Annual Meeting
I should like to start by thanking all those who joined in our Annual Meeting on September 30th. Those who were not able to take part may like to see the draft Minutes on our website. You will see there Hilary Cakebread Hall’s encouraging overview of Ride and Stride this year. Many thanks from me to all who supported the event: Hilary will be writing separately to all our Ride & Stride contacts.
OHCT David Booth Grant
We are marking David Booth’s generous legacy to the Trust by specially naming two major grants each year. The first OHCT David Booth Grant has been given towards extensive fabric maintenance in St Michael’s, Clifton Hampden.
Christmas cards
I know that some of you have been looking for our online sales page: this is now ready and you can now purchase our very popular Christmas cards on our website.
Events
Though this year’s events have had to be held over to next year. In the meantime, you may like to see some related videos online. You may remember last year’s tour of domestic architecture in Dorchester given by our Trustee, Prof. Malcolm Airs. He has made two short videos on the subject:
The hidden meaning of date stones on the buildings of Dorchester-on-Thames
Shedding light on windows in an Oxfordshire village
Dr Simon Bradley’s Blenheim Lecture on his work for Pevsner’s Guide will now take place next October. He recently gave a talk by Zoom for a meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, and you may like to try streaming that to your computer (I fear though that, in Zoom, the sound quality can be a little challenging). This talk looked at Oxford’s buildings, including the colleges, though for us he’ll be talking more widely about churches in the county. Click here to see the lecture via zoom. You will need this password: Gks*c0PL
Many of you enjoy David Warr’s church tours, and you’ll be glad to hear that, next year, he has offered to make some short video tours of a few churches specially for us in addition to arranging his usual trips.
Loughborough Bellfoundry
Finally, at the suggestion of one of our Members, I am glad to draw your attention the fact that, with the closure of the Whitechapel Foundry, there is only one specialist bellfoundry left in the country. Those who love church bells may be interested in the appeal to secure the future of their historic buildings and plant: see www.loughboroughbellfoundry.
With best wishes
Stephen Goss