211075 Downing Record 07 - Downing College - University of ...

Development Director’s ReportThe past year saw the successful completion of the Hall Restoration Campaign,raising more than £1m in a year. This magnificent achievement was made possibleby the generosity of more than 650 alumni and highlighted the importance of manypeople giving at all levels. The work on the Hall will start in December 2007 and willsee the complete transformation of the interior including new furniture, lighting, astone floor and an acoustic ceiling which will make it much easier to hold aconversation in the Hall without the noisy reverberation which many of you willprobably have experienced. The new oak furniture and the adaptable lights will bespecially designed for the Hall. Most of the major work on the floor and the ceilingwill take place between December and the end of April 2008 and after that sectionsof wall will be restored and repainted. During the early period students will eat inthe Senior Common Room and the Fleet Room (Parlour) which Fellows have gallantlygiven up for the duration and from May the Hall will be available for use but withreduced capacity. We’re looking forward to the day when it’s finished, hopefully byDecember 2008, and we will hold an opening party for all those who gave to thisvital project soon afterwards.The Mays Wild Fund continued to make great progress raising £450,000 at thetime of writing towards its £500,000 target. The first Mays Wild Fellow has beenappointed and the funds now being raised will be used to support students needingfunds for vacation research in the natural sciences. The College owes its thanks toAssociate Fellow John Hawkins (1952) who has been leading the Mays WildCommittee and the fundraising effort.The three student teams funded in the first Downing Enterprise Competitionhave made great strides in developing their inventions and are all now building andtesting prototypes with the help of the alumni on the Downing Enterprise Board. Afourth team was also selected for funding in May 2007 and they are now workingon refining their business plans.In 2007, the Development Office was able to design and launch a new Alumniwebsite complete with online events bookings, alumni profiles, forums andnetworking groups as well as a new, cleaner look. All alumni were sent a usernameand password to access their personal alumni areas and many have already loggedin and set up their profiles. We encourage as many of you as possible to do this andto use the service to contact your friends and contemporaries and create an onlineDowning Community.We held our usual schedule of alumni events including the Alumni andAssociation Day in September with talks by P D James and Downing Fellow, Jay Stock;and two more meetings of the Downing City Group with talks by Luke Nunneley(1981) at the Law Society and a talk organised by Calvin Walker from the rooftop18