Dr Rands presents Mrs Fleming with flowers in thanks
Projects & Buildings Manager Mr Gary Reynolds; the Master, Dr Mike Rands; Mrs Julia Fleming; the Bursar, Mr John Dix
The opening of the bridge, 2003: (L-R)
The Master, Professor Willy Brown, Mrs Julia Fleming, Dr Hugh Fleming
It was a pleasure to welcome Mrs Julia Fleming to Darwin last week, to formally thank her for the generous support which has enabled the restoration of the bridge.
Mrs Fleming is the widow of the late Dr Hugh Fleming (1923-2006), a global authority on heart disease, and the first cardiologist to be appointed in East Anglia. Dr Fleming, who grew up in New Zealand, combined a career establishing and overseeing cardiology at the Papworth Hospital with a Fellowship at Darwin, to which he was elected in 1969. His wife recalls that “he often said that joining Darwin was the best thing he’d ever done”.
Originally two bridges to the islands were introduced by Sir George Darwin following his purchase of Newnham Grange as a family home in the 1880s, as recalled by his daughter Gwen Raverat in her memoir, Period Piece.
“My father…built two wooden bridges across branches of the river, to reach the two islands. For the river here becomes exceedingly complicated, with mill-races and weirs and millpools and various old channels and ditches, all wandering about in the Fen.”
Dr and Mrs Fleming made the gift of a new bridge to the College in 2003, and when it was found to need further structural support and replacement of rotting timbers this year, Mrs Fleming again came generously to the rescue.
“If I hadn’t stepped in, Hugh up there would have been very cross with me,” she explained.
The bridge was restored by Brown & Ralph contractors.
