Provided Government Regulations permit and Oxford Brookes University can accommodate our needs, we expect to hold the delayed BA Celebration as part of the 2021 Westminster Society Reunion Weekend. You do NOT have to be a subscribing member of the Westminster Society to attend the Reunion Weekend or the BA Celebration - although at £10 a year, what's stopping you???

We need an idea of numbers and requirements of the Day and the Weekend. Please fill in as much as you can of the survey below. We will NOT hold you to these answers. They are just indicative and may include details you have not yet decided on.
Here are some of your options. Everything you see here is strictly provisional. The survey follows:
Friday 3rd September:
  • afternoon/evening arrival at accommodation - a free evening

Saturday 4th September:
  • breakfast available
  • morning activities to be planned
  • arrivals, tea & coffee available all morning in the Glasgow Room (formerly JCR, or Library)
  • lunch available in the College Dining Hall/Canteen (pay as you go)
  • 1pm 1950s/1960s BA Celebration in the Theatre, followed by a Reception, possibly in a marquee
  • 3pm 1970s/1980s BA Celebration in the Theatre, followed by a Reception, possibly in a marquee
  • BA Celebrations: if numbers permit we will just hold one 3pm Celebration, we are looking into facebook live for those who cannot travel, and for family and friends left at home
  • parallel activities for Reunion attendees, they are also invited to the (marquee) Receptions
  • 6pm Chapel Prayers, led by alumni, with College Prayer, Hymn and Song
  • 6.30/7pm Dinner in the Dining Hall (£15-£17 2 courses and coffee)
  • 8pm onwards - evening entertainment in the Theatre, or quiet time for chat in the Glasgow Room, and the Bar

Sunday 5th September:
  • breakfast available
  • 10am AGM including Committee Elections
  • 11am Sunday Service in Chapel, Guest Preacher
  • lunch available in the College Dining Hall/Canteen
  • afternoon activities - what do you suggest? - or join the 1970s crowd at The Fishes
  • 6.30 Dinner available in the Dining Hall, followed by quiet prayers in the Chapel
  • evening activities for those who remain standing

Monday 6th September:
  • breakfast available
  • morning: leave rooms, farewell to friends, on to lunch elsewhere... or will you stay a few more days around Oxford?
Bearing in mind that everything you have just read is provisional,
so plans could yet change,
please tell us what you can in the survey below.

    Please name the September 2020 BA recipient(s) for whom you are responding:

    If you are answering for 2, but your answers differ, please complete separate surveys
    If you are attending with your BEd partner or spouse, they are classed as Guests at the BA Celebration, *not* BA Graduate 2

    First person:  BA Graduate 1

    Second person:  BA Graduate 2
    1. Do you wish to attend the BA Celebration Event on Harcourt Hill
    Next please tell us which parts of the BA Celebration you would like to attend, and with how many guests (max two per BA Graduate).
    We foresee difficulties over space for guests, both in the Theatre for the formal part, and in a marquee afterwards for an informal reception, so there may be two events on the day.
    2a. How many guests would you like to bring to the formal event in the
    2b.   . . . and how many guests would you like to bring to the less formal social event afterwards, possibly in a
    With the usual Reunion crowd on site, plus a potential 300-400 BA Graduates (and their two guests each) car parking is going to be problematic.

    There is, of course, the U1 Brookesbus which runs every 45 minutes all day on Saturdays. Stops include:
    • Wheatley
    • Thornhill Park & Ride on the A40
    • Brookes' Headington Campus
    • the High
    • the Rail Station
    • Botley Park & Ride
    • terminating at the Harcourt Campus - Westminster College

    If you are not lodging on site you could look for accommodation close to the U1 route.  For more details of stops and timing click here.

    3. If we have to hold two BA Celebrations would you (and your Guest(s)) prefer to attend:



    4. Please tick any of these that apply to you
    Academic Dress & Photographs:

    You may wish to attend wearing your College blazer and tie, or some other smart or formal wear. Some will want to be in academic dress, but please do not feel obliged to do this.

