WONGAVERY GALLERY OPENING
JUNE 2022
HRH The Duke of Gloucester officially opened the WongAvery Music Gallery for Trinity Hall on the 24th June.
During the dedication ceremony in the Music Gallery, Vice-Master Dr Daniel Tyler and Vice-Chair of the Avery-Tsui Foundation Natasha Wong, addressed the guests, before a dedication given by alumnus Revd Cortland Fransella. The ceremony concluded by the Director of Music Andrew Arthur, who played a piece on the piano in the new space.
Dr Tyler said: “Avery Court has been transformed by the addition of the WongAvery Music Gallery. This state-of-the art musical recital and rehearsal space is a stunning addition to the College. We are grateful to His Royal Highness for formally opening the building.
“We offer our sincere thanks to the Avery-Tsui Foundation for their support. It is wonderful to be in this space at the heart of Trinity Hall and know that it has been built thanks to the love of music and the love of the College on the part of a former student and his family. I am sure it will inspire future generations of students.”
NMLA SWIM THE SERPENTINE
SEPTEMBER 2018
On Saturday, a group of current and former NMLA staff, friends and partners swam a mile in the Serpentine as part of the weekend’s open water swimming festival in Hyde Park.
Following a summer of sun-drenched sea and river swims, it was pouring with rain as we made our way through crowds of bemused tourists and displaced geese to the start. It felt distinctly autumnal as we lined up on the edge of the Serpentine in our wetsuits and matching hats to a motivational soundtrack featuring Ricky Martin. After a civilised scrummage at the start, everyone settled into a rhythm for the mile-long lap in the murky greenish-grey water. We circumnavigated Christo’s vast London Mastaba, a stack of 7,506 brightly coloured barrels floating in the centre of the lake, and agreed that our frog’s-eye views of it lent a new appreciation of the piece. As we rounded the final marker buoy and then clambered up the precarious exit ramp, we emerged grinning, enjoying the familiar and addictive endorphin buzz from pushing through the chilly water. A bottle of fizz was opened and shared, and we splashed damply off to the pub to warm up and relive the summer’s swimming exploits.
For anyone considering a discovery of swimming outside (even vicariously!), we would thoroughly recommend Roger Deakin’s wonderful book Waterlog, which tracks a year of swimming in the wild across the UK and has by now inspired thousands of subversive sea, river and lake swims.