Chris Dalton's Personal Development Blog

The other day an intriguing email was sent round on one of the internal lists here at Greenlands. It was notification that we were in the process of off-loading the now ageing College Jaguar car was to be sold (I use the c-word deliberately since the chauffeur-driven Jag was very much the pride and joy of successive Principals, and when not being used to move the top brass around could be booked by College management to take them to and from meetings and events).

The message said that if anyone was interested in buying it they could contact one of the drivers in the Greenlands garage. I don’t know whether the drivers were overwhelmed, but there’s no getting away from the fact that despite its age and use it is a lovely car, with a full service history. Had I not just gone green with a brand-new and very eco-friendly car myself, I think I’d have been tempted (especially when I found out how much its trade-in value is). Sadly, this offer was withdrawn and the decision was made to do just that; trade the Jag in part exchange for a more sensible alternative.

When I first arrived at Henley in November 2005, it was in the middle of a whole series of office moves. There were pink crates and Portakabins everywhere, and a very detailed version of musical offices carried out with military precision by a project team. It seems that this sort of upheaval happens every few years here, so now we’re in the middle of the latest round, involving roughly 40 memebrs of staff and faculty. Inlcuding me. Next week I will have my life’s work boxed up and trundled from the main Greenlands building (saying a sad farewelll to my view of the visitor car park) across to Engine House, the faculty office building between River House and Paddock. I will revert to the same view of the Hambleden hills and bunny rabbits that I enjoyed in 2005.  A lot has changed since then; I have less hair, and what remains is a lot greyer, the College (a complex organism) has become a unit of something a University (a complicated organism), our curriculum has changed and despite numerous small set-backs and a gruelling daily grind in which we sometimes feel exasperated, it is a real pleasure to be working here on this programme, where (if you want it) personal growth and intellectual development is still the most valued product.