Welcome
Old Ws & Westies and Visitors to our website
Old Ws & Westies and Visitors to our website
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The Westminster Society
The Westminster Society brings together Old Ws & Westies from all over the world, from Westminster College days in Horseferry Road, Westminster, to the move and growth at Hinksey and its Wintry Ridge* on Harcourt Hill.
The Society organises a reunion weekend at Harcourt Hill each September and produces the annual The Westminsterian magazine each winter. Our reunion welcomes Old Ws from all year groups, both Society members and non-members. *from Matthew Arnold's poem The Scholar gypsy |
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Our plans for your Society and this website:
Membership |
Reunions |
The Westminster Society has over 600 members covering the latter years of Westminster College, London, and all the subsequent Oxford years.
We welcome Old Ws & Westies from home and abroad to join us. It costs just £5.00 a year to become a member of The Westminster Society, payable by standing order. Plus, full members get their own copy of our annual magazine, The Westminsterian. Click on the images below to see more and to download the Subscription Information sheet: The Westminsterian - our annual magazine
Subscription Information
Read how COVID has changed the lives of our members, whether working, volunteering, or in retirement. Read their stories about happenings at Westminster, or in the years since those days. Some met the love of their life at Westminster. Not all went on to become teaches or ministers. What did they turn to? How has that worked out? How has their faith developed or declined since College Chapel days? Our Editor, Denis, has assembled a terrific selection of stories and pictures for this bumper edition. Don't miss out. We have more copies ready to send out. Please see the info above as "Subscribe today !" Next issue's Deadline: 1st December 2021 Send to: WestminsterOxfordAlumni@gmail.com College History and ArchivesBeginnings in Westminster, the move to Oxford, single-sex / co-ed years, stories from members, and links to the official College Archives held at the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History (OCMCH - also resident on Harcourt Hill)
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Each September the Society organises a reunion at the Westminster College site on Harcourt Hill - except during the COVID precautions.
The Reunion is held over an early September weekend, with accommodation available on site if you would like it. The format is generally: a welcome with tea or coffee, and a chance to look at the archive material which is made available. Supper in the dining room. Evening entertainment, a group of musicians who play 60s and 70s music. On the Sunday there is the short reunion AGM followed by a service in the Chapel. If you would like to join the society during the weekend please speak to one of the organisers who will point you in the right direction. The cost is £5.00 per year, details on the links below. Year Groups & DecadesMany of us overlap with up to three years of students who were already at Westminster when we joined, and then up to three years who follow us. So don't restrict yourself to your year group. It's worth a peep at what those other years are talking about too.
Local Reunions and Groups
Several other reunions are organised by Old Ws in Oxford and around the UK, based on year groups, regions, or interests, arranged through the Society or via facebook.
If you are organising a get-together (or fancy doing so) and you would like to publicise details - this is your space. A member of the Society Committee will be responsible for developing and supporting local and regional groups. They think it's all over !
Did you think the Westminster spirit ceased when the College joined Oxford Brookes ?
Committee members were delighted to hear in a recent meeting that Harcourt Hill students see themselves as rather different from other Oxford Brookes students. The Harcourt Hill campus, its chapel at the centre, its playing fields, the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, and its century and a half of Methodist connections, still mean something for today's student body. Might we see a future Reunion for 18 to 108 year olds? External LinksUseful links to Old W facebook groups for different eras, wikipedia entries, College archive materials, education matters, subject specific references, and other websites of interest to Old Ws
Galleries - Old and NewPictures from the two College sites, Year Group images, and more. Scroll down to the foot of the Links Page for these.
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What's in the pipeline ? - A bit of a calendar for Old Ws
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September 2021: COVID put paid to last year's planned reunion. Now we are planning for September 2021. And for a BA celebration for those Oxford University Institute Cert Ed holders to whom Oxford Brookes University made the BA (ad eundem) award in September 2020.
Oxford Brookes mailed BA Certificates in early October 2020. This, sadly, was a one-off exercise and cannot be offered again. With vaccines going ahead at speed, our September 2021 reunion could be back on track. We'll be back ! |
Local & Interest Group Get-Togethers
COVID means plans for local reunions are on hold at the moment. This is the place to check for dates - when we all feel safe again. Meanwhile, why not set up a zoom meeting? It is fairly easy to do. (HINT: Practice with one friend or family member first!) 
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