When we heard about two of our Linacre Alumni tying the knot at an intimate ceremony in Majorca, we knew we had to celebrate and share the news. So here is the low down on the very first Linacre nuptials….we’ve bought hats in preparation for the next one! Meet Tom and Oliwia from the 2015 cohort…
Which subjects did you study at which universities?
Oliwia: BSc Chemistry with Analytical and Forensic Science and then MSc Chemistry at University of Hull and University of Sheffield
Tom: BA Visual Communications at Leeds Arts University
How did you meet:
Oliwia: We all met at Doncaster station, ready to travel down to the Linacre London residential. Both of us remember being quite nervous about the whole trip in general. Luckily, we knew the others from our schools who were attending, but that honestly didn’t matter because everyone else on the trip turned out to be really friendly. So, we ended up forming a larger friendship group, which just so happened to include the both of us!
What drew you to each other?
Tom: Honestly, we’re really like-minded. We’ve both got our own hobbies, opinions, and views, but underlying it all, there’s this kind of moral fibre and connection that lets us understand each other. I think that’s what allowed us to stay in touch and remain friends even after Linacre was over. It was actually a year or so after Linacre that we had a small meet-up with a few others from the trip. We’d arranged it because I was heading off to Zanzibar for six months and wanted to catch up with everyone before I left. All it took was a little goodbye hug from Oliwia, and something just switched—I knew she was genuine, and I felt that to my core. We were good friends by that point, but I felt that change happen in real time. It was like the world slowed around me, and I couldn’t shake that moment from my mind. And, as they say, the rest is history!
Oliwia: I became really good friends with one of Tom’s friends, and she used to tell me all about how he was cheeky, funny, intelligent, kind, and easy to get on with. Tom and I ended up being friends for a couple of years before anything more happened, and I think that made a big difference. We realised we had similar mindsets, but were still very much our own people, which just made things feel comfortable. I was never nervous around him, and I loved the banter we had, being together always felt easy and natural.
What are you both doing now?
Oliwia: I’m currently a Senior Development Chemist working in the petrochemicals industry. My role focuses on performance additives that help prevent polymerisation during monomer synthesis. It’s not quite where I originally thought I’d end up because when I was at Linacre, I had plans to go into Earth Sciences and become a volcanologist. But in my final year of sixth form, I realised I really enjoyed Chemistry, so I changed direction for university and decided to stay closer to home as well. Looking back, it was definitely the right decision because my job is really interesting and I find it genuinely satisfying.
Tom: If Linacre taught me two things, the first would be that you never know how much strangers will come to mean to you, and the second is that more traditionally academic subjects weren’t quite for me. I originally went on the trip to study Maths/Computing, but it taught me that just because I was good at those subjects didn’t mean that was where my passion lay. So, ironically, Linacre did make me avoid university at first—but I wouldn’t change that experience for a second.
Later on, I realised I should still go to university, but for something I was truly passionate about. I chose an incredibly broad arts degree, with a focus less on the art itself and more on how it communicates our intentions. Throughout my course, I started to realise that every project I was doing had a small amount of animation in it. I noticed that and kept pulling at that thread and now I’ve spent half a decade in the industry. I’m currently making animations for theme park rides. Wild!
How do you feel about your time on Linacre and where it’s taken you?
Tom: Truthfully, it feels like we’ve already lived a lifetime of stories together, and we definitely wouldn’t have crossed paths without Linacre. Without a doubt, that school trip shifted my life in ways I can’t even describe. It directly led to me meeting my best friend, to whom I am now married! It also taught me to follow my passions by showing me that the path I was on wasn’t the right one for me. In some parallel universe, I think there’s still a Thomas who went to Oxford or Cambridge—but I sincerely believe I got the far better deal.
Oliwia: Without Linacre, I wouldn’t have met my husband or made friends for life. Like him, it shaped my life in ways I can’t even fully describe. I think our first Linacre trip was around the 4th July, and our wedding ended up being on the 2nd July, so almost exactly 10 years after we first met, which still feels crazy to me. I even said in my wedding vows that I never would have imagined, ten years earlier, that I’d be standing in front of Tom in a white dress.
Congratulations Tom and Oliwia! Thanks for sharing your story with us.