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The Westminster Society
Reunion Day with BA Celebration 2022
Timetable for Saturday 3rd September 2022
► Getting there
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The U1 bus terminates in Westminster College car park
They call it Harcourt Campus. Early Saturday morning the bus changes name. It becomes: 400 BROOKESBus U1 |
Arriving by Train
The U1 bus, by either name, departs from Frideswide Square, opposite Oxford Rail Station, about every 20-30 minutes. Their timing seems pretty dependable. |
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Arriving by Bus or Coach
at Gloucester Green Bus & Coach Station The nearest stops for the U1 to College are at Westgate, or Park End Street. |
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please click on this map to expand it
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click here for photos from 2022 Reunion Day
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The ONLY car park available to us is the main staff car park. Please do not head for the pool, sports centre, or the art & design area, nor the disabled parking spaces marked on the OBU campus map. You could be ticketed and charged.
Please enter College campus the same way as the U1 buses. The map below should help if you are unsure where we mean. |
► Reception is at a "new" door on the car park side of the Refectory. The blue dots on the map show how to get to Reception from the bus stop or the car park. This route is wheelchair accessible:
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At Reception you will be handed your name badge(s) and any tickets you have booked for the BA Celebration and the informal Reunion Evening Dinner Click to expand and explore the campus map ► |
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Here is a whistle-stop tour of the Harcourt Hill Campus
It looks remarkably like Westminster College, although, perhaps not for former residents of Houses M to X. Their half of Main Quad is now an area of "set-aside". And DD to HH, Top Quad, and the Tutor's Houses have been replaced by Westminster Hall's Trevor Hughes and Frances Young Buildings. |
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ACCOMMODATION: Brookes on-site, single, en-suite rooms for Friday, Saturday &/or Sunday nights available. £68 per room for just one night, or £58 per room per night for two or three nights. Please follow the Check-In and Check-Out times Brookes gives when you book rooms.
The Brookes paperwork is most insistent about no parking available. Ignore that. We have been allocated the Main Car Park, same as last year.
Friday 2nd September 2022 Early evening
Check-in by 6pm. There is no Refectory service on Friday.
Saturday 3rd September 2022
Registration - Friday arrivals, please come to Registration after 10am Saturday, or once you return from the Wesley Walk in town.
Wearing a face covering is now a matter of personal choice - please be conscious of those who are more cautious than you
The Brookes paperwork is most insistent about no parking available. Ignore that. We have been allocated the Main Car Park, same as last year.
Friday 2nd September 2022 Early evening
Check-in by 6pm. There is no Refectory service on Friday.
Saturday 3rd September 2022
Registration - Friday arrivals, please come to Registration after 10am Saturday, or once you return from the Wesley Walk in town.
Wearing a face covering is now a matter of personal choice - please be conscious of those who are more cautious than you
Main Contacts for the Day
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+ First-Aider: Mary Lines in Theatre Foyer & Chapel Quad (all day)
Society Chair & 2022 Magazine Editor: Peter Relf Event Organisers: Mary Lines & Liz Stock both everywhere, all day Registration Desk: Peter Steadman, Liz Barnes, Rob Tunnicliff |
+ First-Aider: Peter Forsaith in the Glasgow Room (Saturday morning)
Leading the BA Platform Party, Rev Miriam Moul Society Treasurer: David Gibbs preparing Graduates in Theatre & Foyer Westminster Society Membership: Peter Steadman at Registration Desk |
► What's On ? The day's activities . . .
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Reunion Registration from 10am
Check-in to receive your name badge and pre-ordered tickets for: • Reunion Day Ticket • BA Day Celebration (ticket includes Reunion Day) • post-Chapel social in Chapel Quad (included in your Reunion/BA Day ticket) • Informal Evening Dinner |
Glasgow Room from 10am
Next to Registration, open for informal chat, and display put together by the Archives Team at OCMCH. They will welcome your contributions of College memorabilia - college & student documents, pictures, or physical items. |
Greetings Card Sales from 10am
In the Glasgow Room Surprise and delight Westminster and other friends by sending Westminster greetings cards! Three designs available, as shown in the newsletter. Packs of 6 cards with envelopes for £5. Credit cards accepted. |
Great Westminster 132nd Annual Treasure Hunt* - all day
Our ever devious College Archivist, Tom Dobson, of OCMCH, has put together a College Treasure Hunt to puzzle, educate and entertain us all. Pick up an entry form, personal or team, at Reception. *132nd? There are no records to substantiate that claim. |
BA (ad eundem) Graduates & their Guests
If you arrive in civvies or informal dress you will be able to watch, cheer, and/or take part in the morning's activities without getting egg on your blouse. Then you can slip into LR2 around midday and change ready for the 12.30 BA Celebration.
If you arrive in civvies or informal dress you will be able to watch, cheer, and/or take part in the morning's activities without getting egg on your blouse. Then you can slip into LR2 around midday and change ready for the 12.30 BA Celebration.
