Lord Harris visit highlights shared commitment to breaking down barriers

On Thursday 27 November, Harris Manchester welcomed Lord Harris of Peckham to the College.

 

Lord Harris began his visit by inspecting materials connected to Manchester College receiving its Royal Charter in 1996 and becoming a constituent member of the University of Oxford – a landmark moment in the College’s history in which he played a key role through his gift of an endowment. 

An elderly man sitting down inspecting materials in a library with a woman standing over him

Lord Harris in the Tate Library with Pye Fellow and Librarian Kate Alderson-Smith

 

After visiting the Tate Library, where the materials were on display, Lord Harris stopped at the statue in the college grounds that commemorates his father, Captain Charles Harris MC, in honour of whom the College is named. He then went on to attend a musical reception hosted by HMC Principal Professor Beth Breeze, featuring pupils from the Harris Academy Peckham and its Head of Music, Nicky Enderby. They performed a selection of Christmas music alongside members of the HMC Choir, former Director of Music John Dunston, and organ scholar Alfred Kelsey.  

Harris Academy Peckham is part of the Harris Federation, which runs 55 primary and secondary academy schools across London and Essex and aims to provide opportunities to pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. In a brief speech that followed the performance, Lord Harris reflected on the importance of access to education – and his pride in the achievements of pupils from Harris Federation academies.  

A group of nine people next to a keyboard

Members of the HMC Choir (at the back) with pupils from Harris Academy Peckham

 

That theme of widening access to education was echoed in Professor Breeze’s own speech. Later, she commented: “It was a joy to welcome Lord Harris back to the College for a very happy festive gathering. There are many similarities between the Harris Federation’s mission and our own distinctive mission at Harris Manchester College. Both organisations enable inclusion and social mobility by providing excellent and supportive educational opportunities to all. Harris academies are widely recognised as having transformed opportunities for children to fulfil their academic potential; and at Harris Manchester our aim is to break down the barrier of age in higher education, offering mature students the support to thrive at one of the world’s top universities."