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Dialogue

St Cuthbert's Society

St Cuthbert's

We are a college with approximately 1200 students that provides a range of opportunities for students to become engaged and participate fully in college life. We support students who wish to undertake community and voluntary work; our students have the highest participation rate in community outreach work under the auspices of Team Durham and we have students working for local charities such as St Cuthbert's Hospice and international organisations such as Project Thailand and Seeds of Hope.

This support is provided through the Student Development Awards (Henry Tudor Fund - Senior Tutor in the early 1950s) and also the Student Development Programme; a series of activities and presentations on skills and interests. We also use the Student Development Awards to support the JCR sports and societies in the College. This provided the opportunity for the women's rugby team to have its first ever tour.

St Cuthbert's

We are also a college which has a strong affinity to arts and culture. We boast an Artist in Residence, a popular Arts Week which involves an exhibition of work from the Arts Society and performances from the renowned "Big Band", the Music Society and the Chapel Choir. We have recently introduced choral scholarships and are looking into the possibility of introducing military scholarships. Our vision, to improve engagement and participation, also extends to college sports. We have a resident tennis coach, improved facilities for sports, gyms, a new tennis court and an excellent boat house. We encourage, via the college mentors, all our students to get involved.

Our SCR is a thriving group of people consisting of academic and professional members of University staff and also members of the community. The SCR fully supports the College's vision of engagement and participation; lively social and academic events ranging from lectures to film nights to wine tasting to guest nights. We are currently offering free membership for the first year to anyone interested in joining the SCR.

St Cuthbert's

St Cuthbert's Society has an interesting history. Set up by the University in 1888, it was the first "society". Up until 1946, St Cuthbert's Society, which was made up of students who were local, mature and, in some cases, had family responsibilities, was run as a JCR with an elected President. The University appointed a member of academic staff (Censor) to oversee the running of St Cuthbert's but it was, at that time, a student run organisation. However, in 1946, the first Principal was appointed by the University with full responsibility for managing St Cuthbert's. In 1952, we acquired our first accommodation which, for the first time in its history, provided a small number of students with the opportunity to live in College.

Today, we have accommodation for 465 students based across two sites; the Bailey (catered) and Parsons Field (self catered, self catering/en-suite, part catered and a "pay as you go" option). We are proud of our heritage as the first Society created in the University but we are a college which is innovative and forward thinking: "Shaped by the Past, Creating the Future".