This week, Trinity Hall students were able to bring the formal hall experience into their own homes TrinityHall1350/wikimedia commons

Trinity Hall hosts ‘Formal Hall at Home’

Trinity Hall has launched a new lockdown friendly ‘Formal Hall at Home’. Students were encouraged to dress up in their gowns and buy a three-course takeaway dinner which they could reheat in their own kitchens and plate up. 

Fiona Simon, Head of Conference and Catering Services said: “Although College is working differently during the pandemic, Formal Hall is such a significant collegiate experience, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, we didn't want our students to miss it, particularly in this, the 670th anniversary year of the founding of Trinity Hall.” 

She added that “the evening also gave our students a break from their studies, the chance to dress up in their gowns (as they would for traditional Formal Hall in the Dining Hall) and the opportunity to come together with their household to dine in style.”

The first evening was a success, with all of the available meals selling out. The college is planning several more of these dinners in the run-up to Christmas as well as a virtual quiz in celebration of their 670th anniversary. 

Stephen Hawking Centre teams up with Discovery on Universe Unravelled documentary 

The documentary series premiered on Discovery + in November, featuring researchers from the Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology (CTC) and the Kavil Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. 

The programme, which features 20 short episodes, is inspired by Stephen Hawking’s work on cosmology, black holes and gravitational waves. The series also describes the Big Bang and probes into some of the mysteries still faced by cosmologists like dark energy and dark matter. 

Paul Shellard, CTC Director, said that the Centre is “grateful to Discovery and the Kavli Foundation for supporting this unique opportunity to continue Stephen Hawking’s vision of reaching out, especially to younger audiences, to inspire curiosity about our Universe and the huge progress currently being made to unveil its secrets.”

Big Issue to launch ebike hire scheme

Lord John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, has launched the organisation’s “Biking for Good” initiative in partnership with ShareBike.

Lord Bird has sampled the ebikes in Cambridge and called on councils and local businesses to take up the scheme “to provide ethical and sustainable ways for people to travel, and support unemployed or vulnerable people back into skilled work.”  The bikes will also be available for hire by the general public in early 2021. 

The scheme will be operated by the Norway-based company ‘ShareBike’ who will recruit people who were previously unemployed. Lord Bird emphasised that “by renting an ebike from The Big Issue not only are you doing good for the environment but you are doing good for others too. You are biking for good.”