This page offers a light‑hearted look at our senior officers: then and now, bringing together photographs of the people who lead St Edmund’s today as they were in 1996.
As we celebrate 30 years as a full constituent College and 130 years since our founding, this collection adds a personal touch to our anniversary year, reminding us that every member of our community has a story that began long before joining St Edmund’s.
1996: Our Master, Professor Chris Young with his newborn daughter, Alex and his wife Angela outside their first family home.
By the start of the academic year 1996-97, I had, as my mother would have put it, clearly ’settled down’. Within the previous twelve months, I had got a University lectureship, bought my first house, and become a father for the first time (in that chronological order!). I have two distinct memories of the period: watching England lose to Germany in the semi-finals of Euro 1996 and translating my PhD thesis into German for publication. The first was done with our new-born daughter, blissfully oblivious, over my shoulder; the second with her, equally oblivious, in a car-seat-carrier perched beside my computer. When pitching for the Mastership, I was struck by how young the College was, with its full-status coming in 1996, and how much potential it had to fulfil. I illustrated the point by telling Fellows that the College, in its modern iteration, was only as old as my daughter. She was 27, and 30 now.
2026: Chris with Angela in Germany having been formally honoured with the Bavarian European Medal.
1996: Dr Alex Pryce dressed in her finest costume for her school’s Christmas play.
In 1996, I was 8 years old and entering my fifth year of primary school in Northern Ireland. My school report was not totally spotless. While I was first in science and was an ‘excellent reader’, my handwriting was described as ‘rather erratic’ and my mathematics was ‘unreliable’. All this came second to my leading role in the school play where I played Jack Frost in a white bodysuit [pictured]. Other significant life events included the arrival of my first pet rabbit, Domingo and a family holiday to the Harz mountains in Germany where I enjoyed going to the swimming pool. 30 years on, my handwriting is still erratic, and I manage my Senior Tutor commitments alongside pet care (which includes two pet rabbits).
2026: Alex joined us in October 2025, as our new Senior Tutor.
1996: When not camping as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award, Kate was admiring her Peter Andre character doll, a prized possession in 1996.
2026: Kate Glennie is our Development Director has been with the College since 2017.
