The Service and Feast to Commemorate Benefactors

Every November, the Master and Fellows invite Members of the Court of Benefactors to join them at the Commemoration Service and Feast.

After the service in the Chapel for the Commemoration of Benefactors, at which any Gonville Fellow Benefactors are admitted, the entire congregation repairs to the Hall for a delicious Feast, prepared by Tony Smith, the Executive Head Chef.  The choir entertain the company with a selection of secular songs and the mood throughout the evening is one of great conviviality and fellowship.

This great College owes its very existence to the generosity of countless Benefactors over hundreds of years. It seems entirely fitting that those acts of altruism should continue to be celebrated wholeheartedly and with great pride in our Caian heritage.

Gonville Fellow Benefactors admitted at these Commemoration Services have included John Haines (1949), Roger Barclay-Smith (1955), Douglas Myers (1958) Christopher (1959) and Shirley (2009) Bailey, and Rita Cavonius (2004).