Josephine Butler College, Durham

Josephine Butler College
University of Durham
Coordinates 54°45′33″N 1°34′44″W / 54.7592°N 1.5789°W / 54.7592; -1.5789Coordinates: 54°45′33″N 1°34′44″W / 54.7592°N 1.5789°W / 54.7592; -1.5789
Motto Comme je trouve
Motto in English We take life as we find it, and make of it what we can
Established 2006
Named for Josephine Butler
Colours Gold, Silver and Red
Principal Adrian Simpson
Vice Principal Karen Langdon
Undergraduates 750
Postgraduates 110
Charities Grace House
Major events
  • Butler Day
  • Summer Ball
  • Winter Ball
Website
Map
Location in Durham, England

Josephine Butler College is a college at Durham University. It is located at the Howlands Farm site next to residences of Stephenson College and John Snow College. In the centre of the college is a grass-covered hill, called "The Mound."

It is a fully self-catered college of the University with facilities far more modern than any of the existing undergraduate colleges in Durham (the newest of which was opened in 1972) and all rooms are en-suite. The college bar is the largest of all the college bars in Durham, and has extensive leisure facilities, and a library area during the day.

On 14 December 2005, it was announced that the college had been named after Josephine Butler, a Victorian feminist campaigner and a grand-niece of the 2nd Earl Grey, after whom Grey College was named.[1]

Shield and motto

The college arms are blazoned as "Gules on a chevron Or charged with a Cross formy, with cotises invected, between in chief two lions Argent and in base an open book charged with two covered cups".[2] The arms represent in large the heritage of Josephine Butler, with the lion argent being a symbol of the Grey family, of which Earl Grey (whom Grey College is named after) was Josephine Butler's uncle. Further the covered cups on the pages of the books are a heraldic symbol of the Butler family.

The college's motto is "Comme je trouve", which can be translated to "as I find" and is intended to mean 'we take life as we find it and make of it the best we can'.

Facilities

Howlands Building

The Howlands building is shared with Butler's neighbouring college, Ustinov College. Howlands contains the college gym, laundry and music room. A large multi-purpose hall is also contained in the building that is used to host formal dinners and paves the way for some sports activities, where badminton and table tennis clubs practise.

Butler Building

The Butler building acts as the main social building of the college and mainly contains the college bar and some other rooms such as the college offices, porters lodge and reception, in addition to the JCR, the MCR, TV room, college library lounge, IT suite, and study spaces.

Accommodation blocks and the Mound

Kirknewton Building

Butler is placed around the "Mound", which stands between Butler and Ustinov Colleges. The college has four separate self-contained accommodation blocks; Kirknewton, Dilston, Milfield, Wooler, as well as a small fifth block called Elm. Each building is divided up into 6 bed-roomed flats, with en-suite facilities. The main four accommodation blocks are all named after locations related to Josephine Butler's life: she was born in Milfield, spent a lot of her early life in Dilston, died in Wooler and is buried in Kirknewton.

In July 2017 Josephine Butler College accommodation was ranked fourth best student halls in the UK, based on analysis of over 10,000 student and graduate reviews.[3]

Societies

The college has its own theatre company, STAB, as well as a Film Society and a Music Society. The JCR governs college societies.[4]

Butler College Boat Club

Butler College Boat Club
Image showing the rowing club's blade colours
Location Dunelm House, Durham[5]
Coordinates 54°46′22.4″N 1°33′28.5″W / 54.772889°N 1.557917°W / 54.772889; -1.557917 (BCBC)
Home water River Wear
Founded 2006 (2006)[6]
Affiliations British Rowing, Josephine Butler College, Durham University

Butler College Boat Club (BCBC) is the boat club of Josephine Butler College, at Durham University. The club is responsible for hosting its own inter-collegiate head race, Butler Head. In 2015 a BCBC VIII beat 3 other boats including the University of Leeds to get to the final of Durham Regatta.[7] The biggest success came to the boat club in the 2016 Durham Regatta season where the 2015 BCBC VIII took the title of Durham Regatta by winning the Alderman Thurlow Trophy.

Society of the Theatrical Arts at Butler

The Society of the Theatrical Arts at Butler (STAB) is the Drama society for Josephine Butler College, being one of the few that only accepts members from within the college. The society is primarily known in college for its formal that is held in Michaelmas term every year, involving a Murder Mystery style format.[8]

List of principals

The head of College is titled the Principal. There has been one Principal since the college's foundation in 2006.

  • Adrian Simpson (2006 to present)

References

  1. ↑ "Durham's latest College salutes social reformer and women's campaigner - Durham University". Dur.ac.uk. 2005-12-14. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  2. ↑ "University Calendar : Arms and Mottos - Durham University". Dur.ac.uk. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  3. ↑ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/top-50-student-accommodation-halls-uk
  4. ↑ "Butler College JCR - Get Involved". Butlerjcr.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Butler College BC - British Rowing". British Rowing. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  7. ↑ "Our story". Durham Regatta. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  8. ↑ "STAB Formal - Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.