Talkin’ ‘bout my generation (The WHO)
Keith Barron (1968) and Evangeline Dillon (2023) first connected through the 2025 Telethon over the phone. Below, Keith describes the connection they made spanning generations.
Evangeline and I first spoke when she called me during the Telethon campaign. We fell into a long and engaging conversation and seemed to establish an instant rapport. We then managed to meet face to face for a chat in the College Café late in October, when I happened to be visiting College.
Evangeline was genuinely interested to hear what student and college life was like in the late 60s. For my part, I was curious to hear her story, and I was impressed by her eloquence, her enthusiasm for her subject and by her deep gratitude to St John’s for transforming her life. She had devoted herself to caring for her parents: her chief motivation in wanting to study Medicine. I was deeply moved by her story.
Evangeline said; “It was lovely to both speak to Keith on the phone, and in person, understanding the comparison between our St John’s experiences. Finding out that Keith and I lived in A staircase Cripps in our first years, and discussing some similarities between our backgrounds, was interestingly paired with differences including application processes and culture of the time.
Being able to connect with past Johnians, such as Keith, during the telethon was extremely rewarding and gave me a better appreciation of the incredible community we have at St John’s, spanning the past and present.”
Despite the gulf in years, we found we had much in common, we were both the first in our family to attend university. She achieved stellar examination results at school; I managed to gain three As – the only one in my boys’ grammar school.
We swapped stories about what had changed at St John’s and what had stayed the same. The life and times of the late 60s, growing up ‘Between the end of the Chatterley ban/And the Beatles first LP’ to quote Larkin, was a different world in many respects. Yet we shared that sense of extraordinary good fortune, an initial feeling of surprise at being at Cambridge, followed by a strong perception of belonging and identity. That strong College identity contributed to the immediate rapport between us. Intellectual excitement and the depth of friendships made is probably what most strongly linked us across the generations.
Where the similarities end is that whereas she has been almost uniquely fortunate to be supported by the Dobson Free Places Fund, I, like most of my contemporaries, took a free education for granted. We were a lucky generation.
I explained to Evangeline that, as a state school student, I applied to St John’s because I knew of people from a similar background to me who had thrived there. My next door-but-one neighbour, David Thunder (1965), won an Exhibition in English to the College and was a mentor and role-model for me; hearing about his positive experience encouraged me to apply. It is heartwarming that the College continues to support strong candidates from underprivileged backgrounds. I have such gratitude to the College for transforming my life. That is why I have been donating to the Dobson Free Places Fund and was happy to increase my contribution to support future applicants like her.
To learn more about how your generosity can impact current students, do read the ‘Your Impact’ page. If you would like to hear more about how you can help students like Evangeline through the Dobson Free Places fund, please click here.