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The History of Girton’s Ball

The hosting of a college ball has been alongstanding tradition at the University ofCambridge, with the first May Ball being held in1866 by the First and Third Trinity Boat Club.The event was attended by just 38 Trinitariansto celebrate a successful May Bumps. Nowadaysthe college balls are spectacular eventswelcoming upwards of 1,000 guests intoColleges’ gardens and grounds. Girton’sbiennial Spring Ball, held in March, will bereturning once again in 2016. The event isorganised by a Committee of twenty students,and always proves a highlight of the Collegesocial calendar. Alumni, Fellows, students andtheir guests can all expect a magical evening.

Whilst Trinity, Clare, and King’s were hostingregular balls by the end of the nineteenthcentury, the Girton Ball has not always been soopulent. In fact, it evolved from the tradition ofan annual dance, the earliest reference to whichdates back to 1883, just fourteen years afterthe foundation of the College.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the dances atGirton was the Armistice Day dance, held just afew days after the conclusion of the First WorldWar in 1918. Girton celebrated the signing ofthe armistice by the ringing of the Chapel belland the raising of the flag above the tower,with the dance being held later that week. In anunusual turn of events, it was permitted thatmen could be invited to attend. WinifredTrenholme, later Gaukroger (1918), noted in hercorrespondence that ‘this of course causedtremendous excitement as never in the historyof the College has there been a mixed dance.’While this may not have been strictly true, it

A ticket and the poster from the 1969 Centenary Ball.

The headline act were Annie Ross & Trio

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was undoubtedly the case that many of theearlier dances were a decidedly female affair;it was traditional for undergraduates to take amember of another year group as their dancepartner. The Armistice Day dance was certainlya landmark in the years surrounding the FirstWorld War; it was remarked in the GirtonReview that ‘never was there a dance thatended in such an atmosphere of universalpleasure and satisfaction.’

In 1940 it was announced that the dancewould continue despite the outbreak of theSecond World War, combining an evening’sentertainment with a contribution to the wareffort. The dance of 1940 was held in theMichaelmas Term in aid of the Red CrossSociety in London. The dance was wellattended, and as a result the sum of thirteenguineas was raised. Indeed, it remainstraditional for the college balls to contribute tocharitable causes, and tens of thousands ofpounds are raised across Cambridge each year.

It appears that Girton made its true ball debutin 1947. It was reported in the Girton Reviewof the following term that the ball was trialledon a weekday in December, and that ticketswere made available for 240 couples.Entertainment was provided in the Old Hall byTommy Kinsman and his band, who hadreceived rave reviews from revellers at therecent May Week Balls. In the report, it wasobserved that ‘Girton Balls tend to becomebigger and more popular every year.’ Indeed,this statement has set a challenge that wehave endeavoured to meet year upon yearever since.

The exclusive dinner at the 2014 Spring Ball

A handwritten

engagement

card from a

dance held

in1883. The

names of the

guest’s dance

partners are

listed next to

the programme

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Poster from the 1979 Ball

An engagement card

from the 1932 Dance.

The programme of

dances is listed inside

Mother, who was Girton’s Visitor at the time. OneGirtonian who attended the Centenary Ball thatyear remembers: ‘The Girton Centenary wassomething terribly special and exciting for manyof us. We were not blasé about it, we dressed upand we felt privileged to be part of it, butnevertheless I have to say it was not in the sameleague as the May Balls at the time. I went to theSt John’s May Ball and it was backed by theJohn’s wine cellars, we ate swan, we danced andhad a champagne breakfast. Girton was veryaustere by comparison, but the majority of uswere rather thrilled to be part of it, because it

By far the most ambitious venture to date was aball held in the Lent Term of 1969 to celebratethe College’s Centenary. Among the year’snotable celebrations, the Centenary yearfeatured a visit from Her Majesty the Queen

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and Cloister Courts, and the majority of thepublic rooms. Huge marquees are erected, andthe rooms are filled with food, drink and music.Nowadays, the Girton Ball can without doubtbe compared to the likes of the May WeekBalls, having been recently described as ahidden gem of the Cambridge Ball scene. Themost recent Spring Ball (2014) was aresounding success, being described in a reviewof the event as a ‘superb party, filled withconsidered decadence and touching subtlety.’The tradition of holding a College Ball is

An engagement card

from the 1936 Dance.

The theme was ‘Victoria’

and the names of the

Committee members are

listed on the reverse

Poster from the 1980 Ball

was a different world.’ The 1969 Centenary Ballwas extremely ambitious for Girton, and for thetime. There has certainly been a tradition ofmarking landmark anniversaries with a ball, andlooking ahead to the 150th anniversary in 2019,one cannot help wondering what the futuremight bring.

The Girton Spring Ball is currently held in theMarch of even years, and is decidedly a moreextravagant event than its predecessors. Whereasin the past just a few rooms might have been inuse, the current ball takes over both Woodlands

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perhaps one of Cambridge’s most celebratedtraditions, and for many, attending a CollegeBall is one of their fondest memories of theUniversity. Girton is certainly very proud to bepart of that tradition and we very much hopethat it continues for many years to come.

Sadly, not many records relating to the GirtonBall pre-1998 have survived in the CollegeArchives. The Archivist would be delighted tohear from alumni who have any posters, tickets,programmes, dance cards or other materials ofinterest that they would be willing to donate tothe Archive.

The next Girton Spring Ball will be held onFriday 11 March 2016 and alumni are warmlyinvited to return to College for what promises tobe a fantastic event. Tickets will be exclusivelyavailable to Girton College alumni from 21:30on Thursday 22 October 2015 through ourofficial website, www.girtonball.co.uk. Fulldetails have been communicated via email bythe Development Office, including a uniqueverification code, which you will need to provideupon applying for tickets. If you have notreceived an email please get in touch with theAlumni Team at alumni@girton.cam.ac.uk. Forregular updates and information about the2016 Girton Spring Ball, make sure you like theofficial Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GirtonSpringBall2016. We sincerely lookforward to welcoming you to the 2016 GirtonSpring Ball.

Jonathan MurphyPresident of the 2016 GirtonSpring Ball Committee

A poster from the most recent 2014 Spring Ball. The theme was ‘Les Années Folles’,

being inspired by the opulence and extravagance of the 1920s