Making the Most of Oxford
It was a selfish wish that sparked the idea of ‘Making the Most of Oxford Club’.
Admittedly I was a newcomer to Oxford. My family and I had moved from the windswept fields and wide skies of East Anglia, and before that I had lived further afield, in France and Switzerland. Star struck perhaps with Oxford’s beauty, I also knew very little about the city and its rich and varied history.
How often did I wish that the old city walls along Brewer Street, which I pass almost daily to reach our school, could talk, or the impressive gateway through which we walk to Christ Church Cathedral for Assembly every Friday could whisper who had stepped on those well-trodden cobbled stones leading into Tom Quad or reveal who had passed underneath?
One is acutely aware that all around us, here in Oxford, there is so much which is of historical and cultural interest, and I am on a permanent quest to find out more.
In fact, in the end, the idea of the ‘Making the Most of Oxford Club’ really took root thanks to a conversation with Mrs Schiller, one of our previous Maths teachers, over a cup of coffee in the Staff Room. Mrs Schiller, whilst cycling past honey-coloured Oxford colleges and city walls into school every day, had also had the same thoughts and burning wish to learn more about the buildings, streets and passageways of this beautiful city, steeped in history. “How about we go out and explore the city with the children?!”
And that is how our ‘Making the Most of Oxford Club’ started.
Nowadays, we set off every Friday afternoon during Enrichment time with a gaggle of Prep boys, armed with a first aid bag – including plasters and wipes for grazed knees that stumble over kerbs or cobbled stones, and ice packs for those who walk into lamp posts (yes, this did happen!) - and occasionally also iPads to take photographs of captivating architectural points of interest.
The first club expedition usually begins with a good look at the Map of Oxford through the ages, followed by the climbing of a tower, such as the Saxon Tower of St Michael’s in the North Gate which conveniently explains the fact that Oxford used to have four such gates denoting the entrance to the city from the North, South, East and West (hence the West Gate shopping centre of course). We have also climbed the narrow, steep and winding steps to, almost, the top of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. Both towers offer magnificent views over the city and give a good idea what the City of Spires looks like from above, offering glimpses into college quads, alley ways, and up and down main streets, high above pedestrians and traffic. From this vantage point, the boys enjoy spotting Tom Tower, Oxford Castle and other familiar buildings and places they recognise.
After this, the list of interesting places and buildings to choose from to visit and experience is almost endless. Within only a short walk from school, Oxford seems to be a city that is forever giving. How lucky we are!
We have visited Oxford Castle, climbed its mound, studied its timeline and walked through the prison yard. We have strolled along Dead Man’s Walk towards the Botanic Gardens where we step into an entirely different climate in the Glasshouses giving us a sense of what a rainforest might look, smell, feel and sound like. We have climbed into the Organ Loft at Christ Church, heard about its history and played the organ there. We have stepped through a very ordinary looking door on the side of the entrance to the quad at Christ Church into a seemingly different world of tiny steps leading upwards past medieval graffiti in a vast and cavernous room, and eventually leading up to Tom Tower. We had to hold our ears whilst Great Tom tolled. On another visit to the Cathedral office, we lifted a cannon ball from the days of the Civil War which had got lodged in one of the walls of Christ Church.
We have stood in one of the oldest and dampest stone walled rooms in Oxford, at the bottom of St Michael’s North Gate, where the city guards would have rested between watches. We have stared at Einstein’s blackboard at the Science Museum, been dazzled by King Alfred’s jewel at the Ashmolean, and shivered contemplating Scott of the Antarctic’s favourite tin of Frank Cooper’s Oxford marmalade, which he had taken on the ill-fated expedition and is now on display at the Museum of Oxford. The tin of marmalade made its way back; Captain Scott didn’t. As a slight detour from our ventures, we then returned to school to taste four different marmalades, including Frank Cooper’s Oxford Marmalade in a blind tasting to decide whether it really did taste that good. Verdict: the majority of the club members preferred Sainsbury’s special!
More recently, we have enjoyed a tour of the Bodleian Library, type faced our names and learned about the art of printing at the Bodleian University Press and eyed in wonder the exhibition ‘Treasures from the Bodleian’ at the Weston Gallery.
With Spring promising better weather, Mrs Price, one of the other club leaders, is planning a special Oxford Walk. What began with a purely literary theme quickly expanded to include many wonders that we pass in ignorance every day: the sight of the first English hot air balloon flight, from our very own playing fields in 1784; the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe and the theatre where Haydn conducted his ‘Oxford Symphony’; the Anthony Gormley statue that looks down from the roof of Exeter College; the cross marking the place where Bishops Cranmer, Ridley & Latimer were burned for their beliefs in the 16th century; the plaque to Captain Noel Chavasse – the only person to have received 2 VCs in WW1; the statue of Cardinal Wolsey below Tom Tower (finished by Christopher Wren because Wolsey fell out of favour!). Now we just need a sunny afternoon to discover these Oxford treasures.
Recently, I mentioned to one of our club members that I would be writing an article about ‘Making the Most of Oxford Club’ and I asked him whether there was something pressing that I should include. He looked at me intently and said that I absolutely HAD to say that “it was really fun to go out of school and explore and find out more about the city and its places and history. ” Excellent! A boy after my own heart.
Mme Alexandra Eccles-Williams
Club Leader
French Teacher
Learning Support
