AGM and Informal Dinner February 2025
Our AGM and Dinner took place for a second time at the Stockport Guildhall on 13th February. After a brief and efficient AGM, our members and their guests enjoyed dinner before hearing our speaker. We were very fortunate to be joined by Professor Laura Tunbridge (Queen's, 2003), currently Professor of Music and Henfrey Fellow and Tutor in Music at St. Catherine’s College. From 1st October 2025 she is to be Heather Professor of Music, the senior academic in the Music Faculty and the first woman in this role in its 400-year history.
Our eminent speaker tailored her talk to the occasion and spoke of ‘Beethoven’s life in food and drink’. With illustrations and musical excerpts, she gave us a fascinating overview of Beethoven’s life and times, comparing what he composed with life and events around him. She showed us shopping lists, and conversation books where friends wrote down questions because he could no longer hear. These gave us a real glimpse of the man and in particular his life-long love of coffee. There was then an opportunity for questions before the conclusion of a friendly and fascinating evening. Our thanks for organising this go to our Chairman, John Schultz, who was unfortunately prevented from attending by illness.
Autumn Lecture 2024
Unfortunately, our Autumn lecture on the many and varied people who contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary had to be cancelled as the speaker fell ill with Covid just before the event.
Freshers' Event, September 2024
Our eighth annual Freshers’ Meeting was held in September. It was once again generously hosted by Eversheds Sutherland in their Manchester Office. Over the years the size of the event has doubled, and in 2024 over sixty freshers arrived to meet one another and ask questions of a panel of undergraduates.
There was plenty of practical advice, from managing your work-load to drying your washing, and also time to connect with other freshers destined for the same course or college. The event was ably chaired by Sarah Herdan, and supported by OUS Manchester members and Oxonians from Eversheds Sutherland.
It is very rewarding to see problems answered and apprehension dissolved in the nervous weeks leading up to the first term at Oxford.
Walking Tour of St Peter’s Square, Castlefield, and St John’s, Manchester, September 2024
Thirty-five of us thoroughly enjoyed a walking tour – enlightening and amusing in equal measure – of St Peter’s Square, St John’s, and Castlefield. Our guide Jonathan Schofield combined his great love and knowledge of Manchester with an irreverence entirely appropriate to a city with a history of cocking a snook at the establishment. And he managed to speak above the noise of the raucous crowds enjoying the warm Indian summer sunshine.
Highlights included the benefits of assertive press independence at the time of the Peterloo Massacre; the seven bees on the seven seas carved atop the former YMCA building, signifying Manchester’s past pride in its busy global trade; the innovative use of wooden sets to dampen the noise of carriage wheels outside a hospital; two bollards that started life as canon barrels in Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army; a pub named after a variety of potato; the intimidating railway arches that featured so aptly in Peaky Blinders; and the utter disregard for the oldest Roman stone in the city, hidden out of the way and not even labelled! We finished with an uplifting reminder of the successful return of residents to the city centre, both in the Georgian terraces of St John’s and in the new blocks towering over Castlefield.
The instant, spontaneous applause that greeted Jonathan at the end of the tour showed how much everyone appreciated his ability to bring local history to life.
Tour of Bramall Hall, Stockport, Greater Manchester
Thirty-two of us – members, partners, and friends – enjoyed a fascinating glimpse into the history of Bramall Hall, a local manor house whose delights are not widely enough known.
Its owners since the 14th century have included some of the great landowning families of Cheshire, a local Victorian entrepreneur, and – since 1935 – the local council. Fortunately, most have taken good care of it, in many cases sympathetically adding new elements or converting existing rooms in contemporary style. As a result, we saw prized 16th century wall paintings, exemplary ceiling plasterwork, Arts and Crafts era decorations, and so much more, all within a mainly Tudor exterior. Stockport Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund deserve considerable credit for continuing to maintain this fine property.
Our two tour guides did a great job, as did the café staff in providing a rather fine sandwich lunch.
May Bank Holiday Walk 2024
A party of almost 20 members and friends enjoyed our traditional May Bank Holiday walk, this time in the White Peak of Derbyshire near Tideswell, north of Bakewell, ably organised by our former treasurer, Chris Hirst. Once again, the weather was kind.
In a walk of 6.5 miles, we climbed gently up to Litton, a neat little village around 1,000 ft above sea level. From there it was downhill through Tansley Dale and along Cressbrook Dale to the village of Cressbrook, which overlooks the eponymous textile mill, now converted into a block of flats.
After walking up through the village, we descended to Litton Mill, another one-time textile mill, which had a particularly unsavoury record for the treatment of its workforce. After a walk along the river Wye, we returned to Litton Mill and then walked back up Tideswell Dale.
Then we had lunch, joined by a small number of other members, in the splendid Anchor Inn at Litton, which has been an alehouse since 1699. A popular calling place for carriers and pack horses, it became a principal coaching inn.
YOUNG ALUMNI GROUP
Over the last few months several events have been organised by our young alumni (i.e. those who matriculated in 2000 or later): most popular have been after-work drinks, though a walk with pub lunch has also taken place. Further social events are being planned.
To find out more about our Young Alumni group, please email the group's Secretary, giving your contact details, Alumni number, Oxford college, subject and year of matriculation, so that we can add you to our mailing list and keep you informed.
