Schoolchildren from across East Anglia will prepare a letter to a pen-pal from the future this afternoon at the launch of a new project marking the University of Cambridge’s 800th anniversary.
Schoolchildren from across East Anglia will prepare a letter to a pen-pal from the future this afternoon at the launch of a new project marking the University of Cambridge’s 800th anniversary.
“Letters to the Future” will see hundreds of children join staff, students, alumni, members of local communities and representatives from universities worldwide in penning a message to their opposite numbers 100 years from now.
The 800 letters – one for each year of the University’s history – will then be sealed and stored in the University Library, and will not see the light of day until the 900th anniversary in 2109.
Youngsters from 15 schools in the region will spend the afternoon at two Cambridge colleges – St John’s and Corpus Christi – where they will prepare letters to an as-yet unborn future correspondent.
Nearly 300 year seven and eight pupils will draft messages about their daily lives, hobbies and interests, families and friends, world events and hopes for the future.
Each writer will also receive a signed and numbered certificate, to pass down through the generations over the course of the next 100 years. In 2109, the certificate will be used as a key to retrieve the letter from storage.
The letter paper features a small signature sketch by the famous illustrator and University of Cambridge alumnus Quentin Blake, with the message: “Our present to you is the past”.
The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, has written to more than 150 of her counterparts at other Higher Education institutions around the world, inviting them to compose a letter to future post-holders.
“Writing a letter gives people an opportunity to pause and focus on the value of what they are doing,” Professor Christopher Dobson, Master of St John’s College, said. “This project will establish a wonderful legacy for the future members of the University and the community.”
The University of Cambridge has been home to many well-known letter-writers over the course of its 800-year history. Charles Darwin was a prodigious letter-writer from a young age, famously corresponding with colleagues for more than 20 years before publishing On The Origin Of Species in 1859.
While studying at Trinity College, Lord Byron famously wrote to a friend, extolling the virtues of his new pet bear. Housed in the archives at Churchill College is a moving letter which Winston Churchill wrote to his wife, to be opened in the event of his death.
Members of the public who wish to participate are invited to contact the 800th Anniversary Team on 800@admin.cam.ac.uk or 01223 761672.
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