Many of you – well, 26 to be exact – are involved in our latest big project 26UCL200. Not exactly snappily named but we needed to reflect that this is an unusual partnership between 26 and University College London (UCL), and that we were celebrating UCL’s bicentenary.
(Image: The team from UCL200 in the Bloomsbury Radio studio.)
Why was that significant? First, because UCL was the first university in London, founded in 1826, and the first not to require adherence to a faith to enter. First to be attached to a teaching hospital, first to have its own students’ union. And so the ‘firsts’ went on. UCL has an extraordinary history of leading the way in so many fields.
When I heard about this impending anniversary last year, through the Bloomsbury Festival that UCL is also part of, I thought it would make a wonderful project. I’m glad that Lucy Briggs agreed. Lucy is leading the UCL team to lead the bicentenary celebrations. When I met Lucy last autumn, accompanied by 26 member and UCL alumnus Sam Webb, it soon became clear that we would have an exciting project.
It’s a multi-layered project that involves creative collaboration as well as mentoring. 26 students from UCL have been involved and creative partnerships formed to produce responses to the ‘firsts’. These responses are now being prepared for a website, a book and an event at the Bloomsbury Festival on 6th October (make a note, we’ll send more details of all these activities as soon as we can).
Meanwhile the easiest way to catch up with all that’s been happening on the project is to listen to our latest ‘Why Words Matter’ podcast: https://26writersgroup.substack.com/p/why-words-matter-316
In this episode I hosted a conversation with Sam Webb and Sue Evans from 26, Lucy Briggs who heads the UCL team and Sasha one of the students who’s from Ukraine. Sue and Sasha read their collaborative piece and it was a wonderful thing to hear, to be present for in the studio and now for everyone to hear on the podcast. Please do.
– John Simmons