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I did mean to post something about patron saints ages ago and can't remember whether I did it - so please forgive me if this is repetition. We thought Ennodius, bishop of Pavia (d 521) would make an ideal patron saint for the RAE: Carolyn's notes on him describe him as a prolific writer of whom it was said 'He seems to shrink from making himself intelligible lest he should be thought commonplace'. We then turned our attention to a patron saint for departmental meetings and examination boards. St. Aye seems like a good candidate - with her special care for lost papers. However, we have also considered St Leonard because of his ability to release prisoners. We may in fact decide on St Radegund, another saint who released prisoners. She has a local connection - the nuns at Usk, just up river from our campus at Caerleon, had a chapel dedicated to St Radegund. I also have on my bookshelf (never mind how) the skull of a nun from St Radegund's Convent in Cambridge. Colleagues have suggested that we should consider taking the skull into meetings to remind faculty heads that time passes and it will all be the same in a few hundred years anyway. Many thanks for all the readings on death. I have a 3rd year student who wants to write his dissertation on this very subject, with special reference to embalming and the actual disposal of the body. He is even considering doing his work experience placement with a local undertaker in order to be able to draw modern parallels. Best wishes Maddy Dr Madeleine Gray Department of Humanities and Science UWCN 'Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought' %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%