Newsletter: Events at Clare Hall, Summer 2025
Dear Clare Hall members and friends,
Please find below a list of events taking place this week and beyond, to which you are warmly invited.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday 23 July 2025 – Wednesday 24 September 2025
Clare Hall Summer Seminars
The Clare Hall Summer Seminar Series will return this year, running from 23 July to 24 September. This series offers Clare Hall Visiting Fellows, Fellows and Life Members an opportunity to share their current research with the wider Clare Hall community. Seminars will take place on Wednesdays in the Clare Hall Meeting Room from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, just before Formal Hall. All are welcome to attend.
The next speaker on 03.09.2025 will be Prof Carol Harrison, Visiting Fellow, University of South Carolina.
A Women’s History of Vatican I
Although no women attended council debates, many followed its central issues: would the fathers of the church proclaim the pope infallible? Would Rome remain under papal sovereignty or become the capital of the Kingdom of Italy? Observers agreed that the most distinguished of these women opposed infallibility and accepted the legitimacy of Italian nationalism even as they believed that Rome must remain the homeland of all Catholics. They acted as nodes in networks of anti-infallibilists constituted by correspondence, salon sociability, translation, and journalism. They were also the targets of a smear campaign launched by the council majority against female influence and clerics who were allegedly susceptible to it.
Find the full list of speakers on this page.
Saturday 27 September 2025, from 11am
Alumni Festival – talk by Helen Ritchie
As part of the University’s Alumni Festival, we are delighted to host a talk by Helen Ritchie, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Applied Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Title: ‘They combined and made fine pots together’: the partnership of Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie and Norah Braden
Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie (1895–1985), granddaughter of 4th Earl of Radnor, grew up at Coleshill House, one of the grandest country houses in England. Eschewing family tradition, Pleydell-Bouverie established her own home and artistic enterprise on the estate – a pottery that she shared with female partner and fellow studio potter, Norah Braden (1901–2001).
At the forefront of the British studio pottery movement, the pair fired their handmade stoneware pots in a wood-fired kiln of Japanese design and decorated them with delicately-hued glazes, made using plant ash derived from the estate. Their work was celebrated during the interwar period – praised by critics, exhibited by London gallerists (alongside ceramics by their friends Michael Cardew and Bernard Leach), and acquired by collectors and museums.
This lecture will explore the experimental nature of the pots made by Pleydell-Bouverie and Braden and examine the reception of their work. It will consider how these women reconfigured ‘country house’ living in their quest for modernity, making space for their own queer, independent lives and artistic practice.
Current Exhibitions
Ongoing
The Bell Collection of British Studio Pottery, 1920-1980
A rotating display of some 400 pieces of studio ceramics. Learn more at https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/bellcollection/
Activities and Societies
Mondays, 30 June – 15 September 2025
Pilates Sessions
We are delighted to host pilates classes at Clare Hall throughout the summer. The classes will be held on Mondays during lunchtime. Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility.
A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.
Tuesdays, ongoing through the summer and Michaelmas Term
Mindful Meditation Sessions
Through mindfulness we cultivate attention to the here and now. We aim to witness our thoughts and feelings with detachment. We develop concentration, peace of mind and enjoyment of life with all its challenges.
As a group, we explore different means of developing mindfulness, including relaxation, guided meditation and attention to the breath or to a mantra. The sessions are led by Elizabeth Garnsey, and meet in the King Room on Main Site on Tuesdays 1-2pm. The door is open 1-2 but you are welcome to slip in and out whenever convenient for you. All members of the college and friends are welcome, including students, staff, fellows, researchers and visitors. Please contact ewg11@cam.ac.uk with any questions.
Monday 1 September 2025, 8pm
Clare Hall Book Club
Join the College’s Book Club as they discuss A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor. All College members are welcome to attend in-person, meeting in Clare Hall’s Meeting Room, or via Zoom. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, please send an email to gloria.carnevali@icloud.com, confirming your Clare Hall connection and putting the following as the email title: I would like to join the Book Club mailing list.
Learn more about the Book Club on this page.
Various Dates
Choir Practice
A reminder that Clare Hall Choir practice takes place in Robinson College Chapel every Monday (in term-time, but not always restricted to the official Cambridge term dates) from 7:30-9pm. New members are always welcome, and no previous singing or musical experience is necessary. The only requirement is that you want to sing and have fun doing it! If you are interested in joining, please email Ben de Souza, the Choir’s Director, who is a Clare Hall Associate, freelance choral conductor and accordionist: bd402@cam.ac.uk.
Recent recordings of the choir can also be found on our YouTube channel.