    We believe £45 to be the cost to HIRE gown, cap and hood. Purchase of a hood to combine with, for example, ecclesiastical dress, is £75. Click for other prices on the Ede & Ravenscroft website. An indication of your interest would be helpful:
    4. Would you like to hire or to purchase your
    5. Lots of people will be taking Photographs on the day, but would you like a lasting memento of the day taken by a professional photographer ?
    Accommodation
    Oxford has plenty of accommodation options - although you may have to book early to get the one you really want. They include:

     ► rooms on site in Westminster Hall, a student single-bed block, with en suites, built where Top Quad, (JJ to RR) used to be
     ► Premier Inn, Botley, just a few U1 bus stops from College, £35 to £65 a night
     ► Premier Inn Westgate, on U1 route, £35 to £98 a night
     ► Premier Inn Cowley, easy drive to parking at Seacourt Tower or Botley Park & Ride, for the U1 bus
     ► Magdalen College has rooms at £52 a night
     ► Linton Lodge Hotel (using your Brookes alumni discount) bus/walk into City to catch Brookesbus U1
     ► Travelodge Wheatley has rooms from £30 to £67 a night, drive to A40 Thornhill P&R, or walk to Wheatley Campus for the U1
     ► Travelodge Peartree (Moto Service Area) £30 to £62, bus into the City for U1, or drive to parking at Seacourt Tower or Botley Park & Ride, for U1 bus
     ► Travelodge Abingdon Rd, nr Redbridge P&R, just off Kennington Roundabout, drive to parking at Seacourt Tower or Botley Park & Ride, for U1 bus

    plus lots of other hotels and B&Bs around the local area.
    6. What do you think you'll do about accommodation (remember: we'll not hold you to this, it's just how you are thinking today)
    7. How are we going to pay for all this ? Oxford Brookes University may cover certain costs, but they have holes in their funds that will only get bigger as more students reclaim their costs. Westminster Society cannot legitimately cover costs from reserves because the BA Celebration is not open to all members, but it is open to non-Members.

    Setting aside the costs of accommodation, meals, gown etc hire, and the
    main Reunion Weekend, how much would you be prepared to contribute, per Graduate or Guest, towards the costs of the BA Celebration - marquee, decorations, nibbles, sundries?

    AND FINALLY . . .

    8. Have we overlooked something ?
    Is there something you absolutely NEED to tell WSoc or Brookes ?
    9. This final important question cannot be skipped.
    Please express an opinion, pass on the latest gossip, or a hot lead.

    In WW2 when the College was evacuated to Bristol,     a very dear, lonely friend was found. So he would not be forced to continue the indignity of merely propping open a door of The Hermitage, he was taken into protective custody by Westminster's trainee teachers, returning with them to Horseferry Road at the end of hostilities and, quite naturally, later living out his life in the country air atop Harcourt Hill.
    Where is Archie ? Have you got him ? Do you know who has him? Someone must be taking care of him, otherwise he would have turned up at Battersea, looking for adoption. Where is Archie today ?
    Thank you.

    Now please click on SUBMIT to send your answers to us:

Links to explore

Brookes Official Merchandise

When the shop opens after the restrictions,
we BA Graduates are entitled to purchase Graduation Merchandise - scroll holder, Graduation Mugs, clothing, and gifts.
Take a look at today's limited selection to see if it gives you ideas for later.

Brookes Graduation Medal

Medal producers Bigbury Mint are a family run firm with over 30 years of medal making experience. They have made medals for Channel 4, British Fire Service Association, Royal Marines and The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
For more info or to order your own Graduation Medal - click here

Go to Westminsterians.uk homepage

Take a look around our developing website. We welcome new material for inclusion on these pages.

Click on the image or here to start your journey

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If you have completed the main BA Celebration Survey,
please scroll up to check that the message below appears in ordinary black/grey type on a pinky-grey background:

Thank you. Your information has been submitted. We will keep alumni up to speed with progress on this event as much as we can.
Remember: COVID could still foil our plans!

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The Westminster Society
GENERAL COMMITTEE
​
Executive:
Chair: Peter Relf ('63-'66)
Secretary: Mary Lines ('75-'78)
Treasurer: David Gibbs ('66-'69)
Membership Officer: Peter Steadman ('74-'78)

Elected members:
Liz Stock ('72-'75)
Honor Hollis ('64-'67)
John Wallace ('66-'69)
Helen Lewis ('74-'77)
Linda Finch  ('85-'89)
Mike Cooper ('73-'77)

Ex-officio members:
Retiring chair: Sylvia Clift ('65-'69)
Methodist Chaplain:    
Oxford Brookes University Alumni: Anne Cossutta
Oxford Centre for Methodism & Church History: Tom Dobson

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The Westminster Society

Oxford Brookes University
Harcourt Campus
OXFORD
OX2 9AT


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