Oxford Open Doors

By
the Revd Dr William Lamb

This weekend marks the annual Open Doors festival in Oxford, organised by the Oxford Preservation Trust. The Old Library at St Mary’s will be open to the public on Saturday from 10am - 5pm, and this year will feature an exhibition about John Henry Newman, who was the Vicar from 1828-1843. The exhibition has been created in partnership with the National Institute for Newman Studies at Duquesne University. Professor Ken Parker and his colleagues have drawn together contributions from an international team of scholars, and the exhibition tells the story of Newman and his path to sainthood. The exhibition will also be available in the De Brome Chapel during the months of September and October.

Over the weekend, Holywell Cemetery, one of the city’s best-kept secrets, will also be open for tours. It offers a rich habitat for wildlife in the midst of the city centre, and is also an oasis of calm and tranquillity in a city which is often frantic in its pace and momentum. It is just by St Cross Church, which is now the Historic Collections Centre for Balliol College. Choral Evensong will take place here at 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon. It will be followed by refreshments at Holywell Manor, at the kind invitation of Tom and Karen Melham. Please do come and join us.

 

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