Welcome to the last edition of the Castle Herald of 2022, and what an interesting year it has been for the Castle! This year over one hundred staff, faculty, students and alumni took part in an important stakeholder engagement exercise as we rebranded from BISC to Bader College. Facilitated by an external agency called ‘Jump’, the rebranding exercise was a mammoth task that took insights and feedback from all corners and looked to shape the identity and direction of Bader College moving forward.
Principal Patrick Deane introduces Bader College and explains some of thinking behind the reimagining of the BISC in a video that sits pride of place on the Bader College homepage: /badercollege
The 13 June was a doubly important day for us as because the BISC Board assembled in person for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. The change of name to Bader College also became official and our Board received the first sneak peek at our new branding. The cat was well and truly out of the bag later that day too when Queen’s tweeted the name change and an FAQ page on our website went live to help tackle any questions, or concerns the incoming class of Fall 2022 might have about the ramifications. We are happy to report that our next cohort took the decision to change our name rather casually in their stride!
After the Board had met, there was a special surprise for our outgoing Vice Provost and Executive Director, Dr Hugh Horton waiting up in the Rose Garden. On behalf of the Board, Patrick Deane presented Hugh with his favourite tree, a medlar, which will take pride of place in the south-east corner of the Rose Garden, overlooking Alfred and Isabel Bader’s Tricolour Border.
Hugh grabbed a spade and helped plant the tree, which was accompanied by a commemorative plaque, hand-crafted by our friends at Men’s Sheds, to a loud round of applause and a cacophony of cah-caws from our resident peacock. His timing was perfect, as were Principal Deane’s words of thanks on behalf of us all for Hugh’s hard work and leadership these past five years. Thanks for everything Hugh!
The following day, Patrick Deane hosted a gathering of community partners, friends of the Castle and other invited stakeholders to update them on some of our plans for the future and unveil our new brand identity to the public. In all, around sixty guests gathered to hear Patrick’s thanks for their continued support and his reassertion that Queen’s takes its stewardship of Herstmonceux Castle and its estate very seriously indeed.
It was wonderful to see so many people with on the face of it, nothing but their association with Queen’s and Herstmonceux Castle in common, come together to raise a glass to our future prospects. The support and understanding of the local community means a great deal to us, and we have received some lovely messages of thanks post-event from folks expressing how impressed they were with our plans for the future.
We know these sentiments will be echoed by our Castle alumni and hope you are all four-square behind Bader College as we embark on the next exciting stage of our journey.