It is thanks to Churchill College – and in large part to the late Dr Colin Campbell – that Philippa Comber and Barrie Hesketh first met. This was in January 1985. Their initial encounter, a conversation over cups of tea in Philippa’s set of rooms, proved serendipitous: they were kindred spirits. And thirty-six years later, still talking….

Was this down to coincidence? Only later did it become apparent that there had been other forces at work, notably the good offices of Colin Campbell, Senior Tutor of the College from 1975 to 1985. 

In 1978, Colin and his wife were on holiday on the Isle of Mull. One evening, they went to the theatre. The Mull Little Theatre was the brainchild of two actors, London-trained, Barrie and Marianne Hesketh; now into its twelfth year and thriving. It operated on a shoe-string – a case of single-minded dedication, hard graft and sheer ingenuity on the part of the Heskeths.  As Barrie would put it, “the imaginative use of everything and nothing”.

Colin was so impressed by what he’d witnessed the previous evening, he returned next morning to ask the Heskeths if they’d accept an invitation to come to Cambridge and spend a term in his College as Fellow Commoners.

That same summer, the couple were faced with a challenge of another sort: Marianne was diagnosed with cancer and required major surgery, followed by radiotherapy. With Marianne still in recovery, the Heskeths arrived in Churchill for the Michaelmas Term 1979. They wasted no time involving themselves in College life, Barrie directing a student production of Karel Capek’s The Insect Play. Other projects included research into actor-audience interaction using video recordings; and arranging a cabaret-style happening at the Christmas Feast in the Dining Hall – by all accounts, joyfully subversive!

In April 1984, after a protracted struggle with the cancer, Marianne died. On receiving this news, Colin Campbell responded with typical generosity, suggesting that Barrie take time out from Mull and come back to Churchill – have a chance to recuperate and take stock regarding his personal and professional future.  He accepted Colin’s offer without hesitation.

Philippa, a psychologist, had been in post as Churchill’s first full-time College Counsellor since January 1983. Since the post was without precedent, Philippa drafted her own job description. Over and above her clinical role, she decided she might usefully extend the pastoral element by offering a personal welcome to guests and visiting Fellows. It was as self-appointed “guardian of social welfare” within College that she invited Barrie to tea.

* * * * *

Some years before Barrie died (19 October 2021), he and Philippa had begun discussing the idea of leaving a legacy to Churchill College. They would request that a Trust Fund be set up in their joint names – a fund with a specific aim: to promote and encourage interest in the performing arts in the College, offering financial support or sponsorship to any student/students wishing to engage in related activities, including music and theatre.

Barrie and Philippa wished the Fund to be a reflection of their particular preoccupations and personal values: for example, their fundamental belief that access to the performing arts within educational institutions (other than those providing professional training such as music conservatoires and drama schools) should not be regarded as a luxury or  “optional extra”. Rather, that it formed an integral aspect of personal development; and a means to better health, physical and mental. Both Barrie and Philippa had first-hand experience of projects devoted to music, theatre and the visual arts; and knew that participation was an excellent way of helping young people realise their potential; boost confidence, discover and nurture talent, acquire new skills.

Barrie and Philippa intended the Fund to benefit any student at Churchill, no matter what their academic discipline or field of study. Interest in the performing arts could be shared across the board, engender dialogue, consolidate a sense of belonging within the community.

In that sense, the couple were mindful of the reputation and status of Churchill College: a centre of excellence in academic terms; but which, since its foundation, had always made space for the arts. With a focus on the performing arts, they anticipated that the Fund would build on this tradition: have a positive impact both on those receiving funding; and on the cultural life of the College more generally.  (Anybody attending a musical recital or being a member of the audience at a theatrical event would stand to gain.)

The College received a generous £200,000 bequest from Ruth Edwards, the wife of Sir Robert (Bob) Edwards, past Fellow, Nobel Laureate and pioneer in IVF medicine, to help fund a studentship in the bio-medical field, in memory of her husband who died in 2013.

Ruth met Bob whilst at Edinburgh University around 1953 where they were both doing PhDs in Genetics. Ruth was very bright and greatly enjoyed her time at University and this was evident in the stories she used to tell to her daughters. Their family recall that one of the scientists Bob most admired was Ernest Rutherford and for the first three months of their relationship he didn’t know that Ruth was in fact, Ernest Rutherford’s grand-daughter! They became engaged during the course of their collaboration in Edinburgh and married in 1954 before departing for a year in California where they worked closely together to publish several joint papers before the birth of their first daughter.

They went on to have five daughters in under five years which was a full-time job for Ruth in the early years. By this time Bob was working at Cambridge University and becoming very involved in the field of human reproduction. Once the girls were at secondary school Ruth re-joined Bob at the University and she went on to produce further research papers in her own right. In 1978 they moved to a farm in Dry Drayton which led to a whole new range of projects for Ruth including the establishment of an award winning herd of angora goats with the help of IVF! From these she produced luxury wool for sale and created jumpers, sweaters and scarves that she sold at the farm shop. Living on a farm also facilitated Bob’s lifelong passion for trees. His daughters recall that he planted thousands of trees on the farm in his spare time, often returning from dinner at Churchill College on a summer evening to water and plant new trees until dusk descended!

Throughout his life, Bob was conscious of the importance of education for young people and was hugely motivated by the challenge of engaging bright minds to ‘think outside the box’ during his years of supervising graduate students at Cambridge in the late1960’s and 70’s. He was a demanding supervisor and expected much from his students but many of them have never forgotten what they owe to him. Ruth and her children were aware of Bob’s wish to give something back to future generations of students by leaving a legacy for the College and her bequest has brought this to fruition.

Michael Schoof has recently become the first beneficiary of the Professor Sir Robert Edwards studentship and is undertaking a research based MSc as part of Professor Julie Ahringer’s research group in the Gurdon Institute. Michael’s project will investigate the function of the Retinoblastoma/DREAM complex, in which dysregulation is linked to human cancers, including those of the reproductive system.