A wedding party waiting to go into the chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Patrick Comerford
Sidney Sussex College, according to one Facebook group, is known in Cambridge as the 'College of Love' – after all, the college was founded on Saint Valentine’s Day 430 years ago today, on 14 February 1596.
This weekend (14-15 February 2026), Sidney Sussex College is celebrating both the 430th anniversary of the Foundress’s Day and 50 years of women at Sidney with a special two-day conference today and tomorrow marking this milestone in academic inclusion, ‘Forward Together: 50 Years of Women at Sidney Sussex College’.
This special weekend as Sidney proudly commemorates five decades of women’s contribution to academic life and community and is also timed to honour Lady Frances Sidney and the 430th anniversary of the Foundress's Day.
All alumni, students and friends, regardless of gender or identity, received an open invitation to take part in weekend of inspiring conversations, to listen to engaging panels, to hear a ‘Fireside Chat’ between Carol Vorderman and Dame Kelly Holmes, and to join a celebratory dinner.
In addition, there is a new exhibition in the College Library, ‘The Female Pen’, that features works by authors ranging from Sappho to Christina Rossetti, alongside a selection of publications by female Fellows of Sidney.
The programme also includes three thought-provoking discussions:
• ‘Cognitive diversity, brain health, and social equity: How science can empower communities, challenge bias, and support inclusive policy and practice’, with Dr Maura Malpetti, Fellow and Director of Studies, specialising in dementia, neurology, brain imaging and biomarkers.
• ‘Authentic Leadership: Making your voice heard without compromise – a fresh take on what it means to lead without losing yourself’, with Jess Tayenjam (2007, MML), chair of CURUFC and Innovation and Cultural Transformation Consultant.
• ‘Educating Generation Alpha: A dynamic conversation exploring how today’s youngest learners are reshaping education’ with Mary Davies MBE (1986, MML), Education Consultant and former CEO of the Maiden Erlegh Trust, Victoria Penty, former primary school headteacher, Dr Catherine Sumnall (2002, Geography), Fellow, Admissions Director and Director of Studies for Geography, and Danni Elliot, Bye-Fellow and Head of Student Wellbeing.
In their ‘fireside chat’, Carol Vorderman and the Olympic medallist Kelly Holmes are talking about ‘Breaking Barriers: Women, Power, and Public Voice in a Changing Britain.’
Other parts of the programme this weekend include a choir recital in Chapel, a drinks reception in the Master’s Lodge and Old Library, and a celebration dinner in Hall and the Mong Hall.
The open sports sessions include rowing, organised by the Boat Club with the option of fielding up to two boats, and football, either joining an open training session or taking part in a friendly match at the new Mumford Pitch at Grange Road.
In the closing conversation tomorrow, students share their vision for the future of Sidney Sussex.
Choral Evensong at 6 pm tomorrow features an all-female composers lineup, including Sidney’s previous Composer in Residence, Joanna Marsh. Bishop Dagmar Winter, Bishop of Huntingdon and acting Bishop of Ely, is preaching.
Sadly, Sidney Sussex has become the first college in Cambridge to cancel its May Ball this year, following a slew of May Ball cancellations in 2025. In an email sent to all college students in November, the Domestic Bursar, Kathryn Smart, said: ‘We understand that this will be disappointing but hope that you will have ample time to make alternative plans for May week.’
Reports say May Balls across Cambridge are facing growing legal, financial and logistical challenges. While the college held a May Ball last in 2024, this year’s cancellation comes after Sidney’s 2025 May Event was cancelled due to ‘low ticket demand’. The college has said it will organise an event in June 2027.
The cancellation follows major challenges for May Week events last academic year. Clare May Ball and Emmanuel June Event were cancelled, while Robinson’s May Ball was down-sized to a ‘mega bop’. Despite having cancelled its May Week event twice in a row, the committee said that it did not ‘see this as the end of the Sidney May Ball, but as a chance to come back stronger’.
It is said by some Sidney students that many of them have fallen in love with their prospective partners there, and have even married in the college itself. This college has a reputation for science, but can science explain why love matches are made there?
Could it have anything to do with the fact that Sidney’s bar is the only student-run bar left in Cambridge? Or is it because Sidney also has an awesome wine cellar, and some of the best formal Hall nosh? Sidney also has a rather beautiful walled garden. Does this enhance lovers’ privacy?
Sidney is quite small by Cambridge college standards, and it is not well-known on the tourist trail. Perhaps this means students know they can relax in their natural environment … away from the pressures of camcorders and cameras.
One year ‘Love’ was the very appropriate topic for a summer school at Sidney Sussex College organised by the Institute for Orthodox Studies. Dr Marcus Plested spoke of ‘A many-splendoured thing’; Dr Alexander Lingas looked at ‘Music, Psalmody and the Love of God: ancient traditions and modern challenges’; Dr Christine Mangala Frost asked ‘Who’s afraid of the Song of Songs’ as she looked at ‘Love in Christian and other traditions.’
Other speakers that year included Professor David Frost, Father Michael Harper, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, the Revd Professor Andrew Louth, Dr Sebastian Brock, Father Alexander Tefft, and Archimandrite Zacaharias. During a visit to the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Sister Magdelen spoke about ‘The monastery as a school of universal love.’
Some students romanticise the claims of Sidney Sussex as the ‘College of Love’, even claiming the source of the love power emanates from L staircase – the staircase of Love – in Cloister Court.
During that summer school in July 2009 with ‘Love’ as its theme, I was staying on Staircase H in Chapel Court. I looked out my window as I settled in to see in the court below a bride waiting with her wedding party for the photographer before going into chapel for the wedding. That evening the reception took place in the gardens … Sidney Sussex truly was the College of Love that year.
Wedding flowers bedecking the door into the chapel at Sidney Sussex College … the view from my bedroom window in Chapel Court in 2009 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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