Former Policeman, Neil Seabridge, told us about life after the Met and his relatively new role as Head Porter at King’s College, which is part of the Bridge the Gap walk (13 September) route this year.
BTG: How long have you been a Porter?
NS: I started at King’s in May 2014, just in time for the King’s Affair (a bit like a May Ball but much less formal).
BTG: What motivated you to apply for the position?
NS: When I made the decision to retire from the Metropolitan Police in 2013, I decided to take some time out. After a couple of months, I began to miss the challenges that a job brings and being part of a team.
I saw the Head Porter’s job at King’s on the University website and felt that the advert could have been written for me. It offered the opportunity to lead a team, to be responsible for delivering the security of an iconic location and, most importantly, to be responsible for the safety of the whole college community.
BTG: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
NS: The direct contact and support of students. On my first day, I was able to listen and provide advice to one man. I also brought a fresh perspective to the King’s Affair, running a de-brief that provided the new committee with a raft of ideas on how to improve next year’s event. The direct feedback I got from the students was very rewarding.
BTG: How would you describe your role as porter?
NS: My favourite work-based analogy is that of a clock. All you want from a clock is that it provides you with the correct time. However, behind the face lies a myriad of cogs and springs that all need to interconnect yet independently function in order to give you that correct time. The porters’ lodge is the mainspring upon which everything else relies.
We’re also the go-to people who will find solutions to problems, enforce a level of behaviour, act as agony aunt, counsellor, advisor… and that’s just with the Fellows!
BTG: Where is your favourite place in College and why?
NS: I really enjoy walking into college through the Backs every morning and pinching myself that I work here. On a calm, warm summer’s morning, the bridge is an idyllic place with the river stretching away either side of it and only the ducks to keep you company. It then changes in the afternoons. It’s much noisier with the punters enjoying themselves as they take in the views.
BTG: What do you think makes King’s College special?
NS: I’m sure that every college is special but I remember visiting Cambridge prior to starting work here and there was a definite sense to me of King’s being different. The fact that the Chapel dominates the skyline, that people sit on the wall eating lunch or watching the world go by, and the robed Custodians present the welcoming face of the College all go to make it a location that people gravitate towards.
BTG: What is your favourite fact about the College?
NS: It was the first college to gain Royal assent. Fellows and students set up their own in-house brewery that must have made for interesting supervisions. A former Fellow reputedly invented roller skates. My particular favourite is that porters were once the College barbers let loose with a cut-throat razor. Perhaps that explains why people are still very polite towards the porters.
BTG: In your opinion, when is the best time of year in College and why?
NS: There is a very special atmosphere on Christmas Eve and during the service as the outside light begins to fade leaving the Chapel lit by candlelight. And the sound of the choir can’t help to put a tingle down the spine.
BTG: Can you tell us about your most unexpected experience to date as a Porter?
NS: Nobody told me that I had a ceremonial function until I arrived! In my first month, I was dressed up and led the procession at the King’s Sermon, carrying my 300-year old silver topped mace.
I’ve also met and chatted with Alan Bennett, who delivered the King’s Sermon, and have held Wittgenstein’s poker (Google it!). Luckily for Professor Macfarlane, I’ve retired from the police or I might have had to seize it as evidence!
BTG: Can you name something for Bridge the Gap walkers to look out for?
NS: Xu Zhimo’s stone (walkers can see it to the side of the bridge). Xu Zhimo was a student at King’s in 1921. He was influenced by the likes of Keats and Shelley and took their influence to China. He revisited Cambridge in 1928 and wrote one of the most famous poems in China, ‘Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again’. The stone is made of Beijing marble and contains a carving of the first and last two lines of the poem.
Image credit: King's College