Hatfield Four

It's very still on this February, Sunday morning. The low cloud reduces visibility but serves to cocoon us in a cool, rather than cold, world of our own. Our Hatfield four, working for length and run, has just rowed down from the racecourse, through Elvet and gone to 'Easy Oars'.

Holding the balance we glide rippling through the still waters of the Wear. As we do so, the Cathedral bells, seemingly all about us rather than up to our left, begin pealing their message. In apparent response, soft grey-white flakes of snow fall gently about us. We silently savour the moment.

Ian Andrews, Hatfield College, Mathematics, 1959-1962