Newsletter 04/12

Dear all,

It’s Advent!

Only 9 MCS school days remain until 2021. Christmas festivities have commenced here, with virtual carol services beamed from Magdalen Chapel, the Christmas tree firmly in situ in the Rose Garden, and rehearsals for the annual SCR panto underway.

This week we share with you OW and school news, starting first with a festive holiday offer and auction in aid of MCS bursaries.

Discount Code for 20% off
For use on the following product ranges: Keepr’s, English Heritage, Dodds Spirits, Gift sets, and Hampers.
Excludes honey, 1606, Whiskey, Sanitiser & PPE

Use MCS20 at checkout.

Offer runs until 20th December.

Mature Your Own Whisky Kit
We are auctioning off a Keepr’s Honey Maturation kit which allows you to formulate the flavour profile of your own whisky at home!

The kit contains everything you need to mature a 3 litre barrel of Keepr’s Honey New Make.

To read more about this kit or make a bid, please click here. All proceeds from this sale will benefit bursaries at MCS.

Auction closes at 10am 18th December.

On Friday 27 November, the History Society welcomed Dr. Sudhir Hazareesingh who discussed his recently published book Black Spartacus: The epic life of Toussaint Louverture.

Find out more and listen to a short excerpt from Sudhir’s talk here.

Careers talk 

Last week, students enjoyed a careers talk from OW and former Head of School Matt Field (1995) – currently Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina – on his journey to becoming a career diplomat.

Matt was able to explain on diverse topics such as how to enter the diplomatic service, the Srebrenica massacre, how school prepared him for his career, and the state of Bosnian football. He urged his audience to take opportunities when presented and have confidence to do so.

Thank you, Matt!

Professor Saul Faust (OW 1986), director of the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility, is principal investigator of the Janssen trial of a new adenoviral coronavirus vaccine that started in Southampton and is being rolled out to 17 UK sites, including Oxford.

The UK is the first country to start these trials of the vaccine. Analysis of the single-dose study suggests the Covid-19 vaccine candidate induces a robust immune response and is generally well-tolerated.

Read more here.

Saul, Professor of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust commented:

‘It’s fantastic news that vaccines aimed at the spike protein can prevent coronavirus disease. We just don’t know how each of these vaccines is going to behave and which are going to generate the better short and long-term immunity … We can’t be certain that vaccine supply will be efficient and effective and secure from any one manufacturer, wherever it’s being made in the world.’

The UK has secured 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine if the trial is successful.

Our thanks go to Saul and other members of our MCS community who are also involved in coronavirus vaccine testing in various ways. 

Spot OW Stephen Boxer (1967) playing Denis Thatcher in season 4 of The Crown!

Read more about Stephen’s year, and the world of acting in 2020 here.

Last Sunday OWs David McIntyre (2020), James Gant (2019) and Joe Hancock (2019) sang in the choir of St Johns, Cambridge, in their service for advent on BBC Radio 3. Catch up here!

Many congratulations to Archie, Upper Fourth, on making it to the semi-final of last Sunday’s BBC Chorister of the Year 2020!

Enjoy a clip of Archie’s performance here.