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The Barbara Pym Society
2026 AGM Programme
FRIDAY 28th August
3:00 pm Welcome to St Hilda’s College and early registration, Porter's Lodge
3:30-4:00 pm Book signing with Sir Alexander McCall Smith, Blackwell's Books, 48-51 Broad Street
6:00 pm Drinks Reception & welcome to new members, Pisa Roof Suite, Anniversary Building
7:00 pm Evening meal, Dining Hall
8:45 pm Annual quiz hosted by Clare Wilkins and Devon Allison
SATURDAY 29th August
10:00 am Registration, coffee, and merchandise stall, Jacqueline du Pré Building
10:30 am Barbara Pym Society Annual General Meeting (members only)
11:30 am Conference begins. Opening remarks by the Chair
11:40 am Dr Joanna de Groot: Handsome Beasts and Intelligent Females: Women Writers Thinking About Sex and Love c. 1930-1960
12:00 pm Dr Perri Klass: "After He's Gone": Marketing the Handsome Beast to the Women's Magazines
1:00 pm Buffet lunch, Dining Hall
2:00 pm Alex Fordham: Handsome Beasts, Tailoring and Style in Mid-century Menswear
2:50 pm Dr Florence Smith: Female Spaces and Male Worlds: The Educational and Employment Experiences of Women Students of the University of Oxford, 1930-1945
3:40 pm Afternoon tea, BPS and Blackwell's merchandise stalls
3:55 pm Sir Alexander McCall Smith: The Small and the Particular (followed by book signing)
6:45 pm Drinks reception on the Lawn
7:15 pm The Annual Banquet, Dining Hall
. and the BPS Charity Pymbola, hosted by Paul Howard
8:15 pm Informal Drinks
SUNDAY 30th August
10:30 am Coffee and merchandise stall, Jacqueline du Pré Building
11:15 am Devon Allison, Jutta Schiller, and Susan Biddle: Less Than Angels: Barbara and her Friends
12:00 pm Closing remarks
1:00 pm Sunday lunch, Dining Hall
2:30 pm Dominic Dromgoole in conversation with Sioned Wiliam: Bringing Barbara to the Stage: A Triumphant Quartet in Autumn
. Readings by special guests
3:30 pm Tea, biscuits, and book signing with Dominic Dromgoole; conference adjourns
Extra events on Sunday evening:
5:15 pm Meet at Porter's Lodge to walk to Evensong
6:05 pm Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, St Aldate's
7:15 pm Dinner at Quod restaurant in the Old Bank Hotel, 92-94 High Street
Things to Do in Oxford
A Barbara Pym Walk Through Oxford. This self-guided tour of Oxford highlights places associated with Pym and her friends, but also points out many other sites of historical and literary interest. It starts and ends at St Hilda’s and takes approximately one hour.
City Sightseeing Oxford offers hop on, hop off bus tours with 18 stops throughout the city. The nearest stop to St Hilda's is across Magdalen Bridge on the High Street outside The Queen's College.
The Bodleian Library. The Weston Library galleries are open from 10.00 to 17.00 Monday-Saturday and 11:00 to 17:00 on Sunday; current free exhibitions are ‘Pets and their People’ and ‘Wonder of Birds’. Guided tours of the 15th-century Divinity School and Duke Humfrey's medieval library are also available.
Ashmolean Museum. Admission is free but advance booking is advised. There is a charge for the special exhibition ‘In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World’.
Oxford Botanic Garden, aka The Physic Garden, is the oldest in the UK, founded in 1621. The gardens are home to more than 5000 different plant species – and, of course, the scene of Francis Cleveland and Barbara Bird’s hilarious assignation in Crampton Hodnet, when they lurked in the bushes to avoid Michael and Gabriel. Open 10:00 to 18:00 every day; admission is £9, student/alumni/65+ concessions £7.20
Christ Church Picture Gallery
History of Science Museum
Modern Art Oxford
Pitt Rivers Museum and Museum of Natural History
The Story Museum
Museum of Oxford
Oxford Castle and Prison
More information on places to go, things to do, and where to stay is available at the Oxford Visitor Information Guide and Experience Oxfordshire