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Sportskhana from 10:45
Whatever the weather, we are promised unlikely sports in Chapel Quad [or in Westminster Square (former Coffee Bar) if wet]. Daft "sports" to wind up proper PE Teachers, sports like welly-throwing, and the high-skill Ultimate Westminster Egg-Drop. Let's all join in and go home with SUCCESS under our belts. |
11:15 Participants please for the U•W•E•D
Ultimate Westminster Egg-Drop Participants assemble, to pack your eggs, in the room above Lecture Room 1 (beside the Chapel at Balcony level.) Peter Relf will be there to see fair play as you prepare the packaging for your eggs. |
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11:30 All Eyes Front & Centre
in Chapel Quad for the U•W•E•D the Ultimate Westminster Egg-Drop Whose egg will drop from the Balcony and remain intact? They aren't even hard-boiled - they are RAW ! Totally fresh, out from under the hens (probably). Impossible challenge ? To win, work out how to make sure your egg does not so much as crack. Start practising today and you could be having lovely fresh omelettes all summer. |
► Feeling Hungry ?
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Refectory open from 12 midday
Selling sandwiches, tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer, wine. Cash or cards accepted ► You are most welcome to picnic on the sports field, making sure you leave no trace of your visit. |
Great Westminster 132nd Annual Treasure Hunt, until 4.30pm
Now's a good time to start the Treasure Hunt, if you have not done so already. Our fiendish College Archivist, Tom Dobson, of OCMCH, has put together a College Treasure Hunt to puzzle, educate and entertain us all. Pick up your entry form, personal or team, at Reception. |
► BA Celebration
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12 midday Graduates Assemble
If you decide to wear the full kit (it must be the gown, cap and hood for the OBU BA, whatever doctorates you already hold) please check each other now. Hood and gown may be combined with military or clerical garb. None of the above is compulsory. |
Disabled Ws, Graduates and Guests will find most areas of the campus accessible, but not the Theatre Gallery, nor OCMCH. Those both involve stairs.
Please tell us about your stair-climbing and walking limits or wheelchair use on the form at Action Point C at the foot of this page. We will do our best to ensure your safety and comfort. |
12:15 BA Celebration Guests with tickets for the Theatre please take your seats.
Reunion Day Ticket Holders and their Guests are welcome to take the Gallery seats 12:15 BA (ad eundem) recipients will be escorted to the Foyer and then to their places. Our Treasurer, David Gibbs, works on many graduations. He will give your gown and hood a final check for you. |
12:30 The Westminster Society Celebration of Oxford Brookes University BA (ad eundem) Awards 2020 & 2022
The Platform Party of civic and Society worthies enters, led by the Society Piper, Rev Will Bissett. Prof William (Bill) Gibson, of the OCMCH, assisted by College Archivist Mr Thomas Dobson BA, will lead the proceedings. Address by Susan Howdle, former Governor of Oxford Brookes, former Chair of Trustees of The Westminster College Oxford Trust which owns the site on behalf of the Methodist Church. Susan was awarded an honorary doctorate of the university in May of this year. |
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1:30pm BA Celebration Reception in the Refectory
Graduates and their Guests admitted by ticket. All Ws and their Guests may purchase tickets for the BA Celebration as part of their bookings for the day. |
1960s Graduate Celebration, on 4th September 2021
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Sandwiches and drinks available to purchase from the Refectory until 5pm
The Glasgow Room is open for chats, a look at the archive display, a bit of reminiscing, or a rest. |
Guided Walk: Places of Methodist Interest in Central Oxford
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In Town from 2pm
Wesley Memorial Church will be open for individual prayer, refreshments, and for those going on Peter Forsaith's guided walk to assemble (see below, at 1030) Nearest U1 stop is Westgate, |
Wesley Walk starts at 2.30pm
Meet at Wesley Memorial Church, or be on the 14:08 U1/400 bus from Harcourt Hill Campus Wesley Mem is in New Inn Hall Street. Guided walk around central Oxford's places of Methodist interest. Leader: Peter Forsaith, of the Oxford Centre for Methodism & Church History (OCMCH is also based on Harcourt Hill). Please return to College by 400/U1 bus. |
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► Activities on Campus for Ws and Guests
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Greetings Card Sales
continue until 4.30pm in the Glasgow Room ► |
Surprise and delight Westminster and other friends by sending Westminster greetings cards!
Three designs available, as shown in the newsletter. Packs of 6 cards with envelopes for £5. Orders taken if we run out ! |
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Isn't it great . . .
. . . that for this one day a year we get to call the place Westminster College again, and there's no-one to "correct" us ! |
► Our Focus moves to the Chapel
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2.30pm Prom Concert, drop in for a while, or stay till 4.
