1980s Women’s Dinner

On Tuesday evening, Queens’ welcomed back some of its most significant alumnae: women from the College’s first-ever cohort of female students, who arrived at Silver Street in 1980. They returned this week for a drinks reception and dinner in the President’s Lodge, hosted by Queens’ first female President, Dame Menna Rawlings.

Twenty-three of the forty-five women who made up the original cohort gathered in the Long Gallery for drinks before dinner in the Audit Room, joined by the President and Vice President, Marie Edmonds. For many, it was a chance to reconnect not just with one another, but with a College that has changed dramatically since they first arrived 45 years ago.

When these women came to Queens’, Lyon Court had yet to be built, Cripps was still under construction, and the President was Sir Derek Bowett. Five Presidents later, and with women now firmly part of the fabric of the College, the evening offered a moment to reflect on just how far Queens’ has come.