Last year we established the Tattersall Fund, which allows us to give much needed financial support to independent students unable to meet the full cost of fees. This is very much part of our commitment to making theological education as widely accessible as possible. In these COVID ridden times, however, we’ve had a rise in applications and the funds now look pretty thin for next year at a point when we can’t get on with familiar fundraising efforts such as book sales, collections at services, and St Augustine’s day. To meet the needs of the next generation of students, we aim to raise £10,000. That may sound a lot, at least it did to me, but £10,000 doesn’t go a very long way to meet the very worthy applications we receive.

When we can’t do the normal, we have to come up with the abnormal and somebody who clearly wants the perversity of the year award has suggested the sickeningly embarrassing notion of hosting a staff versus students quiz show. In “Universally ChallengeDS Augustine’s ‘Universally ChallengeD’,” as we’ve called it, we shall all place our reputations at public risk and suffer the laughter of our peers. I say, ‘we’ but I have strongly objected to all this on the grounds that it would undoubtedly bring out the worst in us all. Becky then asked me to be Quizmaster and suddenly the business sounded like a stroke of genius.