• Musicians • Singers • Thespians If you'd like to perform during this entertainment, please drop David Gibbs a line very soon at: westminstersocietytreasurer@gmail.com organ and piano available or bring your own instrument (inc voice) |
Great Westminster 132nd Annual Treasure Hunt - until 4.30pm
Our fiendish College Archivist, Tom Dobson, of OCMCH, has put together a College Treasure Hunt to puzzle, educate and entertain us all. He will have us running all over the College. Entry form, personal or team, is in your green folder. Please hand in your form in the Glasgow Room before 4.30pm. |
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4.15pm Chapel Choir Rehearsal
Quick hymn run-through and then we'll practise the anthem for the 6pm Westminster Society Reunion Service. Singers of all ages (how lovely for your son/daughter to sing with us) please declare yourselves on the Society's information survey, which is Action Point C at the foot of this webpage. Informatrix Choristarum: Liz Stock |
Greetings Card Sales in the Glasgow Room - final call - they close at 4.30pm
Surprise and delight Westminster friends by sending Westminster greeting cards ! Three designs available, as shown in the newsletter. Packs of 6 cards with envelopes for £5. Orders taken if we run out ! |
Great Westminster 132nd Annual Treasure Hunt - FINISHING
Our ever devious College Archivist, Tom Dobson, of OCMCH, has put together a College Treasure Hunt to puzzle, educate and entertain us all. He will have us running all over the College. Please hand your entry form in at the Glasgow Room by 4.30pm |
The Glasgow Room
remains open for chat or a quiet sit-down to rebuild your strength before the AGM & the Reunion Service 
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5pm 132nd AGM of The Westminster Society
in the Theatre to include a 132-second QUIZ ! Meeting and quiz chaired by Peter Relf. |
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Chair's Quiz: (Try this at home)
In exactly 132 seconds, write down all the counties in England & Wales that have a "w" in their name. |
AGM documents
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6pm Chapel - The Westminster Society 2022 Reunion Service
Led by Brookes & The Westminster Society Chaplain, Rev Miriam Moul. Organist: David Gibbs. Informatrix Choristarum: Liz Stock Reunion Day Collection is for Wesley Memorial Church Refugee Welcome (see info and links right, or below) |
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photo above or left - Our 2021 Reunion Service was Miriam's first service on Harcourt Hill. We packed the Chapel (subject to rules then prevailing) |
Refugee Welcome
Wesley Mem For more info on Wesley Memorial Church's plan to sponsor a migrant family, please click on the banner:
To donate to the scheme please click on the JustGiving logo
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7pm approx • Westminster Square
social time before dinner A short pause between Chapel and Dinner |
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7:30pm in the Refectory
Informal Reunion Dinner Bottles of wine may be purchased during the meal, from House Wine at £14.50 with others at £16, £22, or £27. 
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This year's Menu
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After Dinner, around 9pm until 10.30, the Glasgow Room will be open
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there will be gentle chat in the Glasgow Room
or, if it's a clear night, perhaps you'd prefer an evening stroll around the campus, before bedtime |
We hope you have enjoyed your Reunion Day
If you are heading into town, or down to the Premier Inn
400 / U1 buses leave the Campus Bus Stop at 21:35. 22:05, 22:35, 23:05, 22:35 (English county passes accepted) (after then Night Fares apply on the 00:20, 01:20 and 02:20 !)
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Sunday Morning
Check out from Westminster Hall between 9am & 10am |
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Who is attending Reunion Day 2022 ? (click to expland)
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Reunion Organising Team
Our thanks go to the small team who plan and prepare for this event. It has taken hard work since before Easter. Through July and August it almost becomes a full-time occupation! Thanks also go to Members who step up as stewards on the day, helping everything run smoothly. Thank you all.
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Mary Lines (Schofield) 75-78 - Joint Organiser
Liz Stock (Bullock) 72-75 - Joint Organiser |
Peter Relf - Society Chair
David Gibbs 66-69 - Society Treasurer |
Peter Steadman 74-78 - Bookings, Newsletters & Data
Tom Dobson, Brookes & OCMCH Liaison |
Please send us your mementos of the day (from the Hill or from wherever you watched us). Remarks overhead, stories you only half-remembered, lovely moments you witnessed,
friendships remade, and of course your photos. We are eager to see what it looked like from your side of things!
Please send to the usual email address: WestminsterOxfordAlumni@gmail.com
friendships remade, and of course your photos. We are eager to see what it looked like from your side of things!
Please send to the usual email address: WestminsterOxfordAlumni@gmail.com
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► ► ► Click on the images to see these, and more, photos from The Westminster Society 2022 Reunion Day ► ► ► |
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Environmental Policy: The Westminster Society organising team have avoided the use of plastics wherever possible. Plastic drinking cups, for example, are existing stock which we are using up rather than throwing away unused. That really would be a waste. We cannot vouch for the actions of OBU nor of its service providers.
