Forthcoming events – 2024

Looking to visit Newnham? We have a number of events coming up spring and summer to which alumnae are very welcome:

Formal Halls

There are a number of formal hall events coming up. Please visit the Privileges and Dining pages to find out more and book.

Bletchley Park Exhibition from 11 March

We are excited to invite you to our new exhibition, ‘Newnham and Bletchley Park’, which traces the history of the 70 women from Newnham who worked at Bletchley during World War Two. The exhibition launches on 11 March and has been organised by Gill Sutherland, Sally Waugh and our Archivist Frieda Midgley.

Please book here if you would like to attend.

Commemoration Weekend – 23-24 March

We are delighted to welcome back alumnae who matriculated in 1954, 1964, 1974, 1999 and 2014 to join us for Commemoration Weekend at Newnham. Part of our programme will be a reunion dinner on 23 March 2024.

Personal invitations and booking will be sent nearer the time. If you know of anyone who may have lost touch with Newnham, please do encourage them to contact Roll & Development by emailing roll@newn.cam.ac.uk.

Sidgwick Society event – 25 May

Our annual Sidgwick Society event (for those who have pledged a legacy to Newnham) will be held on 25 May 2024.

Legacies always have been, and continue to be, hugely important to the College. Thank you to all of you who have pledged a legacy, your support is hugely appreciated and we mark our thanks with a presentation to each of you of a specially designed brooch.

If you are thinking of making a legacy – and 96 new legacy pledges have been received since the launch of the 150th Anniversary celebrations – please contact Emma Raccagni on emma.raccagni@newn.cam.ac.uk or (0)1223 335 749.

Campaign Celebration &140th Anniversary of the Gardens Garden Party – 22 June

On 22 June, please join us to celebrate our ‘Shaping Newnham’s Future’ Campaign and the 140th anniversary of the reunification of the gardens. This event will give us the opportunity to thank you for your support, as well as celebrating an important milestone for the gardens, so loved by our whole College family.

In 1892, the Chair of the Garden Committee, Blanche Athena Clough, niece of Newnham’s first Principal, Anne Jemima Clough, decided to start planning the gardens. The College engaged James Backhouse & Son of York to draw up a plan. At this time, Newnham Walk still ran through the College past Sidgwick to Grange Road, although the College was negotiating with the City to have it closed as a right of way, and replaced by a new road to the north of the College. The new road, Sidgwick Avenue, was built and in 1894 the College site was unified.