Midsummer meetings on Oxford benchmarks
Benches do that to people. They are meeting points, places to come together, to converse, to commune. They serve as special seats to rest and remember.
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Nigel Ewers, Visitor Liaison Officer, New College
New College has got to be one of my favourite Oxford colleges. It’s not actually new. For it was founded in 1379 by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, a pile of…
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Three men and their boats
Tugs and tankers, paddle steamers and powerboats, sailboats and skiffs, barges and battleships – they have all graced these waters. Smaller versions of the real thing, naturally. Some built to race (yachts and speedboats), others replica scale models lovingly constructed over many years in a back room or attic. Today Terry has brought his beautifully crafted classic steam launch Edwina, a copy of an elegant Edwardian day boat that once upon a time might have been employed to host summer picnics or as private viewing for sporting events on the river. Every so often a mischievous smile creeps over Terry’s face and he fiddles with whatever it is on his remote control that sends a jet of steam shooting from the central funnel. ‘Toot, Toot.’ I can honestly say that is the sound it makes. Provoking a joyous reaction. And for a moment we are all children again.
