on Wednesday 25 November at 6pm, on How can we build for the future?

This term we focused on the question, How can we create a fair and inclusive society? 

The discussion was led by a panel, including: Simon Levine (1984), member of the board for the Office of Students, Sally Hamour (1993), a nephrologist who has worked with Target Medicine, Dr Corinna Russell (2003), Admissions Tutor who spoke about College Access initiatives, Alex Govan (2nd year Engineering), ECSU Access Officer and Akshata Kapoor (1st year English), ECSU Racial Equalities Officer. 

It was great to see so many of our members join us and share their thoughts and experiences!

Live Zoom with Dr Alan Baker - The Personality of Nineteenth Century Paris

6:00pm

Dr Alan Baker joined us on Zoom for this special talk exploring Paris of the nineteenth century.

Individual people have complex personalities, sharing some features with others but also possessing some uniquely blended characteristics. So, too, do towns and cities. The personality of nineteenth-century Paris has often been encapsulated in just three words, such as 'Capital of Fashion' or 'Capital of Pleasure' and most frequently as 'City of Light'. Alan's talk digs beneath such simplistic descriptions to reveal the complexity of the landscape and society of Paris during the long nineteenth century from 1789 to 1914.

After briefly considering the city's medieval and early-modern legacy, his talk examined the city's population explosion and the role of migration in the making of Parisians. The talk then looked at the construction and use of green spaces to burnish its appearance. He concludes by assessing the impact of wars, revolutions and the hubris of twentieth-century politicians and architects on the signature landscape of nineteenth-century Paris: assassination or just self-harm?

Emmanuel Society Book Group Zoom

8:00pm

John Harvey, novelist and erstwhile Director of Studies in English, recommended Elmore Leonard’s Killshot as our book for this term and very kindly lead our Zoom discussion. His view of it?  A "really a good novel and a good read …… funny sometimes as well as interesting and sometimes shocking.”

The Times said “he puts pen to paper and something magical pops out”, and The Observer “A genuine sense of the dangerous edge of things which induces frenzied page-turning.” It’s easily available online, for instance on Abe Books. 

You’ve heard it suggested that Canadians might be worthy, dull and boring? The Blackbird aka Armand Degas, part Quebecois part Ojibway, blows that idea out of the St Lawrence!

Live Zoom with Jeremy Musson 'College Colours: Exploring the historic decorative schemes of Emmanuel College'

6:00pm

'College Colours: Exploring the historic decorative schemes of Emmanuel College from the late seventeenth century to the late twentieth century' by Jeremy Musson M Phil, FSA, and Patrick Baty FSA, FRSA, FBIID.

Jeremy Musson spoke on recent research into the historic schemes of decoration of the principal rooms of the College - based on archival evidence and reference to contemporary practice - and Patrick Baty spoke to us on supporting and clarifying this research through microscopic analysis of select paint samples, which has helped date these schemes and identify the particular colours used in different periods.

Online Swiss Chess Tournament

Emma Connects: Children's Activity- Snow Maze Puzzle

• Emmanuel Snow Maze.pdf

Virtual Screening of Foster Boy followed by Q&A with Producer Peter Samuelson (1970)

7:00pm

We were very privileged that our member and film producer Peter Samuelson arranged a special screening of his award-winning film Foster Boy. Exploring corruption in the US foster system, the film follows the pursuit of justice for a young man, imprisoned after years in for-profit foster care.  The film was extremely powerful, and we had an interesting Q&A session afterwards.

After reading English at Emma, Peter was production manager on films such as The Return of the Pink Panther. He then emigrated to Los Angeles and produced Revenge of the Nerds, Tom & Viv, Wilde, Arlington Road and 20 other films. Peter is also a philanthropist and amongst his charities he co-founded First Star www.firststaruk.org, to improve the public health, safety, and family life of America’s abused and neglected children. From this developed First Star Academies, which provide four-year high school programmes for foster youth on university campuses in the US, and which are now expanding into the U